#Braveclemeintenovels

[braveclementine]

Chapter 7

Warnings: None, Readers under 18 can read this book. It is solely fluff- nothing sexual

Copyright: I do not own any Wizarding World characters that J.K. Rowling wrote. I do however own Elizabeth Kane (main character) and Trang Nyguen (best friend). There should be no use of these two names without my permission. I also do not condone any copying of this.

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𝕴 𝖜𝖊𝖓𝖙 𝖋𝖔𝖗 a walk that night, whether because I'd seen a vision of Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Neville going to the trophy room, or whether because I just wanted a walk, I wasn't entirely sure. Perhaps both.

I found myself in the trophy room long before them, around ten o'clock. I spent my time looking around at the different trophies. There were many here for names that I didn't know, though occasionally there was a name that might share the last name of a student at Hogwarts.

A few trophies were dedicated to Dumbledore. I'd heard that he had broken every record at Hogwarts. . .for different classes. I wasn't entirely sure what they pertained to though, and also wondered if I could break any records.

There were also Quidditch trophies, and I found Minerva McGonagall on a shield. So she'd been a Chaser? That was fascinating, and also rather unexpected. She didn't look like the type that might enjoy Quidditch.

There was also a special service trophy that was dedicated to a boy named Tom Riddle. The name seemed familiar, but I was sure I'd never heard it before.

Then, I heard quiet footsteps, and I crept into the shadows, slightly unsure of who was going to walk through the door- Filch or the group of four.

It was the group of four. Harry and Ronald looked excited. Hermione looked haughty. Neville looked scared.

"Hello." I said brightly, stepping out of the shadows.

The four of them jumped. Neville clutched onto Hermione and Hermione grabbed Ronald's arm for the briefest second before letting go quickly. Ronald rubbed his arm self-consciously.

"We ought to go." I muttered, quieter than I previously had. "Draco's not coming."

"How would you know?" Ronald asked, rather rudely I thought.

I rolled my eyes, but didn't answer as another voice floated through the room, "Sniff around, my sweet, they might be lurking in a corner."

I didn't hesitate, striding past the four of them, and out of the room. Harry and the others were soon following me. I wondered momentarily why I was willing to leave my own brother to face Filch's wrath, but I felt rather in a bad mood. Funny really, I was the one who had gone looking for them.

"This way!" Harry mouthed to us, leading the way. I felt more comfortable this way, following my brother. He was a natural leader, I could tell, even if he was only eleven.

I could hear Mr. Filch getting nearer, and my nerves seemed to tighten. Neville let out a noise of fright, something between a squeal and a groan, and tried to take off running. Honestly! He should know that him and his own feet weren't a good match. He tripped, grabbing Ronald around the waist so that the two of them crashed into a suit of armor.

I sighed, mostly in frustration, but it was inaudible over the clashing and crashing of the metal armor as it clattered against the marble ground.

"RUN!" Harry's voice made me jump, and I bolted in the same direction as them. Stupid really, I could've taken a different route and ended up at the Hufflepuff Common room, and away from this craziness.

We ducked through a tapestry, finding ourselves in the same hallway of the Charms classroom. I knew that the teachers had their bedrooms in their offices, and I lifted a finger to my lips as we caught our breath.

"I think we've lost him." Harry said, panting against the wall.

"I-told-you." Hermione said, clutching her stomach. I too had a stich in my side. "I- told- you."

"We've got to get back to Gryffindor Tower." Ronald said and then motioned to me with his hand. "The bloody hell are you going to do now?"

I raised a delicate eyebrow and said in a haughty tone, "I'm going to go back to my Hufflepuff common room, that's what I'm going to do."

Hermione ignored us, looking at Harry. "Malfoy tricked you. You realize that, don't you? He was never going to meet you- Filch knew someone was going to be in the trophy room, Malfoy must have tipped him off."

"Of course that's what he did." I said calmly. "You don't actually think he was going to duel you fairly and risk his own neck, did you?"

Harry said nothing about that and instead said, "Let's go."

However, Peeves decided to come out of a classroom doorknob at that moment. I sighed again. Tonight was going to be a long night. He let out a squeal of delight.

"Shut up, Peeves- please- you'll get us thrown out." Harry begged.

I rolled my eyes. We weren't going to get thrown out for being caught out of bed in the middle of the night, yeesh. We'd get a detention and maybe twenty points taken away and that was that.

"Wandering around at midnight, Ickle Firsties? Tut, tut, tut. Naughty, naughty, you'll get caughty." Peeves teased.

