𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐭 𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝

𝙲𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝙵𝚘𝚞𝚛

I was sitting in charms class waiting for the professor to start the class. Today we were learning the Wingardium leviosa charm. Once all the students were in the class and the clock struck the time for class the professor began to speak. "Does everyone have their wands?" Professor Flitwick asked looking around happily. Everyone showed their feathers excitedly.

Professor Flitwick began to show us how to cast the spell and then proceeded to tell us to give it a try. Everyone started to mock what they were shown but it wasn't working out for most people. I looked over at the other side of the class and saw Ron and Hermione bickering about something then Hermione showed him how to properly do the spell. "Well done Miss Granger!" Professor Flitwick said happily.

I looked at my feather and did exactly what she did. My feather was the second one to go in the air at the command of my wand. "Well down Miss Riddle!" Professor Flitwick said happily turning his attention to me.

"How did you do it so fast?" Draco asked.

I looked over and saw him looking at my feather. I put my feather back on my desk and gave him some pointers. "Try doing a more flowy movement, it doesn't work as well if you're tense." He tried it out and it worked for him. He looked at me and smiled. It's been a couple of months since the first day of school and I haven't really seen him smile. Genuinely at least.

Once class was over I looked over at Draco. "I'm going to catch up with my brother. I'll see you later." He nodded and waved me off as if he didn't care. I know we're friends but his 'I don't care about anything' attitude is really annoying. I ran out of class and caught up with Ron, Harry, and their friend. Once I caught up to them I heard Ron talking about Hermione.

"She's a nightmare honestly." He exaggerated.

Hermione hugged her books close to her chest and shoved her way past Ron as she sped walked away. "I think she heard you." Harry said. "Ron you are so rude I can't believe you!" I sternly spoke to him. He looked at me a little nervous and softly apologized. "Don't apologize to me, apologize to her." I then tried to run after Hermione to cheer her up.

I stopped at a crossroads of the castle and looked down each hallway. In the hallway to my right, I saw her turn the corner. I ran down the hallway calling her name but she only walked faster. She went into the girls' bathroom and locked herself in a stall. I made it to the girls' bathroom and knocked on the occupied stall. I heard her sobbing, her sobs made me feel a weight on my chest and a soft frown appeared on my face. Ron is such a jerk.

"Hermione it's me, Alastor."

"Leave me alone."

"I'm here to help you feel better."

"I appreciate your concern but I just want to be alone."

At first, I wasn't going to take no for an awnser but when she saw my feet on the other side of the door she mumbled a please. I mumbled an ok then left the bathroom. As soon as I left the bathroom I saw a troll at the end of the long corridor. I stopped in my tracks in shock unsure what to do I ran back into the bathroom. "Hermione! Hermione let me in please!" I quietly panicked. She let me in confused as I quickly closed the door and locked it. "Stand on the toilet hurry!" I yelled in a hushed tone.

"Why? What's going on?"

She matched my quietness as she stood on the toilet with me. "There's a troll coming our way. I don't know what to do." Just then it walked into the bathroom and we became as still as statues. Scared any movement might grab its attention. It was looking around and eventually noticed us when we were trying to sneak out. Hermione screamed which scared it and made it swing at us.

We hid in the stalls and ducked, it hit the stalls and every stall came crashing down. We crawled over to the sinks as we heard someone yell. "Hey! Pea brain!" Ron yelled and threw a piece of wood at it. It turned around and tried to hit Ron and Harry but got distracted when it saw me getting under the sink. He hit the sink but missed me, Harry quickly climbed onto the club.

He then landed on the troll's neck and held onto his head to stay on. The troll started to thrash around trying to get him off. He held on tighter and shoved his wand up the troll's nose. Ron and I let out a disgusted noise as Hermione scrunched her face just as disgusted. The troll grabbed Harry and held him upside down, with his other hand he held his club and tried to hit Harry.

Harry pulled himself up in time to dodge the swing but the troll tried again only for Harry to do the same thing again. "Do something!" He yelled out to Ron. Ron looked around for something then back at Harry. "What do I do!?" He yelled worried and lost. "Anything!" Harry yelled as he dodged another swing. Just then Ron got an idea, he pulled out his wand and cleared his throat.

Hermione showed him how to do the charm. Ron followed her instructions and cast the levitation charm on the troll's club. The troll dropped Harry in confusion as it looked up at its club, Harry ran over to Ron as he dropped the club on the troll's head. The troll became unconscious and fell to the ground. Hermione and I got out of our hiding spots and ran over to Ron and Harry.

Harry took his wand out of the troll's nose and wiped it clean using his robe. "Now what's our story if we get caught?" I asked staring at it. Just then Dumbledore, McGonagall, Snape, and Quirrl came running into the bathroom. "Explain yourselves, now." McGonagall demanded. "It was my fault. I heard about the troll and thought I could take it on myself since I read about them." Hermione said quickly taking the heat.

"And we noticed she was gone so we went looking for her." Ron added.

"And you? Miss Riddle?" Snape said sternly.

"I was on my way to the common room when we crossed paths and they told me what happened. She's my friend so I wanted to help." I explained.

Snape looked at me with stern and questioning eyes like he was trying to make me crack just by looking at me. "Five points will be taken away from you for your lack of judgment. As for you two, five points each will be awarded for dumb luck." McGonagall spoke to Hermione, Ron, and Harry. "Ten points will be taken from Slytherin for your stupidity." Snape said coldly.

"Sorry sir.." I mumbled looking down.

We left the bathroom and went to our common rooms for the rest of the night. The next day was the Quidditch match between Slytherin and Gryffindor. Everyone was on their side of the field and everyone was cheering as the players were flying around. Madam Hooch walked out on the field and released the quaffle. The game began and everyone was battling to get a score.

"Who do you think will win?" I asked.

"Slytherin, obviously. " Draco said.

Harry's broomstick started to freak out on him and thrashed him around. He held on as tight as he could so he wouldn't fall. "Do you think he'll fall?" Draco asked hopeful. I shot him a mean glare and he looked at me annoyed. "It was only a question." He defended. "He's my friend." Just then Harry's broom stopped thrashing him around. Harry got back on his broom and started chasing the golden snitch.

"Why do you like him so much anyway? He's not a Slytherin."

"Because he's nice, besides, you're just jealous he rejected your friendship. If you wanted to be friends you shouldn't have trashed Ron."

Later that day Harry, Ron, Hermione, and I were walking with Hagrid. The three came clean about what they saw. "There's a three-headed dog!?" I exclaimed excitedly. "Yeah, we went in its room by accident." Ron said. "Was it cute?" I asked still excited. "No, it was really scary." Harry answered. Hagrid eventually slipped some information and then immediately shut his mouth. With enough prying we learned the dog's name is Fluffy, it belongs to Hagrid, Snape is innocent, and we have a lead. Nicholas Flamel.