Chapter 6 - Klaus?
Nikolai had sent an owl home to tell their parents that they would be spending Christmas break at Hogwarts this year, for their ‘studies’, he said, including a couple of letters for their muggle friends, Elias, Beth, and Rob; and while his and Estelle’s hearts ached for their home, they knew that they would not miss the mandatory Bulstrode family Christmas. Besides, they had more interesting things to worry about.
Blaise had managed to wrangle out of Malfoy that he would be staying at the school during the break, and that Crabbe and Goyle would be staying with him. This meant that the operation was a go.
The group of them sat away from the rest of the students, partly for privacy, partly because the other students wanted nothing to do with them. Nikolai was sitting with them since Millicent and Balise had gone back to their homes for the holidays and he’d prefer to not sit within Slytherin-spitting distance with everything that’s been going on. And with no back-up. Hermione marched down the space between tables, hiding something behind her back before plopping in the seat on the other side of Estelle.
She leant in, causing the other four to do the same. “Everything’s set,” she whispered, “we just need a bit of who you’re turning into.”
“Crabbe and Goyle.” Harry stated as Ron nodded along. Nikolai could feel Estelle bouncing in excitement from across the table and he smirked, assessing that she had a stupid, fun, and possibly dangerous idea.
“We also need to make sure that the real Crabbe and Goyle don’t burst in while you’re interrogating Malfoy.” Hermione continued, she had a sparkle in her eye.
Nikolai asked with a knowing smile, “how?” The twins both knew how much Hermione liked to explain plans.
“I’ve got it all worked out.” She pulled out two cupcakes, placing them on the table. “I filled these with a simple sleeping draught. It’ll knock them out and once they’re asleep, hide them in the broomstick cupboard and pull out a few of their hairs and put on their uniforms.” Ron and Harry looked at her with disgust and thinly veiled horror.
“How come we’re doing this?!” Ron asked, voice a pitch higher.
“As much as I’ve wanted to try drag, I’d rather eat Hugo’s shoes than change into one of them.” Estelle answered swiftly.
“Oi!” Nikolai kicked her under the table, to which he got an innocent smile in return.
“I’m not very good at lying.” Hermione said, suddenly looking a bit embarrassed.
“We know, it’s okay.” Estelle changed her smile to one of warmth and reassurance.
“Alright, and why not Nik?” Ron argued, looking at the boy in question.
Nikolai made a show of searching for an answer, eyes roaming the ceiling. “You guys volunteered first.” Before Ron could debate that point, Nikolai continued. “Besides, I’ll be there in case you need a quick out.”
“Why would we need a quick out?” Harry looked a little nervous through his usual, strange nonchalance.
“He might be a Rotzlöffel, but he knows his friends. So, you know, be wary.” Nikolai responded easily. He was quite happy about this fact, it made Malfoy slightly more redeemable.
“A what?” Harry asked, confused.
Estelle, because she probably thought it was funny, decided to leave them in the dark on this one, and abruptly slapped the table. “Right, well, we’d better check on the potion.” She stood up, picking up a bundle of fabric she had been sitting on, Nikolai doing the same and Hermione pushed the cupcakes between the two Gryffindor boys.
“Make sure Crabbe and Goyle find these.” Then she stood and walked off with the twins, leaving Ron and Harry with perplexed expressions.
Sitting in the girls’ bathroom, they found themselves in a palpable silence, only broken whenever Estelle would drop her pencil she was excitedly trying to spin around her fingers.
“What does it mean?” Hermione asked suddenly, looking down at Nikolai, who had been stirring the potion. He looked up with a puzzled face. She looked at Estelle for help but she seemed to be equally unsure. “The word you called Malfoy. Rots…”
“Oh, Rotzlöffel!” Estelle exclaimed, before descending into a fit of giggles.
“You don’t wanna know, Mione.” Nikolai shook his head, smiling.
But Hermione found something she didn’t know, and Nikolai knew she wouldn’t leave it alone. “I do, tell me!”
“It’s… er– well, ‘brat’ but literally… it means ‘snot-spoon’...” Nikolai answered, looking down at the potion, biting his lip to help himself from the same state Estelle was currently in.
