𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐝

- 𝗻𝗶𝗰𝗼𝗹𝗮𝘀 𝗳𝗹𝗮𝗺𝗲𝗹 -

Dumbledore had convinced Lucia not to go looking for the Mirror of Erised again and for the rest of the Christmas holiday the Invisibility Cloak stayed folded at the bottom of her trunk. Lucia 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", said Ron, when Lucia told him about these dreams. Hermione, who came back the day before term started, took a different view of things. She was torn between horror at the idea of Lucia being out of bed, roaming the school three nights in a row ("If Filch had caught you!") and disappointment that she hadn't at least found out who Nicola Flamel was.

They had almost given up hope of ever finding Flamel in a library book, even though Lucia 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. Lucia had even less time than the other two, because Quidditch practise 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 Weasley's complained that Wood was becoming a fanatic, but Lucia was 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, Lucia found that she had fewer nightmares when she was tired out after training.

Then, during one particularly wet and muddy practise 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 Lucia, 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 each other as usual at the end of practise, but Lucia headed straight back to the Gryffindor common room, where she found Ron and Hermione playing chess. Chess was the only thing Hermione ever lost at, something Lucia and Ron thought was very good for her.

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

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

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

"Say you're ill", said Ron.

"Pretend to break your leg", Hermione suggested.

"Really break your leg", said Ron.

"I can't", said Lucia. "There isn't a reserve Seeker. If I back out, Gryffindor can't play at all".

At that moment Neville toppled into the common room. How he managed to climb through the portrait hole was anyone's guess, because his legs had been stuck together with what they recognised at once as the Leg Locker Curse. He must have had to bunny hop all the way up to Gryffindor Tower.