𝐞𝐱𝐢𝐥𝐞 | h. granger

xii | a dog with three heads

Downstairs Corridor

── •✧• ──

𝐋𝐀𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆, Dakota went to find Harry. She had run into Ron in the corridor, and together, they searched for the boy. When they found him, he excitedly told them about making it onto the school's Quidditch team as a Seeker.

"Seeker?" Ron smiled in amazement. "But first years never make the house teams! You must be the youngest Quidditch player—"

"In a century, according to McGonagall," Harry confirmed.

"Hey, well done, Harry," Fred Weasley said as he walked up behind them with George and Hadley. "Wood's just told us."

"Fred and George are on the team, too," Ron said. "Beaters."

"Not you?" Dakota asked Hadley.

"I prefer watching and making bets on who's gonna win." Hadley smirked. "Mum doesn't like me gambling, so of course it's how I spend all my free time."

"Yeah, when you're not playing with fire," Fred teased her, playfully pushing her shoulder.

"Our job," George said to Harry, "is to make sure that you don't get bloodied up too bad. Can't make any promises, of course. Rough game, Quidditch."

"Brutal," Fred added. "But, no one's died in years."

"Someone will vanish occasionally," Hadley said as the three first years went out to the courtyard.

"But they'll turn up in a month or two!" George called after them.

"Harry could die?" Dakota frowned deeply.

"Don't worry, they're just messing with him. Trying to get in his head," Ron reassured her. "Don't worry, Harry. Quidditch is great! Best game there is. And you'll be great, too."

"But I've never even played Quidditch," Harry said. "What if I make a fool of myself?"

"You won't make a fool of yourself," Hermione said as she appeared beside Dakota. "It's in your blood." She grinned knowingly.

They followed Hermione to another corridor. She pointed at one of the trophies in a trophy case. Harry's father's name was on it.

"Woah." Ron breathed. "Harry, you never told me your father was a seeker, too."

"I. . .didn't know," Harry replied.

"I'm telling you, it's spooky," Ron whispered as they walked upstairs to Gryffindor tower, Dakota tagging along. She wasn't in any rush to return to the Slytherin Common Room for the night. "She knows more about you than you do."

"Who doesn't?"

Dakota yelped as the staircase suddenly moved. She stumbled forward and bumped into Hermione. "What's happening?"

"The staircases change," she told her. "Percy told us on our first night here."

"Let's go this way," Harry said when the staircase came to a stop.

"Before the staircase moves again," Ron added as they climbed up the rest of the way. He pushed open the door, which led to a dark, creepy, deserted corridor.

"Why do I get the feeling that we shouldn't be here?" Dakota asked worriedly.

"We're not supposed to be here," Hermione said. "This is the third floor. It's forbidden."

Dakota thought back to what Dumbledore had said at the start of term feast. This floor was forbidden for anyone who didn't wish to die a most painful death. She was beginning to wish that she had gone ahead and returned to her common room.

They turned around to leave, but Mr. Filch's cat was in their path. She was going to go and tell on them.

"Run!" Harry shouted.

They ran down the dark corridor. Hermione used a spell to unlock a door – Alohomora – and the four kids went inside, panting for breath.

"Alohomora?" Ron frowned as he shut the door.

"Standard Book of Spells, chapter 7," Hermione stated.

Dakota internally kicked herself. She really should start reading up on some spells. She'd been so distracted by the beauty of this world she didn't know existed that studying about it hadn't crossed her mind. No wonder she was already so behind in her classes.

"Well, I think there's one positive thing that's come out of all this," Dakota whispered.

"Are you mad?" Ron asked. "What good could possibly have come out of this?"

Dakota turned to Hermione. "You've motivated me to—"

"Uh, guys?" Harry spoke up. They looked at him, and he pointed up at a giant dog with three heads. "I think this door was locked for a good reason."

The dog growled at them. The four kids screamed and ran out as it began barking. He tried to push the door open with his giant heads, but with all of them working together, they were able to close it.

Dakota said goodnight to the three Gryffindors before hurrying down to the dungeons. She gave the portrait of an old pureblood wizard the password. The man in the painting gave her a dirty look as it swung open; she'd gotten used to it by now.

She went up to her dorm. Her roommates frowned at her when she walked in.

"And where exactly have you been, Muddy?" Pansy asked, scoffing.

"What happened to your robe?" Tracey asked as she sat up, her dark hair falling over her shoulders.

Dakota looked down. There was a giant tear in her robes. It must've been from the claws on that dog's giant feet. "Oh, um. . ."

Tracey sighed with a soft chuckle. "Here, let me fix it for you." She reached for her wand on her nightstand. She went over to the blonde, pointed the wand at the tear in her robe, and said, "Reparo."

Almost instantly, the tear in her robe was fixed and it was good as new. She thanked Tracey and went to the bathroom to get ready for bed. When she came back out, she grabbed a book of spells that Aliyah had given her at the start of the week. She opened it and began to read, practicing the wand motions as she did so.

Aliyah and Hermione had the right idea. If they could come from the Muggle world and already be so brilliant, she could too. She'd show everyone that doubted her that she was more than just a "filthy Mudblood."