The morning before the Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson, Will and Paige, as promised, drop in on Cameron.
The sun shines through the window.
"Tired of lying here. There's really nothing to do." says boy.
"You want everytime jump and run, Cameron," Will says.
"But you don't have to go to classes," Paige puts forward plus.
"Okay, sure," Cameron says, and sits up on the bed.
"Speaking of lessons, it's time for Defense Against the Dark Arts," Will reminds.
"Get well soon, Cameron!"
"Yes, I'm healthy yet!"
Defense, like Potions, is also led by Professor Sarp.
"Today we will resist the call of Elasa. Basically, they don't need you. Much more interesting for them are your magic wands. But at the sight of Elases, you shouldn't throw your chopsticks and wait for them to leave. After all, after receiving the wand, they will do this to you that you never dreamed of, simply because they are evil creatures. They are found high in the mountains, but sometimes, though rarely, descend. There is also an arc way. They can be called. It is difficult and long. The only way to counter them is to freeze Elasa in time with the "Inkamus Total" spell. This spell is specifically for Elases. They are very nimble, so you need to use it very quickly. So show yourself!"
Sarp open the cabinet and demonstrate a large block of ice. Only peering into her, the guys look inside any girl.
"Sociamenta!" shouts Sarp.
The students do not have time to come to their senses. Immediately, fragments of ice scatter throughout the classroom. Elasa with a terrible nasty laugh from the inside to destroy her cold captivity. Now you can see it better. The guys see turquoise eyes and hair, transparent blue fingers and a magnificent tail, like a horse.
In the blink of an eye, she darts from one end of the room to the other, accompanied by her own laugh, but this time it's somehow bewitching and pleasant.
Elasa look into Neville's eyes, and everyone understands that now she will take away his wand and her movement will be imperceptible to their eyes. She is clearly bewitching Longbottom, but he still makes an effort to use the spell. It flies past, and Neville stares in a daze into turquoise eyes.
Elasa laughs again with her terrible laugh, to which a vile smile is added. She reaches for the boy's wand.
"No!" Paige screams and throws her textbook at her.
Elasa with a screech to pull her hand away and in a second already be next to the Muggle girl.
Neville rush to Elasa. She grabs him by the collar and takes away Paige's wand. Not forgetting her nasty smirk, Elasa spins with Neville and ends up in the center of the class.
She laughs even more terribly, but her laughter ends abruptly. Elasa twists Paige's wand in front of her and throws it away contemptuously.
Then she decides to deal with Neville. The mountain creature eagerly looks at the boy, who seems to be paralyzed.
Paige looks back at the professor.
"Mr. Sarp…" she says, horrified.
It was clear that Elasa would not stop and would harm Neville. However, Sarp remains unfazed.
"Somebody do something," Paige yelled, but no one moved.
Elasa's grin grows wider. She raises her hand to strike, her nails instantly stretch out, at the ends they become light green. Elasa's brush wraps around steam of the same color.
"No!" get scared by Paige and want to rush to Neville.
Sarp slowly start to raise the wand.
A blue spark fly a couple of centimeters from the Muggle girl and, embracing Elasa, turn her into a block of ice.
Paige looks back to where the spark came from.
"Bravo, Miss Granger," Professor Sarp says and waves his wand to break his spell.
"How could you put us under the Stupefaction spell, - exclaims Seamus Finnigan, -and left Neville and Enie alone with Elasa?!"
"I used more than just the Stupefy spell, - Sarp says dryly. – There was also an invisibility spell for Elasa personally. She didn't see you, so she was in no hurry to take the sticks away. Minus five points to Gryffindor for not being able to recognize and calculate spells. And Plus twenty points to them for Miss Granger's excellent exit from the Numbs."
"I didn't get out of the dumbfound spell,- Hermione protests, - only my hand."
"Still brilliant."
"Professor Sarp, is your teaching method approved by the Ministry?" asks Granger with some pressure.
"All the way. Don't be late for the next lesson."
The guys pack up and leave.
"Horror!" not loudly says Parvati Patil.
"Are you all right? - Will asks Paige. - Maybe we can skip the Divination and go to Madam Pomfrey's?"
"No need. Everything is fine."
"Crazy man," Will says, looking back at Sarp as she exits.
The guys come to Divination in silence, but Trelawney obviously doesn't notice this.
"Who will tell me, - she flutters around the class, - what is the name of this wonderful device?"
Trelawney brushes the dust off it, which has already been polished to a shine.
"Why are there no applicants? - the professor stop on the spot and adjust his glasses. - Miss Radcliffe, try it!"
Will and Paige stood up together. Trelawney, as if confused, step back, looking from one girl to another.
"Miss Grint, would you like too?" asks Sybill and adjust his glasses again.
There is silence here. Paige starts tugging at her robes and Will purses his lips.
"Professor, may I?" Raise Hermione's hand.
After the lesson, the girls go to the Gryffindor common room. Now they are walking down the corridor.
"Hermione helped us out, - Paige sighed. - So I remember which of our new surnames is mine, but when I hear one of them I respond. Apparently I'm starting to get nervous."
"Me too,- Will says. - You know, sometimes I think Hermione suspects something."
The other shrugs.
"Come on, Will, if we sometimes go by the same last name it doesn't mean anything."
"Sometimes?! This is weakly said."
Cameron approaches the girls.
"Letter for you! The owl has just arrived. And I've already been released!"
"Happy for you."
He hands them a yellow envelope.
