Forgotten

Book 1 ch 4

The feeling of someone shaking my shoulders wildly wakes me from my sleep. I blink several times until my eyes adjust to the little amount of light that fills the room in a silvery blanket. Through the moonlight, I can make out the silhouette of a girl with bushy hair.

"Emily," the girl whispers through the darkness.

"Hermione?"

Why has Hermione come to me at such a late hour? I glanced out of the window to find that the moon is still high in the nearly black sky. This can't be about a homework question.

"I didn't know who else to go to. Harry and Ron have agreed to a wizard's duel with Draco Malfoy. A stupid idea, I know, but they continued to refuse to listen to me."

I am out of bed before Hermione can finish what she is saying. My ivory cloak swung around my shoulders to encase me in its warm embrace. A pair of boots slid to my knees underneath of my night gown. I don't bother to change, knowing that we don't have enough time to waste on trivial matters.

"I was going to go to Percy. He is a Prefect after all, so I just thought that he would know what to do about the situation."

Hermione followed me to the spiral staircase and shut the door to my room as quietly as she could. I tied the top layer of my hair back so that it could flow freely behind me without getting in my way.

"No, you did the right thing coming to me." I respond.

"But Percy is a Prefect."

"And what am I?"

Hermione either doesn't know how to respond or chose not to. I don't care enough to inquire anymore about the subject. The dark common room greets me as I leaped down the last few steps. Harry and Ron have yet to make their way downstairs yet. I invited Hermione into a seat beside me while we waited. Slowly the fire burned out until it was nothing more than a gentle glow that barely lit the room.

Two shadows crept closer to the Portrait Hole. Neither of them had taken notice to us. I began to rise without the slightest of sounds when their backs had turned to us. My fingers hooked onto their cloaks and pulled them to a stop. Ron and Harry jumped, pulled their wands out, and shoved them into my face, but I didn't do as much as flinch.

"I can't believe you are doing this." Hermione said, flicking on a lamp.

"You!" Ron growled, "Go back to bed!"

I hit my hand off of the back of each of the boys, "She did the right thing, unlike the two of you! You will not be going to the wizard's duel."

"We have to! Draco won't let us live it down if we don't." Harry argued.

"We don't want that bloak to get the better of us. You don't want Slytherin to make us look like cowards, do you?" Ron said.

I frowned at the thought of a Slytherin being able to hold something like a wizard's duel over Gryffindor. They were only first years, so they couldn't do anything that would result in death for the other contestant.

"We have to go, Emily." Harry repeated.

I sighed, "Fine, but I will be your second. Sorry Ron."

"With you Harry has to win." Ron grinned.

"You've got to be kidding." Hermione huffed.

Harry pushed open the portrait hole before Hermione could protest anymore. Not to my surprise, Hermione followed after us. I understood her concern, but I couldn't stop Harry from not sneaking out if he wanted to go.

"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."