FicWad

Chapter 2

I was up early and waiting in the common room. Monday would be a big day for us, being the first day of classes, but there were also plans to be made. Important plans! Questing plans!

"Hullo, Harry," Neville mumbled, stopping beside my sofa. "Going to breakfast?"

"Not yet - you go on," I nodded him toward the portrait hole.

"You waiting for Hermione?" he asked hesitantly.

"Yeah."

"I can wait with you..." he offered.

"Alright," I shrugged.

He stood there beside the end of the sofa, probably wondering whether he should sit down or not. He was still debating with himself when Ron Weasley came rushing down the stairs, all smiles.

Ron was still not getting it. We were not best friends!

"Hey, mate! Thanks for waiting! Let's go before everything's gone!" Ron said in a rush, hurrying off toward the exit. "Um - are you coming?" he paused when he realized I hadn't moved.

"Not yet - you run along," I waved him away.

"How about you, Nev?" Ron asked. "Coming?"

"Um..." Longbottom looked back and forth between Ron and me. "D'you think she'll be long?" he asked.

"No telling," I shrugged.

"Come on! Let's go! " Ron called impatiently.

"Okay," Neville made his decision and trotted off behind Weasley.


I'd waited for nearly another hour when Janie finally made her appearance.

"Your hair looks as though you just woke up," I noted without any hint of humor in my voice.

"I did," she blushed, attempting unsuccessfully to comb out the tangles with her fingers. "What time is breakfast over?"

"Thirty minutes," I replied. "Let's go."

"How long have you been waiting here?"

"Since just after seven," I told her as I went through the portrait hole and held the Fat Lady's frame open for her. Janie followed me out into the seventh floor corridor.

"Thanks," she gave me an apologetic smile. "Sorry I kept you waiting..."

"You stayed up late reading The Book, didn't you."

"Yes," she admitted, her eyes downcast.

"Janie..." I sighed, shaking my head slowly as I considered what I could say to her without sounding mean. She was an ally, after all.

At the sound of my new nickname for her, her face jerked up to look at me, her eyes suddenly alight. "Yes, Jamie?" she smiled.

"You have to pace yourself," I warned, trying to keep a stern face. It didn't work - not with the delight in her eyes so obvious.

"I'll pace myself later!" she grinned. "After breakfast!" With that, she took off running down the corridor. "Come on!" she called over her shoulder. "We don't want to be late!"

Reluctantly, I ran after her.

This was certainly a different Hermione Granger than I'd met on the Hogwarts Express, I reflected as we waited for the staircase to swing over to our landing. Yesterday on the train, and then later during the Sorting and dinner, she had been a bit bossy and sort of a know-it-all. I could tell that was merely her defense to protect a fragile ego. The girl was unsure of herself and that was her protective shell. My cousin Dudley was that way - fragile ego and all that - but his defense was to bluster and bully.

This morning, though, Hermione Granger was different - very different. She was much less formal and aloof. Laughing? Joking? Running in the corridor? What had changed her overnight?

Then it dawned on me: she'd read The Book!

If I were to be honest with myself - and I'm not admitting that I do this on a regular basis - I would have to confess that I, also, had gained quite a bit of self-confidence after reading The Book. There's just something about knowing that there's a way that everything can work itself out in the end that tends to keep one's insecurities at bay.

I had been nervous about my ability to convince Hermione to join me as an ally. When she called me 'Jamie' I knew that my goal was 'mission accomplished.' I think my calling her 'Janie' told her the same thing - we would be allies, through thick and thin. Life is so much easier when you have a true friend.

No wonder she was so enthusiastic about her new situation - magic, new school and everything. It was new and strange for her and I'm sure it was just as intimidating as it would have been for me if I'd not read The Book. Now Hermione had read The Book, too, and the pressure was off. She knew she had a friend - me!


Janie and I slowed to a brisk walk as we entered the Great Hall.

"Miss Granger? Mister Potter?" a voice called from the High Table. Professor McGonagall was waving us over. "Had you two been here at a decent hour, I wouldn't have to call you up here," she scolded. "Here are your timetables. Do not be tardy for your classes."