“Oh. Tasteful.” Hermione glanced at them both with uncertainty, before letting out a huff, followed by a laugh. “Does– does it really mean that?”
Nikolai watched his sister’s eyes shine at Hermione, her grin melting into a steady smile. “Yeah.”
“Please,” Hermione spoke through her giggles, “what was the word again?”
Nikolai howled in laughter.
Ten minutes later, Ron and Harry entered the bathroom, with Slytherin robes hanging off their bodies and pride evident on their faces. The other three had calmed down and Hermione proceeded to ladle the potion into two glasses. It didn’t look appealing at all, and it smelt even worse.
“You’ll have exactly one hour until you turn back to yourselves.” Hermione warned, handing them the glasses. “Add the hairs.”
They did as instructed and Ron’s nose scrunched up even more. “Eugh, essence of Crabbe.”
“Bottoms up, boys.” Estelle said, gleefully.
“You’re enjoying this too much.” Harry pointed at her, but downed the potion with a pinched expression.
Barely a second passed until Ron dropped his glass, shattering it on the floor, and ran to a stall, exclaiming “I think I’m gonna be sick!”
Harry quickly shoved his glass into Nikolai’s hand, who stood to his left, as he teetered a little on his feet. Estelle, standing on his right, steadied him.
“You alright?” She asked worriedly, the joy fleeing her voice.
“Yeah.” It was garbled but he did seem to stand straighter so Estelle let go. The process looked grosser than the potion had– and that was saying something, but after a few seconds, the bubbling of Harry’s skin simmered to a stop and he wasn’t Harry anymore– well, he didn’t look like himself. Goyle was standing in the circle with them.
“Oh that is weird.” Nikolai murmured. Harry rushed to the sinks to look at his face in the mirror. He poked and prodded at the head that wasn’t his then turned back to them, a smile on his face.
“That’s incredible!”
“Oh God, don’t smile.” Estelle winced. “Goyle shouldn’t smile. It makes him look kind.”
The door to the stall opened and Crabbe walked out, robes and all.
“H-Harry?” It was still Ron’s voice in there.
“Ron.”
“Bloody hell!”
“We still sound like ourselves.” Harry exclaimed, in a pitch far too high for Goyle’s face. “You need to sound more like Crabbe.”
Ron repeated himself an octave lower. “Bloody hell.”
“Excellent.”
“Well… this is possibly the strangest thing I’ve ever seen in my life.” Nikolai stated.
“You two have to go.” Hermione said, ushering them towards the door with more haste than necessary. “Time is ticking!”
They reached the end of the room, before Harry, or Goyle, turned back to them. “Hey, wait, where’s–”
But Hermione closed the door on them before he could finish. The three of them shared a look in stunned silence for three seconds. Then they all fell into laughter again.
Hermione, sheepish, cried “oh God! I really couldn’t stand to look at them!”
“No, I know!” Estelle agreed, wiping away tears.
“My fight or flight kicked in!” Hermione exclaimed, sliding down the door, holding her stomach.
After a moment passed, they calmed marginally and from his place leaning against a wall, Nikolai spoke up. “You know, I think Harry was going to ask me where the Slytherin common room was.”
“Ah, yes.” Estelle nodded.
“Oh, that makes sense.” Hermione agreed. “You should probably get going, then.”
“Yeah.” Nikolai righted himself, smoothing out his jumper as if it were his robes, retrieved said robes, then turned to Estelle, expecting her to finally put whatever ill-advised plan she had. She obliged, taking the bundle of fabric from where it had been sitting in the corner.
“Hermione, is there any more of that potion?” She asked so incredibly innocently that Hermione squinted her eyes at her.
“Why?” She said cautiously.
“Just wanted to have some fun–”
“That’s really irresponsible–”
“–with Draco.”
Hermione stopped mid-sentence and seemed to think it over. Nikolai could see the cogs in her head turning until she looked at Estelle dead in the eye and asked “what do you have in mind?”
Nikolai had left the bathroom before the transformation was complete. He walked down the empty corridor, hearing the bathroom door swing open then shut. In the short moment it was open, he could hear Hermione’s fit of giggles and he was confident that this would be the most fun they had in a while. He didn’t look behind him, though, Estelle wanted it to be a surprise, despite having told him.
