Eternal Despair (Harry Potter/OC)

𝟜: Halloween

"Half-past eleven," Ron muttered at last, glancing at his watch. "We'd better go."

They hastily threw on their robes, picked up their wands, and tiptoed across the tower room, descending the spiral staircase with cautious steps.

The Gryffindor common room greeted them with dim embers still glowing in the fireplace. They were nearing the portrait hole when a voice startled them from the shadows.

"I expect it from Lorenzo, but I can't believe you're going to do this, Harry."

A lamp flickered to life, revealing Hermione Granger in a pink bathrobe, her brow furrowed deeply.

"You!" Ron exclaimed furiously.

"Go back to bed!" Enzo added sharply.

"I almost told your brother," Hermione snapped, "Percy. He's a prefect; he'd put a stop to this."

Harry couldn't fathom Hermione's interference.

"Come on," he said to Enzo and Ron, pushing open the portrait of the Fat Lady and climbing through the hole.

Hermione, undeterred, followed them through the portrait hole, her voice sharp and insistent.

"Don't you care about Gryffindor? Do you only care about yourselves? I don't want Slytherin to win the House Cup, and you'll lose all the points I got from Professor McGonagall for knowing about Switching Spells."

"Go away," Ron retorted sharply.

"All right, but I warned you. You just remember what I said when you're on the train home tomorrow. You're so-"

But before Hermione could finish, she found herself staring at an empty portrait. The Fat Lady had gone on a nighttime excursion, leaving Hermione locked out of Gryffindor Tower.

"Now what am I going to do?" she asked shrilly.

"That's your problem," Ron replied coldly. "We've got to go. We're going to be late."

They hadn't even made it to the end of the corridor when Hermione caught up with them.

"I'm coming with you," she announced defiantly.

"You are not," Enzo said bluntly, without even glancing at her.

"Do you think I'm going to stand out here and wait for Filch to catch me? If he finds all four of us, I'll tell him the truth-that I was trying to stop you, and you can back me up."

"You've got some nerve-" Enzo began loudly.

"Shut up, both of you!" Harry interrupted sharply. "I heard something."

It was a faint snuffling sound.

"Mrs. Norris?" whispered Ron, squinting into the darkness.

It wasn't Mrs. Norris. It was Neville. Curled up on the floor, he had been fast asleep but jerked awake as they approached.

"Thank goodness you found me!"

"I don't even want to know what you're doing out here," Enzo frowned.

"I've been out here for hours. I couldn't remember the new password to get back into the dormitory."

"Keep your voice down, Neville. The password's 'Pig snout,' but it won't help you now. The Fat Lady's gone off somewhere."

"How's your arm?" Harry asked.

"Fine," Neville replied, showing them. "Madam Pomfrey mended it in about a minute."

"Good. Well, look, Neville, we've got to be somewhere. We'll see you later-"