Back in her room, Hermione got undressed and crawled into bed. She tossed and turned, trying to push away the nagging thoughts—images from the day flashed through her mind. Most of all, she couldn't stop thinking about McGonagall's disappointed face, looking at her with reproach.
No, Hermione didn't regret helping Hagrid. On the contrary, she was sure they had done the right thing and would do it again if needed. But thoughts of McGonagall made her sigh heavily. Hermione wasn't just the Gryffindor head of house's favorite; she also deeply respected and admired the professor. McGonagall's opinion mattered to her a lot, maybe even more than anyone else's at the school, including Dumbledore's.
Finally, she drifted into a restless sleep, still unable to shake her thoughts. In her dream, everything blended into a surreal scene. There was a fire-breathing dragon, Harry, Ron, Elliot, the pale-faced man, and of course, McGonagall—all of them staring at her with that same reproachful look. In this dream, everyone, including Norbert, was getting along just fine, but they were all united in their disapproval of Hermione.
Waking up early, completely worn out and sleep-deprived, Hermione washed up and went down to breakfast. The Great Hall buzzed like a stirred-up beehive. By the time she got there, everyone already knew about Gryffindor losing a hundred and fifty points, and it clearly showed in how they treated her. Pointing fingers and hushed whispers became her new reality. Many ignored her greetings, just turning their backs on her. This attitude wasn't just among Gryffindors; it even spread to Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff too. They, just like the Gryffindors, wanted to knock Slytherin off the top spot, but now that seemed impossible.
Harry was chosen as the main culprit, probably because of his fame. It was like he'd been thrown to the wolves, with waves of mockery and blame for everything crashing down on him. Unlike him, Neville and Hermione got off easy. Nobody wanted to talk to them... at least from Gryffindor. But Magworth couldn't help but make another snide comment to Hermione:
"Well, Hermione? Looks like books don't always make someone smarter," she said in a sugary voice. "Next time you want to break the rules, look for a book... uh... for complete idiots." The Slytherin girls with her laughed, as if she'd said something incredibly funny, and Nancy, pleased with herself, turned and walked to her table.
Hermione didn't bother to respond. She was already used to Nancy's rude jokes. As she watched Nancy head to the Slytherin table, her eyes suddenly met Elliot's, who was staring at her intently. His eyes showed not just malice, but something else, hinting at some devious plan. He met Hermione's gaze with a challenging look, his smirk growing even wider.
'I have to do something about him,' Hermione thought. 'This can't go on. But what can I do, especially in this situation? Harry and Ron probably won't want to get involved in any new schemes right now. Maybe it's better to put it off until next year?'
After breakfast, Honeydew came up to her, looking really worried.
"Hermione, hey! How are you? What happened last night?" His voice was full of concern, and Hermione felt a wave of gratitude for his genuine care.
Harry, who was walking next to her, was lost in his own gloomy thoughts and didn't seem to notice that Hermione had stopped and kept going. Ron hesitated for a moment, glanced at Harry, and then called her over his shoulder, "See you in the common room," before running to catch up with him. Watching them go and trying to collect her thoughts, Hermione turned to Casper and sighed.
"Nothing much. Harry and I got caught by Filch while we were leaving the Astronomy Tower."
She said it in a flat voice, like she was resigned to her fate. Seeing how down she looked, Casper frowned even more and asked, "But what were you doing there in the middle of the night? Don't tell me you were doing astronomy. Sorry, but I'm not buying that."
"I'm not saying that," Hermione replied, and fell silent again. She didn't feel like making anything up; things were already bad enough.
After waiting a bit for her to say more, Casper went on, "Elliot's spreading some weird rumor... A student from their house—Malfoy, you know him, of course," Hermione nodded, "he says you were up in the tower with a... well... a dragon! And Elliot believes him!"
"A dragon?" Hermione said, acting surprised. Then thoughts started racing through her mind: 'Elliot must believe that for a reason. He knows a dragon is needed to make the potion from the amulet. So, he thinks I've got the potion now…'
Hermione straightened up, a sly spark in her eyes, and looking Casper straight in the eye, she said a bit smugly, "You can tell Elliot it's done. Soon, he won't have anything to worry about!" And, leaving a puzzled Casper behind, Hermione quickly walked off. She needed to find Harry and Ron right away.
***
The sun was setting, and its red rays gave a special charm to the hall on the first floor of Hogwarts, reflecting off the armor of the statues that seemed to guard Hogwarts from all kinds of trouble. Hermione quickly walked up to Harry and handed him something, then just as quickly walked away. Elliot, watching them from his hiding spot, squinted, trying to figure out what those two were up to now.