When he reached the entrance to the Slytherin common room, he announced loudly “Mallowroot!” He was sure his sister had heard that, always walking a distance behind him, then he strode into the common room, walking past where Malfoy was currently lounging on the sofa across from, who he was convinced were his two stooges. Turning back, he winked at Ron, or Crabbe, who gave a small, weak smile when Malfoy was looking at the fire. He found another sofa not too far away from the three and decided to get comfy.
The common room was relatively quiet, other than them, there were only three other students in there and they had their heads down, working, so quiet that Nikolai could hear Ron and Harry conversing (ish) with Malfoy, and the room stayed quiet, even when another Nikolai Wolfe walked through the doorway. Nikolai, the real Nikolai, didn’t miss Malfoy performing a double take before looking back to his two fake-friends in front of him, it was likely that he thought he had seen Nikolai walk in before. Because he did. The boy who walked through the doorway after Nikolai held his robes folded over him, unable to see what Malfoy must have assumed was the Slytherin emblem and rich green hems. Not-Nikolai plopped down next to the real Nikolai on the sofa, letting the robes fall and showing off the deep blue of Ravenclaw. Nikolai looked at the person next to him with wide eyes.
“I was not expecting it to look like that.” He said, a little put off by seeing himself watch back.
“You didn’t expect I would look like you?”
“I don’t know, it’s…” Nikolai breathed deeply and shook his head slowly, eyebrows raising, “Es ist wirklich verdammt seltsam.” (It’s really fucking weird.)
“I know. I looked at myself in the mirror and almost passed out. How on Earth do you survive every morning?”
“Oh shut up, Lea.”
Estelle, who had taken Nikolai’s common facial expressions and ran with them, frowned in the exact way Nikolai did. “That’s not my name, Hugo.”
“Oh? And what is your name?”
They heard the scuffling of shoes from close by and turned to see Crabbe and Goyle running out of the common room, holding their heads.
“Don’t have long, then.” Estelle murmured to her brother. Nikolai thought he might cry, though he might lose it with laughter instead.
“Oi! Wolfe!” Malfoy stalked over to them and Nikolai closed his eyes for a moment, a little scared about what his sister was about to perform.
“Yes, Malfoy?” Nikolai answered sweetly, trying to sound completely fine. The person sitting next to him then turned around as well and, oh God, Nikolai wished he had a camera right now. He had never seen Malfoy look so stunned, his mouth was slightly open and his eyes wide. His eyebrows were so high they looked like they were trying to escape his pale face. Nikolai tried to keep his expression under wraps as he nonchalantly turned to Estelle and back to Malfoy. “Oh, have you met my… third triplet?” He wasn’t sure where he got that from, but it certainly was the most believable tale.
“You’re what?” Malfoy answered sharply, though it lacked the bite his voice usually had.
“This is…” Nikolai held out his hand to his ‘third triplet’.
“Hallo, I am Klaus.” Klaus spoke with the worst German accent Estelle could possibly come up with and Nikolai had to duck his head down so that Malfoy couldn’t see his face. He might choke on these chortles if he didn’t act on them soon.
In an attempt to gain more clarity, Malfoy stood in front of the sofa, staring at them side-by-side. “What in Merlin’s name– no, you’re twins with your sister!”
Looking up, Nikolai was just in time to see Klaus’ face contort into a hurt expression and he knew exactly what Estelle was prompting him for.
“Malfoy! Honestly! I was born with this guy and you don’t even know about him?” He slung his arm around Klaus’ shoulders and bit the insides of his cheeks as he said, “I thought you’ve talked to him.”
“Ja,” Klaus nodded, “Ja, he haz.”
“But he’s just you!”
“Have you been calling Klaus Nikolai this whole time?” It was even funnier since Malfoy had never called him by his first name in the first place.
“Ja, efry time.”
“Oh, Klaus,” his voice cracked, but he kept the pitch steady, “I’m so sorry.” Klaus nodded solemnly, and Nikolai made a note to try whatever expression Estelle was pulling right there because for a moment he thought Malfoy actually felt bad.
“I’ve never seen him before!”
“Ach, dis is vy Klaus doesn't sit vis your friends, Hugo.” This accent is getting worse by the minute.
