When Emaline arrived at the Quidditch Pitch, it appeared as if half of Ravenclaw House showed up, from the first years who were nervously clutching a selection of the dreadful old school brooms to older students who towered over them, looking coolly intimidating. The latter included a wiry red-headed boy with green eyes named Grant Page. He was sitting on the ground, reading the newspaper. "Hey, Grant.," said Emaline. "What's going on?" Emaline met him on the Hogwarts Express and recognized him almost immediately.
"Oh, someone broke into Gringotts, Emaline," said Grant, "Listen to this:" He read from a cutting of The Daily Prophet:
GRINGOTTS BREAK-IN LATEST
"Investigations continue into the break-in at Gringotts on 31 July, widely believed to be the work of Dark wizards or witches unknown. Gringotts goblins today insisted that nothing had been taken. The vault in question that was searched, Vault Number 713, had in fact been emptied the same day. 'But we're not telling you what was in there, so keep your noses out if you know what's good for you,' said a Gringotts spokesgoblin this afternoon."
"That's strange, Hagrid and Harry were at Gringotts while I was shopping around Diagon Alley."
"Hey, Emaline!" said Skye who walked towards her, "You made it! So...are you ready?"
"All right! Let's go!" Skye and Emaline walked in front of a group of people dressed up in blue and silver Quidditch uniforms. People were playing around with their brooms and talking. "Okay, everyone. Listen up." said Skye, "Just because you were on the team last year, doesn't mean it guarantees you a spot this year. Is that clear? So I'm gonna start you off with some drills just to assess your strengths."
Skye decided to start out with a basic test, asking all applicants for the team to divide into groups of ten and fly once around the pitch. She captained one team while Emaline captained the other. This was a good decision: The first ten was made up of newcomers and it couldn't have been made plainer that they had hardly ever flown before. Only one girl had managed to airborne for a few seconds before she crashed into one of the giant towers at full speed and was sent to the hospital wing with a broken arm. Emaline's group was compromised mostly of a group of giggly girls and one handsome-looking boy that she seemed to have an interest in, as well as Cho Chang and Roger Davies. A third group had an enormous crush on the other side of the field and half of them had to be sent to the hospital wing. The fourth group had virtually no broomsticks and the fifth were Hufflepuffs, including Harry Potter and Oliver Wood.
"Before I go any further," Emaline scowled, "Is there anyone who is not in Ravenclaw? If you are not, leave now!" She was getting irritated. There was silence, and then some first-year Hufflepuffs and Slytherins immediately, who were stifling their laughter until they left the pitch. "Thank you.," said Emaline politely. The first-years then laughed even louder.
After two hours worth of complaints, a huge fight, another crash involving an American-made Shooting Star and a Cleansweep Eleven, several broken legs and broken teeth, Skye had three new Chasers, other than herself and Emaline: Roger Davies, whose brother before him, Chester, was not only a Prefect but was also on the 1987 Cup-winning team, a new find called Jeremy Stretton, and Randolph Burrow, who returned to the team from last year after an excellent trial, scoring a grand total of eighteen goals. Her choices for Beaters were a pair of second-years: Jason Samuels, a blonde-haired boy, and Katherine Parsons, a short girl with red hair. She took two Bludgers to the face and saved Emaline twice from suffering the same fate. They joined Roger, Jason, and Jeremy in the stands, along with all of the players who were rejected. Her choice for Seeker was obviously Cho Chang, she was the fastest out of all the other Seekers she had seen so far today and the other was a boy named Bradley.
Emaline did not attend the Keepers trial, which was on Sunday. Skye had given her the day off and she spent the day in the Ravenclaw Common Room, writing a letter to her mother:
Dear Mom,
I DID IT! I made it on the Ravenclaw Quidditch team! The team captain is Skye Parkin and her dad is the captain of the Wigtown Wanderers and she recognized me. She asked me to be her co-captain. I was so excited. We had tryouts yesterdays and it was a lot of fun. Our first match is against Hufflepuff next month. Anyway, I'm really enjoying it here. The people are very friendly and have been very welcoming and I have been making lots of friends. I'm enjoying my classes. The teachers here are quite different compared to Ilvermorny but I definitely like Professor Flitwick. He never suffocates us with any homework. I'm missing you and Dad and Allie and Tom. I promise I'll be back home in time for Thanksgiving.