Harry nervously looked around. His eyes swept over the spot where Elliot was hiding, but he didn't seem to notice him. Elliot had stepped back just in time into the long shadow of the statue he was standing by. Harry unfolded the note—what Hermione had given him—and quickly read it. After looking around once more, he put the note in his robe pocket and started walking in the opposite direction from where Hermione had gone. But as he pulled his hand out of his pocket, he must have brushed up against the note, because it fell to the floor. Elliot's eyes locked onto it, and as soon as Harry was far enough, he rushed over and picked it up.
'Tomorrow it will be ready. Meet me during dinner at 7 p.m. on the roof of the same tower,' the note said.
"You have to give that note back, it's not yours!" Honeydew suddenly said, coming up behind Elliot.
"Leave me alone, Casper!" snapped Grimm, finishing reading the note.
Hiding around the corner, Hermione thought, "Casper, no!" Her heart was pounding. She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw Harry disappear around the corner on the other side of the hall. Honeydew, who started looking around for her or Harry, had almost messed up their plan…
Yesterday, after finding Harry and Ron, she had a hard time convincing them that it was time to set the trap. They hid away from prying eyes and ears in an empty room on the fifth floor, and there, Hermione told them about her conversation with Casper.
"Now's the perfect time to catch Elliot," she said. "From the questions Honeydew asked, it sounds like Grimm believed Malfoy and thinks there really was a dragon on the tower. So, he must think the potion is ready."
"Well, it is ready…" Ron said with a frown.
"Yeah, but he doesn't know when we made it," Hermione argued. "As far as he's concerned, it happened yesterday, which means there are less than three days left until it's done, and I'm supposed to take it on Tuesday."
"Makes sense," Harry said, thinking it over. "So, what's your plan?"
"A trap! Today I threw out the first bait, basically confirming his suspicions. Now he'll start hurrying and keeping a close eye on me. We just need to make sure he doesn't suspect anything."
So, the next day, they did exactly as planned. Hermione wrote a note—something mysterious to most people but clear to Elliot—and Harry casually dropped it, making sure Elliot was watching them.
Now Hermione had a new task: to avoid running into Casper until tomorrow evening, so his over-the-top concern wouldn't ruin their plan.
***
While crowds of students hurried to the Great Hall for dinner, the three friends—Hermione, Harry, and Ron—headed in the opposite direction, toward the Astronomy Tower. Once they got there and made their way up to the roof, Hermione walked over to the railing and looked at the beautiful view from the highest tower in Hogwarts. The sun was low over the horizon, right above the Forbidden Forest. Any moment now, it would slip behind the tallest trees. The last rays of the sun reflected off the lake, creating a picture filled with colorful glimmers.
Hermione looked at this scene with a strange sadness, and her heart tightened as she thought about what was coming. She felt like she was floating between the sky and the ground, her hands trembling slightly as they fidgeted with the edges of her robe, desperately trying to hide her nerves. 'This could be my last sunset,' an unwanted thought flashed through her mind. But she quickly pushed it away. 'No, that won't happen. Pale-faced Thomas won't get in here, and Elliot probably won't do anything terrible, even if things don't go as planned.'
Besides, she wasn't alone. Ron was ready, hiding under the invisibility cloak at the far end of the roof. Harry was waiting below, ready to step in when the time came. Everything was carefully planned, but Hermione still couldn't shake off her nervousness.
The clock on the tower started chiming: "Boom... boom... boom..."—each strike echoed in Hermione's chest. This was it—the die was cast, and now they just had to play their parts. Hermione took a deep breath, trying to calm her racing emotions, and then she heard footsteps on the stairs behind her. Turning around, she saw Harry stepping onto the roof. He gave her the signal with his hand, which meant only one thing: Grimm was already here, somewhere close by.
With her heart pounding, Hermione walked over to an old cabinet filled with astronomy tools. She opened it and reached inside. Her fingers, trembling with nerves, brushed against cold metal and dusty books until they found the familiar shape of a vial. With a shiver, she pulled it out and saw the emerald liquid inside faintly glowing in the gathering dusk.
Hermione paused for a moment, giving herself a second to steady her nerves.
"Everything's ready, Harry," she said loudly, her voice almost sounding normal, as she turned around with a smile.
