A silver and green lion

Chapter 10: Through the trapdoor

When Harry and Theo woke up the next day, they noticed to their surprise Blaise already had left. Guessing the Italian would be with Malfoy they quickly changed into their robes so they could leave and grab some breakfast before they would go to visit Hermione in the hospital wing. They rushed of the stairs, bumping into Kali and Diana. Kali pulled up a brow at the two first years.

"You know it's almost noon, right?" She said amused.

"Made it late, last night?" Diana asked chuckling.

"You could say so..." Harry muttered, yawning. The two girls laughed at that.

"If you're quick you can scoop something from the kitchen. They already cleaned up breakfast." Diana said.

"We... we don't really know how to get in the kitchens." Theo muttered.

"We'll show you the way, but you have to promise you keep your mouth shut to the other prefects." Kali said, giving them a wink before leading them out of the common room. They walked through some unknown corridors and Harry glanced around, trying to remember the way they were going but giving up after five minutes. The two girls stopped for a moment to stroke or tickled something that looked a lot like a pear before a door opened.

"This is the kitchen." They said, letting the two first years enter first. It was buzzing with funny, grey creatures. They had long, pointy ears and big, bulgy eyes. They were wearing some dirty, grey cloths or rags, Harry couldn't figure it out.

"House elves!" Theo said enthusiastic. "So, they make all the food?"

"What did you think?" Diana asked chuckling. "That the tables magically conjured the food up?" Harry kept quiet, that was exactly what he had thought. His eyes followed their prefect talking to a small elf wearing a big, white hat. He guessed he – or she – was the chef. It only took five minutes before Kali thanked the elf and walked back to Diana and the two first years.

"Here you go." She handed them both a paper plate with a croissant and a sandwich. "Do you think that's enough? It's lunch in about two hours."

"Yeah, thanks." Theo said shyly at the elder girl. She gave him a sweet smile and let them back outside.

"Come on, we lead you upstairs." Diana said cheery.

They followed the two sixth years, enjoying their breakfast. They said goodbye when they reached the Great Hall and rushed themselves towards the hospital wing. Their food was up so before they entered, they quickly threw their plates in the garbage can outside. Madam Pomfrey saw them coming.

"Hello there, sweeties. Can I help you?" She asked kindly.

"We wanted to visit our friend, Hermione Granger." Theo explained.

"Oh, but miss Granger already left the hospital wing this morning. She was accompanied by a friend. I think they went to the library."

Harry and Theo looked surprised at each other before saying goodbye to the elder woman. They quickly went to the library to see the mysterious friend their nurse had been talking about. When they entered they didn't solve one but two mysteries. Hermione was sitting in her regular spot, books spread all over the table, and she was accompanied by... Blaise. So, this was the secret friend and Hermione was the reason the Italian had been up so early. They quickly joined their friends to study and earned themselves a small glare from Hermione.

"You know the exams almost start right?" She tutted. The two boys decided not to answer and quickly grabbed their notes to study.
. . . . . . .
Honestly, Harry didn't know how he through the exam period. He looked over his shoulders almost every few minutes, expecting Voldemort to be lurking at him, his wand pulled to kill him. On top of that his nightmares had returned but turned out to be worse. It was only because of Kali who gave him some of her stock of dreamless sleep potion that he got some sleep at all. And although Harry kept worried about the approaching danger, the days crept by and Fluffy was still very alive behind the door.
The weather had become sweltering hot and especially in the large classroom where they had to do their written papers, the first years felt it. They had been given new, special quills that were bewitched with an anti-cheating spell.
They had practical exams as well. Professor Flitwick called them one by one into his class to see if they could make a pineapple tap-dance and professor McGonagall made them turn a mouse into a snuff-box – points were given for how pretty the snuff-box was and points were ducked if it had whiskers. But Snape was the worst. He made them all, including the Slytherins, very nervous breathing into their neck while they tried to remember the instructions for making a forgetfulness potion.
Harry did the best he could with the throbbing pain that hadn't left him since his trip into the forbidden forest. His friends did everything to ease his pain and his worries about Voldemort but didn't succeed much. Harry knew Hermione was a mess as well, having seen the same, horrible thing in the forest as him, but his fellow Slytherins tried to minimalize it. Of course the idea of 'the dark lord' returning scared them till dead, but they hadn't been in the forest so they weren't that convinced. When their last exam, history of magic, finally ended after an hour and half writing dull facts about old warlocks and gnomes, harry cheered together with the other first years. They had a free week until their results would arrive. Harry, Hermione and Theo wandered over the grounds towards the lake, sitting down under a giant tree. His two friends had been talking about their last exam but made themselves comfortable when they finally sat down, watching the twins and Lee tickling the tentacles of the giant squid.