“If I thought he’d be this mean, I wouldn’t have called him over here.” In Malfoy’s state of shock and perplexment, Nikolai wanted to see how far he could go.
“You didn’t call me over!” Malfoy shook his head but his expression stayed the same.
“Gott in Himmel, he ist losing his memory!” (God in heaven) Klaus looked marginally distraught.
Nikolai leaned closer to his sister. “Warum sprichst du in der dritten Person?” (Why are you speaking in the third person?) He wanted nothing more than to scream it, but Malfoy might think there was something truly wrong, then.
“Denn warum den Teufel nicht?” (Because why the fuck not?) Klaus responded, shaking his head as though disappointed. As far as Malfoy knew, they were discussing him.
“Okay, well, he called you Hugo and only your sister does that.” Malfoy spluttered, pulling at straws.
“Ach, mein Leben!" (Oh, my life!)
“You think my other triplet wouldn’t call me that nickname? Really, Malfoy, have a bit of decorum.”
“Well, why have I never seen him around?”
“Klaus ist ein recluse!” Klaus exclaimed.
“And he’s very clearly Ravenclaw, so he’d stay up in that tower all day.”
“Ja, and die vun time Klaus comes out, he ist bullied by an ferret!”
Malfoy stared at them again, lost for words before deflating slightly and saying through gritted teeth “Merlin, you really are siblings.”
Suddenly, Klaus stood and Nikolai realised it was because his hair had started growing. Time was up.
“Where are you going?” Malfoy asked incredulously.
“Somvhere Klaus vill not get bullied.”
Nikolai rose as well, tutting. “Poor Klaus. Poor, poor Klaus.”
“Los geht's, Hugo.” (Let’s go, Hugo.)
“Yes, Klaus, let’s go.” Without turning back, but still hearing Malfoy stutter on his words, the two ran out of the room, in a very similar manner to how Harry and Ron had, and only once they had turned the corner outside the dungeons did they stop.
Nikolai finally burst out laughing, tears streaming down his face. In hindsight, maybe it wasn’t even that funny, but that’s what made it even better. Through his wet eyes, he could see Estelle doubling over as well. They stumbled their way back to the bathroom where the boys were no doubt explaining everything they got from Malfoy. Well, were they in for a treat for what they had to tell them.
****
“Hi, boys.” Estelle greeted Ron and Harry as they entered the Gryffindor common room, having just been serving their final detention for crashing the car, “How was it?” Estelle sat with her legs folded under her on the sofa, leaning over Nikolai who sat next to her with a muggle Geography textbook open on his lap. They had been quizzing each other on the formation of glaciers, Hermione listening eagerly, when the two Gryffindor boys arrived, and they all turned to them.
“Alright,” Ron said with a sigh, plopping in the soft red armchair to their right, “McGonagall had us writing lines. Just boring more than anything.” Harry settled next to Hermione, closest to the fire, holding a black, leather-bound book.
“What’s that?” Hermione pointed to the book as Harry flicked through the pages.
“We found it in the bathroom, Moaning Myrtle’s bathroom.” Harry replied easily, ignorant to Estelle’s slight glare at the nickname.
“Why’d you go in there?” Nikolai asked. Estelle could hear a lightness in his voice that must have come from remembering the Klaus incident from two weeks ago. The holidays had ended very abruptly and school seemed to be launched back at them in the form of boresome assignments and unexpected quizzes.
“Oh, yeah.” Ron leant in, eyeing the room in suspicion and continued in a low voice when deciding that the two other students posed no threat. “We were coming back from McGonagall’s room, right? And we saw that the floor was covered in water. We thought Moaning Myrtle had flooded the bathroom so we went in to check, and all the taps were on. She said that someone had thrown a book at her.” He pointed to the book in Harry’s hand. “That book.”
The three took in what he said. “Well what’s so special about it?” Estelle inquired, reaching out for Harry to give it to her. He placed it in her hand then shrugged.
“I don’t know, it’s empty.”
Estelle turned through the pages, the same as Harry had. Sure enough, the cream and weathered pages were blank, not a scratch of ink on them.
Nikolai was looking over her shoulder and made a ‘hm’ noise. “What’re you going to do with it?” He directed at Harry, taking the book from Estelle and passing it back to him.