"Not if you don't give us away. Peeves, please." Harry begged.

Why was he begging with a poltergeist? They loved chaos. They feasted on chaos.

"Should tell Filch, I should. It's for your own good, you know." Peeves said, swining his body upside down, looking through his legs.

Ronald had reached the end of his tether, reaching up to take a swipe at Peeves, "Get out of the way."

I pinched the bridge of my nose. "STUDENTS OUT OF BED! STUDENTS OUT OF BED DOWN IN THE CHARMS CORRIDOR!"

We ducked under Peeves, and bolted for the end of the corridor for the door that was locked.

"This is it!" Ronald moaned, pushing helplessly at the door. "We're done for! This is the end!"

"Rather dramatic aren't you?" I muttered, raising my wand. "Move over. Alohomora!"

There was a clicking noise and the door swung up. We hurried in. I stayed as close to the wall as possible. I supposed this was a necessary part of the night, was it? Lovely. The others- excluding Neville- had their faces towards the door. I stared into the eyes of the three headed dog warily.

It had been asleep, it's head still on the floor, snoring. We'd taken it by surprise, probably the only reason we weren't being ripped into pieces yet. Now, it was blinking it's eyes open, startled about the sudden intrusion. Well, we might be ripped into pieces now.

"Hey, Hermione." I said rather weakly. She was closest to the door. I reached my hand along, groping along the wall, trying to find the doorknob.

"Shan't say nothing if you don't say please." Peeves was teasing Filch outside the door.

I'd much rather get a detention than die.

"All right- please." Filch said, sounding exasperated and desperate.

"NOTHING! Ha haaa! Told you I wouldn't say nothing if you didn't say please! Ha ha! Haaaaa!"

"Fuck you Peeves!" Filch screamed after him.

"Hermione!" I said more urgently, moving my hand behind me, searching for the doorknob as the dog started to get to its feet. I looked down just briefly at the trapdoor.

"He thinks this door is locked. I think we'll be okay- get off, Neville! What?" Harry asked and sounded exasperated, he turned to see what Neville wanted. My hand finally found the doorknob, and I thrusted the door open, and Neville and I bolted immediately.

It took a moment for Ronald, Hermione, and my brother to realize what was happening, but when they did, they sprinted from the room, Harry slamming the door shut behind him. I locked it with another tap of my wand, catching my breath.

The hell did Dumbledore have this door locked on a simple Alohomora charm? There should be a lot more spells on this door. Difficult spells, stuff only fully trained wizards could get into.

And then the other four were taking off, running back down the hall again, and without thinking, I followed.

We ended up at the Gryffindor common room. I shook my head, feeling rather desperate to get away from the craziness, and sprinted down a different hallway at that moment, ending up at the Hufflepuff Common room door. I knocked the pattern rather hurriedly and collapsed in a chair in the middle of the room.

It took some time to catch my breath and when I did, I was able to think clearly. The dog was obviously guarding something. . .but what?

As though in answer, there was a flash in my head and the image of the glistening ruby red stone on the stairs appeared.

Well, I supposed that was answer enough.

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𝕳𝖊𝖗𝖒𝖎𝖔𝖓𝖊 𝖜𝖆𝖘 𝖋𝖚𝖗𝖎𝖔𝖚𝖘 the next afternoon when we were studying in the library. I was working on a homework assignment for Astronomy. It was like trying to complete an English assignment when all you knew was French.

Hermione nearly slammed her books down and pulled out a chair rather angrily. Madam Pince's head popped up behind the checkout counter, glaring.

"Not such a good morning, Hermione?" I asked lightly, dipping my quill in the ink well and started to write the Astronomy essay

"Harry got a broomstick for breaking the rules!" Hermione seethed, having just a bit of difficulty lowering her voice. If she didn't hurry up and quiet down, Madam Pince was going to kick us out of the library. "Why was he rewarded for breaking the rules?"

"Because Professor McGonagall favors the Quidditch team. She wants to win and she hopes that Harry having a nice broom and being a good player will help. Not to mention that, well. . .he's Harry Potter, Hermione." I whispered quietly, pausing after writing the title of the essay.

I said this lightly in tone and heavy in heart.

"Whatever." Hermione scoffed. I ducked my head as she ranted. At least the Astronomy was becoming clearer.

At least we didn't get kicked out of the library.

.❤️.

𝕳𝖆𝖑𝖑𝖔𝖜𝖊𝖊𝖓 𝖒𝖔𝖗𝖓𝖎𝖓𝖌, 𝕴 woke up late, and had to run to make it to Charms on time. I sat in my customary seat on the left side of the classroom. It was the only class that all four houses had together. Ravenclaws and Gryffindors were on the right side, Slytherins and Hufflepuffs on the left.

