The Big Four at Hogwarts: Years 1 & 2 Nightmare Land

Chapter 13

Merida ran through down the corridor. They were running out of time, and Merida knew she could get into the restricted section by herself. She threw the cloak on and snuck into the section. However, when she got in, she realized she had no idea where to look. She sighed and stared looking through p for potions. She found a lot of different potion books and potions as she went. There were ones for turning someone into a frog, making them unable to speak, and making them glow like a night light. Merida glanced around and ripped that page out. She stuffed it into her pocket. She could use it later. However, there was no fearlessness drought. She looked in the d's next, but didn't find much. Merida wracked her brain and checked her watch. Sheets running out of time. There was only a little bit of time until the Halloween Feast was over. She started quietly skimming through the different rows of books, hoping she could find something. Suddenly, her cloak was pulled off of her. Merida turned to see it floating in the air behind her. She let out a not very quiet scream.

"Sorry! Sorry! I forgot I was in disguise," she heard a voice say and then the Gryffindor 3rd year, Penny, appeared before her, holding a big purple book.

"Penny!" Merida gasped.

"What are you doing here?" she asked.

"The real question is what are you doing here?" Penny asked, her hand on her hip in a stern manner.

"Nothing! Just looking for a book is all," Merida said, trying to snatch the cloak out of Penny's hand, but she moved it out of the way.

"Tell me the truth. You know I don't like lying," Penny said. Merida made another jump for the cloak, but Penny still held it out of her reach.

"Who knows, maybe I can help," she added.

"Fine," Merida sighed, giving up on getting the cloak.

"I'm looking for a fearlessness drought," Merida said. Penny looked at her.

"I know. It's ridiculous," Merida said.

"Yes. If you were looking for something for courage then it would be something in the charms, not the droughts," Penny said. She went to another row of books and scanned through it's various titles.

"Ah. Here it is," Penny said, pulling out a book labeled How To Be A Personality Charmer.

"Here you go. A courage charm should be in here," Penny said, handing her the book.

"Thank you. I'm just curious, but how did you know about this book? Isn't this your first time being in the restricted section," Merida asked. Penny shrugged.

"You think this is my first restricted section rodeo? Don't make me laugh," Penny said. Then, she tucked her book under her arm, tossing the invisibility cloak back at Merida, and pulled out her wand.

"See you later, 2nd year," Penny said and twirled her wand around herself, making her disappear. She was only a year older than her! Not ten. She shouldn't act so mature and much more knowledgeable than Merida. She then realized Penny had answered none of her questions.

"Wait, Penny! You didn't answer any of my questions!" Merida called out. There was no answer.

"Penny? Are you still here?" Merida asked. She heard shuffling.

"Penny?" Merida asked, but saw that Penny it was not. Merida threw her cloak back over her head and ran out of the library and straight to the Gryffindor commons room without stopping. She tucked the book safely under her mattress, she'd come back for it later and hide it in a better spot, and then headed down to the Halloween Feast. She looked around for her friends and Jack, but couldn't find them anywhere. Granted, when she had left them, Punzie seemed to be in a trance and wouldn't listen to her. Merida went over to Astrid.

"Hey, Astrid," Merida began.

"Merida! Where have you been?" Astrid asked.

"Uh, bathroom," Merida said. Astrid made a face.

"Ew. For that long and what did you eat so that I can avoid it?" she asked.

"The candied figs, but that doesn't matter right now. Have you seen Punzie or Hiccup?" Merida asked.

"Yeah. Hiccup and Jack took your friend to the infirmary. It was weird, she seemed frozen," Astrid said.

"Thanks," Merida said and left to go to the infirmary. She popped her head in and there was her two friends, and Jack. Punzie looked like she was peacefully sleeping and Hiccup and Jack were quietly talking.

"Is she okay?" Merida asked. The other two nodded.

"She'll be okay. She was having a waking nightmare, but now she's sleeping calmly," Hiccup said.

"Did you get the book?" Jack asked.

"Aye. It's in my room," Merida said.

"Let's go there, now," Hiccup said, getting up.

"Stop. Shouldn't we wait for Punzie to wake up?" Merida asked.

"We can brief her after we've looked over it," Jacks said. The three of them headed towards the exit when they ran into Madame Flora.

"You two! Why are you still here? Get back to the feast," she said to Hiccup and Jack, ushering then along.

"And You two, young lady. Halloween happens only once a year, you know." she said, pushing Merida out the door as well

"And don't you worry about your friend. I'll make sure she's okay," Madame Flora said.

"We can look at it, tomorrow. Let's just go to the feast tonight. It did sound like an awful lot of fun," Merida said.

"It was," Jack said.

"Even I was amazed. There were the ghosts of dead rocketed as the entertainment," Hiccup added. Thus, without much more thought, the three of them headed back to the feast.

"So, where do you want to go first?" Hiccup asked them when the three of them got back to the great hall.

"Actually, I have to go back to the Slytherin table. I think I left my book there somewhere," Jack said, heading back to his table. He sat alone at his usual spot at the Slytherin table, his book exactly where he left it.

"Well, I guess it's just you and me," Hiccup said to Merida.

"Sorry, Hiccup. I gotta go this way. I think I forgot to ask Astrid something," Merida said. She headed away from the group and towards the Gryffindor table. She didn't actually have anything to ask her, though. When she got there, she just sat at the table alone, eating candy.

"Well, I guess I'll just have to go back to my table," Hiccup said to himself.

"Great, I'm talking to myself. I'm already going crazy without all three of my friends," he grumbled to himself. He sat down at his table, also alone. The usual Ravenclaws he sat with were all hanging out with their friends. Suddenly, he heard screeching and birds flew in from everywhere. They came from the doorways and through the windows and the openings in the great hall for the owls to fly in from. They started to terrorize everybody in the great hall. Hiccup, Merida, and Jack all looked up at the same time.

"They're not black birds. They're... owls?" they all said at the same time.