His Worst Nightmare
Irwin Harry and Ron all ran off down to the Quidditch pitch laughing. The girls were always running off to the library, but it was such a beautiful day full of excitement that even Irwin didn’t want to be in the library!
There was a huge crowd of students wondering down to the pitch chatting and laughing, Harry went off to the changing room to get ready for the match.
“See you later guys!” Harry called as he ran off.
Ron and Irwin went to go sit in the Gryffindor stands next to Neville.
“Hi, Nev!” called Ron cheerfully as they sat down, “looking forward to the match!”
“Yeah!” said Neville excitedly, “it will be Easter next week, it will be nice to go home for a bit!”
“I know what you mean, get some time off from studying.”
“Aren’t you going to spend Easter studying for your exams?” asked Irwin.
Ron had started muttering about ‘bloody Ravenclaws’ again when the Quidditch teams started to warm up.
The match was just about to start when Professor McGonagall appeared in the middle of the pitch.
“This match has been cancelled!” announced Professor McGonagall through her megaphone.
The stadium was full of protest and Oliver Wood was running at Professor McGonagall to argue still on his broomstick.
McGonagall was ignoring him however, she was trying to talk to Harry.
“Come on,” muttered Ron pulling Irwin towards McGonagall and Harry.
“Ah Mr Scamander, Mr Weasley there you are!” cried Professor Flitwick.
“Is there something wrong Professor?” asked Irwin nervously.
“I’m afraid so…” he muttered.
Flitwick, Ron and Irwin made their way over to McGonagall and Harry.
“There you are Filius! I see you’ve found the other two, we need to go the Hospital Wing, Filius take the Ravenclaws back to their Common Room.”
Professor Flitwick left somewhat grudgingly.
“What's going on Professor!” asked Harry getting somewhat exasperated as they started their way back the school.
“Why have they cancelled the match!” added Ron.
“You’ll understand in a moment,” said McGonagall.
Irwin could tell that she was trying hard not to cry.
They eventually arrived in the Hospital Wing where Madam Pomfrey was bustling around two new beds.
“I’m afraid this is going to come as a bit of a shock,” said McGonagall leading them over to the two new curtained off beds.
In one bed Hermione laid petrified holding a mirror and in the other was Anne.
Anne.
She was lying there her eyes wide in shock her dark red hair lying on the pillow.
“What the” started Ron.
“How?” said Harry collapsing into a chair.
Irwin said nothing, he didn’t have anything to say.
“You should all go back to your Common Rooms,” said McGonagall after a while.
She escorted Harry and Ron back to their Common Room and Irwin started his way up to Ravenclaw Tower.
He climbed the seven staircases leading up to the tower, it felt like it took him hours when it actually only took him ten minutes, he was dreading what was going to happen when he got to the Common Room.
When he came through the door he was bombarded with questions.
“What’s going on Irwin?” asked Anthony.
‘What about the cup?” asked one of the fifth years.
“Where’s Anne?” asked Mandy and Padma.
Irwin didn’t feel like he could answer any of them and all he wanted to do was escape.
Professor Flitwick followed him in through the door.
He stood on top of a large pile of books so that he could be seen better over the crowd of Ravenclaws.
Flitwick coughed lightly to get their attention and the Ravenclaws quietened down.
“There are some new rules, there has been a double attack, Hermione Granger and one of our own Ravenclaws Anne Potter.”
They took in a collective breath and the room was silent.
“All students will return to their house Common Rooms by six o’clock every evening,” said Flitwick as he began reading off of a piece of parchment. “No student is to leave the dormitories after that time. You will be escorted to every lesson by a teacher. No student is to use the bathroom unaccompanied by a teacher. All Quidditch training and matches are to be postponed. There will be no more evening activities” he finished.
There were no arguments not even from the Quidditch team.
Professor Flitwick got down from the pile of books and walked over to Irwin.
“Are you alright Mr Scamander?” he asked.