Love,
Emaline
Perhaps it was because she was now so busy, what with Quidditch practice three evenings a week on top of all her homework, but Emaline could hardly believe it when she realized that she'd already been at Hogwarts for two months. Although she was thousands of miles away home from Oregon, The castle felt more like home as it did at Ilvermorny but she couldn't stop thinking about it. She missed her friends and teachers, her Quidditch teammates and she missed her real home in Oregon. And in just two months, Emaline had already become one of the most popular students at Hogwarts. Everyone, regardless of house and year, said hi to her wherever she went and treated her as one of their own and Professor Dumbledore declared Emaline to be a model student. Stranger enough, other than her own house, it was Slytherin who liked her the most. She didn't know why. Maybe it was because of her pure-blood heritage but they always welcomed her everywhere she went: to their table at meals, at the library, in the classroom, everywhere, basically. Gryffindor and Hufflepuff liked her too, but her own House, Ravenclaw, adored her.
On Halloween morning, the sweet and delicious smell of pumpkin was wafting through the air across the corridors. It smelled like something was baking. It was a smell that Emaline seemed all too familiar with. For breakfast, everyone enjoyed some pumpkin pancakes in the shape of a jack-o-lantern.
Professor Flitwick announced in Charms that his sixth-year students were ready to learn how to create water with magic. When she got to class, Emaline noticed a very large tub in the middle of the room. It was empty. "One of the most advanced forms of conjuration in a wizard's arsenal is the ability to create water." said Professor Flitwick, "Your lesson is simple, ladies and gentlemen: fill up the tub with water." He took out his wand and made a smooth wave-like movement from right to left. Everyone followed what he did. "Very good." he continued. "And enunciate: 'Aguamenti.' Off you go then."
Professor Flitwick put everyone into groups of two. Emaline's partner was a Slytherin named Jonathan Spratt. He was a little shy. Emaline put on her red reading glasses and immediately went to work. Emaline was unsure about how fast the water would come out from her wand because it was so powerful. Her wand is made from Pacific Madrone and has a Thunderbird tail feather core. Professor Flitwick said that she nothing to worry about. Everyone seemed to be having trouble trying to get a simple trickle of water into the tub. Like, at all.
"Aguamenti.," said Emaline, who moved her hand in an S-shape, as it was shown in the book. No water came out. "Aguamenti.," she repeated. Once again, nothing happened. "Aguamenti!" she repeated again. But this time, the tip of the wand glowed icy blue followed by a very large stream of crystal-clear water, which went straight into the tub. "Oh, well done, Ms. Goode!", clapped Professor Flitwick. Then suddenly, Emaline's wand started to glow yellow as the stream of water began to grow larger until, not only the tub was full, but the entire floor of the classroom was completely underwater and began to rise even faster. "This can't be good.," said Jonathan Spratt. "Are you sure you have control of your wand?"
"Yes." she said, "I can't make it stop! The water is still coming!" She suddenly lost her wand which went underwater. The water still kept on coming until the room was completely submerged. Everyone, including Professor Flitwick, was swimming. "Ms. Goode." said Professor Flitwick, "Would you mind?"
"Absolutely.," said Emaline. She dove underwater to grab her wand. "Finite Incantatem!", she said. The water finally stopped spouting from her wand and to make matters worse, the doors exploded. Two girls, who were walking by, were hit by the enormous wall of water. Everyone was on the ground. "Ms. Goode.," said Professor Flitwick, who was lying face down on the ground, soaking wet. "Yes, sir?" said Emaline, as she tried to get back up.
"10 points will be taken from Ravenclaw."
"Yes, sir.," she repeated. She laid back down.
"Also," he continued, "I award you 5 more points."
"For what?" she said.
"For completing...the lesson. Class dismissed."
A few minutes after Charms, Emaline was on way to Care Of Magical Creatures when she saw Professor Dumbledore stand in front of her. "Mercy Lewis!" she exclaimed. "Good afternoon, Ms. Goode." he said calmly "Heard you had a little incident in Charms today."
"Yes, sir." she said "My wand kind of spun out of control while casting an Aguamenti charm. It has a thunderbird tail feather as a core so it can sometimes be a little unstable."
"Ah, so you failed.," he said.
"I did kind of.," she replied.
"Let me give you this tiny piece of advice, Ms. Goode: Do not be embarrassed by your failures, learn from them, and start again. I understand that you are a Thunderbird from Ilvermorny, but you'll find that help will always be given at Hogwarts to those who ask for it."
