➵ Halloween

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Malfoy couldn't believe his eyes when he saw that Harry, Ron and Max were still at Hogwarts the next day, looking tired but perfectly cheerful. Indeed, by the next morning the three of them thought that meeting the three-headed dog had been an excellent adventure, and they were quite keen to have another one.

In the meantime, Harry filled Ron and Max in about the package that seemed to have been moved from Gringotts to Hogwarts, and they spent a lot of time wondering what could possibly need such heavy protection.

"It must be really valuable." said Ron.

"Or really dangerous." said Max.

"Or both," said Harry.

But as all they knew for sure about the mysterious object was that it was about two inches long, they didn't have much chance of guessing what it was without further clues.

Neither Neville nor Hermione showed the slightest interest in what lay underneath the dog and the trapdoor. All Neville cared about was never going near the dog again.

Hermione was now refusing to speak to Harry and Ron, but they found her to be such a bossy know-it-all that they simply saw this as an added bonus.

She had also been refusing to speak with Max, who wasn't nearly as glad as Ron and Harry, though Harry assumed it was because of how undoubtedly awkward it would be between them in their dorm room; even Parvati and Lavender, their dormmates, had been avoiding the two of them, so it must've been unbearably tense in there.

Aside from attempting to figure out the strange package, all they really wanted now was a way of getting back at Malfoy, and to their great delight, just such a thing arrived in the mail about a week later.

As the owls flooded into the Great Hall as usual, everyone's attention was caught at once by a long, thin package carried by six large screech owls. Harry was just as interested as everyone else to see what was in this large parcel, and was amazed when the owls soared down and dropped it right in front of him, knocking his bacon to the floor. They had hardly fluttered out of the way when another owl dropped a letter on top of the parcel.

Harry ripped open the letter first, which was lucky, because it said:

Harry had difficulty hiding his glee as he handed the note to Ron and Max to read

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Harry had difficulty hiding his glee as he handed the note to Ron and Max to read.

"Whoa, a Nimbus? Those are top-notch brooms!" said Max.

"The absolute best!" Ron moaned enviously. "I can't believe it, a real Nimbus Two Thousand! I've never even touched one."

They left the hall quickly, wanting to unwrap the broomstick in private before their first class, but halfway across the entrance hall they found the way upstairs barred by Crabbe and Goyle. Malfoy seized the package from Harry and felt it.

"That's a broomstick," he said, throwing it back to Harry with a mixture of jealousy and spite on his face.

"Congratulations on having eyeballs." said Max, rolling her eyes. "You want a medal or something?"

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