Chapter Six - Quidditch and Christmas

POV Jade/Hermione

Soon the first Quidditch match would start, and my mind wandered as I thought about what I was going to do, my portals were starting to become more decent, which I was grateful for, at this rate I hoped to perfect it this very month, maybe I would also practice the other lessons little by little, my next step, would be to enter the mirror dimension.

On the other hand, I'm not sure when it would be good to try to have a decent conversation with the future ferret, I was sure that right now the chances were slim, after all, he is still a child, even next year would still be too early, for now, I could postpone it to the third year.

After the troll incident, Snape was shown limping, and Harry and Ron were commenting that they wished he was in a lot of pain, still, the doubt of how he hurt his leg was haunting them, which would eventually bring them back to the Fluffy encounter. I indirectly sent the Quidditch Through the Ages book to Harry to read, I could see him reading the book when he could and he seemed somewhat interested.

I knew his training was intensive, so like Hermione in the book, I decided to help him with some laborious tasks, sending them to him anonymously, it took a load off his mind, that is if he wanted to know who was helping him, and he kept asking various classmates, investigating the identity of the person.

The only one aware of my actions was Neville, as he spent most of his time with me while I was writing both assignments and helping him with his own, as well as practicing basic incantation spells. Although I was also writing the second book of my saga at the time, it caught Neville's attention, but out of embarrassment, he has never asked about it until now.

Soon after Snape picked up the book from Harry, Harry went to retrieve it, listening to the interesting conversation of the three heads of Fluffy, as the conversation with Ron about Snape going to the forbidden zone for sure by Dumbledore which he warned about at the beginning of the term. Just wondering what a three-headed monster would do at Hogwarts.

Soon the Quidditch match arrived in the blink of an eye, I knew Harry would be nervous, but I wasn't worried, he would do well I had no doubt, Hagrid soon arrived sitting next to Ron, I was at the back next to Neville, I had to admit Lee Jordan added his touch by being a commentator for the Quidditch match, experiencing first hand the confusions of Dean comparing it to muggle football, plus seeing the twins and Wood at the match, gave more meaning to my excitement.

Harry was good, he had that necessary talent, and even though he was almost knocked off the broom by the foul made by Slytherin, it was formidable that he was still on it, Hooch wanted me to sign up for the team as well, but I flatly refused, I love flying, but I don't like being pushed or trying to dislodge myself on the spot.

It was then that my cue came, when Harry lost control of the broom completely it was my cue to go into action, I told Neville to wait for me, and it was then that Hagrid said that only dark magic could affect the brooms, I went down and hid under the stands appearing under the teacher's seats.

I could not help a mischievous laugh escaping from my mouth, though it was not heard by anyone, thanks to the attention being fixed on Harry, who was about to be knocked off his broom, I was not long in setting Snape on fire, and doing the same to Quirrell. Returning to my place, before I was discovered, I did not remove the fire, for it was amusing to see how they wanted to put it out until one of the teachers summoned an aguamenti.

Everything happened fast, so when I got to my position, Harry was already approaching the ground, Neville saw me with surprise, he had felt like crying, so he had gone to Hagrid's side, he saw me and calmed down, he called me to his side making the others ask where I had gone, to which I smiled.

.

  After that, right at the GC, Harry arrived along with Ron, they seemed to be rambling and whispering to each other, I stopped paying attention to them and concentrated on dinner, but it didn't last long, because I felt two presence behind me followed by a throat clearing, making me turn around.

- "Harry, Ronald," - I said with an awkward nod of greeting.

- "Hermione... we wanted to," - He tried to say until I interrupted him.

- "You wanted to, so you don't want to anymore?" - I said pointing out the mistake.

- "Well, we want to apologize to you, for what we did and what we said, it was wrong," - He said between nervous and uncomfortable, and then elbowed Ron.

- "Yeah, well, I'm sorry," - He said with resignation and regret. To which I nodded.

- "It's ok, no problem, I forgive you" - I said smiling, after that Neville came and sat down with us, having a more pleasant conversation.

.

Back in the common room, I was reading a book in the company of Percy, with whom I was talking more about the subject of studies and book recommendations to better understand the subjects. It was then that Harry and Ron arrived again and Percy left leaving us alone, it seemed that they wanted to talk about something specific.

- "Hermione... the truth is that I wanted to ask you directly if you were the person who sent me the homework and notes that I needed." - Asked Harry, to which my gaze strayed to Percy, who was glancing in our direction nervously, then I looked at Neville and he looked at me guiltily.