She smiled and said: "Thank you, Professor. You are wise as you are kind."
"Good day." he winked at her and then walked away. For the first time in her time at Hogwarts, Emaline felt much better about herself and walked to class. On her way, she found Ron and Harry. They were talking to Neville and Seamus. "Hey, fellas."
"Hey.," said Harry.
"...It's no wonder no one can stand her," Ron said to Harry as they pushed their way into the crowded corridor, "She's a nightmare, honestly."
Someone knocked into Harry as they hurried past him. It was Hermione. Harry caught a glimpse of her face - and was startled to see that she was in tears.
"I think she heard you."
"So?" said Ron, but he looked a bit uncomfortable. "She must've noticed she's got no friends."
"Anyone mind filling me in?" she said inquisitively.
"Oh, man! You should've seen her in Charms class today, Emaline! We were doing Wingardium Leviosa and she was like: 'It's LEVIOSA! NOT LEVIOSAR!' Heard you flooded that classroom this morning."
"I did, actually."
"That's awesome.," said Seamus Finnigan, whose face looked like a bomb blew up in front of him.
Later that night, everyone made it towards the Great Hall for the Halloween feast, where the Halloween decorations put Hermione out of their minds.
A thousand live bats fluttered from the walls and ceiling while a thousand more swooped over the tables in low black clouds, making the candles in the pumpkins stutter. The feast appeared suddenly on the golden plates, as it had at the start-of-term banquet, covered in enormous piles of candy. Emaline was sitting with her friends Tulip, Marietta, and Cho, helping herself to some Halloween cookies and candy. Tulip noticed the watch on Emaline's right wrist. It had six small crystal balls, representing Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn rotating around a larger gold ball, which appeared to represent the Sun.
"I love your watch, Emaline." said Cho, "It's so beautiful."
"Thank you." she replied., "It was a Christmas present from my mother. It not only tells the time but it also accurately shows the movements of the planets in the Solar System. Each planet moves at its speed on a separate disk with the central dial representing the Sun."
Then suddenly, Professor Quirrell came sprinting into the hall, his turban askew and terror on his face. Everyone stared as he reached Professor Dumbledore's chair, slumped against the table, and gasped, "TROLL - IN THE DUNGEONS!!! TROLL IN THE DUNGEONS!!! - thought you ought to know." He then sank to the floor in a dead faint. A loud crash of lightning filled to the room and then everyone dropped what they were eating and began panicking and ran towards the front door. It took several purple firecrackers exploding from the end of Professor Dumbledore's wand to bring silence.
"SILENCE!!!" Dumbledore roared. Everyone in the entire Great Hall stopped what they were doing and looked right at Dumbledore. "Everyone, please! Do not panic!"
"Now," he said calmly, "Prefects will lead the students back to the dormitories, teachers will follow me to the dungeon."
Robert was in his element. "Ravenclaws, stay close, please, and stay alert!"
"How could a troll get in?" Emaline asked as they climbed the stairs.
"Don't ask me, they're supposed to be really stupid," said Tulip. "Maybe Peeves let it in for a Halloween joke."
"Emaline!" said Harry, who ran up the stairs with Ron.
"Good evening, Harry and Ron." she said, "Why aren't you with Gryffindor?"
"Listen, we need your help. Hermione is in trouble!"
They looked at each other. "What?!"
"Come with us. We'll explain it on the way!" said Ron.
"Hey, Percy!" said Ron, who was pulled by Tulip behind a large stone griffin. "Stay down, Ron!", said Tulip.
Peering around it, however, they saw not Percy but Snape. He crossed the corridor and disappeared from view.
"What's he doing?" Harry whispered. "Why isn't he down in the dungeons with the rest of the teachers?"
"Hey guys." said Emaline, "Do you smell something?" She did smell something. It was the stench of old gym socks and that one public toilet that everyone refuses to clean.
"Eww! What the bloody hell is that stench?!" Ron cringed. "Whatever it is, is not too far off."
"We gotta find it.," said Harry.
"Hey, Emaline! I have an idea," said Tulip. "Appare Vestigium!" She took out her wand and blew into the end of it and a swirl of gold sparks which revealed some very large footprints. It also showed that whatever made the footprints was dragging something. There were also some smaller footprints. They belonged to a human. "Human footprints. Something bigger was going in the same direction as the human." Tulip then found a small napkin on the floor and then sniffed it. "It's a hanky." Harry took it and then sniffed it. "I recognize that smell.," said Harry who smelled it. "That's Hermione's perfume."