Enie and Sabrina in a letter tell how well they have a rest, what they saw, who they met, what they learned from their aunt. Also attached is a photograph of the real Miss Grint and Miss Radcliffe standing by the fountain. The first is waving and the other is blowing kisses.
"What funny are Enie and Sabrina!" Paige says, genuinely happy for them.
"Why do you always refer to yourself in the third person?" the boy's eyes sparkle with curiosity.
"Because we have delusions of grandeur, Cameron," Will replies.
"At the expense of greatness, - the boy is not at all embarrassed, - I'm going to the Hall of Fame of our school. Do you want with me?"
"Is there a Hall of Fame here? - the girls are surprised. - Cool! Of course we do."
Cameron turns right and steps forward carelessly. He helps Luna there, who takes care of the hall.
Mr. Goodden is in the Hall of Fame too. He gets acquainted with the history of Hogwarts.
"How are you?" Luna asks and smiles.
"Great!"
The girls go to the stars.
"Seeker James Potter," Paige reads.
" Potter? It's like that book about the wizard boy," Will says.
Friends look at each other.
"Really?!" Paige whispers.
The Muggles look at each other, not sure what to think.
"No! - they laugh. - Yes, it cann't be."
"There is an actress with that last name and even a lawyer, - Page recalls. - It's a common surname."
They approach Luna. She tidies up the corner dedicated to those who died last year.
"Who is this?" Paige freaks out when she stumbles across a photo of Fred Weasley.
Luna explains everything.
"You must have mistook him for George, - she guesses. - They were twins."
"Sorry," Paige says sincerely.
Will stands a little further away. A friend approaches her and looks at the photo,by which she stands and smiles.
"Pretty," Paige says.
"Sure," Will says.
"This is Cedric Diggory," says Ms. Lovegood.
"Does he also study here?" Will asks.
"Studied. At the faculty of Ravenclaw. He tragically died a few years ago."
Will's smile fades, and so does Paige's. The first comes closer, to Cedric, who is smiling, as if alive in the photo, carefully peers.
Luna reveals that he was a Seeker, waving towards the stars of the Quidditch players.
The three of them move on. Ravenclaw tells about everything related to the Hall of Fame and the school in general.
And then Will runs out of the room.
"Enie, is something wrong with Sabrina?" Luna asks.
"I don't know, - Paige shrugs, surprised, - for the first time in my life, I don't know."
Saying goodbye to Ravenclaw Luna Enie, that is Muggle Paige, sets off to look for a friend and finds her in their common room.
"Will, dear, where did you fly away to? I didn't understand anything at all. Anything happened?"
The friend shakes his head.
"No. It's just, Paige, you know, I was thinking that all these people ... mmm ... they are no longer there, although they are alive in the photographs. And sorry it's not. They moved, smiled at us, and they themselves ... It doesn't fit in my head."
The friend nods in understanding.
"Let's write back to Enie and Sabrina, - Will suggests. - And ask about Quidditch."
"Great idea!"
Paige pulls out clean parchment and a quill and ink.
Since then, friends began to help Luna in the Hall of Fame. And Cameron introduced them to a puddle, the work of the Weasley twins, and told this story in colors. The girls laughed out loud.
"How do you know how it was? - Page asks. - You didn't study here then."
"From the original source," Cameron replies with such an air of importance that he made his friends laugh again.
"I love him," Will says.
"Me too," Paige agrees.
Cameron became a good friend to the girls. They also befriended, of course, their roommate Amanda Baden and her cousins, the twins David and Flora, Neville, the Patil sisters, Seamus Finnigan, and many others.
A couple of days later, a letter arrives again from Enie and Sabrina. They talk about what they learn from their aunt, who is no longer just Sabrina's aunt, but Sabrina and Enie's aunt. The two sorceresses also sent in a photo of themselves standing in the middle of a crowded street.
"They're having a great time, - Paige says, putting down the photo. -They also write that they can help us with Quidditch and will do it soon."
Paige notices that her friend isn't listening.
"Will!"
"What?"
"I'm saying that we will have the opportunity to become members of the Quidditch team."
Paige is unhappy with her friend's inattention.
"Of course, for this I will get out of my skin," she says.
Screams are heard from the Gryffindor common room. Amanda runs into the room screaming. There is an eerie rustling in the corridor and tries to follow Miss Baden, who slams the door with force.
"No order at all," she pants.
Something is still clinging to the floors of her mantle. This is a huge brown rat with red eyes.
"Get off!" Amanda takes out her wand and fires a spell.
The rat freezes, only rhythmically blinks its eyes.
"What's happened?" Paige asks in surprise.
"Someone again from one faculty said something to someone from another, and this again acquired new details, and was misunderstood."
"Easier," Paige asks.
"We've been sent a horde of rats into the Gryffindor common room."
Amanda puts her scrolls on the table.
Rats screech and cascade from the vent. One of them falls on Paige's head. All three scream. Will tries to take the animal off, but it's holding on too tightly.
"Hair! Hurt!" Paige screams.
Amanda helps with a spell. Paige sighs hysterically and says:
"Let's get out of here!"
Amanda casts spells, but the rats are getting closer. Paige jerks open the door and runs out.
"Amanada, let's go! There are too many of them," Will calls her.
The girls start up the stairs leading to the common room. They run side by side, despite the fact that the width of the stairs is not enough for three and it is clearly cramped for them.
The other guys also run out of their rooms. In the living room of rats, if smaller, then just a little bit.
"Whoever did this will pay for it now," yells the tousled Gryffindor.
He rushes to the portrait opening, throwing spells at the rats along the way. The rest of the Gryffindors follow him.