"No, ma'am," we chorused, then made our way to the Gryffindor table, which was by now almost deserted. We picked two unused seats near some half-emptied food platters and filled our plates.

"Did you find anything interesting in The Book?" I made conversation as we rushed through our breakfasts.

"Um-hum," Janie nodded, hastily swallowing a large bite of scrambled eggs. "Loads!" she added, reaching for her pumpkin juice. "It told me what I have to do to get perfect marks!" she said quickly before taking a long gulp.

"Wait! It what!?" I held off biting the sausage I'd stabbed with my fork as I turned to her in surprise. "I read the entire book - three times over - and I don't recall anything about studying or getting good marks."

"It was right near the beginning," she insisted, spearing a sausage of her own and devouring the whole thing in one go.

"You'll have to show me," I frowned in confusion.

"Not here," she said, looking around. "Too many witnesses."

"Do you have it with you?" I asked.

"Of course, Jamie!" she rolled her eyes before scooping up another fork-full of scrambled eggs and inelegantly shoveling them into her mouth.

"Janie, you're eating like a pig!" I laughed.

"Oink-oink!" she replied. "Eat up! We're in a hurry!"


We barely made it to Charms on time. Professor Flitwick's classrooms were on the fifth floor and the moving staircases did their utmost to delay us. The first Charms lesson was all about wands - how they work and why they work.

"Liberabo! " Janie quietly touched her wand to mine and it gave off a faint white glow. "Now you do mine," she set her wand on the desk and nodded to it.

"What?" I whispered back.

"Liberabo. It liberates the wand - it removes the Ministry trace. Do it." She nodded to her wand again.

"Liberabo! " I touched her wand with mine and repeated the spell quietly, not wanting to get in trouble with Professor Flitwick during our very first class. Janie's wand glowed white for a moment, then faded, just as mine had done.

"Thanks," she smiled over at me.

"If everyone is ready..." I looked up to find Professor Flitwick's frown directed at the two of us, "... we will all perform the Lumos charm. Together, please..."

"Lumos! " we all said in unison.

As I looked around at the glowing wand tips, I noted that Janie's and mine glowed noticeably brighter than the others.

Professor Flitwick noticed, too. "Very good! Very good, indeed! Three points to Gryffindor - for each of you!" he smiled happily. "Mister Longbottom..." the tiny professor frowned once more and turned his attention to Neville, whose wand was not glowing at all.

"Bloody show off!" Ron Weasley muttered from Janie's other side, leaning around his partner, Seamus Finnigan, to do so.

We both turned to glare at him.

"Not you, mate!" he quickly assured me. "Her!" he nodded at Janie.

"That will be five points from Gryffindor, Mister Weasley," Professor Flitwick turned from helping Neville. Ron's ears turned red - whether from embarrassment or anger, I could not say.

"Nox, " Janie said, extinguishing her wand when Flitwick had moved on. "That's why I wanted to remove the trace," she explained in a whisper. "It uses some of the magic from your spell to power the trace. It's hard to earn good marks when your wand's not at full power."

"How did you figure that out from what Flitwick said?" I asked, in awe of this girl's intellect.

"I didn't!" she whispered, glancing around us furtively. "It was in The Book."

Okay - there was something seriously weird going on, here! I definitely would have noticed a warning about something that sapped our wands' energy.

"Where?" I demanded.

"It's a cheat code in the section on earning top marks, of course! You can't expect to get perfect grades with a shackled wand! Jamie, are you sure you read the book all the way through and didn't simply skim it?"

"There was no such section!" I hissed in protest.

"I'll show you after class," she said, setting her hand on my forearm to calm me.

Flitwick assigned us six inches of parchment on describing how a wand converts magic into light, then we headed off to Transfiguration.

"Six inches!" Weasley complained loudly once we were out in the corridor. "How am I supposed to write six inches?"

"Write large, Ron," Janie answered his rhetorical question. He didn't catch the double entendre.

"Bloody know-it-all!" the red-head turned to snap at her.

"May I quote you on that when you come to me for help, later?" she smirked right back at him.

Weasley rolled his eyes in disgust before turning around to discuss his plight with Seamus Finnigan.

Janie and I ran all the way to Transfiguration, arriving early and claiming a table in the back. Janie pulled out The Book from her bag. She'd fashioned a cover for it from a plain sheet of parchment and had written "Class Notes" on the front and on the spine.