Emaline took out her wand."Avenseguim!" she said, the handkerchief floated in and began floating in the direction the footprints were going.
"It went this way. Come on!" said Tulip. "Finite Incantatem!" The gold sparks immediately disappeared. And the four friends ran down the corridor until they found what made the footprints and the smell was getting stronger. Ron looked he was about to puke. And then they heard it - a low grunting, and the shuffling footfalls of gigantic feet. Ron pointed - at the end of a passage to the left, something huge was moving toward them. They shrank into the shadows and watched as it emerged into a patch of moonlight. "What's that?" Ron said. Suddenly, Emaline's wand began to glow yellow from inside its holster. "It's my wand.," she replied. "It means that its senses that danger is near."
It was twelve feet tall, had dull, grey skin, its great lumpy body like a boulder with its small bald head perched on top like a coconut. It had short legs thick as tree trunks with flat, horny feet. The smell coming from it was incredible. It was holding a huge wooden club, which dragged along the floor because its arms were so long.
"I think the troll has left the dungeon.," said Ron.
"It's going into the girl's bathroom!" said Tulip. Then, they heard a loud crashing sound. Something was being destroyed. Then, there was screaming. It was a girl. They knew exactly who it was. When they arrived in the girl's bathroom, the stalls were completely destroyed. Shards of woods covered up the floor. The troll was advancing on her, knocking the sinks off the walls as it went. The troll stopped a few feet from Hermione. It lumbered around, blinking stupidly, to see what had made the noise. Its mean little eyes saw Harry. It hesitated, then made for him instead, lifting its club as it went. Tulip took out her wand. "Stupefy!" she said. A blast of red light came from out of her wand and hit the troll. Nothing happened. She did it again. Once again, nothing happened. The troll picked her up by the leg and said: "Lumos Maxima!", in which a large ray of light hit the troll, blinding it, and she was immediately let go. "Fire!" said Harry, as he and Tulip started setting off Dungbombs and throwing them at the troll, stunning it. But the smell was overwhelming. "I can't breathe!!" said Hermione, holding her nose.
"You okay, Emaline?" said Ron.
"I'm fine. Watch this!" She got back to her feet and grabbed her wand, cast a spell drawing out streams of water from the sinks and toilets, and trapping the troll, like a cocoon of water. It kept attempting to break out but the sphere of water grew larger. She did not want to kill the troll, only to incapacitate it.
"Whoa!" said Ron. She let the troll go and water fell with a crash, slopping wildly over the sides, and drenching the floor. "What was that spell?" he continued. The troll was coughing and gasping for air. "I'll explain it later." The Dungbomb bombardment was unrelenting. But then it stopped.
"I need another Dungbomb!" Harry roared. "Hurry!"
"That's all I got!" said Tulip, "Rictusempra!" she said as she took her wand and a jet of silver light hit the troll, but this time, it appeared as if it as laughing. The troll eventually shook it off. "Hermione, move!" said Harry. She began crawling underneath the cover of the destroyed stalls. The troll swung its club again and more bathroom stalls were being mowed down. As it did, the club was hurling towards Tulip. "Tulip, get down!" said Emaline, who ran towards her and pushed her down. Instead, the club hit a sink.
"Thank you, Em!" said Tulip, "You saved me!"
"Don't worry about it," she replied. Emaline found her Gordian Knot pendant on the ground and put it back around her neck. They both got back up. Harry and Ron began throwing pieces of wood at the troll. "HELP!" Hermione yelled.
"Oy, pea-brain!" yelled Ron from the other side of the chamber, and he threw a very piece at it, but it didn't notice it as it hit it in the head. Hermione moved underneath a sink, hopefully for safe cover but the troll swung its club at her and the sink was completely obliterated. "HELP!", said Hermione again.
Then Harry did something really brave and really, really stupid: He ran with a jump at the troll and managed to fasten his arms around the troll's neck from behind. The troll couldn't feel Harry hanging there, but even a troll will notice if you stick a long bit of wood up its nose, and Harry's wand had still been in his hand when he'd jumped - it had gone straight up one of the troll's nostrils.
"Eww..." said Emaline.
