Chapter 9
The crowd around her erupted in cheers and Ally scowled. An older Slytherin boy shoved into her on accident and received an elbow to the ribs. The boy quickly backed away. Ally sighed with frustration and threw her book into her shoulder back. It was clear that she would get no reading done here.
Ally stood up and narrowed her eyes at the field. She smiled when she saw Harry, who was watching the game energetically from atop his broom. You’re supposed to be looking for the snitch, silly. Ally thought as she shook her head. From where she was standing, Ally was able to see the entire stadium, including the stands. Across the field was Gryffindor. Ron and Hermione were easy to spot, since they were standing next to Hagrid. On the left was Ravenclaw. Ally scanned the crowd and spotted Luna near the front. She was also easy to spot considering her silvery hair. When Ally turned her attention to Hufflepuff, she was unable to find Willow in the crowd. The Potter Girl was probably hiding in the back, cheering on her brother on the inside.
Ally turned her attention back to the game just as Harry whizzed by. Her gaze snapped to him and she followed him as he flew across the field. He had clearly spotted something. It was only a moment later that Harry’s broom went berserk. Ally watched open mouthed as his broom jerked up and down, side to side, upside down, and everywhere.
Ron and Hermione were shoving their way through the stands. They ducked under the stands as Ally narrowed her eyes at them. Ally spun around. “Excuse me.” She mumbled as she ducked through the crowd and down the stairs and through the inside of the stands. She soon collided with Ron.
“Oof.” He groaned. “Sorry!” Ally exclaimed as Hermione rushed around them. “What’s going on? What are you doing?” Ally asked as she followed the two back towards the Slytherin stands. “Snape is spelling Harry’s broom. We need to stop him.” Hermione replied.
The three soon found themselves under the Slytherin stands. Hermione revealed her wand and crouched underneath the seats. Ally looked at the wizards sitting above them and pointed towards a strand of Snape’s black cloak. Hermione nodded and lifted her wand. “Lacarnum Inflamari.” She whispered. A spark formed on the potion master’s, which soon grew into a flame. The stand erupted into chaos as people tried to stamp on his cloak. Snape stood up violently and eventually stamped it out himself.
“Go.” Ally whispered to Hermione and Ron. Hermione nodded and followed Ron out from under the seats and back into the inside of the stands. Ally watched them make their way back to the Gryffindor section. She was returning to her seat when the Gryffindors screamed their cheers. Her head snapped up and she let out a whoop as Harry swung a leg back over his broom and took off after the golden snitch once again.
It wasn’t long after that the stadium erupted in cheers as Harry spat out the golden snitch, which he had apparently caught in his mouth. The game had ended. Gryffindor wins! Ally didn’t care what others around her thought. She let out a cheer for her friend as the crowd around her pouted.
As she was gathering her stuff, a first year Slytherin girl named Pansy got up in her face. “Why you cheering for the wrong team, LeStrange? Seems like someone’s being disloyal to their house.” Crabbe and Goyle wandered over and chuckled as Pansy spoke. “She has a point, Strange. Maybe you need a little lesson in ‘how to cheer for the right team’.” Goyle commented. “Yeah. Maybe we ought to teach you that lesson.” Crabbe snapped. Ally was suddenly very aware that the three Slytherin bullies had surrounded her. She tried not to panic as she shot them all a glare. “Hey Dracoooo.” Pansy called in a sing songy voice. “The Strange girl is cheering for the wrong team over here. What do you say we teach her a lesson?” Draco walked over and locked eyes with Ally. He glared at her. What on earth is he doing? Ally thought. “She’s not worth it. Come on.” Draco stalked away. Pansy grabbed his cloak. “But-“ Draco swiped his cloak away. “The Strange girl isn’t worth it. There’s no reason for us to teach a lesson to dirt.” He snapped. Goyle and Crabbe shrugged and followed Draco without another look at Ally. Pansy clenched and unclenched her fists before following as well, but not before shooting Ally a death stare.
Ally let out a breath. Dirt, huh? She thought. Quite an interesting thing to call a ‘friend’. Ally frowned as she grabbed her shoulder pack and stalked out of the stands. She took a deep breath. No point in being upset since Draco was never really her friend. No point being friends with a piece of scum. Why should she care?
Ally was so deep in thought, she walked into something. Or rather, someone. She looked up and saw that she had collided with Ron for the second time today. “Oh. Hey.” Ally smiled. “Hey Al. I was just looking for you. Come hang out with everyone! Well, everyone except Harry. The quidditch team swept him off to celebrate, but he’ll get away from them later.” Ron said. Ally nodded. “Alright.”
The two entered the Great Hall and made their way over to a table. Hermione, Luna, and Willow were already there. Ally plopped herself next to Luna was Ron slid in across from Ally. Willow was on Luna’s left and Hermione was next to Ron.
“Are you sure it was Snape?” Willow asked Hermione quietly. “Positive. He was mumbling under his breath and looking directly at Harry. You can’t break eye contact during an spell, and Snape wasn’t blinking.” Hermione replied. Willow looked at her hands, which were curled in her lap. “Quirrel was muttering too, you know.” She commented. Luna looked at Willow. “He was?” She nodded. Hermione frowned. Ally realized what they were talking about. “It’s possible it was Quirrel and the fire incantation Hermione put on Snape’s cloak distracted Quirrel.” Ally pointed out. Hermione nodded slowly. “I suppose. But that doesn’t explain the corridor.”
Ally frowned. Now she had no clue what they were talking about. “I forgot to tell you!” Ron said. “Sorry. Last night, me, Harry, and Hermione were sneaking back to the Gryffindor dormitories when we spotted Flich’s cat. So we ran up the stairs, but they moved half way up. We kept running and eventually found a door. It was locked, but Hermione unspelled it and you’ll never believe what we found inside.” Ally listened with interest. Ron looked around quickly before leaning in close to Ally. “A three headed dog.” He whispered.
Ally frowned. “A three headed dog? There’s such thing?” Ron shrugged. “Apparently.” Hermione sighed. “You left out the most important part. Underneath the dogs paws was a trap door. And today, Snape was limping.” Ally’s eyes widened. “You think the dog attacked Snape? But why?” Luna’s eyes sparkled with curiosity. “It must be guarding something.” She answered. They six friends pondered this. “We need to find out more.” Ally mumbled. They nodded in agreement.
“We got detention.” Ron sighed. “I mean, for sneaking around at night. We got caught after the three headed dog incident.” He explained. Hermione nodded. “Harry, Ron and I.” Ally gave them a bitter smile. “I actually got detention, too, just the other night. I suppose we’ll all be serving tonight, then.” Ron frowned. “How’d you get detention?” He asked. Ally opened her mouth to explain, then paused. It wouldn’t be a good idea to tell them about the roof. Or that she was friends with Draco. “I was also caught wandering around after hours.” Ally smiled. There was no lie there. Just a withholding of truth.
Luna smiled. “Well, Willow and I will just have to have a wonderful evening without you lot.” Willow smiled shyly. “We’ll miss you dearly.” She commented quietly. Ally laughed. The five friends chatted away until it was time for their next class.