The Golden Quartet: Year 1

Chapter 7

“Bloody hell, it’s cold!” Astrid whispered harshly as she rubbed her hands together. It was the beginning of November and it seemed the weather had taken a turn for the worse. The sky was a dull gray; the ground was covered in frost and the lake was beginning to freeze.

“Can’t you conjure up a fire?” Ron asked, shivering as well in the courtyard.

“I know how to conjure Cursed Fire, but I’m not good at keeping it under control and it would kill everyone in the courtyard, starting with us…” Astrid said with nonchalance before a shiver ran down her spin.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione exchanged worried and curious glances but decided to drop that particular subject to move on to conjuring up a safe fire.

“Well,” Hermione began trifling through her bag and then pulled out a small glass jar, “I know a spell.” Astrid rose her eyebrows as to say, ‘big surprise,’ and upon seeing this, Hermione quickly said, “I’m sorry.”

Astrid let out a laugh, “You don’t have to apologize every time you know a nifty spell. Just drop the know-it-all attitude.”

Hermione smiled lightly, “I’ll try my best to sound more like Ron.”

Astrid and Harry began laughing as a look of displeasure found itself on Ron’s face. Astrid threw an arm around Ron’s neck, “Did you hear that? She just made a joke! You should be laughing!”

Ron grumbled, “A joke at my expense… it wasn’t even that funny…”

Amidst the laughter, they noticed a limping Snap heading their way, “Oh, no… Snape’s coming.” Harry warned lowering the book he had been reading to his side.

“But we’ve done nothing wrong.” Hermione said with a frown.

“You don’t have to do anything wrong to get points taken away by him.” Astrid said. Her smile had quickly vanished and was replaced with a scowl.

“What’s that you’ve got there, Potter?” Snape said once he reached their group. His dark eyes seemed to be as cold as the weather as he peered down at them.

“Quidditch Through the Ages, sir.” Harry said showing him the book.

“Library books are not to be taken outside the school. Give it to me,” Snape snapped, “Five points will be taken from Gryffindor.”

“What are you talking about? From the Black Lake to the mountains – it is school ground – and if you haven’t noticed: we’re in between!” Astrid said in outrage.

Snape snatched the book from Harry’s grasp, “And ten points will be taken away for your cheek, Miss Moody.”

Astrid opened her mouth to yell some more but Hermione and even Ron threw their hands over her mouth and pulled her away and after a moment, Snape strode off. “I hope I have the pleasure of biting him one day!” Astrid yelled once her friends’ hands let go of her mouth.

“Biting him?” Hermione asked looking at Astrid oddly.

Astrid blinked, “Did I say bite? Um, I meant curse, yeah, curse – I hope I get to curse him one day without any repercussion!” They were still looking at her oddly so she quickly said, “But did any of you guys notice his leg? I wonder what’s wrong with it.”