Irwin nodded; he wasn’t in the mood for talking.
“Well, if you want to talk you know where to find me,” said Flitwick leaving the Common Room.
“Well,” said one of the seventh years breaking the silence “at least now we know it’s not Potter, his best friend and his sister just got petrified.”
“I think,” said Anthony logically, “we should interview all the Slytherins this whole thing is their fault anyway!”
Irwin slipped up to his dormitory when he thought no one was looking. He didn’t want to talk to people right now.
He got on to his bed and lay down looking up at the ceiling. This was all his fault! He should have gone with her instead of Hermione, he could have done something!
He stared up at the ceiling thinking all afternoon. In the evening the other boys started to appear.
“There you are Irwin!” exclaimed Terry.
“We wondered where you were! You’ve missed dinner,” said Michael who was carrying a bag of food.
Irwin didn’t really hear them though he was too absorbed in his thoughts, he should have done something to protect Anne!
“It’s probably best to just leave him,” said Anthony as he started changing into his pyjamas, “he’s had a pretty bad shock we can try again in the morning yeah?”
“Alright” muttered Terry crawling into bed.
“We’re here if you want to talk mate,” said Michael leaving the food on Irwin’s bedside table and going to go brush his teeth.
After a while, the room was filled with the sound of light snoring from Michael and Terry and the light breathing of Anthony. Irwin couldn’t sleep that night though he just felt so guilty, it was all his fault he was supposed to protect her! But he had prioritised Quidditch and having a nice time over his best friend, and now look where it had got him!
When Anthony was getting up for class the next morning, he glanced over at Irwin nervously.
“I don’t think he’s slept a wink,” he muttered to Michael as he did up his tie.
“He hasn’t even touched that food,” pointed out Michael.
“Irwin mate, we’ve got to get up for class,” said Terry coaxingly.
Irwin, however, was dead to the world.
“Maybe he just needs some rest?” suggested Michael.
“Get some sleep mate, we’ll be back later,” said Anthony placing Irwin’s blanket on top of him.
The other boys left shrugging in confusion, “it’s got to be bad” muttered Terry, “if Irwin doesn’t feel up to class!”
Irwin didn’t move, he must have drifted off briefly at some point during the day because the next thing he knew, he was woken up by Anthony talking over his bed.
“This is getting ridiculous!” complained Michael.
“How long are you going to keep this up mate?” asked Terry. “You haven’t eaten in thirty-six hours and you’ve hardly slept either.”
“Right that’s it!” said Anthony on his way out the door, “I’m going for Flitwick!”
A few minutes later, Anthony reappeared accompanied by Professor Flitwick.
“He’s been like this since at least yesterday evening sir, he hasn’t eaten, and I don’t think he’s slept much he won’t talk to any of us!” he said as he led Flitwick over to Irwin’s bed.
“Mr Scamander can you hear me?” asked Flitwick gently.
No answer.
“Are you alright?” he tried again.
No answer.
“Mr Boot,” said Flitwick turning to Terry, “could you and one of the prefects go and fetch Irwin’s brother from the Hufflepuff Common Room please, he might be able to get through to him.”
Anthony and Michael tried to tell Professor Flitwick what they knew whilst Terry went with Julian to go and find Rolf.
They came back twenty minutes later.
“We found him, sir,” said Julian standing in the doorway.
“Thank you, Mr Lloyd,” said Flitwick, “your brother is in shock he may even be depressed,” he began turning to Rolf. “He is not responding to either me or any of his friends.”
“It’s ok Sir,” said Rolf looking at Irwin, “my Dad sometimes gets like this, when he’s upset about mum, it used to happen a lot before he remarried,” he explained.
“Irwin mate,” said Rolf sitting down gently on his brother’s bed and reaching out for his hand, “It’s Rolf.”
“I think we should give your friend some privacy” suggested Flitwick gesturing towards the door.