He shrugged again. “I don’t know.”
A student stood from their place across the room and began walking to the dormitories. Estelle noticed and saw a familiar head of red hair.
“Good night, Ginny!” She called out with a smile as the girl turned around. Ginny waved back but as her eyes landed on something, possibly Harry, they widened and she quickly ran off up to her room. Estelle heard Nikolai huff a short laugh.
“Either she loves you or hates you.” He said, looking at Harry who looked unsure of what to say.
Ron groaned with memories of home. “It’s very much the first one.”
“It’s getting late,” Hermione said, standing up, “I’m going to go to bed.”
“Yeah, I should be getting back, too.” Nikolai followed suit. “Harry, would you mind–”
“Oh, sure.” Harry ran up to the room and came back with his father’s invisibility cloak. “Here.”
Taking the cloak, Nikolai gave his thanks. “I’ll see you guys tomorrow.”
“Sleep well, Nik.” Hermione wished him.
“Yeah, bye Nik.” Ron waved to him.
“Dream of goblins, Hugo!”
Turning his head, Nikolai stuck out his tongue at his sister, who responded in kind, then he pulled the cloak over himself, disappearing, the only sign he was moving was the portrait swinging open then shut.
“Good night.” Hermione then said to the three standing in the room.
“I’ll be up in a sec, Mione.” Estelle said, as the other two replied with ‘good night’s of their own. Estelle stepped closer to Harry, gesturing at the book in his hands. “With what’s going on now, that book could be dangerous. Don’t do anything without thinking it through.” She instructed with warmth in her voice, letting him know that she was worried about what might happen to him.
“I won’t, good night, Stella.”
“Good night, boys.”
Estelle reached the room mere seconds after Hermione and she had set her mind on action.
“Mione?”
Hermione turned around, putting her jumper on her bed she had just taken off. “Yes?”
Estelle walked over to where she stood and thought for a second on how to ask. “Mione, it’s dangerous– it’s gonna get more dangerous. And, since we’re both at risk– you more than me– I think we should stick together.”
Hermione tilted her head, confused. “We already stick together, though?”
“Well. Yeah. But I mean, we stay together whenever we walk around the school. You need to talk to a teacher? I’ll come with you.”
Hermione blinked a couple times and took a deep breath. She pulled Estelle into a hug, arms squeezing her chest, face leaning on her shoulder. Estelle gasped, taken by surprise. She often instigated physical touch, but she found that she loved when someone else did it just as much. More so, actually. She melted, breathing in Hermione’s warm and calming smell, her hair a mix of wood and citrus and it tickled her chin.
“Thank you, Stella.”
“We’re gonna be safe.”
****
Estelle stood next to Harry as Oliver Wood ran them through what they would be practising that day.
“It was Hagrid.” Harry mumbled to her.
“What?” She turned to him, confused on what conversation this could be calling back to.
“Hagrid opened the Chamber of Secrets fifty years ago.”
A bit louder, Estelle exclaimed “What?!” Angelina turned to her with a questioning expression, but Estelle shot back an innocent smile and she seemed satisfied, going back to watching Oliver. “Where are you getting this from, Harry?”
“I saw it in the diary last night.”
“You what?” There were two things wrong with what he said. One– what diary is he talking about, and two– he ‘saw’ it in a diary?
“Riddle’s diary, that’s what the book was.”
“Who’s Riddle?”
Before Harry could answer, however, Oliver gave them the go-ahead and everyone began mounting their brooms and soaring into the air.
“I’ll tell you later.”
It was later. Harry and Estelle had met with Ron and Hermione as they wandered down from the stands and they were walking through the courtyard on their way back to the common room.
“It was Hagrid who opened the Chamber of Secrets the first time.” Harry said again, causing Estelle to shake her head.
“I don’t know where you’re getting this from, Harry, but there’s no way it was Hagrid.”
“The book was Tom Riddle’s diary. It sort of sucked me in and I saw everything. It was Hagrid, he let a monster loose in the castle.” Harry explained quickly.
“Harry, there’s no way it was Hagrid.”
“I saw it, Hermione!” Harry exclaimed, turning to them with determination in his eyes, clouding over the sight of sadness. Hagrid was their friend, there’s no way he’d open the Chamber of Secrets again, let alone the first time.