I had stayed up late writing letters to Dad and Trang. I'd only written her two letters, and they took a long time to get to her. First, I had to send her letter to dad, who would then have to mail it through Muggle post. Then, it took forever for the letter to get to America, and then she had to write back, and then dad had to send it to me by Owl post since she thought I was at home.

We were working on the flight charm today in class, and we were split up into pairs. I got partnered with Susan Bones which I was happy about. Looking across the aisle, I saw that Hermione was paired with Ronald. She was probably really upset about that. No, not just upset. She looked absolutely pissed and had assumed her normal haughty expression. Perhaps they'd had a quarrel? Oh yes, right, the broomstick.

"Now, don't forget the nice wrist movement we've been practicing! Swish and flick, remember, swish and flick. And saying the magic words properly is very important too- never forget Wizard Baruffio, who said 's' instead of 'f' and found himself on the floor with a buffalo on his chest!" Professor Flitwick said, addressing the class.

I raised my wand and concentrated on imagining the feather rising into the air. Then, I practiced the wand movement without saying anything. "Wingardium Leviosa." I murmured to myself. I closed my eyes, making sure that my wand was in the correct position, and imagined the feather rising into the air once more.

"Wingardium Leviosa!" I cried, swishing and flicking. The feather lifted into the air like it was supposed to. I concentrated hard on letting it rise higher into the air.

"Well done," Professor Flitwick said, clapping. "Miss Kane has done it! Five points to Hufflepuff!"

I felt proud, my cheeks flushing because I hated recognition.

"You're saying it wrong!" Hermione snapped across the room. "It's Wing-gar-dium Levi-o-sa, make the 'gar' nice and long."

"You do it, then, if you're so clever." Ronald snarled and I frowned, feeling quite put off with his attitude. How rude, really. She was just trying to help.

I watched across the aisle as Hermione rolled up the sleeves of her Hogwarts robes, and then with a clean flick of her wand said, "Wingardium Leviosa!"

Her feather, like mine, floated upwards into the air and Professor Flitwick clapped his hands, delighted with her progress, chuckling, awarding her five points to Gryffindor. Ronald was in a horrible mood for the rest of class.

I gave Hermione a thumbs up, and then turned to Susan who was having some difficulty with the spell. At least she let me help her.

After class, I followed the other Hufflepuffs out of the classroom, and then ran to catch up with Hermione. She was nearing Ronald, Harry, Seamus, and Dean. I heard Ron say, "It's Levi-O-sa not levio-sa. She's a nightmare, honestly."

Hermione banged into Harry's shoulder as she passed. My blood boiled.

"I think she heard you." Harry said, quietly.

"So? She must've noticed she's got no friends." Ronald continued rather stupidly.

I ran up to him and kicked him in the back of his legs. He dropped his books. "Jerk. She's the brightest witch of her age, I notice you weren't able to make your feather fly. Lay off, will ya?" My words were childish, but I didn't say anything to take them back.

Ronald gold-fished mouthed as I stormed away from them, hoping to catch up with Hermione. I couldn't find her anywhere, and I couldn't continue to look for her because my next class was potions and Professor Snape was notorious for taking points away from late-comers. Unless they were Slytherins, of course.

I didn't see her for the rest of the day, and when I saw Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil walking into the Great Hall, I hurried up to them, knowing that they were Hermione's roommates. Surely, they knew where she was.

"Hey, have either of you seen Hermione Granger?" I asked, shifting from one foot to the other in anticipation.

They looked at each other with the air of two girls who loved to gossip. I already felt annoyed and neither of them had opened their mouths yet.

"She's been in the bathroom, crying all afternoon." Lavender said in a hushed whisper.

"That Ron made her really upset." Parvati said in a sad whisper.

"Thanks," I said, and dashed off towards my table. I grabbed a napkin and loaded it with muffins and cookies and stuffed it in my bag. I grabbed two flasks of pumpkin juice, and raced back out of the Great Hall, almost knocking over Professor Snape.

"Watch where you're going Kane!" He shouted after me, and I lifted a hand in acknowledgment, but didn't look back at him, and didn't say anything either.

I entered the girls bathroom and heard faint sniffling noise. "Hermione?" I asked, uncertainly, "Hey, do you want to come on out for a second? I brought food?"

