Huffily Puffily || Golden Trio

Quidditch and Pyromaniacs || xiii

Lucy didn't know exactly why she was suddenly best friends with Hermione, but she wasn't happy about it. (Maybe Granger was beginning to grow on her— just a bit— but she would never admit it.)

The Halloween Feast was cut short when Professor Quirrell burst into the Great Hall, screaming about a troll. Pardon, his exact words were, "TROLL! TROLL— IN THE DUNGEONS! Thought you ought to know..." He promptly fainted, but Lucy swore she saw him peek one eye open. When she told Daisy so, the prefect assured her that her mind was playing tricks on her.

She still thought Quirrell was weird.

While she and the other Hufflepuffs resumed the feast in their own common room, Ron and Harry were off fighting a troll. Yeah, a freaking troll. Who does that? Who goes out and fights a troll? Gryffindors. That's who. What the hell, Harry.

Even though Lucy wasn't a part of that particular bonding activity— she was rather jealous about that— Hermione acted as though Lucy had been in the girl's bathroom fighting the troll, too. Begrudgingly, Lucy accepted the Gryffindor's friendship (because Harry told her to) and the previous Gryffindor duo was now a trio. Whenever Lucy looked for one, the others were sure to be there too. This was rather unfortunate because Lucy had not warmed all the way up to Hermione Granger.

One cold November morning, Lucy decided that she wanted to go rock-collecting. It was a new hobby she picked up approximately five minutes ago; she planned to make a day of it. Some nice, peaceful alone time would do her good in light of everyone's anticipation about the upcoming Quidditch match.

She wandered out of the castle during break, not planning to go very far. She found plenty of rocks around the entrance to the castle, and she began to zone out as she busied herself in her new activity. She supposed only twenty minutes had passed before she felt a looming presence at her back. Turning around, she looked up at Professor Snape, who was sneering down at her.

What. The. Hell. Lucy thought to herself. She stared blankly at the professor.

"Your next class begins shortly, Rochester," he glared, "I hope you weren't planning on skipping."

How on earth could he have come to that conclusion after only twenty minutes into break? Lucy wondered how one person could be so utterly annoying. This was yet another reason she disliked Snape so much— he was so suspicious of her, all the time, for no reason whatsoever. She wasn't a bad student. At least, she didn't think she was. She turned her homework in on time and even though she wasn't the best at writing or spelling, she tried her hardest. Snape seemed to really despise her.

"Wasn't planning on it, no," Lucy said evenly.

"Then what were you doing? Lurking around the castle is suspicious behavior."

Lucy internally screamed. "Then I'll just head back in," she scowled at him and put the two interesting rocks she found back on the ground. So much for that hobby. Now it was tainted by Snape, and therefore could never be enjoyable again.

As Snape led her back into the castle, Lucy daydreamed of a rogue Bludger hitting Snape in the face during the upcoming Quidditch match. Or better yet, she could somehow become a Beater and do it herself.

Her next class was across the courtyard, and Snape was not letting up a centimeter. He escorted her the entire way and didn't appear he would let up until she arrived at her Charms class. Ten minutes early, mind you. Luckily, or perhaps unluckily, depending on one's perspective, another group of students caught Snape's wrath. Of course, those three students happened to be Ron, Harry, and Hermione.

"Sup, guys," she waved at them.

Harry looked up cheerfully, but his smile faded when he saw Professor Snape walking behind her.