Chocolate Enchantment

Chapter 44: The Search For The Cup

Chapter 44: The Search For The Cup 

It was nearly eleven o’clock when Hermione popped into view on the edge of Hogwarts grounds. Her stomach turned as she managed to replace the air that Apparition had squeezed from her lungs. Head reeling, she set her hands on her knees and prayed the Apparition sickness would pass after the first trimester of her pregnancy ended. After a moment, her world came to a stop, and her stomach settled; she looked at the school. It seemed impossibly far away, so she looked around her, then Disillusioned herself before changing into her Animagus form and flying to the school. The building was dark and silent, seemed almost foreboding with her knowledge that it held only a handful of living human inhabitants.

It didn’t take long for her to reach the front door in her avian form, and she soon found herself standing before the huge heavy doors. She was grateful to find it took no more than a tug before the doors rotated open. Few of the usual sconces were lit this time, far fewer than normal, but she had to remind herself there was no one in the building to need the light.

“Dobby,” she called after an uncertain minute.

There was a slight crack, and the small house-elf appeared before her in his usual odd clothing choices—a mishmash of colors and patterns. “Miss is here! Harry told Dobby to bring Miss to him as soon as Miss arrived.” He took her by the hand, snapped his fingers, and she found herself standing in a dorm. The effects of Apparition were far less this time, and she wondered if it was the elf magic or the relatively shorter distance that was the cause. She thanked Dobby and let him go. Judging by the green and silver bedding and hangings around her, she must be in Slytherin.

“Voldemort might have slept in one of these beds,” she whispered to herself, shivering slightly at the thought.

“Yeah, unreal, isn’t it?” Harry’s voice came from behind her, causing her to jump. “Glad you could join us. Feeling better?”

“Much.” She turned to face him, and he brushed her bushy hair away from her face. It was a gentle action, one that concerned and warmed her.

“Glad to hear it. I’m sure you can tell you’re in the Slytherin dorms. We finished the trophy room earlier. Ron’s already done the common room and is on the second round of boys’ dorms. I took the first floor and am working on the third now. We can’t get to the girls’ rooms; you’ll have to cover them.”

“If the idea is for him to put the cup somewhere that means something to him, it’ll have to be in the boys’ side, since he couldn’t get into the girls’ dorms if you can’t.”

Harry blinked. “Right, should have thought of that. Well, do you want to head up a floor and see what you can find?”

“Sure.” Hermione turned and headed out into the hall, hurried up the few steps to the next level and noticed the sign that said ‘Third Years’. She wondered if the signs were for the past school year, or the next one coming up—which should have already started.

The room was long and cold, the hangings coated with a light haze of dust as she walked down between the rows of beds. Sixteen beds, sixteen Slytherin boys this age. That was about standard, somewhere between sixteen and twenty of each male and female in each house for each year, at least on average. Beginning at the far end, she took the space one area at a time, casting charms along the way, checking in corners and under beds, shooting spells into the rafters.

More than half an hour passed as she canvassed the room, then finished, closing the door behind her again. She hurried up the stairs to the next room where Ron was working, but as he was closely focused, she continued on. Harry worked in the fifth years’ room, and she continued to the last room on the boys’ side. The sign denoting that the room most likely belonged to the boys her age made her shiver slightly.