“We don’t even know who this ‘Tom Riddle’ is.” Estelle reasoned.
“He sounds like a dirty, rotten snitch to me.” Ron said, pulling his books closer to him.
“The monster killed someone, Ron.” Harry set his stare on Ron, pulling the conversation back to seriousness. “What would any of us have done?” Estelle felt the air shift around them. This is where she and Harry differed. She understood where he was coming from, it was awful, but Hagrid was their friend, Estelle would never sell out a friend unless they had decided to do something bad. This sounded like an accident in her eyes.
“Harry, there’s no way it was Hagrid.” Estelle repeated, looking at him with hard eyes that rivalled his own.
Hermione held Estelle’s arm, recognising that she was getting heated. “Look, Hagrid’s our friend. Why don’t we just ask him?”
“Well, that’ll be a cheery conversation!” Ron tilted his head up in sarcasm. “‘Hello, Hagrid. Tell us, have you been setting anything mad and hairy loose in the castle lately?’” Estelle had to agree with him, that wouldn’t be one of their best visits–
“Mad and hairy?” The students turned quickly, seeing the man they were just talking about standing behind them. “You wouldn’t be talking about me now, would ya?” He joked, but the enthusiasm was lost on them as they froze in shock.
“No!” They exclaimed in unison.
He paused, looking at their faces, doubt clear in his features.
Harry quickly sought a distraction in the form of a tub in Hagrid’s hand. “What’s that you’ve got, Hagrid?”
Deciding to ignore their outburst, Hagrid brought the tub up, reading the label. “Oh, this is Flesh-Eating Slug Repellent. For the Mandrakes, you know? According to Professor Sprout, they’ve still got a bit of growing up to do, but once their acne’s cleared up, we’ll be able to chop them up and stew them, and then we’ll get those people at the hospital un-Petrified. In the mean-time, though, you four had best be looking after yourselves. All right?” They all nodded, abashed, as Hagrid hummed, walking away.
They turned to each other with wide eyes, disbelieving that interaction really happened.
Hearing Hagrid say “Hello, Neville” from behind them, they jumped as Neville barrelled into them.
“Harry!” Neville panted, he must have ran the whole way. “I don’t know who did it, but you better come!” Neville was one of the few students that didn’t believe the rumours about Harry, and Estelle would be harking back to that whenever he needed anything. He began to run back and without hesitation, Estelle followed, hearing the footfalls of her friends behind her. They reached the Gryffindor common room within minutes, Estelle’s nerves growing by the second. This whole situation of petrification and blood on the walls had set her on edge, and for Neville to suddenly show up looking borderline terrified, she hadn’t felt such anxiety before. Neville sprinted up the steps to the boys’ dormitories and opened the door. The room was a mess, more so than Estelle expected from the boys, with papers flying everywhere, and feathers and broken glass littering the floor. It was obvious that someone had done this on purpose, it was all accumulated around Harry’s bed.
After a moment of shocked staring, Hermione piped up. “This had to have been a Gryffindor. Nobody else knows our password.”
“Except for Nik, but he wouldn’t have done this.” Ron corrected.
“And he wouldn’t have told anyone else.” Estelle nodded in agreement as Harry sorted through his ruined belongings.
“Unless it wasn’t a student.” Hermione thought out loud. Estelle debated this in her head. While it would be possible, there wouldn’t be a reason for a teacher to destroy a student’s whole room– not even Snape would do that. Probably.
“I don’t think it would be. They wouldn’t have a real reason.” Estelle voiced her disagreement calmly.
“Whoever it was,” Ron turned to each of them. “They must have been looking for something.”
Harry dropped his arms in defeat. “Yeah, and they found it. Tom Riddle’s diary is gone.”
“Who would want that?” Ron asked, shrugging.
“Whoever threw it at Myrtle.” Estelle suggested. It made the most logical sense; the person threw it out in a fit, then discovered they made a mistake, especially if they actually knew what the diary did.
“This will take hours to clean up.” Hermione exclaimed in despair.
“The houselves will make quick work of it,” Ron shrugged again. “They could just snap their fingers and it’ll all be back to normal.”