The stall door clicked open, and Hermione came out, red-eyes. Her bag was tossed next to the wall. I handed her a muffin before sitting down on the floor, my back to the wall.

"You know," I said, munching on a cookie. "Before I came here, I only had three friends and eventually, three became one. One moved and one was much younger than me. I was in all advanced classes in the Muggle world, and people thought I was to smart and didn't want to be friends with me. I was a know-it-all, and a strange one at that for. . .for reasons. I don't have many friends here either." I thought about my wording. "Any super true friends anyways, besides you."

Hermione sniffled and took a bite of her muffin, sliding down the wall to sit next to me. "I just, well you said I was going to make friends over Halloween and I guess I just thought I could be friends with the great Harry Potter. Perhaps that was a bit selfish of me." She wiped her eyes and then we laughed.

I saw a flash of an image at that moment. It was an ugly creature- a troll. Professor Quirrell had let it into the school for some reason. I ignored the image, it didn't pertain to us.

"I don't think it's selfish." I said quietly, brushing my fingers together in an attempt to wipe away cookie crumbs. "I wanted to be friends with him too."

More than friends. I thought privately.

"How did you decide that it didn't matter?" Hermione asked, crumpling the muffin wrapper in her hand.

I stayed quiet for a moment before pulling out the flask of pumpkin juice. "I never really did." I finally whispered and took a sip. "but I knew, perhaps because I'm a little religious, but I knew that if it was in the cards, fate, destiny, whatever you want to call it- Harry and I would become friends eventually or not at all. But, really, I think there's a much higher probability for you becoming friends with them than me. But that's not really a personal opinion."

Suddenly I heard huge stomping feet and Hermione and I looked at each other. The troll, I thought, but I hadn't see the troll entering the bathroom. I stayed on the floor a little longer, trying to look into the future. This was so stupid! I stuffed the flask into my bag.

"Do you think that's Halloween entertainment?" Hermione asked. Her voice quavered with fright and she was cringing back against the wall, on her feet, squatting.

I didn't answer, concentrating on the image. The troll was going to come into this bathroom.

"We need to leave, now." I said, jumping to my feet, grabbing my bag, and hurrying to the door. I quickly backed up, running the other way. We were too late.

Hermione and I backed away towards the wall. "If we wait for it to come closer, we can climb under the stalls and get out the door." She said, thinking it through.

No, I thought, pulling my wand out though I knew no spells to fight the thing, Harry and Ron were going to lock us in. At that moment, I heard the key lock in the bathroom door.

The troll swung at us and both Hermione and I screamed. Glass shattered and water spattered from the broken sinks. We backed up as far as we possibly could. The troll kept shattering sinks. I held my wand out, thinking of any possible spell that would work against it. But we hadn't been taught offensive spells yet!

Harry and Ronald ran into the bathroom at that moment.

"Confuse it!" Harry said desperately to Ronald, and he bent down and seized a tap, and threw it hard against the wall.

The troll stopped a couple of feet away from us. It looked around slowly, trying to find the source of the noise. It then turned and went for Harry instead.

I had to admire my brother for a second. Stupid, but brave. You just had to like him.

"Oy, pea-brain!" Ronald yelled, throwing a metal pipe at the troll. The troll turned and went after him instead.

"Come on, run, run!" Harry shouted at Hermione and me. Hermione wouldn't move though, as I tugged her arm, looking over my shoulder at the troll. Hermione had pressed herself harder against the wall. Then her legs gave out, and she fell to the floor. The troll turned towards us and I hit the deck as it swung its club towards me. My chin glanced off the floor, and I hissed through my teeth at the pain.

Harry then took off running and fastened his arms around the troll's neck from behind. I watched in shock as his wand went up the Troll's nose and I winced in hypothetical pain. My hand shot up to grab my nose, rubbing it. The troll howled with real pain, twisting around, trying to get Harry off of his back.

Ronald suddenly pulled out his wand and shouted, "Wingardium Leviosa!"

The club flew out of the troll's hand and I looked at Ronald in surprise. Then it turned over and Ronald lowered his wand and it fell on the Troll's head. The troll fell on his face, stunned. Harry and I got to our feet. Hermione still wasn't able to. I wondered if she had gone into shock.

Then Hermione asked, "Is it- dead?"

"No." I answered, quite sure of my response.

"I think it's just been knocked out." Harry said, stepping over the wands arm. Harry pulled the wand out of the troll's nose and I looked away, disgusted.