“Well, whatever happened, I hope it really hurt.” Ron said bitterly and Harry and Astrid nodded in agreement.

~~~

“You know, it would just save us so much more time if you just let us copy, Hermione.” Ron said once he was done with his Charms homework. He passed it to Hermione so she could check it over along with Harry’s.

They were in the Gryffindor common room, which was very loud and packed with other students.
“And how, exactly, will you learn if I do that?” Hermione said scanning their homework and Ron rolled his eyes. “And Astrid, what about you? Have you done your Charms homework?”

Astrid scoffed, “I’ll do it when I do.” She lent back in her chair and avoided Hermione’s scolding gaze.

Harry suddenly stood up, “I’m going to go ask Snape if I could get the book back.”

“Better you than me.” Ron said.

“I’ll go with you-“

“No! You’ve got to do your homework!” Hermione said cutting off Astrid.

Astrid let out a groan/whine and buried her face in her hands and then said in a very serious tone, “If he dies, I’m blaming you.” She pointed at Hermione and then began to work on her Charms homework.

“I’ll be fine. See you soon.” Harry left.

“Name several reasons why mastering Wingardium Leviosa is important…” Astrid smiled at her homework assignment, “Number 1: to defeat a troll.” She and Ron grinned. “Alright, I’ll do the rest later.” She stood up.

“What? No-!”

“You know, to leave you two kids alone.” She smirked and winked at them. Both their eyes widened and mouths hung ajar. Pink flushed across Hermione’s cheeks and Ron’s ears went red.

Before either of them could respond Astrid made her way over to Fred, George, and Lee Jordan who were huddled in a corner, talking in hushed whispers.

At the sight of Astrid, they immediately stopped what they were doing, “Look who’s joining us.” Lee said a smiled creeping onto his face.

“Hey Lee. Fred, George. I just saw you guys looking particularly suspicious and was curious as to what exactly you all are up to.” Astrid smiled lightly. “If you’re planning on pulling a prank on my sister, I want in.”

Fred laughed, “No, not this time. Filch made us do some crazy filing for a detention.”

“It was an avalanche of past detention slips.” George said.

“Yeah, so we’re planning on getting him back.” Finished Fred.

“How many of those detention slips were yours?” Astrid asked them with a knowing smile.

They all grinned, “We had a few… but not as much as Harry’s dad, James Potter, and some guy named Sirius Black. More than half belonged to them!” Lee said.

At the mention of this, a sickly feeling waved through Astrid, “Ah, well then, you guys have got some catching up to do.” She smiled weakly.

“Don’t worry, we’re on it.” Fred said and then winked.

Astrid walked back over to Hermione and Ron who were working in silence, “I’ll do my homework now.” Hermione opened her mouth, but Astrid cut her off, “In silence, please.” She slumped into her chair, picked up her quill and lazily wrote why knowing Wingardium Leviosa was important.
Hermione and Ron exchanged curious yet worried glances and then continued to work in silence.

A few minutes later a very tired looking Harry rejoined them at their table. “Did you get it?” Ron asked and then noticed that Harry was out of breath, “What’s the matter?”

“Did he curse you?” Astrid bolted up, “If he cursed you, I’m gonna-“

“No, no, Astrid, he didn’t.” Harry said in a whisper and gestured for her to sit back down which she slowly did. “When I went down there to get the book, I knocked on his door but he didn’t answer, so I thought I’d just go in and take the book if I saw it lying around-“

“You mean stealing?” Hermione said with a disapproving look.

“Sshh!” Astrid glared at Hermione and then turned to Harry. “Go on.”

“So when I opened the door and looked in Snape was in there – with Filch!”

“Wow, truly fascinating story, Harry.” Astrid said sarcastically and Harry rolled his eyes.

“If you’d let me continue-“

“Alright, alright.”

“Snape was showing Filch his leg! It was all bloody and mangled!” They all exchanged curious looks and Harry continued. “I then heard Snape telling Filch, ‘how are you supposed to keep your eyes on all three heads at once!’”

Astrid, Ron, and Hermione’s eyes widened, realizing what that meant.

“So, what you’re saying is that he tried to get passed that three-headed dog?” Astrid said.

Harry nodded, “Yeah, on Halloween. Ron and I saw him running somewhere else that wasn’t in the direction of where the troll was supposed to be! Snape was after whatever that dog is guarding!”

Astrid gasped, realizing something, “He let that troll in! To make a diversion!”

“No – he wouldn’t.” Hermione said with wide eyes. “I know he’s not the nicest person in the world, but he wouldn’t try to steal something Dumbledore was protecting!”

“I wouldn’t put it past Snape.” Ron snapped. “I’m with Harry and Astrid. But what’s that dog guarding?”

None of them said anything. They were all stumped.

~~~

“You’ve got to eat something.” Hermione said the next day at breakfast.

“I don’t want anything.” Harry said.

“Just a bit of toast.” Hermione coaxed.

“I’m not hungry.” Harry said looking peaked.

“Harry, you’re going to need your strength out there on the field.” Astrid stated with a mouth full of different breakfast items and Hermione looked at her with slight disgust.

Today was Harry’s first Quidditch match and he was extremely nervous.

“Good luck today, Potter.” They all dropped their utensils and jumped slightly at the sound of Snape’s voice. He stood over Harry, “Now that you’ve proven yourself against a troll a little game of Quidditch should be easy work for you. Even if it against Slytherin.” Snape smirked and limped away.