"Here," she opened The Book, flipped to page twenty-eight, and pointed to the section on 'Quidditch: Winning the Game as Seeker.'

"That's about Quidditch!" I looked over at her in confusion.

"Jamie," she sighed as if I were purposely trying her patience, "What does this say?" she pointed to the section heading.

"'Quidditch: Winning the Game as Seeker,'" I read it to her verbatim.

"What!?" she looked at me oddly. "It reads, 'Maintaining the Top Class Ranking.'"

There was no mistaking where she was pointing as she moved her index finger along under the words as she read.

"Really!?" I stared at the page. "That's what you see!?"

"What do you see?" she asked warily.

"Quidditch: Winning the Game as Seeker," I moved my index finger under the words as I read them, just so there would be no doubt.

"Okay! That's pretty weird!"

"I'll say!" I agreed.

"We'll have to discuss this later," Janie decided, closing The Book and tucking it back into her bag as a group of students entered the classroom.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-


"Where did you get this book, Harry?" Janie eyed me suspiciously. We were tucked away in a corner of the Gryffindor common room while everyone else had gone off to lunch.

"I prefer that you call me 'Jamie,'" I told her.

"Alright," she blushed. "Jamie - where did you get this book?"

"If you must know, Janie, I found it in the used books section of Flourish & Blotts in Diagon Alley."

"Really!? I was expecting you to name someplace in Knockturn Alley," she frowned. "I suspect the book is bewitched."

"Bewitched? How?"

"Here - read this to me," she pointed to a topic heading.

"The Ginny Weasley Strategy," I obliged her.

"When I read it, is says, 'The Ron Weasley Strategy,'" she looked up at me. "What about this?" she flipped several pages ahead and pointed.

"The Hermione Granger Strategy?" I blushed, recalling what that section said about our future dating prospects.

"And I see 'The Harry Potter Strategy' instead," she insisted, with a considerable blush of her own.

"You mean...?"

"Yes, I think so..."

"So if someone else...?"

"Exactly!" Janie nodded.

"Wow!" I stopped to ponder the ramifications. The Book was charmed! It seemed to be personalized for whomever happened to be reading it at the time! "So if we read a page together..."

"We'd each read our own specific version," Janie nodded. "But if The Book fell into someone else's hands," she warned, "Quirrell, for example..."

"They'd know exactly what to do against us! So what names are listed as enemies for you?" I asked.

"Malfoy, Snape, Quirrell, Ron Weasley..."

"Really!? Ron Weasley?" I interrupted.

"Yes, since I've chosen the 'Harry Potter Strategy' - or rather, I've had it chosen for me." Janie's blush increased several orders of magnitude at this revelation. "Had I picked the 'Ron Weasley Strategy' he would have been an ally. You both would have been."

"How do you mean a strategy was chosen for you?" I asked, unsure whether I wanted to hear the answer. This sounded suspiciously like Fate was getting her scheming hand involved in my quest!

"When I encountered Neville on the Hogwarts Express, you were already sitting with him. The Book says that in order to make the Ron Weasley Strategy work well, I would have had to discover Neville sitting alone in the compartment. The two of us would then go seek you and Ron in another carriage, using the excuse that Neville had lost his toad. If I found you sitting with Neville, then the Harry Potter Strategy was really my best choice - the Ron Weasley one would be nearly impossible."

"Yeah, The Book said that the Ron Weasley Strategy wouldn't work well for me, either. My only reasonable choices were you or Ginny Weasley," I confessed.

"Why did you pick me, then?"

"You were the more complicated option - I like a challenge," I shrugged as if it were no big deal.

"Really!!?" Janie's grin shot straight off the Grin-O-Meter dial!

"And I'd never get to be my real self around the Weasley family, I figured."

"Nor would I, I'm fairly certain," she nodded in agreement. "They seem to expect a certain degree of conformity, don't they?"

"That's what my version implied," I nodded to The Book. "Ron might not have called you on scarfing down your breakfast this morning, but the rest of them would have."

"I seem to recall that you mentioned something, Mister Potter..." she raised her eyebrows.