She stretched out her hand, holding the precious vial, but almost dropped it when she saw Elliot holding Harry hostage. One of Elliot's arms was wrapped around Harry, covering his mouth, while the other held a wand pressed to Harry's throat. A cruel grin spread across Grimm's face, like a cat playing with a caught mouse.
"Well, well, well…" he said, almost cheerfully. "What do we have here that's ready?"
Even though Hermione had prepared herself for his arrival, it still caught her by surprise. 'It's fine,' she told herself, 'everything is going according to plan.' But she could feel her breathing getting faster, and her hands starting to shake.
"Drop your wand, girl," Elliot's voice suddenly turned icy and ruthless. "Or your friend is going to be in pain. A lot of pain…"
As he said this, he pressed his wand hard against Harry's throat. It was obvious that Harry was already having a rough time. He tried to pull away, but Elliot held him tightly in his bear-like grip. Hermione slowly took out her wand and placed it on the floor beside her.
"Not so close," Elliot said with a cold smile.
Hermione, almost mechanically, kicked the wand farther away with her foot. Her eyes stayed fixed on Elliot.
"Now let Harry go," she said, struggling to keep the tremor out of her voice. "He has nothing to do with this."
Elliot was about to say something, but a noise from the stairs distracted them. A few moments later, Honeydew burst onto the roof, red-faced and out of breath.
"Hermione, I tried to stop him and warn you, but he tied me up!" he shouted, then froze, shocked by what he saw.
"Well, this is a turn of events!" Grimm said with a smirk, suddenly shoving Harry, who was still struggling, away from him. Harry stumbled and fell, caught off guard, and Elliot pointed his wand at him, yelling:
"Petrificus Totalus!"
Harry, who had just started to get up, fell back to the ground like a sack and didn't move. Elliot's smirk widened. Keeping his eyes on Hermione, he turned to Casper and said with a sneer:
"It's actually good you showed up, Casper. Revenge isn't as sweet without witnesses… but do behave yourself," he added, his eyes never leaving Hermione.
Seeing that the frozen Honeydew was staring in fear at Harry lying on the ground and wasn't doing anything, Elliot turned back to her.
"So, what do we have here, Hermione?"
Then, as if just now noticing the vial in Hermione's hand, he snapped:
"Accio vial!"
The vial flew out of her hand and landed in Grimm's hand a second later.
"No!" Hermione shouted desperately, taking a step toward Elliot. But she had to stop when she saw his wand pointed right at her.
"Not another step," he said in a sugary voice, looking over the vial's contents.
"I know you're an agent of the League of Light!" Hermione shouted, gathering all her courage to throw the accusation at him.
"An agent of the League of Light?" he said, sounding almost surprised.
"There's no point in hiding it anymore! That's why you've been watching me, and that's why you need my potion!" Hermione went on. "Isn't that right?"
She needed Grimm to admit it before Ron could disarm him. Ron had spent two evenings practicing the Disarming Charm, 'Expelliarmus,' and he was getting pretty good at it. Meanwhile, Elliot looked at her calmly, and after thinking for a moment, he said:
"Interesting theory. But before we go on…"
"Accio Invisibility Cloak!" Elliot suddenly shouted, pointing his wand at the far end of the roof. The cloak flew off Ron, who hadn't expected that, and before he could react, he was on the ground, paralyzed by the 'Petrificus Totalus' spell.
Stunned, Hermione looked from Ron to Grimm and barely managed to say, "But... how did you know?"
A smug smile spread across Elliot's face again.
"You see, I thought a lot about what happened that night in the library. Why couldn't Snape or I find you? And I came to one conclusion—you had an Invisibility Cloak. And now... you were too eager for me to admit something. Plus, you kept glancing at that corner, thinking I wouldn't notice…" Elliot was enjoying himself.
Hermione looked scared and completely caught off guard, staring at Elliot. He continued, "So, you thought you could just mess with me and get away with it?" His look turned sharp and cold.
"I didn't…" Hermione mumbled. "Please, give me back my potion."
Elliot looked surprised by her request, then laughed.
"Oh... it's that important to you?" he said mockingly. "Even now?" He looked at the potion again. "I wonder what kind of potion this is?" he said, pretending to be curious.
He opened the vial, brought it to his nose, and sniffed. For a moment, Elliot paused, frowning a bit.
"Weird smell. Don't you think, Casper?" he said, turning and handing the vial to Honeydew.
Hermione watched in horror, unable to take her eyes off the vial. She whispered helplessly, "Please, Elliot, give it back…"
And then her eyes went wide with shock as Casper took the vial from Elliot, sniffed it, and drank all its contents in one gulp.