There was a slamming noise and loud footsteps made us look up. I realized now, before I saw them, that Professors McGonagall, Snape, and Quirrell were going to come around the corner. Harry and Ronald had made a lot of noise, throwing things. Hermione and I had screamed as well. Quirrell took one look at the troll, gave what I thought was a fake whimper, and sat down on a toilet, clutching his heart. I stared at him incredulously.

Professor Snape bent over the Troll, and Professor McGonagall was looking at Ronald and Harry, her eyes shifting over to look at me. I wasn't looking at her, I was still trying to get Hermione to stand to her feet.

"What on earth were you thinking of?" Professor McGonagall asked. She looked furious, her thin lips pressed into a line and were white. "You're lucky you weren't killed. Why aren't you in your dormitory?"

Snape looked at Harry and then at me. I looked away.

Hermione finally struggled to her feet, "Please, Professor McGonagall- they were looking for me."

"Miss Granger!" Professor McGonagall said, sounding shocked.

"I went looking for the troll because I- I thought I could deal with it on my own- you know, because I've read all about them."

Ronald dropped his wand with a clatter, and I opened my mouth in shock. Hermione shot me a glance out of the corner of her eye and I snapped my mouth shut. "If they hadn't found me, I'd be dead now. Harry stuck his wand up its nose and Ronald knocked it out with its own club. They didn't have time to come and fetch anyone. It was about to finish me off when they arrived."

I wasn't shocked anymore, I should've seen this coming. I heard the echo of her story in my futuristic visions. To bad I had pushed the vision away earlier, trying to comfort Hermione.

Professor McGonagall was shocked, and it took her a moment to speak. "Well- in that case... Miss Granger, you foolish girl, how could you think of tackling a mountain troll on your own?"

Hermione hung her head. I noticed that Snape's leg was bleeding. I looked at it for a while. Then he swung his robe over to cover it. I looked up and met his gaze. I blushed, looking away. He'd been bitten by the three headed dog. Of that, I was sure. I shot a look at Quirrell and narrowed my eyes. I was sure Snape had tried to stop Quirrell from getting past the three-headed dog... but what did Quirrell want with it? Why hadn't I seen that in the visions? Because he hadn't gotten to it? Maybe I should pay the three-headed dog a visit. I glanced at Snape's covered leg again. Hmm, on second thought, the one occurrence had been enough.

Professor McGonagall said, "Miss Granger, five points will be taken from Gryffindor for this. I'm very disappointed in you. If you're not hurt at all, you'd better get off to Gryffindor tower. Students are finishing the feast in their houses."

Five points? Was that it? What about detention? I mean, of course I didn't want Hermione in trouble or anything but aren't Professors supposed to discourage dangerous occurrences? If only five points were taken away from me for doing anything- I'd probably do it again- depending on what it was.

Then again, Trolls probably wouldn't be let in again. Dumbledore would see to that.

Hermione left quickly, shooting me another, more obvious look.

"Miss Kane, what was your part in this story?" Professor McGonagall asked, her eyes seemed to penetrate into my soul.

I hesitated, unsure now. If only Hermione had shared the truth, I could've shared the truth! I went with something close enough.

"I was in here before the troll came. I didn't even know there was a troll until it came in the bathroom. I felt sick but I didn't think it was serious, and I ran from the Great Hall into here." I glanced over at Professor Snape at that moment. I'd practically run him down, he probably remembered. "I was right, it was nothing serious, so I'm fine, but when I tried leaving the bathroom, the troll was already here and well. . ." I drifted off, avoiding Harry and Ron's gaze.

Professor McGonagall nodded. "Is that cut the only place you're hurt?"

"What cut?" I asked, looking down. I looked in the mirror. There was a small cut above my eyebrow. How'd I been cut there? "Oh, it's fine." I self-consciously rubbed my chin where it'd glanced off the marble floor.

"I suggest you go back to your house common room then." Professor McGonagall said. I nodded, stepping past the troll and walking out of the bathroom. Professor Snape's eyes bore into my back. I felt chills run up my spine. I wish I hadn't had to of lied. I hated lying, even if I was good at it.

I went back to the common room where everyone was partying and having a good time. I slipped up to the dormitory and found Sadie waiting on my chair. I fed her pieces of Muffin while I tied Dad and Trang's letters to her leg.

I kissed the top of her head, and opened the dormitory window. "Safe flight." I said. I watched her take off into the night sky.

Hermione, Harry, and Ron would be friends this day forward. At least, that was what I saw for now. I dressed in blue pajamas, and I climbed into bed. As I rolled over, trying to fall asleep, I wondered where exactly I would fit in, and if Hermione and I would still be friends in the morning.

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