CHAPTER 12 - IT'S TIME TO DUEL! 2

When the moon was high in the sky and all of his roommates were asleep, Andrew, Ron, and Harry got up and left the dormitory, luckily, it was still half an hour until midnight.

They were about to leave the Common Room when a voice called them from one of the armchairs, turning to see who it was, the light from a lamp came on and they could see a girl sitting in the armchair. It was Hermione, wearing a pink bathrobe and grow.

"I can't believe you guys are going to do that!"

Andrew could only look at her and blush, he didn't really listen to what she said because he got distracted seeing her appearance, this made him remember the time he entered his parent's room without permission to get his father wands, he wanted to practice some magic and couldn't wait for the time they said that they would teach him, this happened a year after awakening his magic, unfortunately, when he opened the cabinet and searched every corner and place he could, what he actually found was, his father old magazines inside a box... the only thing he could remember after taking a peek at a few of them, was actually him being scolded by his mother, his father was too ashamed to talk to him probably because of the magazines.

Later that day, his father went to talk to him about man and woman matters and said that he would only be allowed to look at those magazines when he turned 16... That was a weird day...

While Andrew was lost in his thoughts, Ron started to speak.

"You!" he said furiously. "Go back to bed!"

"I almost told your brother," Hermione snapped, "Percy — he's a prefect, he'd put a stop to this."

Even Harry started to get angry, he couldn't believe anyone could be so interfering.

"Come on." He said to Andrew and Ron. He pushed open the portrait of the Fat Lady and climbed through the hole.

Hermione wasn't going to give up that easily. She followed Andrew through the portrait hole, hissing at them like an angry beautiful girl, at least this was what Andrew was thinking. To the others, she was like those old aunts who would bother you all the time.

"Don't you care about Gryffindor, do you only care about yourselves, I don't want Slytherin to win the House Cup, and you'll lose all the points I got from Professor McGonagall for knowing about Switching Spells."

Harry and Ron only got more annoyed at her, but Andrew started to feel guilt, she was being sincere and was even trying to protect them from harming themselves, they may have not noticed, but Andrew could tell she was genuinely worried about them.

Before he could say anything Ron spoke.

"Go away."

Hermione looked at Andrew, to see if he had anything to say.

Seeing how she was looking at him he felt hopeless, sighing he said.

"Maybe we should return, there is no need to face Malfoy, let the fool wait the whole night for something that won't happen." He tried to reason with the others, but he wasn't going back if they decided to continue.

"No! We have to go and teach the bastard a lesson!" Ron replied bitterly.

Sighing, he could only apologize to Hermione.

"Humph, fine them, but I'm coming as well!"

"You are not!" Harry replied cooly.

"I want to see who's gonna stop me!" She hid behind Andrew and hold his hand.

They looked at him with a face that says, 'Seriously? You have to stand at our side at moments like this!'

However, he didn't really care about this, they were his good friends, but Hermione's friendship had more weight in his heart.

"She's coming, and I don't want to hear any other word on the subject."

"Fine!" They turned and went down the staircases.

But they stopped walking just a few seconds after starting, in the corner of the stair, Neville was laying down, fast asleep, but jerked suddenly awake as they crept nearer.

"Thank goodness you found me! I've been out here for hours, I couldn't remember the new password to get into bed."

"Keep your voice down, Neville. The password's 'pig snout'." Harry replied. "And how's your arm?"

"Fine," said Neville, showing them. "Madam Pomfrey mended it in about a minute."

"Good — well, look, Neville, we've got to be somewhere, we'll see you later," said Ron.

"Alright, thanks guys, I see you tomorrow," Neville replied and ran to Gryffindor's common room.

Sighing they were about to continue their way when Neville came back once again.

"What is it Neville, can't you see we're busy — "

"The fat lady isn't there! Please let me go with you, I don't want to see the Blood Baron again!"

Ron looked at his watch and then glared furiously at Hermione and Neville.

"If either of you, get us caught, I'll never rest until I've learned that Curse of the Bogies Quirrell told us about, and used it on you."

Hermione opened her mouth, perhaps to tell Ron exactly how to use the Curse of the Bogies, but seeing that Andrew's glare at Ron, made him scared, she decided to keep quiet.

Andrew took the lead and while still holding Hermione's hand, he guided them through the corridors striped with bars of moonlight from the high windows. Thankfully they didn't run into Filch or Mrs. Norris, They sped up a staircase to the third floor and tiptoed toward the trophy room.

Malfoy and Crabbe weren't there yet. The crystal trophy cases glimmered where the moonlight caught them. Cups, shields, plates, and statues winked silver and gold in the darkness. They edged along the walls, keeping their eyes on the doors at either end of the room. Harry took out his wand in case Malfoy leaped in and started at once. The minutes crept by.

"He's late, maybe he's chickened out," Ron whispered. Then a noise in the next room made them jump. Harry had only just raised his wand when they heard someone speak — and it wasn't Malfoy.

"Sniff around, my sweet, they might be lurking in a corner."

Harry and others were almost panicking, but before they could react, Andrew pointed his wand at them and said [Illusiont], he cast it once at them and them again on him.

The first thing they noticed was that they suddenly had the same colors as the place around them, they could perfectly blend with the scenery thanks to the dim light.

Andrew, then hiding behind one of the trophy cases, aimed at Mrs. Norris who entered the place first and cast silently, [Confundo], as the cat became disoriented, he made use of Filch's distraction and cast the spell on him as well.

Seeing it worked, he pointed at his friends again and after casting [Finite Incantatem] on them and on himself, he made a gesture for them to follow him. They scurried silently toward the door, away from Filch's voice. Neville's robes had barely whipped around the corner when they heard Filch enter the trophy room.

