The Fictitious Duel

Ron had spent all evening giving him advice such as "If he tries to curse you, you'd better dodge it, because I can't remember how to block them." There was a very good chance Ron and Harry were going to get caught by Filch or Mrs. Norris, You could tell Harrys pride and arrogance wasn't going to stop him from getting a chance to beat Malfoy face-to-face.

"Half-past eleven, You coming Marvolo." Ron muttered

"Sure, I want to see Harry trounce Malfoy." You chuckled Patting harry on the back

You pulled on your bathrobes, picked up your wands, and crept across the tower room, down the spiral staircase, and into the Gryffindor common room. A few embers were still glowing in the fireplace, turning all the armchairs into hunched black shadows. You had almost reached the portrait hole when a voice spoke from the chair nearest to you, "I can't believe you're going to do this, Harry."

A lamp flickered on. It was Hermione Granger, wearing a pink bathrobe and a frown.

"You!" said Ron furiously. "Go back to bed!" You put your finger up to your mouth with a shush motion to quiet them down, But to no avail.

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

"Come on," he said to 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 You through the portrait hole, hissing at You, Ron and Harry like an angry goose. "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."

"Go away." snarled Ron

"All right, but I warned you, you just remember what I said when you're on the train home tomorrow, you're so--" She didn't finish her sentance which made you look behind to see Hermione had turned to the portrait of the Fat Lady to get back inside and found herself facing an empty painting . The Fat Lady had gone on a nighttime visit and Hermione was locked out of Gryffindor tower.

"Now what am I going to do?" she asked shrilly.

"That's your problem," said Ron. "We've got to go, we're going to be late."

You hadn't even reached the end of the corridor when Hermione caught up with You. "I'm coming with you," she said.

"You are not." grumbled Ron

"D'you think I'm going to stand out here and wait for Filch to catch me? If he finds all three of us I'll tell him the truth, that I was trying to stop you, and you can back me up." Hermione said defending herself

"You've got some nerve -- " said Ron loudly.

"Shut up, both of you!" said Harry sharply. "Your going to get us caught."

You flitted along corridors striped with bars of moonlight from the high windows. At every turn you expected to run into Filch or Mrs. Norris, but you were lucky. you 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. You edged along the walls, keeping your eyes on the doors at either end of the room. The minutes crept by.

"He's late, maybe he's chickened out," Ron whispered.

Then a noise in the next room made you jump. "Sniff around, my sweet, they might be lurking in a corner." It was Filch speaking to Mrs. Norris. Horror-struck, Harry waved madly at You Ron and Hermione to follow him as quickly as possible; You scurried silently toward the door, away from Filch's voice. You heard Filch enter the trophy room. "They're in here somewhere," you heard him mutter, "probably hiding."

"This way!" Harry mouthed to You, Ron and Hermione, petrified, you began to creep down a long gallery full of suits of armor. You could hear Filch getting nearer. Ron Suddenly tripped on his own feet almost bringing you down with him, but instead he toppled right into a suit of armour.

The clanging and crashing were enough to wake the whole castle.

"RUN!" Harry yelled, and the four of you sprinted down the gallery, not looking back to see whether Filch was following -- you swung around the doorpost and galloped down one corridor then another, Harry in the lead, closely followed by yourself, without any idea where you were or where you were going -- you ripped through a tapestry and found yourselves in a hidden passageway, hurtled along it and came out near your Charms classroom, which you knew was miles from the trophy room.

"I think we've lost him," Harry panted, leaning against the cold wall and wiping his forehead. Ron was bent double, wheezing. You were catching your breath as well.

"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 Harry. "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." You finished Hermione's sentence.

Harry seemed to be thinking for a second before saying "Let's go."

It wasn't going to be that simple. You hadn't gone more than a dozen paces when a doorknob rattled and something came shooting out of a classroom in front of you. It was Peeves. He caught sight of you and gave a squeal of delight.

"Shut up, Peeves -- please -- you'll get us thrown out." You warned him.

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." You pleaded with him.

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

"Get out of the way," snapped Ron, taking a swipe at Peeves this was a big mistake.

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

Ducking under Peeves, You followed by Harry, Ron and Hermione ran for your lives, right to the end of the corridor where you slammed into a door -- and it was locked.

"This is it!" Ron moaned, as you pushed helplessly at the door, "We're done for! This is the end!" You could hear footsteps, Filch running as fast as he could toward Peeves's shouts.

"Oh, move over," Hermione snarled. She grabbed Harry's wand, and pushed you to the side, she tapped the lock, and whispered, "Alohomora!"

The lock clicked and the door swung open -- you Harry, Ron and Hermione piled through the door, and shut it quickly, you Hermione, Ron and Harry pressed your ears against it, listening.

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

"Say 'please.'" He seemed to be stalling

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

"Shan't say nothing if you don't say please," said Peeves in his annoying singsong voice.

"All right -- please." sighed Filch

"NOTHING! Ha haaa! Told you I wouldn't say nothing if you didn't say please! Ha ha! Haaaaaa!" And you heard the sound of Peeves whooshing away and Filch cursing in rage.

"He thinks this door is locked," Harry whispered. "I think we'll be okay."

You turned around -- and saw that you weren't in a room, as you had supposed. You were in a corridor. The forbidden corridor on the third floor, something that could 'cause a very painful ****' Dumbledore had said . And now you knew why it could cause a very painful **** and why it was forbidden.

You were looking straight into the eyes of a monstrous dog, a dog that filled the whole space between ceiling and floor, You noticed that it was standing on some kind of Hatch. It had three heads. Three pairs of rolling, mad eyes; three noses, twitching and quivering in your direction; three drooling mouths, saliva hanging in slippery ropes from yellowish fangs.

It was standing quite still, all six eyes staring at you all, and you knew that the only reason you weren't already dead was that your sudden appearance had taken it by surprise, but it was quickly getting over that, there was no mistaking what those thunderous growls meant.

Your hand flew back looking for the doorknob, you groped the door for the doorknob.

You slipped out of the door and Ron, Hermione and Harry fell backward -- You slammed the door shut, and you ran off with no Filch in sight, you ran back down the corridor. Filch must have hurried off to look for you somewhere else, because you didn't see him anywhere, but you hardly cared -- all you wanted to do was put as much space as possible between you and that monster. You didn't stop running until you reached the portrait of the Fat Lady on the seventh floor.

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

"Never mind that -- pig snout, pig snout," panted Harry, and the portrait swung forward. You scrambled into the common room and collapsed, trembling, into a armchair. It was a while before any one said anything.

"What do they think they're doing, keeping a thing like that locked up in a school?" said Ron finally. "If any dog needs exercise, that one does."

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."

"No, not the floor, It was-"

"Standing on a trapdoor, It's guarding something." You interupted her

"At least one of you were paying attention." it seemed to have calmed her for a second when, She stood up, and glared at You, Harry and Ron.

"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. "She needs to sort out her priorities," he said. "You'd think we dragged her along, wouldn't you." You, Ron and Harry walked into your dormitory to catch some sleep for the next day.