Howling with pain, the troll twisted and flailed its club, with Harry clinging on for dear life; any second, the troll was going to rip him off or catch him a terrible blow with the club.
"Do something!" said Harry.
"What?" Ron yelled.
"Anything! Hurry up!"
"Swish and flick!" said Hermione.
Ron pulled out his own wand - not knowing what he was going to do. He heard himself cry the first spell that came into his head: "Wingardium Leviosa!" The club flew suddenly out of the troll's hand, rose high, high up into the air, turned slowly over - and dropped, with a sickening crack, onto its owner's head. The troll swayed on the spot and then fell flat on its face, with a thud that made the whole room tremble. "Cool.," said Ron. Harry broke free from the troll's grasp and got back on his feet. "Is it dead?" said Hermione.
"Not really," said Emaline "Knocked itself cold."
Harry bent down and pulled his wand out of the troll's nose. It was covered in what looked like lumpy gray glue. "Urgh - troll boogers." He then wiped it off on the troll's trousers.
"Nicely done, Ron."
"Thanks" he replied. "You too."
A sudden slamming and loud footsteps made the five of them look up. They hadn't realized what a racket they had been making, but of course, someone downstairs must have heard the crashes and the troll's roars. They then took it upon themselves to undo the damage caused by the troll, thanks to the Mending Charm. A moment later, Professor McGonagall had come bursting into the room, closely followed by Snape, with Quirrell bringing up the rear. Quirrell took one look at the troll, let out a faint whimper, and sat quickly down on a toilet, clutching his heart. "Oh my goodness!", said Professor McGonagall, looking at the troll, who was lying face-down on the ground. "Explain yourselves, immediately!"She continued with cold fury in her voice. Harry looked at Ron, who was still standing with his wand in the air. "You're lucky you all weren't killed. Why aren't you in your dormitory?"
"It's my fault, Professor McGonagall." a small voice said.
"Miss Granger..."
"I went looking for the troll because I - I thought I could handle it - you know because I've read all about them. But I was wrong. If Harry, Ron, Emaline, and Tulip hadn't come and found me, I would probably be dead."
"Harry and Ron came to us for help," Emaline added, "Tulip was able to find the troll by using a Tracking Charm. It's like Hermione said, Professor. If we hadn't come any sooner, she would be dead. And I saved Tulip, as well."
"Be that, as it may," said Professor McGonagall, staring at the three of them, "Miss Granger, you foolish girl, how could you think of tackling a mountain troll on your own?"
Hermione hung her head. "Miss Granger, five points will be taken from Gryffindor for your serious lack of judgment," said Professor McGonagall. "I'm very disappointed in you. If you're not hurt at all, you'd better get off to Gryffindor Tower. Students are finishing the feast in their houses." Hermione left. She then turned to Emaline and Tulip. "As for you, Ms. Goode and Ms. Karasu, I highly commend the both of you for aiding Mr. Weasley and Mr. Potter for helping them bring down the troll and for saving Ms. Granger, and for repairing the bathroom. Five points shall be awarded to each of you. You may both leave girls."
"Thank you, Professor," Emaline said, "We'll be on our way." The two girls both left. Professor McGonagall then turned Harry and Ron.
"And as for you two gentlemen, I just hope you realize how fortunate are. Not many first-years have ever taken on a fully-grown mountain troll and lived to tell the tale. Five points will be awarded to each of you," Ron and Harry looked at each other and smiled. "For sheer dumb luck."
They hurried out of the chamber and didn't speak at all until they had climbed two floors up. It was a relief to be away from the smell of the troll, quite apart from anything else. "Well, thank you for helping us, both of you," said Harry.
"Of course. You guys are my friends," said Emaline. "And speaking of which, I never introduced you! This is my friend, Tulip Karasu."
"Nice to meet you, Harry and Ron," said Tulip, who shook both of their hands.
"Well, we'll see you later," said Ron, "Bye!" Ron and Harry then walked away. Emaline and Tulip did the same thing. "Thank you, Emaline." said Tulip, "For saving my life. I'll find a way to repay you."
"That won't be necessary.," she replied.
They returned to the Ravenclaw Common Room, where it was packed and very noisy and everyone was enjoying the food that was sent up to them. Andre Egwu was nearby playing the piano. Emaline and Tulip rushed over to grab some plates. For the first time this year, she felt truly at home. And she saw her fellow Ravenclaws, not just as her friends, but as her family.