“But...” stammered Antony.
“He will be fine with his brother,” Flitwick said gently as Terry Michael and Anthony left the room.
“Irwin,” Rolf tried again “talk to me.”
“Rolf?” asked Irwin confused.
“I know you’re upset, but you will feel better if you talk.”
Irwin looked at him unconvinced.
“I’m not making it up, you’ll feel better!” laughed Rolf.
“I guess,” Irwin struggled, “I feel guilty, I should have gone with her.”
“You can’t have known mate,” he said putting an arm around his little brother.
“I normally would have jumped at a chance to go to the library, but I just wanted to go outside for once, maybe if I’d gone with her, I could have protected her!”
“Don’t be ridiculous Irwin,” Rolf said firmly, “you can’t blame yourself for not being there. If you had been there you probably couldn’t have done anything, in fact, you too would probably be in a bed in the hospital wing petrified.”
“You’re right,” stammered Irwin bursting into tears, “I’m being stupid.”
“No, you’re not being stupid,” said Rolf pulling his little brother into a hug, “you just care about your friends!”
“You better?” asked Rolf after a while.
“I think so yeah,” muttered Irwin.
“I thought you might, I always feel better after a good cry,” said Rolf passing his brother a handkerchief.
“Now, do you want to talk to your friends, they’re worried about you.”
“Ok,” muttered Irwin.
Rolf left the room and the other three came back a moment later.
“You ok mate?” asked Michael nervously.
Irwin nodded.
Anthony Terry and Michael all jumped onto Irwin’s bed.
“I’m sorry if I worried you guys, I was just…”
“It’s ok mate!” said Anthony, “we get it, Anne means a lot to you.”
“As long as you’re ok,” agreed Michael.
“I suppose I just didn’t realize how much she meant to me till she was gone,” Irwin said quietly.
Terry was fetching a pack of playing cards when Professor Flitwick popped his head back around the door.
“I know you four all missed dinner so I thought I would bring you some,” Flitwick flicked his wand and several large plates of sandwiches and some jugs of pumpkin juice appeared.
“Thank you, sir!” called the boys tucking into the food with gusto.
Irwin was halfway through his fourth sandwich when they heard noises outside the door.
“We want to see him!” called a muffled voice.
“I’m sorry but you can’t Irwin isn’t feeling well!” replied Julian.
“Get out of my way!” yelled another voice that sounded like Mandy’s.
The door burst open and Padma Persephone Mandy and Lisa appeared in the doorway.
“I’m sorry,” said Julian looking at Irwin, “I told them to go away.”
“It’s ok,” replied Irwin.
“You sure?”
Irwin nodded.
“We all need to stick together in times like this,” said Padma.
“Are you ok Irwin?” asked Lisa.
“Yeah, I just miss Anne,” said Irwin quietly.
“We get that,” said Mandy plopping herself down on Anthony’s bed after taking a ham sandwich, “we miss her too.”
“Did you hear about Hagrid?” asked Persephone.
Irwin shook his head as he placed some salt and vinegar crisps in his cheese sandwich.
“He got taken to Azkaban last night!” exclaimed Padma.
“What?” asked Irwin.
“Oh yeah, and Dumbledore’s been sacked too!” added Mandy.
“But why?” Irwin asked.
“We don’t know, it happened last night,” said Michael.
“What we do know” muttered Lisa darkly, “is that the muggle-borns have got even less of a chance now.”
Mandy and Padma put their arms around Lisa.
“Don’t worry Lisa,” said Terry reassuringly, “we’re going to look after each other now.”
“We promise!” added Michael.
“It’s just a shame,” added Anthony “that we didn’t start looking after each other till after Anne’s gone.”
The Ravenclaws stayed up half the night playing cards and chatting, nobody slept much and the girls stayed in the boy's room that night. The next day a very bleary-eyed group of second-year Ravenclaws appeared for class but at least Irwin was back in class.