Melanie Rosen Chamberson: Year 1 (A Harry Potter Fanfic)

Chapter 16 Troll!

Chapter 16

Troll!

For the next few weeks, I did not bring up Lenora’s incident with Pansy. She never mentioned it again either. The only sign that it ever happened was the Pansy now rarely spoke to Lenora or even me for that matter. I suppose that could be considered a good thing. Still, I wanted to ask Lenora more about what her father is like. Questions such as why people say these things about him yet clearly she still believes he is a good father. Also, what happened to her mother? Was she really a muggle, as Pansy once gossiped about? If that were the case, perhaps I could tell Lenora the truth about my parents and we could keep each other’s secrets together. My secret was really starting to become a burden. Slytherins kept asking me for details about what my father was like. All I had to go by was what Uncle Richard told me about him, which was not much. Fortunately since he died when I was only an infant, I could get away with my lack of knowledge.

Tonight just happened to be a big night at Hogwarts, Halloween. There was an extra grand feast in the Great Hall for us to attend. Both Aunt Becky and Mrs. Malfoy sent out various candies for us to enjoy. Since Lenora’s father did not send her any, I shared mine with her. She defended him by saying he was likely just overworked and forgot or did not have time. All I could do was smile and nod, not wanting to say anything negative about Mr. Lane. But then the more I thought on this, the more grateful I became that I was good friends with her rather than someone like Pansy. Lenora was the kind of the person devoted to her family no matter what. I admired that about her.

At the Slytherin table, I sat directly across from Draco and Crabbe, with Lenora on one side of me, and Goyle on the other, thankfully separating me from Pansy.

“So have you two had any luck getting into the forest?” Draco asked as he ate.

I shook my head. “No, that gamekeeper keeps catching us before we can get in.”

Draco snorted as Crabbe and Goyle both grunted in agreement. “Great big oaf! I don’t even see why he’s at Hogwarts in the first place. It’s not like he does anything important.”

I just shrugged. “I guess Hogwarts needs a keeper of keys.”

“Draco’s right,” Lenora chimed in. “We don’t need him here. Especially if all he does is stop us from going in the forest.”

“I bet I could sneak past him,” Draco boasted.

“Yeah, maybe next time we try, you can come with us,” I suggested, eagerly.

Lenora, however, chuckled. “Yeah right, Draco. You would be too scared to go in the forest.”

Draco pounded his fist on the table. “I most certainly would not. Nothing frightens me!”

At that very moment, there was a loud bang. Simultaneously, we all turned our heads to the door to see Professor Quirrell rushing down the tall, screaming, ‘Troll escaped from the dungeon’ at the top of his lungs before passing out. There was a brief moment of utter silence, before cries of panic filled the room. Despite Draco’s last comment, I’m pretty certain he was the first to start screaming.

As Dumbledore ordered us to remain calm and follow our prefects to our dormitories, Lenora looked at me eagerly. “Want to go see the troll?”

Beads of sweat formed on my head, my heart beating heavily, but I still managed a nod.

Draco just gaped at us, bewildered. “Are you two mental! That thing will smash both of you!”

“I thought nothing frightened you, Draco,” Lenora sneered before heading to one of the side doors to sneak off.