- "Well, that's a very direct question." - I said, massaging the bridge of my nose wearily - "I admit it was me, now that I've been caught."

- "But... you were angry with me, why help me?" - He said doubtfully, he couldn't understand what was going on.

- "I was helping you because you were struggling at Quidditch practice and you could hardly do anything... I don't dislike you, I wanted to help, even a little bit, I could do it, so I did it..." - I answered simply. - "Now it's my turn to ask, who told you?" - I asked the question firmly.

- "My brother Percy noticed that the parchment Harry received had your handwriting on it, there was only one way to check, so we asked Neville directly, he's the one you spend most of your day with, it wasn't hard to get him to admit it." - Ron explained, now that he was getting up the courage to speak, he didn't seem as out of place as when he first arrived.

My inquisitive look went to those two people, I felt exposed, coming up with an answer that still caused them doubts wasn't my thing, but I didn't see it coming, it was the most reasonable thing I could answer, because what else would I tell them 'it had to be like that, because it was written in the book?'

- "How did you know which subjects I needed help with?" - Harry asked.

- "I think it was obvious, you just need to observe people, although I'm still learning about it, I feel capable enough to identify certain aspects," - I said confidently.

- "That's scary," - Said Ronald with panic on his face.

'Dumb' - I thought more to myself, I knew that Harry and Ron had spoken to Hagrid earlier this afternoon, they must have mentioned the three-headed creature that bit Snape, Hagrid isn't very good at keeping quiet, so he must have blurted out the information very easily.

- "Hermione, by the way, do you know anything about Nicolas Flamel?" - He asked subtly.

- "I'm scary, aren't I?" - My inquisitive look went to Ron - "I think I heard about him, I just have to investigate to verify some things, don't worry, once I have the main information I'll give it to you" - I ended the conversation and headed to my bedroom.

.

  Soon winter came and Malfoy had become even more annoying than before, his unfunny jokes and his teasing of Harry were just a sign of the jealousy he felt because Harry had done so well in the game. Surely Snape had taken more points off Gryffindor because Ron fell for his provocations.

I would definitely have to raise those points, so my participation in class and activities helped me a lot, today I snuck into the library to find the book that had what I was looking for, and finding information about it, I had to wait for the holidays to pass, so I just took a picture and wrote down some necessary data, I was satisfied with the results so far.

The time came and I said goodbye to the boys, to leave for home, at least this first year I decided it should be like that, as I still had things to attend to, I sent the corresponding presents, sweets for Harry, Ron, and Neville, while I sent an anonymous gift to professor Dumbledore, a pair of wool socks, I still remembered how he told Harry about that, at Christmas he always received books and he mentioned that one never has enough socks.

It was obvious that this was not what he saw in the mirror of Oesed, but it didn't stop me from laughing at the fact that now I had given him that as a present. The funny thing was, I ended up getting presents from Neville, his granny, and his uncle, the last two thanking me for supporting Neville with his studies, as he came home happier and more cheerful than they expected.

By now Harry would have found the Mirror of Oesed, he would have the Invisibility Cloak in his possession and Ron would have been the voice of reason in my absence, by the end of the third night I was sure Harry had met Dumbledore, I used the last day of my holiday to progress the book, I was close to the end if I didn't think to add anything or take away any details.

I went to visit the publisher, receiving the news that my second story was a success, my readership increased exponentially, doubling the number of readers, we discussed some details to touch on the second publication, I was happy to be able to do something that was accepted, there were writers from the publisher who insisted on meeting me or went came there inspired by my stories.

That news made me nervous, I didn't know that they really wanted it so badly, but I wasn't ready to make myself known, especially for the fact that I was too young, maybe in the not-too-distant future, when the future war is over, since right now we were only in the eye of the hurricane, the hard part will be when Voldy has come back to life in the Triwizard Tournament.

Everything went smoothly, I only tasted some of the sweets that Neville and his family sent, the rest I saved for the right time, when it was time to go back, my parents gave me the choice of what I wanted to take, to which I answered that I wanted to take lemon candy. They bought me some bags to share with my friends, and so I set off back to school, where we would go after the last events of the year.

.

As expected, the boys didn't set out to find anything of Nicolas Flamel's on their own, they filled me in on the events and it wasn't until late that Neville made an appearance, making everyone in the room laugh because he had been hexed with the United Legs spell, I cast the counter spell helping him to stand up, so that he would come with us.