Astrid was practically growling, “Well, if it couldn’t be me, I’m glad that three-headed dog bit him.”

~~~

“GO HAAAARRRYYY!!!” Astrid shouted at the top of her lungs. Her face was red and her lungs were burning but she still continued to scream out her support for her house and friends.

Athena, who was standing to Astrid’s left, looked at her sister like she was mental. “If you scream any louder, I’ll be sure to go deaf in my right ear!” Athena yelled at her sister.

“Well, I’ve got to scream twice as loud and twice as much because I haven’t heard peep out of you! Where’s your house spirit?!” Astrid yelled over the roar of the crowd.

“Oh, I think I forgot to pack it.” Athena said.

Astrid nudged her sister, wiggled her eyebrows, and smirked, “I’m sure Fred would love his name to be chanted by you!”

The voice of Lee Jordan yelling, “GRYFFINDOR SCORES!” pulled Astrid’s attention away from her sister and sent her into another frenzy of screaming and cheering.

“Um… go Fred!” Athena yelled.

Astrid stopped mid-scream and turned slowly to look at her sister like she was the definition of ‘pathetic.’ “Really? That’s it? That’s all you got?”

Athena began to inhale, “What’s wrong with Harry’s broom?” Hermione asked looking through some binoculars.

Astrid turned and saw what looked to be Harry holding onto a wild, bucking broom. The crowd all noticed now that Harry seemed to be holding on for dear life- “GO FRED!!” Athena screamed at the top of her lungs. For a moment everyone turned their attention away from Harry to look at, a now beat red, Athena who was sinking into her seat.

Hermione gasped, “Oh no!”

Everyone looked back at Harry. His broom was rolling over and he was barely managing to hold on. His broom gave another buck and Harry swung off it, grasping the broom now with only one hand.

“What are you doing?” Ron asked Hermione who was searching the crowd through the binoculars.

“I knew it!” Hermione gasped. “Look – Snape!” She passed the binoculars over to Astrid who quickly took them and searched for Snape. Snape’s eyes were fixed on Harry and his lips were moving quickly, muttering something.

“He’s jinxing the broom!” Astrid said in outrage.

“What do we do?” Ron asked.

“I’ll handle it.” Astrid said standing up.

“No!” Hermione said and quickly stood. “I’ll go, you’ll just end up blasting Snape off the stand and probably kill him!”

“So, what’s wrong with that?!” Astrid said heatedly.

Hermione rolled her eyes, “We need to be discrete! I’ll go.” Before Astrid could protest Hermione disappeared.

Astrid turned back to watch Harry dangling from his vibrating broom. Fred and George would try to grab Harry to help him onto one of their brooms, but every time they got close the broom would jump away from them.

“Come on, Hermione.” Ron said desperately.

Astrid looked through the binoculars and saw Hermione in the staff’s stand and saw her behind the bench that Snape was sitting on. She pulled out her wand and muttered a spell. Sparks flew out onto Snape’s robes and it quickly caught fire and Hermione bolted out of there. It took a moment before Snape noticed he was on fire, and when he did he jumped up, knocking several other teachers out of their seats as he stomped on his robe to put out the fire.

“Brilliant, Hermione!” Astrid said with a grin. Astrid looked over at Harry who clambered back onto his broom.

Quickly Harry went speeding towards the ground and Astrid thought Snape was cursing the broom again, but Harry clasped his mouth and tumbled off his broom and hit the field. He rolled onto all fours and looked like he was going to be sick and then coughed out something gold into his hand.
“Harry’s done it!” Lee Jordan yelled. “Harry Potter caught the snitch! GRYFFINDOR WINS!!!”

Everyone, excluding Slytherin, bursted out into roaring cheers – Astrid being the loudest.

~~~

“It was Snape,” Ron was stated twenty minutes later to Hagrid as they sat drinking tea in his hut.

“Rubbish.” Hagrid said not taking Ron seriously. “Why would Snape do somethin’ like that?”

“Because he tried to get passed that three-headed dog on Halloween to steal whatever it’s protecting.” Astrid said honestly.

Hagrid dropped his cup, “How do you know about Fluffy?”

“Fluffy?” Hermione said.

“That thing has a name?”asked Ron.

“’Course he does. He’s mine. Bought him off some chap I met in a pub. I lent him to Dumbledore to guard the-“

“Yes?” Harry said eagerly.

“Now, that’s enough. Its top secret, it is.” Hagrid said gruffly.

“But Snape’s trying to steal whatever Fluffy is guarding!” Harry said.

“Rubbish,” Hagrid said again. “Snape’s one of the teachers who’s protecting it.”

“So why did he just try to kill Harry?” Hermione cried.

“I know a jinx when I see one, Hagrid,” Astrid said, “and Snape was jinxing Harry!”

“I’m tellin’ yeh, yer wrong!” Hagrid said hotly. “I don’t know why Harry’s broom was actin’ that way, but it wasn’ Snape! Now listen to me, all four of yeh – yer meddlin’ in things that don’ concern yeh. Yeh forget about that dog, an’ yeh forget what’s it’s gaurdin’. That’s strictly between Professor Dumbledore an’ Nicolas Flamel-“

“Nicolas Flamel? Who’s he?” Astrid asked but the look of self fury on Hagrid’s face told them he wasn’t saying another word.