"I was only teasing you. I thought it was funny, actually," I replied honestly.

"Really?"

"Yeah - it takes the pressure off me, you know? I've always been told that I'm a freak - I don't have to hide it if you're a freak, too."

"I've always felt that I'm a little weird, too," Janie admitted. "So you don't care if I'm weird as long as you can be weird, also?" she gave me a measuring look.

"Yeah - that sounds about right," I nodded, then in a moment of inspiration, I leaned forward quickly and licked her cheek! Just like a big, old, wet, sloppy doggie-kiss.

"Potter!!" she yelled - after about three seconds of sitting there, gaping at me in shock.

"What?" I asked innocently.

"You...!!!" Her expression turned suddenly predatory and she lunged at me, licking my face anywhere and everywhere she could manage.

Her assault lasted for maybe five or ten seconds before we were both laughing hysterically and she had to abandon her attack.

"Ready to go to lunch?" I asked once we'd caught our breath.

"Aren't you going to wash your face, first?"

"You already washed it for me!" I laughed. "Let's go!"


We waltzed into the Great Hall wearing identical grins. Janie's hair was sill a mess - as was mine, but mine's chronic - and my face felt as though I'd just served as the volunteer practice victim at a Saint Bernard rescue training school. The two of us were drawing stares from all directions. As we approached two empty places at the Gryffindor table, it became obvious that all eyes were on our hands, not our heads.

I didn't have to offer my hand to assist Janie in climbing over the wooden bench - I was already holding it!

"Oops!" I glanced at our joined hands.

Janie dismissed it with a shrug as she swung a leg over the bench.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-


Thursday afternoon was our first flying lesson. There was a problem: no Draco Malfoy.

The Book had led me through the scenario and with proper execution I would be invited to join the Gryffindor Quidditch team - the youngest player in a century. Without Malfoy there, however, there was no excuse for me to give my awesome flying exhibition, and therefore no Quidditch in my immediate future.

"I see this as a good thing, Jamie," Janie assured me. "Without Quidditch practices, we'll have more time to figure out the important stuff. Besides, look at all the things you would have to do just to stay out of the infirmary. Quidditch is a very dangerous sport!"

"I guess," I sighed as we trudged out to the grounds for our first broom flying lesson.

Janie smiled brightly and took my hand.

We typically refrained from holding hands unless we were feeling exceptionally happy about something. At those times we'd swing our joined hands in an exaggerated arc - back and forth and even over our heads. It wasn't a romantic thing - like we were boyfriend and girlfriend or anything. We were just friends.

Good friends!

And allies!

"Neville!" I shouted when the boy showed up. "Over here! Between Hermione and me!" I pointed to the broom we'd reserved for him.

"I d-don't know about this..." Neville stammered as he took his place in line.

"Then maybe you should pass on the brooms," I shrugged. It might save him a visit to Madam Pomfrey, and since I was no longer in the running for a spot in the Quidditch team...

"B-but flying lessons are mandatory for first-years," Longbottom insisted.

"It'll be fine, Neville," Janie assured him. "Harry and I will be on either side of you."

"Brooms up!" Madam Hooch ordered. Once all of the brooms were in hand, she called out, "Mount!" I waited tensely for her next command: "Hover!"

"Neville!!" Janie screamed, but to no avail.

Sure enough, Longbottom shot straight up into the air, almost dragging both of us with him! Despite Madam Hooch's cushioning spell, he managed to land badly, fracturing his wrist. Janie and I were both dumped off our brooms from trying to hold Neville's down, but we were mostly unhurt.

"We tried," Janie sighed as she sat there in the grass rubbing her bruised knee and awaiting our flying instructor's return.

"Hey, mate!" Ron called to me as he flew over and hovered his broom about ten feet away. We were still best mates - in his opinion, at least. "Come on! Grab your broom and I'll show you some maneuvers!"

"Ron!" Janie rounded on him, standing up and placing her fists on her hips. "Madam Hooch said..."

"Well she's not here, is she?" Ron cut Janie off with a jealous sneer.

I was beginning to think that was it - he was jealous of my instant friendship with Janie. This situation could eventually get ugly, I feared. Ron wanted to be best mates with The Boy Who Lived and Janie had beaten him to it! Too bad! He was now on Janie's enemies list, which, as her ally, automatically put him on mine.

