The Hogwarts Hunger Games

Chapter 6

We were brutally chucked down the stairs by Crabbe and Goyle after the last words were said. I felt sick. At 6pm my best friend would be tortured and there was nothing we could do about it.

"Don't worry about me guys. I can handle this, it's not like I'm about to face spiders right?!" Ron tried to joke lightly. 

"Oh Ron," Hermione ran over to Ron, wrapping her arms around him, tears visible on her face. "I just can't figure a way out of this. I’m so sorry!"

Guilt washed over me. We had to at least try and prevent this from happening; otherwise it would look like we had given up. 

"Guys, let’s go back to the common room and meet the others, they might have ideas." Ron said.

As we made our way back to the Gryffindor Tower, we had the most magnificent view of the sun creeping up behind the mountains. We had been awake all night; it looks like we may fall asleep in class after all. Whatever they do to us, it cannot be worse than waiting to watch my best friend be tortured with nothing I can do about it. If I say something then Hermione will also be tortured. I don’t care too much about myself; I would happily take Ron’s place. Maybe I could see if I could ask to take his place. It’s probably too late at night or too early in the morning to ask now but later today I am going to go back to that horrible man and try to convince him.

“Stop guys,” Ron told us “I don’t want you guys to do anything stupid that could put you guys in danger. I can handle this.” Ron said.

“But-“Hermione started

“No.” Ron said firmly “I don’t want to hear any buts or any excuses. Just don’t put yourself in danger because of me.” He pleaded. I think he was forgetting how many times he had risked his life for me. Hermione too, they had both put everything they had in danger to help me almost every year. Does Ron really think I am not going to do something about this?

“Why have you stopped? Carry on walking.” We heard a voice behind us say. It belonged to a seventh year Slytherin I had seen around. She never seemed to speak. She was amazing at potions but never made contact with anyone, not even other slytherins. She had long black hair that ran down to her waist and dark brown eyes. She didn’t give off the same vibe as the others in her house. She didn’t seem ‘evil’.

“Sorry” Ron said, looking at the floor.

“Just get moving or you could get into more trouble. If they catch you not walking straight to your dorms you have no idea what they would do.” She sighed.

“I’m guessing you don’t agree with their rules.” Hermione smiled at her.

“No.” She smiled back.

“What’s your name?” I asked.

“Lily” She answered.

“I’m Harry Potter, this is Hermione Granger and this is-“ I start.

“Oh I know who you guys are, nobody in Slytherin will shut up about you.” She laughed.

“What do they say?” Ron and Hermione said at the same time.

“Well it’s mostly just Malfoy and Pansy, god I hate her, but stuff about mudbloods, blood traitors. The usual chatter.” She replied earnestly. She notices Ron and Hermione’s face changes and quickly says “Oh, I am so sorry, Slytherin has changed me. When I was in Gryffindor I was happy and-“

“You changed from Gryffindor to Slytherin?” Hermione cried, clearly shocked. We all are, it’s not every day you hear something like that.

“Umm.. I shouldn’t of said that, please don’t tell anyone.” She worried.

“We won’t but what happened?” I inquired, eager to hear more.

“Well I was in my first year and I was doing great but then my-“ She begun.

“Getting friendly with the rebels are you?” The familiar voice of Malfoy smirked. Lily turned around fast and saw him and Pansy stood there. I saw her fist clench when she looked at Pansy’s smug face. Hermione stifles a laugh; she must have seen what I saw.

“Don’t laugh at me like that you mudblood!” Lily yelled and slapped Hermione in the face. I heard Malfoy and Pansy snicker at Hermione’s reddening face as Lily spun back around. I stared at Hermione trying to make eye contact but she stared at the ground below her.

“Good one Lily.” Pansy bleated. I saw Lily’s ears turn crimson like Ron’s when he’s angry.

“Go to your dorms right now. Lily, we’re having a little ‘celebration’ down in the dungeons if you want to join?” Malfoy said. I could tell it was the first time Lily had been invited to a party.

“Ummm… sure.” She answered uncertainly.

“Come on then.” Malfoy laughed. “Pansy, accompany them back to their common room” He wrapped his arm around Lily’s waist and started walking away from us. Pansy stood facing them, seething in anger. She stormed towards us and ordered us to start walking. I turned around just to see Lily mouthing ‘help’ at us jokingly.

When we arrived at the common room, Pansy ran off immediately, presumably to get to that party.

“Hermione are you okay?” Ron blurted out straight away.

“I’m fine, it was a stage slap, and it didn’t hurt. Also she mouthed ‘I’m sorry.’ right before she did it.” Hermione told us.

 Lily did seem strange, she didn’t even tell us her last name. I really want to know the rest of that story she was telling us, how she managed to change to Slytherin. The school must have put some sort of charms on people to make them forget. I wonder if anything like that has happened before. We all sit in silence on the green armchairs staring into space.

“We should probably go to bed.” Hermione yawned. “We can still catch a two hours of sleep.”

“Better than nothing right?” Ron joked.

“Well, goodnight Hermione” I said.

“Goodnight Harry, night Ron.” She replied.

I drifted off into a nightmare. Ron was being tortured and there was nothing I could do about it. This nightmare was going to come true. But not if I talked to the imposter. Not if I convinced him to torture me instead.