I asked him what had happened to him, even though I knew the answer, the boys started to give their opinions on whether to confront Malfoy or sentence him to McGonagall, I suggested, then Harry finally cheered him up and gave him the chocolate frog, where he had the information about Nicolas Flamel, while he said ecstatically what was on the chocolate frog card. Neville went upstairs to rest, so I could talk to them openly.

- "It's true, I found information about him in one of the books I bought," - I said, pulling out the sheet I had transcribed and printed out, which contained everything they needed to know.

They opened their eyes in surprise, it was then that they read what it said on the sheet about the alchemist and Dumbledore's friend, they began to comment that surely that was what was hidden and protected in the forbidden zone, I just nodded in agreement. Well, as fanciful and naïve as it sounds, it turned out to be true.

The next day in class they kept thinking about what they would do if they had the philosopher's stone in their possession, I just listened to them, and then Harry commented that he would play the Quidditch match where Snape would be the referee, I smiled satisfied with his decision, because it was just what I expected.

.

  Soon it was time for the game, I knew that Dumbledore's presence would reassure Harry, so I just encouraged him. When I walked away with Ron, everyone was excited, we sat next to Neville as the teams went out for the game, I was so excited because I knew Harry would break records that day.

It was then that Ron was pushed from behind by Malfoy, Hermione hadn't interfered because she was keeping an eye on Harry at the match, but as I knew what was going to happen, I had time to help.

- "Oh, sorry Weasley, I didn't see you." - He said as he smirked, giving Crabbe and Goyle a look.

- "Oh, at least you have some manners, don't you think so Ron?" - I commented as I looked at Malfoy mockingly.

- "You think your snide remarks affect me," - He said the last with an attempt at mockery, but he was already angry.

- "Malfoy, are you assuring me that you have no manners?" - At that, Ron sniggered and Neville smirked.

- "I think they select the Gryffindors in that house because they're people they feel sorry for." - I rolled my eyes and he decided to continue, - "For example, there's Potter, who doesn't have parents, then the Weasleys, who don't have any money, then you?" - He said looking at Neville. - Longbottom, who has no brains, and you?" - Before he finished his speech I interrupted him.

- "Creative comment, but that just implies that you haven't read anything regarding your school Malfoy, which says a lot about you, being a puritan who brags about his knowledge of the magical world."

- "Hermione's right, besides, I'm worth twelve as much as you are, Malfoy," - Said a determined Neville.

Although Draco and his idiots burst out laughing, she knew their enjoyment wouldn't last.

- "That's the spirit, Neville," - Said Ron proudly of Neville.

- "Longbottom, if your brains were made of gold, you'd be poorer than the Weasleys, I'll tell you that much," - He said mockingly.

- "I'm warning you, Malfoy... one more word and..." - Ron was saying, only to be interrupted by the attention that went straight to the pitch, where Harry was flying fast across the pitch.

- "You're lucky, Weasley, Potter's seen a coin in the field," - Said Malfoy.

At that, he saw me and I nodded, giving the green light for violence, Ron launched himself at Malfoy, before he knew what was happening, knocking him to the ground on the spot. Crabbe and Goyle were about to jump in, Neville hesitated a bit, but in the end, launched himself at them, I rolled up my sleeves, to proceed to put on my gloves and when Goyle was on his feet about to kick Neville, I knocked him out with a punch.

I did the same to Crabbe when he got up and turned Neville around, hitting him in the back of the head; I decided to stay out of his way, after all, Malfoy would have a wonderful bruise to admire tomorrow. In the end, Harry won just as I had hoped, breaking the record and moving us into first place.

Now it was time, after the celebration and Harry had changed, he would meet Snape and Quirrell, and overhear the conversation, making him even more suspicious of Snape.

When Harry arrived, he recounted all he had heard of the talk between Quirrell and Snape, assuring him of the existence of the philosopher's stone within Hogwarts, and that, as far as he understood, Quirrell was preventing Snape from getting to the stone.

I refrained from commenting, I knew Snape wasn't trying to steal it, but rather, to protect it, but I still couldn't reveal that information, besides I would be sent crazy with everything they had discovered on their own these days, not to mention that Snape's attitude didn't help much to refute their suspicions, even so, Harry seemed to expect a comment from me, which wouldn't come so easily.