"C'mon mate! It'll only take a minute," Ron turned back to me. "Hooch'll never know."

I glanced over at Janie, who furrowed her eyebrows and gave me a slight shake of her head. I'm sure Ron noticed it.

"I'll watch you from here, Ron," I replied, "but if you get expelled, don't say you weren't warned."

Weasley frowned and sent a dirty look at Janie, but refused to dismount from his broom. I was getting nervous. I'd already disrupted the game's story line by dispatching Malfoy early on. If Ron were expelled, then where would we be?

"Granger!" Weasley turned to my ally. "Harry's my friend, not yours - and your attitude is rubbing off on him! You're a real pain in the arse!"

"Ron, I suspect that any rectal discomfort you may be feeling is a direct result of having your own head wedged there," she smiled back pleasantly.

Weasley's ears turned red as the Slytherins and Ravenclaws laughed. The Hufflepuffs seemed embarrassed and the Gryffindors waited eagerly for Ron's response.

"At least I'm not a swotty know-it-all!" he shouted.

"No, Ron, you're not! We're in complete agreement on that," Janie continued smiling.

There was more laughter from the Slytherins and Ravenclaws. Even the Hufflepuffs snickered a little. So did the Gryffindors.

Ron was getting flustered. His mouth retorted before his brain could stop it. "Just leave Harry alone! You may think you're his friend, but you're not! Why would he want to be friends with you anyway? He's the Boy-Who-Lived and you're just an unknown Mudblood!" he yelled in frustration.

Her smile remaining in place, Janie took three quick steps to where Ron was still hovering astride his broom. With both hands gripping the handle for balance, he was unable to block her blow as her right hand came up and slapped his face - hard! She stood there waiting for him to respond, her smile replaced by a ferocious glare, her eyebrows almost touching each other.

"Whoa!" came a collective gasp from the Slytherins - and from other Houses as well.

"Y-you can't hit a Pureblood like that, Granger!" Weasley shouted when he had finally regained the power of speech, although his words were not helping his cause any. "The Weasleys may not be rich, but we are a very proud, old wizarding family. I could challenge you to a Wizards' Duel for striking me!" he blurted out.

"Then do it!" she called his bluff.

Weasley now looked around in a panic. The eyes of the first-years from every House were upon him. He couldn't very well back down. Janie was not only Muggleborn, but a girl!

"Alright! I challenge Granger to a Wizards' Duel and claim my best mate, Harry Potter, as my second!" Ron shouted for all to hear.

I pulled out my wand as I walked over to take up a position behind Weasley, who was still bobbing there unsteadily astride his broomstick.

Janie narrowed her eyes at me, silently asking for an explanation for my betrayal. My eyes, in turn, flicked several times in the direction of the Whomping Willow. Her features relaxed as comprehension dawned and she drew her wand.

Perhaps sensing that he was in fact about to have a duel on his hands, Ron drew his wand. The rickety school broom pitched sideways, bumping against my leg as he did so, since he was now trying to steady it with only one hand. That seemed to me like the perfect opportunity.

"Incendio, " I muttered, casually letting my wand tip touch the bristles of Weasley's broom before I backed away.

I'd only read of the spell in our Charms book - never actually practiced it. At such close range and with my liberated wand, it didn't matter, however. My spell produced only a small flame, but it was enough. The broom's bristles were like dry tinder.

"Hey!" Ron shouted as the old Oakenshaft bucked and then began to veer upward and to the left.

"Wingardium Leviosa! " Janie's wand movement was barely perceptible but her concentration was impeccable!

Trailing smoke behind, Weasley's broomstick corkscrewed into the air as he tried to hold on with one hand while waving his wand madly about with the other. His efforts only managed to fan the flames and catch his own trailing robes on fire, as Janie's levitation spell sent him in a long spiraling arc toward the Whomping Willow. Ron and the broom crashed into the branches, which reacted instantly in self-defense, trying to beat out the flames before the tree itself was set alight.

"You killed him!" I mouthed to Janie.

"Please don't tell anyone," Janie mouthed back, her eyes teasing.