"Don't worry, they won't be capable of following us for some time, but we better run out of here, before the spell lose its effect, I didn't master it yet."

Nodding, they sprinted down the gallery full of suits of armors, a bit calmer thanks to Andrew, they swung around the doorpost and galloped down one corridor then another, Harry in the lead, without any idea where they were or where they were going — they ripped through a tapestry and found themselves in a hidden passageway, they went through it and came out near their Charms classroom, which they knew was miles from the trophy room.

"I think we're safe now," Andrew said while looking around, without even sweating.

Harry panted, leaning against the cold wall and wiping his forehead. Neville was bent double, wheezing and spluttering.

"I — told — you," Hermione gasped, clutching at the stitch in her chest, "I — told — you."

"We've got to get back to Gryffindor Tower," said Ron, "quickly as possible."

"Malfoy tricked you," Hermione said to them. "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."

They thought she was probably right, but they weren't going to tell her that.

"Let's go."

It wasn't going to be that simple. They hadn't gone more than a dozen paces when a doorknob rattled and something came shooting out of a classroom in front of them.

It was Peeves, the poltergeist. He caught sight of them and gave a squeal of delight.

"Shut up, Peeves — please — you'll get us thrown out."

Peeves cackled.

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

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

"Should tell Filch, I should," said Peeves in a sanity voice, but his eyes glittered wickedly. "It's for your own good, you know."

Ron was about to say something when Andrew interrupted him.

"Hey peeves I heard you like pranks, are you interested in doing one of the biggest pranks this school has ever seen?"

"Oh! And what prank would it be?" His eyes glittered as he spoke.

"That would be..." Andrew was almost saying something when suddenly he pointed at Peeves and shouted. "[Confundo]!"

"Run! The spell won't last long against him!"

Hearing his words they ran for their lives, right to the end of the corridor where they slammed into a door — and it was locked.

"This is it!" Ron moaned as they pushed helplessly at the door, "We're done for! This is the end!"

"Danmit! I didn't learn the spell to open locks yet!" said Andrew bitterly.

"Oh, move over," Hermione snarled. She grabbed Andrew's wand, tapped the lock, and whispered, "[Alohomora!]"

The lock clicked and the door swung open — they piled through it, shut it quickly, and pressed their ears against it, listening.

Soon after they heard Peeves.

"STUDENTS OUT OF BED!" Peeves bellowed, "STUDENTS OUT OF BED DOWN THE CHARMS CORRIDOR!"

A few moments later, they heard Filch's voice.

"Which way did they go, Peeves?" Filch was saying. "Quick, tell me."

"I-I that little monster, I don't know, I think, maybe..."

"Don't mess with me, Peeves, now where did they go?"

"I think they went to the dungeons?"

After hearing his words, Filch ran trying to catch up to the students. While Peeves just left, still unsure of what happened, he couldn't even remember properly how the students looked like, he only remembered that one of them had a face that resembles that of a rat and white-blond hair.

"I think we'll be okay — get off, Neville!" Neville had been tugging on the sleeve of Harry's bathrobe for the last minute.

"Andrew what was that! What are those spells? Where did you learn them?" said Ron, with awe in his eyes.

"Oh, that? Those are some of the spells my parents taught me, they always said I have to be prepared for a variety of situations, although I still have a lot to learn." He looked at Hermione after saying that, remembering the spell she used.

"Hey guys, isn't this the forbidden corridor?" Neville spoke with his voice trembling.

They weren't in a room, as they had supposed. They were in a corridor. The forbidden corridor on the third floor. And now they knew why it was forbidden. They were looking straight into the eyes of a monstrous dog, a dog that filled the whole space between ceiling and floor. It had three heads. Three pairs of rolling, mad eyes; three noses, twitching and quivering in their direction; three drooling mouths, saliva hanging in slippery ropes from yellowish fangs.

Andrew didn't even think as he opened the door, making them fell backward, and as fast as light he locked the door before the giant dog could react.

Panting, he looked at them and said.

"Why would anyone in plain conscience, let such a dog live inside a school filled with snacks — I mean, students!" Andrew's heart was beating at sound speed.

Without wasting any more time, they started to run again, but way slower, since Peeves and Filch were gone. They didn't stop running until they reached the portrait of the Fat Lady on the seventh floor.

"Where on earth have you all been?" she asked, looking at their bathrobes hanging off their shoulders and their flushed, sweaty faces.

"Never mind that — pig snout, pig snout," panted Harry, and the portrait swung forward. They scrambled into the common room and collapsed, trembling, into armchairs.

It was a while before any of them said anything. Neville, indeed, looked as if he would never speak anything again.

Hermione had got both her breath and her bad temper back again.

"You don't use your eyes, any of you, do you?" she snapped. "Didn't you see what it was standing on?"

"The floor?" Harry suggested. "I wasn't looking at its feet, I was too busy with its heads."

"In my defense, I was more worried he would try to attack us, or try to kill you, so I didn't even spare a glance before opening the door and locking it again."

"No, not the floor, and thank you, Andrew, we would probably be caught in a lot of trouble if it wasn't for you. The dog was standing on a trapdoor. It's obviously guarding something."

She stood up, glaring at them.

"I hope you're pleased with yourselves. We could all have been killed — or worse, expelled. Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to bed."

Ron stared after her, his mouth open.

"No, we don't mind," he said. "You'd think we dragged her along, wouldn't you?"

"All I know is that I'm too tired, see you tomorrow..." Andrew went to the dormitory and fell unconscious on his bed.