While Hermione started ranting about Ron’s morality of basically slavery, Estelle thought for a moment, inside her mind. Nikolai didn’t know anything about this mess, let alone what the diary had shown Harry, so even if he had accidentally mentioned to one of his Slytherin friends about the diary, they wouldn’t have means enough to go this far. No one else they knew had the password outside of the Gryffindors. A sinking feeling drowned her stomach as she remembered Ginny’s expression those few nights ago. She must have seen the diary– she looked like she recognised it. She shook herself– no, it was even more unlikely that Ginny knew about the diary, how would she have gotten it? Estelle didn’t want to think that Ginny could possibly have ruined Harry’s things just for a book. She needed to speak to someone who would convince her of the opposite.
“I have to tell Hugo.” She took a step towards the door, then turned around, remembering the other people in the room. She locked eyes with Hermione and held out her hand to her. “Come on.” Hermione took Estelle’s hand happily and they left the room, the boys staying back.
They walked around the school, searching corridors, in empty classrooms, Estelle knew he valued time alone, but he wasn’t anywhere so far. When they reached the library, Estelle recognised Blaise sitting with another Slytherin student she wasn’t familiar with.
“Blaise!” She exclaimed in a hushed voice, this was the library after all. “Is Hugo here?”
Blaise looked up at them, his expression clear. “No, I left him in the common room with Milicent. Why?”
“Thanks!” Hermione said quickly, before they ran out of the library, leaving Blaise slightly stunned, though Estelle was sure he wouldn’t show it.
“Wait.” Hermione stopped running just before the Slytherin hallway. “How are we going to get in? We don’t know the password.”
Estelle cocked an eyebrow smugly. “Maybe we don’t. Klaus certainly does, though.”
Hermione grinned, realisation dawning on her. “Of course.” They continued to the wall where the snake statue kinked up to form the doorway.
“Mallowroot.” Estelle announced, and the door swung inwards. They saw Nikolai sitting across the room and they dashed over to him, gaining a few confused and shocked stares as they ran past other Slytherins. To Estelle’s surprise, however, she saw that Nikolai was sitting with not only Milicent, but Malfoy as well. They weren’t speaking, sure, and they were sitting in different chairs, but still in the same group.
Malfoy noticed them first. “How the hell did you get in?”
“Lea? Hermione?” Nikolai said, turning to where Malfoy was looking. He recognised the look on his sister’s face. “What’s wrong?”
Estelle decided that now was not the time to interrogate him on why he was sitting with Malfoy, and instead got to the point. “We need to talk to you.”
Hermione’s eyes drifted to Malfoy for a moment. “Preferably not here.”
Nikolai was on his feet in an instant, dropping the comic he was reading on the sofa. Milicent quickly retrieved it and opened it. As they sped away, Estelle called back over her shoulder “bye Millie!”
“Bye Stella.” Milicent replied as they reached the door, exiting into the corridor.
Estelle and Hermione told him everything, then looked at him with expectant faces.
Nikolai breathed out a long breath. “Okay, well, first off, that’s insane. Diaries don’t usually do that. Secondly, there’s no way Hagrid did it, and if he did, then it was definitely an accident. Thirdly, who even is this ‘Tom Riddle’? And lastly, because ‘fourthly’ sounds wrong, who do you think messed up Harry’s stuff?” He directed the last question to Estelle. Of course he assumed she’d have a guess. Hermione looked at her quizzically, obviously not thinking the same as Nikolai.
“I don’t like my thoughts, but, and please tell me I’m wrong in every single way–”
“I’m sure I will.” Nikolai nodded.
“–Ginny.”
Nikolai squinted his eyes at her as Hermione made a ‘huh?’ noise. “You’re going to have to explain that one, Lea.”
“She saw Harry with the diary, you know, when you said something about her having a crush on him, and she looked like she might have recognised it. She’s a student and a Gryffindor, but really, I have no more than that.” Estelle was hoping dearly that Nikolai would swat away her accusation.
“A gut feeling, then?” Nikolai asked. She heard him flick at his fingernails. He was thinking. That is not what she wanted.
“Yeah, but it couldn’t have been Ginny.”
“There’s no way!” Hermione exclaimed suddenly. “We can’t be defending Hagrid and then blame Ginny!”
