Courage

-24-

Book: Courage
Chapter 24
Word Count: 3529

Layla lingered at the top of the girl's stairs in Gryffindor tower, waiting for the last stragglers to leave for their classes. Eventually, the last few students left and Layla crept down the stairs.

She then headed for the boy's stairs and entered the second year dormitory. Her plan was to find the diary and ensure that Tom did nothing to Harry. She was not going to let Tom get to her best friend.

Since it wasn't Layla's first time in the dormitory, she headed straight to bed that she knew was Harry's. She lifted the lid of Harry's trunk and began to rifle through it, tossing his possessions across the room. She felt bad for making the mess but she needed to find the diary. She'd use a spell to clean everything up after. She removed books and unfolded clothes, trying to find the diary.

Not locating the diary in the trunk, she moved on to stripping the bed, trying to see if the diary had been hidden amongst the streets. Layla felt around Harry's pillows to see if Harry had stuffed the diary in his pillow case. 

Once again, Layla failed in finding the diary and moved onto the drawer of the bedside table. She tipped the items across the now bare mattress of Harry's bed.

She had the sudden horrible thought. What if Harry had the diary on him? She shook her head, brushing off the thought. It had to be in the room. It just had to be...

Layla went through the items that had been kept in the drawer. Nothing. She scanned the room and went over to Harry's cloak, pulling all of the pockets inside-out and accidentally tearing it in the process. Her heart pricked with guilt, reminding herself to fix it after.

And then she saw it. Half-fallen off of the four-poster bed, lodged next to the bedside table. With great relief, Layla snatched up the small black book and headed towards the door, before halting in her tracks.

"I'll only be a minute," said a boy. Layla noticed that the voice sounded like Neville and her eyes widened. She was stood in Neville's dorm, which was still a mess, and he was about to head in. Layla had forgot to repair the room before she would have sneaked out.

Looking around the room and thinking quietly, Layla turned and hurried under the nearest, which she noticed was Dean's.

She bit her bottom lip to stop herself from making any noise as the door opened. Layla saw Neville's feet move into view as he walked into the dormitory. Suddenly, Neville stopped in his tracks, obviously spotted the huge mess of the room. Instinctively, Layla hugged the diary to her chest.

Neville turned on his heels and sped out of the room, clattering and banging his bag on the walls as he ran down the stairs.

No more than a minute later, Layla didn't waste a second to stand up, the diary clutched in her hand, and sprinted out of the boys' dorm before Neville could return, probably with Harry, Ron, Seamus, and Dean. She hurried up the stairs to her own dormitory, which was thankfully empty, and stuffed the diary under her mattress, in case her room was searched.

She breathed a sigh of relief; she had succeeded in her mission. Nothing bad would happen to Harry.

After a bad night's sleep, it was the day of the Quidditch match. After Hermione, Lavender, and Parvati had all left for lunch, leaving Layla alone in the dorm after claiming she wasn't hungry and she'd see the others in the Quidditch stands. Layla reached under her mattress to grab her diary and write to Tom angrily.

Tom, I don't know what you wanted with Harry, but I stole you from his dormitory and now you can't do anything to him.

Me not being in Potter's possession won't stop me. You should learn to behave yourself, Layla.