𝐭𝐰𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐝; 𝐲𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐡.𝐩

𝓨𝓮𝓪𝓻 1, 𝓒𝓱𝓪𝓹𝓽𝓮𝓻 8: 𝓗𝓪𝓵𝓵𝓸𝔀𝓮𝓮𝓷

~ chapter eight: halloween ~

Malfoy couldn't believe his eyes when he saw that Harry, Ron, and Y/N were still at Hogwarts the next day, looking tired but perfectly cheerful. Indeed, by the next morning Harry, Ron, and Y/N 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 and Y/N filled Ron 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's either really valuable or really dangerous," said Ron.

"Or both," noted Y/N.

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 Nevile cared about was never going near the dog again.

Hermione was now refusing to speak to Harry, Ron, and Y/N, but she was such a bossy know-it-all that they saw this as an extra bonus - if Hermione had a request to make to Y/N, she'd request that Parvati Patil or Lavender Brown or any of the other girls in their dormitory to ask Y/N whatever she wanted to know. All Harry, Ron, and Y/N 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 two long, thin packages carried by twelve owls - six owls for each parcel. Y/N was just as interested as everyone else to see what were in those large parcels, and was amazed when the owls soared down and dropped them in front of her and Harry. They had hardly fluttered out of the way when another owl dropped a letter on top of the parcel.

She ripped open the letter first and held it out in front of her and Harry to read, which was lucky, because it said:

DO NOT OPEN THE PARCELS AT THE TABLE.

It contains your new Nimbus Two Thousands, but I don't want everybody knowing you've got them or they'll all want one. Oliver Wood will meet you tonight on the Quidditch field at seven o' clock for your first training session.

Professor M. McGonagall

Harry and Y/N had difficulty hiding their glee as Y/N handed the note to Ron to read.

"A Nimbus Two Thousand!" Ron moaned enviously. "I've never even touched one."

They left the hall quickly, wanting to unwrap the broomsticks 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 Y/N and felt it.

"Those're broomsticks," he said, throwing it back to Y/N with a mixture of spite and jealousy on his face. "You'll be in for it this time, Black, Potter, first years aren't allowed on them."

Ron couldn't resist it.

"They're not just any old broomsticks," he said, "they're Nimbus Two Thousands. What did you say you've got at home, Malfoy, a Comet Two Sixty?" He grinned at them. "Comets look flashy, but they're not in the same league as the Nimbus."