“I know, Mione! This is what I’m saying, it doesn’t make any sense!” Estelle agreed, “So I have no idea why she came to mind!”
“Your gut feelings are usually right, Lea.”
“I know, so tell me I’m wrong!” At this point she was pleading.
“Okay, okay. Why would Ginny go to lengths to get back the diary, and why would she even know about the diary in the first place? It’s not like she could have taken it out of the library or anything, so there’s no reason to suspect her. Besides, that face she made was definitely because Harry was there.”
“Thank you.” Estelle felt so grateful. As Nikolai pointed out, her gut feelings were usually spot-on, and this time she didn’t want to be right. Nikolai always had a way of logicing out her thoughts, usually bringing reality to her invention ideas, but in this case, she was so thankful he could.
“Now don’t ask me to defend anyone else, or you’ll have to pay me extra.” Nikolai nodded dramatically.
Estelle scoffed. “I don’t pay you at all.”
“And for that, dear sister,” he began walking towards the Slytherin common room door, “you are eternally evil.”
Estelle snickered to herself, turning back to Hermione who had gone unusually silent.
“You really thought it was Ginny?” She asked innocently.
Estelle brushed it off. “Nah, it was only a feeling.”
****
The Gryffindor team stood in the Quidditch tent, robes fixed neatly and brooms by their sides, as they listened to their captain’s witterings. Estelle wasn’t listening, as she often didn’t during these parts where Oliver would go on tangents about honour, rather than strategy, she was instead still trying to calm herself. But not for the Gryffindor versus Hufflepuff Quidditch match. Hermione had convinced her that she was safe enough to go to the library while Estelle went down to the Quidditch grounds early. She knew logically that Hermione would be fine, she was quick and she was smart, but she just couldn’t shake the feeling. Once they all put their hands on Oliver, and began marching out towards the field, she had finally managed to persuade herself that all would be well, and now she was focused on the match ahead of them. She and Harry walked behind Oliver and Katie until they stopped abruptly, hearing a surprising lack of cheering from the stands.
“Professor McGonagall.” Oliver greeted their head of house as she stood in front of them.
“This match has been cancelled.”
The rest of the team crowded around them.
“They can’t cancel Quidditch.” Oliver responded. Honestly, Estelle applauded his devotion to the game.
“Silence, Wood.” She looked at him, and there was no arguing with her after that. “You and your teammates will go to Gryffindor tower, now.”
They began to leave without another word, they respected her far too much for that. But then the professor spoke again. “Potter, Wolfe. You two and I will find Mr. Weasley and Mr. Wolfe. There’s something the four of you have to see.”
Estelle’s heart leapt to her throat as they began to walk towards where the students were filtering out of the stands. McGonagall hadn’t said Hermione.
Nikolai had been rebuttalling one of Malfoy’s insults when Snape appeared in the stands, telling them all that the game was cancelled. There was a chorus of disappointment, but Snape stood still, telling them to clear out of the stands. You didn’t argue with Snape, so alongside Blaise and Milicent, Nikolai descended the wooden steps to the ground. He had gotten two metres from said stand when McGonagall hurried over to him, Harry, Ron, and Estelle behind her.
“Wolfe!” She called over to him. “Come with me.”
He rolled his eyes to Blaise who smirked. “Good luck, mate.”
“See you, guys.”
“See you, Kai.” Milicent waved after him.
He dashed over to McGonagall, following behind her next to Estelle. He took one look at his sister’s expression and realised he had the situation wrong entirely.
“Was ist los?” (What’s wrong?) He asked her.
“Wir wissen es noch nicht. Ich glaube es ist Hermione.” (We don’t know yet. I think it’s Hermione.) Her eyes were squinted with worry as Nikolai grabbed ahold of her Quidditch sleeve.
“Wir wissen nicht, dass es Hermione ist.” (We don’t know that it's Hermione.) Nikolai didn’t want to give her false hope, he wouldn’t do that to his sister, but Hermione clearly meant a lot to her. He had seen it in her eyes when Hermione would laugh, or read aloud, and he was sure that Estelle didn’t even know. He moved his hand from her sleeve to her arm, holding it tightly. She didn’t turn her head, but she looped her arm through his in silence.