ON MY WAY {HP X SHADOWHUNTERS} [DISCONTINUED]

NICOLAS FLAMEL

Dumbledore had convinced Hayley 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 her trunk. Hayley wished she could forget what she'd seen in the mirror as easily, but she couldn't. She started having nightmares. Over and over again she dreamed about her 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," Draco said, when Hayley told him about these dreams. Teddy and Raphael, who came back the day before term started, took a different view of things. Teddy was torn between horror at the idea of Hayley being out of bed, roaming the school three nights in a row "What if Filch had caught you!" he had shouted, and disappointment that she hadn't at least found out who Nicolas Flamel was. Whereas, Raphael was excited to use the invisibility cloak again. They had almost given up hope of ever finding Flamel in a library book, even though Hayley was still sure she'd read the name somewhere. Once term had started, they were back to skimming through books for ten minutes during their breaks. 

Hayley had even less time than the other two, because Quidditch practice had started again. Oliver 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 Oliver was becoming a fanatic, but Hayley was on Oliver'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, Hayley found that she had fewer nightmares when she was tired out after training. Then, during one particularly wet and muddy practice session, Oliver 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!" 

"WHAT!" Most of the people yelled, "Does that thing even knows the spelling of Quidditch" Sirius said, his face scrunched in disgust.

"I don't think so" Fred and George sniggered

George 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," Oliver said . "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 Hayley, but she had another reason for not wanting Snape near her 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 Hayley headed straight back to the Gryffindor common room, where she found Draco and Teddy playing chess, Raphael, and Hermione were watching them. Chess was the only thing Teddy ever lost at. "Don't talk to me for a moment," Draco said, when Hayley sat down next to him, "I need to concen --" They caught sight of Hayley's face. "What's the matter with you? You look terrible." Teddy gasped. Speaking quietly so that no one else would hear, Hayley told them about Snape's sudden, sinister desire to be a Quidditch referee. "Don't play," Teddy said, at once. "Say you're ill," Draco suggested. "Pretend to break your leg," Hermione said, worriedly. "Really break your leg," Raphael blurted out, making others give him a look.

"Really," Daisy said, frowning at Raphael. 

"Cut me some slack, I was a kid" Raphael said, defensively.

"But, seriously, what made you say that" Alec said, chuckling.

"Dad, not you too" Raphael whined, crossing his arms. Making others laugh.