"I hope this isn't going to become a habit, Janie, " I whispered, my words masked by the screams of the first-years who were running toward the Whomping Willow in hopes of rescuing Ron - or in the case of the Slytherins, rescuing the broom.

From my vantage point, it looked like both were beyond saving.


It was almost a minute later that a professor came running out of the castle, wand in hand.

The Whomping Willow was still waving its branches, although not as furiously as before. The splintered remains of the broomstick lay on the ground underneath, still smoldering slightly. Ron's charred and tattered robes were caught on a branch and his broken body was still being battered by nearby tree limbs. At least the flames had been extinguished.

Keeping a safe distance, a semi-circle of first-years stood gaping at the gruesome sight, Janie and I among them.

"What happened here!? Where is Madam Hooch? Who is that up there? Diffindo! Wingardium Leviosa! " Professor McGonagall called as she approached the scene, firing off questions and spells with startling speed. She cut Weasley's robes free and guided his body out of reach of the Whomping Willow, although the vicious tree got in several parting licks during the process.

"Who is that!?" the panicked professor stared at the burned, bloody and broken body on the ground, now lying just out of reach of the tree.

"Weasley," someone muttered. I think it was a Ravenclaw.

"Ronald Weasley!? Oh Merlin!" the normally composed woman gasped, running over to what was left of the red-head. She sent off a silvery spell in the direction of the castle and knelt on the ground in front of what used to be Ron Weasley.

Madam Pomfrey arrived seconds later, chauffeured by Madam Hooch and her broom. The medi-witch waved her wand over the body, then shaking her head, she placed a sympathetic hand on the shoulder of the distraught Professor McGonagall.

"What happened here!??" yelled an irate Madam Hooch once she'd fully taken in the scene.

"Weasley thought he knew how to fly!" came a response from the huddle of Slytherins.

"You!" Hooch pointed her wand at the nearest Hufflepuff. "Tell me exactly what happened, starting from the moment I left with Longbottom!"

Hooch's job was on the line and she knew it.

It was several minutes before the story could be pieced together. It seemed that everyone had a slightly different opinion when it came to the details, but they all agreed on the gist of it: Ron Weasley had defied Hooch's orders and started flying his broom. Granger had reprimanded him and he called her a Mudblood. She struck him and he challenged her to a duel, naming me as his second.

As Weasley's best friend - and trusted dueling second - I sadly confirmed that Ron's broom had started moving erratically when he drew his wand against Granger, then it caught fire and zoomed off. Granger tried in vain to levitate him safely away from the flaming, out-of-control broomstick before it eventually crashed into the Whomping Willow.

"Granger kept trying to save him, Madam Hooch," I sighed sadly, "but Ron was moving too fast and he was out of range and besides, we're only first-years."

For her part, Janie just stood there silently, a vacant look in her eyes, pretending to be in shock.

"Poppy!" Madam Hooch called Madam Pomfrey over. "This one needs your attention," she nodded to Janie.

"Yes - I think quite a few Calming Draughts are in order," the medi-witch nodded. "May I use your broom?"

She returned from the castle several minutes later, levitating her potions cart behind her as she flew.

We were all feeling a little loopy from the Calming Draughts as we walked back to the castle. We were supposed to go directly to our dorm rooms and lie down for two hours, but Janie and I hung back from the group of Gryffindors, then peeled off at the third floor as they continued to climb the stairs. We found an unused classroom in the forbidden corridor on the right-hand side. No one else would dare venture there.

"You were amazing, Janie," I gave her a smile of admiration.

"You, too, Jamie," she smiled back. "You're a very accomplished liar."

"I've had to be, living with the Dursleys and all."

"For a minute I thought you had turned against me out there," she said. "Sorry for doubting you."

"We're allies - and friends!" I grinned.

"And accomplices!" she nodded. "Thanks for covering for me. Weasley was my enemy, according to my version of The Book - just as Malfoy was yours."

"Good riddance to the both of them then, I say!"

"Were you serious about not making it a habit?"

"Hardly! Quirrell must die!" I reminded her.

"And Voldemort, too, although that wasn't really covered in The Book."

"Yeah - maybe they're hoping for a sequel - or to make it into a trilogy or something," I guessed.

