Chapter 24: Malfoy's plan

Disclaimer: 

Harry Potter and all of its characters belong to J.K Rowling.

I own nothing but the original characters I make.

"Dialogue"

'Thoughts'

$Parseltongue$

Chapter 24: Malfoy's plan

"What's the emergency?" 

"It's Neville. He got into another argument with Draco Malfoy and challenged him to a duel."

"Neville challenge Draco to a duel? a duel of magic?..." Harry looked at her with a dubious expression.

"Well… technically, it was Ron the one who suggested they have a duel, but that's not important, we have to stop them!" She looked desperate.

"Why? And what do you mean by 'we'?" He felt too tired to deal with this.

"Because, they are going to be breaking so many rules with this duel, and they could also be hurt " 

"Or expelled. " Harry added.

Hermione gasped at hearing the word.

"They could?!" She asked with dread in her voice.

"I was just joking Hemione. They will be fine, they'll get a detention at most. Let them duel if that's how they want to spend their time."

"But…but…" Hermione looked like she was about to cry.

"If you don't help me…who will?." She said with misty eyes.

'Oh, come on…' 

He sighed.

"Fine… I'll help you stop this duel. Don't cry."

Harry can't understand why she cares so much about Neville but he can't stand to see her sad. The girl had been like a sister to him, even if this wasn't the same Hermione he knew.

"You'll help me?!" She smiled.

"So, when is this…duel?" He said the last word with reluctance.

"Tonight at midnight, in the room of trophies." answered the girl.

He wanted to roll his eyes.

"Yes, that's the best place for a duel, lots of glass and irreplaceable awards everywhere. "

"I also thought it was a strange choice. It was Malfoy the one who suggested it and Ron quickly agreed."

"I doubt he is planning on showing…but fine."

He looked at the clock. It was nine o'clock, and the curfew had just started.

"I'll see you here in two and a half hours. I need a shower and some rest.

It was then that she noticed his current state.

"What have you been doing until this late? you are covered in sweat… and you missed dinner."

Harry walked away from her.

"Too tired to answer, I need a nap." 

She huffed in annoyance but said nothing.

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"What are you two doing here?" Ron pointed at Hermione and Harry, who were standing in front of the trophy room floor when they arrived.

"Did you come here to stop the duel?" Asked Neville.

"Yes, you need to stop this and come back to the common room before we all get caught and punished for being out after curfew, that's against the rules you know?!."

Answered Hermione.

"We know is against the rules, shut up!" Shouted Ron.

"You may wanna lower your voice." Said Harry.

"We are not supposed to be here, you know?" He added. This seemed to upset both Ron and Hermione.

Hermione wanted to stop them before they left the dorms at first, but Harry had convinced her to wait here instead. Claiming that nothing she would say could convince them not to come. But seemed that nothing she could say would convince them to go back either.

So Harry was basically stuck as a babysitter at this point.

"We will go back after we teach Malfoy a lesson!" Seamus exclaimed.

"You really think he is going to show up?" Harry decided to speak up. 

"If Malfoy truly wanted to duel Neville, why did he choose to do it a midnight, in a place where no one would see it? If he wanted to humiliate him, he would have chosen a time and place where plenty of people would be there to witness it. Doesn't he seem like the type who would do that?"

"That's true, Malfoy is very arrogant and always insults us when there are other students around to hear him." Admitted Neville.

"But why would he make us come here then? now we can tell everyone that he is a coward who never showed up to the duel." Said Ron with a smirk.

"To get you in detention." a girl's voice came from behind.

They all turned to get a look at the one who spoke and saw two girls approaching.

One of them was a girl with long brown hair who was looking around, clearly not very comfortable being there.

The other one was a blonde girl with striking blue eyes who walked with confidence and looked at them directly and with no hesitation.

Ron saw their green robes and frowned.

"What are you doing here, snakes? Where is Malfoy?"

"How dare you!, we even came here to help." The brown-haired girl exploded with anger.

"Stop, Tracey. Let me do the talking." Daphne glared calmly at the group. Her eyes stopped at Harry for a good second before moving to Neville.

"We overheard a conversation between Malfoy and some Slytherin boys. He was bragging about how he tricked you into breaking the curfew and how he gave Argus Filch a note, saying that some Gryffindor students were planning on sneaking in the trophy room at midnight for some prank," she explained.

"So, this was a trap then?" Realized Neville.

"Why should we believe you?, you could be working with Malfoy." Seamus looked at Daphne.

"I told you! we shouldn't have bothered with them!. Let's go back." Tracey pulled from her friend's robes.

"Look, we took a risk to come here to warn you…but if you refuse to believe my words, so be it." She turned around and started to walk away with Tracey quickly following.

"You can't go back that way. Filch is there already." Harry's warning was just loud enough for everyone to hear.

"What are you saying now?" Tracey glared at Harry with a frown.

"Oh no, let's go the other way!" Daphne said with urgency.

Tracey was going to question the reason for her decision but that was not necessary when they heard a loud hiss.

"That's Filch's cat!" Ron shouted.

They had several unpleasant encounters with the janitor and his mangy cat during the week. So it was easy for Ron to recognize the creature. Whenever that cat went, the man was only a few feet behind.

"Run!" Cried Seamus and the trio of boys started to run in the opposite direction to where the cat was.

Neville gave Harry and Hermione a quick glance and spoke a "come on" to the two of them.