𝐌𝐎𝐍𝐎𝐏𝐇𝐎𝐁𝐈𝐀 → hermione granger

12: nicholas flamel

DUMBLEDORE HAD CONVINCED Raven and Harry not to go looking for the Mirror of Erised again, and for the rest of the Christmas holidays the Invisibility Cloak stayed folded at the bottom of Harry's trunk. Raven wished she could forget what she'd seen in the mirror as easily, but she couldn't. She then started having nightmares. Over and over again she dreamed about their parents disappearing in a flash of green light, while a high voice cackled with laughter.

  "You see, Dumbledore was right, that mirror could drive you mad," said Ron, when Raven told him about these dreams which Harry had also been having.

  Hermione, who came back the day before term started, (which Raven was glad for) took a different view of things. She was torn between horror at the idea of Raven and Harry being out of bed, roaming the school three nights in a row ("If Filch had caught you!"), and disappointment that they hadn't at least found out who Nicolas Flamel was.

In the library, on break, Raven and Hermione were looking at books and skimming them.

"Thank you for the book and the necklace, you really didn't need to get me anything." Raven said.

"Your welcome." Hermione says blushing. She looked up and saw Raven blushing too.

They had almost given up hope of ever finding Flamel in a library book, even though Harry and Raven were still sure they'd read the name somewhere. Raven and Harry had even less time than the other three, because Quidditch practice had started again.

  Wood was working the team harder than ever. Even the endless rain that had replaced the snow couldn't dampen his spirits. The Weasleys complained that Wood was becoming a fanatic, but Harry and Raven were on Wood's side. If they won their next match, against Hufflepuff, they would overtake Slytherin in the house championship for the first time in seven years. Quite apart from wanting to win, Raven found that she had fewer nightmares when she was tired out after training.

  Then, during one particularly wet and muddy practice session, Wood gave the team a bit of bad news. He'd just gotten very angry with the Weasleys, who kept dive bombing each other and pretending to fall off their brooms.

  "Will you stop messing around!" he yelled. "That's exactly the sort of thing that'll lose us the match! Snape's refereeing this time, and he'll be looking for any excuse to knock points off Gryffindor!"

  George Weasley really did fall off his broom at these words.

  "Snape's refereeing?" he spluttered through a mouthful of mud. "When's he ever refereed a Quidditch match? He's not going to be fair if we might overtake Slytherin."

  The rest of the team landed next to George to complain, too.

  "It's not my fault," said Wood. "We've just got to make sure we play a clean game, so Snape hasn't got an excuse to pick on us."

  Which was all very well, thought Raven but she had another reason for not wanting Snape near him while she was playing Quidditch. . . .

  The rest of the team hung back to talk to one another as usual at the end of practice, but Raven and Harry headed straight back to the Gryffindor common room, where they found Ron and Hermione playing chess. Apollo was there too, watching. Chess was the only thing Hermione ever lost at, something Ron thought was very good for her.

  "Don't talk to me for a moment," said Ron when Harry and Raven sat down next to him, "I need to concen—" He caught sight of Raven and Harry's faces. "What's the matter with you two? You look terrible."

  Speaking quietly so that no one else would hear, Harry told the other three about Snape's sudden, sinister desire to be a Quidditch referee.

  "Don't play," said Hermione at once.