"When I left for Hogwarts, I had no idea that I'd be an accomplice to two murders in the opening week," Janie mused. "That first night when you dispatched Malfoy was quite a shock!"

"I've wondered about that," I looked at her quizzically. "Why did you not tell the professors?"

"Well," she considered, as if organizing her thoughts for a written essay, "there was the fact that you were Harry Potter, Hero. Perhaps you had a good reason, and I wanted to hear it before I took any action. Besides, your plea of, 'Please don't tell anyone,' was not the response of a wanton killer.

"Secondly, I got the very distinct impression that Malfoy was one of the bad guys, further confirming my plan of waiting to hear your explanation.

"Finally, of course, there was the fact that I was alone on that little dock with someone who might turn out to be a homicidal maniac. If I had confronted you there and then I may well have found myself joining Malfoy in the lake. That would have been stupid of me - colossally stupid - and I pride myself on not being stupid," Janie grinned.

"I would never..." I started to assure her, but she held up her hand for silence.

"I know that now, but I didn't know it then," she nodded. "While we were being sorted and during the feast - and then later as I waited for you in the common room - I considered what I might do after I heard your side of the story. If I decided to, I could go to Professor McGonagall the next day to report you, claiming that I'd waited because I feared for my own life. That would have been a legitimate reason, but then you gave me The Book, of course, and I stayed up until the wee hours of the morning reading it. Once I understood what was going on, I no longer had any reason to seek out Professor McGonagall."

"So you have no regrets? About Malfoy?" I asked.

"None!" Janie grinned. "And you have no regrets about Weasley?"

"Only one," I sighed. "We didn't get to cook him and eat him."

"What!!??"

"It's the Natural Order of Predator and Prey law," I explained. "If you kill something, you have to eat it and make good use of any byproducts."

"You didn't eat Malfoy," Janie reminded me.

"The giant squid ate him, so I'm good, as far as the natural law is concerned."

"So I'm technically in violation? For Weasley?"

"We both are!" I nodded. "I set his broom on fire."

"So we have to steal Ron's body, somehow, and eat him?" Janie's face looked horrified, despite the Calming Draught.

"Maybe. We'll have to check with The Book."

"It won't be covered in The Book," Janie shook her head. "Ron was supposed to help us when we go after the Philosopher's Stone, remember? How are we supposed to get past the giant chess set, now?"

"Hmm... That's a problem, Granger! You really screwed up!" I teased.

"You!" she swatted at my arm. "It was your idea!"

"So it was!" I nodded. "I guess we're in this together!" I grinned.

"Start to finish!" she smirked back at me, "But I'm not about to eat our victims!"

"How about owls?"

"Maybe..."

See? I knew she'd be curious about owl!

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Hours later when I returned to my dorm room I discovered that we had an uninvited visitor.

"Umm - what are you doing over there?" I asked the intruder as I drew my wand.

"Oh! No need for alarm!" the older boy said, turning around and throwing up his hands in surrender. "I'm Ron's brother, come to clear out his things."

Indeed, I recognized Percy Weasley, our fifth-year prefect. He was standing beside Ron's bed and Ron's trunk was sitting open.

"Don't forget his rat," I said, putting away my wand.

"Right! Scabbers! Here, Scabbers!"

Seconds later the gray rat scurried up onto Ron's bed.

"It actually comes when you call it!?" I asked in amazement.

"Scabbers used to be my pet before I passed him down to Ron," Percy informed me. "It looks like it'll be just you and me again, huh, Scabbers?" he addressed the rat, picking it up gently and tucking it into his jumper. "I thought having an owl would be brilliant, but Hermes is not the friend you've been to me," the prefect continued his conversation with his rat.

I'm hardly an expert on rats, but this one seemed to almost smile at Percy's pronouncement.

"Do you have a cage for it?" I asked.

"Er... no."

"Here - you can have this one," I offered, fetching Hedwig's cage from under my bed. "My owl stays up in the owlery, so I don't really need it."

"Th-thank you - if you're sure?" Percy blushed slightly at my offer.

"Quite sure!" I nodded. Having a rat running loose in the dorms had been just a tad creepy. That, and I didn't plan on having the owl that long, anyway.


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