A Different Life

On Friday evening, Beth showed her skill to Oliver Wood. He was jubilant by the end and said happily, "The Quidditch Cup is going to have our name on it this year." He was almost skipping as they headed back to the castle. Beth wrote to her parents informing them of the news and asked them to send her Nimbus Two Thousand.

On Monday, the broom was delivered during the arrival of the morning post. The accompanying note was from Sirius, Natalia, and Remus, who congratulated her. Sirius also told her to 'kick Slytherin's butt' at the first Quidditch match. That was followed by Remus writing, "Sirius! You can't tell Beth that! You have a nephew in Slytherin. Beth, don't listen to Sirius, though I do hope you help lead Gryffindor into victory."

Beth chuckled as she read the note. Luckily for her, Daniel wasn't on the Slytherin team, so she wouldn't have to play against her cousin. Julie was a reserve Chaser on the Hufflepuff team, however. There wasn't much chance that Beth would have to play against her, though, since there was another reserve Chaser and the Hufflepuff team rarely needed to use reserves.

Thereafter, Beth's time was taken up three evenings a week for Quidditch practice. With Hermione's help, she managed to get through her homework with some spare time to hang out with her friends or do some leisure reading.

By the time October arrived, Beth felt very comfortable with Hogwarts. She had gotten to know Daphne Greengrass, who like Daniel, was one of the few decent Slytherins. Daphne was mostly quiet, but as she got to know Beth and her friends, she opened up. Daphne rarely hung around the other Slytherins and outside of classes, she could be found most often in Draco's company.

October passed quickly. The study group was thriving, and worked very well. Interhouse relations were excellent, except with Slytherin, and even then, the four Slytherins that were part of the group got along well with the other students. Some students who had originally thought that all Slytherins were evil soon changed their views and realized that there were decent ones.

When Halloween arrived, the smell of pumpkin wafted through the castle when Beth woke up that morning. She donned a pair of earrings she had transfigured to look like bats and a charm bracelet with charms appropiate for the holiday (pumpkin, bat, black cat, ghost, and skeleton). Hermione complimented her at breakfast and then dug out a pair of clip-on earrings, transfigured them in the shape of pumpkins, and put them on.

In Charms that day, Professor Flitwick informed that they would finally be learning how to levitate objects. The class was very excited about this and got to work on the feathers that were handed out. Beth was partnered with Neville. After many attempts, Neville was able to levitate his father a few inches above the desk for about five seconds. Beth, on the other hand, couldn't get her feather to move at all until the end of class, where it floated several inches for about ten seconds. Hermione, who was the first student to do it successfully, was awarded ten points.

During the Halloween feast, Hermione left to use the bathroom. She had only been gone for about half a minute when Professor Quirrell burst in. He gasped, "Troll - in the dungeons - thought you should know." With that, he collapsed.

The entire Great Hall was in instant uproar, but Dumbledore quickly restored order. He gave orders for the prefects to escort students to the common rooms while the teachers dealt with the troll.

In the confusion, Susan and Draco drifted over. "How did a troll get in the school?" asked Susan.

"Who knows?" answered Ron, shrugging. "Maybe Peeves let it in for a Halloween joke."

"Hey, where's Hermione?" asked Draco.

Beth responded, "She went to the bathroom just before Quirrell announced - oh no! Hermione doesn't know about the troll!"

"We have to find and warn her," said Neville, his face showing fear, but his voice determined.

Draco looked around. "All right, but as long as we don't get caught." Fortunately, everything was confused, so they were able to slip away to find Hermione. On the way, the five of them had to duck behind a large statue because they heard footsteps. It turned out to be Snape, and it looked as if he was heading for the third floor.

"Why isn't he with the other teachers?" asked Ron.

Beth shrugged. "Beats me. Wait, what if the troll was let in for a diversion?"

"A diversion?" asked Susan. "But why?"

"Something's being guarded at Hogwarts," explained Neville.

"Come on!" said Beth impatiently. "We have to get to Hermione now!"

They had almost reached the bathroom when a foul and disgusting smell met their nostrils. "Ugh!" exclaimed Beth, holding her nose.

A second later, the troll shuffled into sight and then entered a door. The door had a key in the lock and Draco suggested, "We could lock it in."

"Yeah," seconded Ron.

"No, you idiots!" exclaimed Susan. "That's the girl's bathroom!" She ran forward and a loud scream was heard.

The others quickly followed her and they saw that Hermione was crouched against the wall, eyes wide with fright. The very ugly troll towered over her, a club in its hand. Draco bent down and picked up a broken off pipe. "Distract it!" he yelled, throwing the pipe at the troll at the same time.

The troll didn't seem to be bothered by the pipe, but the shout attracted his notice and he slowly turned around. Ron threw a tile and shouted. The troll turned towards him. Neville looked very frightened, but he managed to throw a tap at it and yelled. As the troll shifted a third time, Neville ran to the other side. Beth and Susan ran around the troll and reached Hermione.

"Come on, Mia!" shouted Beth. She and Susan dragged Hermione to her feet and tried to get her moving, but she was frozen in fear. Susan shook her hard, and Beth took a small bottle of scents from her pocket and waved it under Hermione's nose. The combination of the two made Hermione snap out of it.

Beth was struck by an inspiration. "Stun it! Or put it under the Full-Body Bind! We've been practicing those lately!"

All of them pulled out their wands and pointed it at the troll. Draco, Beth, and Hermione yelled "Stupefy!", while Neville, Ron, and Susan shouted "Petrificus Totalus!" The combination of their spells caused the troll to drop its club and fall to the ground, knocked out.

The six stared at each other in silence for several seconds. Then the door opened and Professors McGonagall, Flitwick, Sprout, and Quirrell came in. Quirrell took one look at the troll and quickly sat down on a toilet seat, one hand over his heart.

The other three professors had varying degrees of displeasure on their faces. "What are you six doing here?" she demanded. "Why aren't you all in your common rooms?"

"Um, Professor, it was my fault," said Hermione bravely. "I had gone to the bathroom, so I didn't know about the troll. The others came to find and warn me, but the troll showed up and we had no choice but to defend ourselves from it. The boys distracted it, and then Beth suggested we try to Stun it or put it under the Full-Body Bind."

The teachers didn't look angry after hearing the explanation. "I see," said Professor Flitwick. "So three students from Gryffindor and a student each from Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff went to help a Gryffindor student."

"Good case of inter-house unity," said Professor Sprout approvingly. "What do you think, Minerva and Filius?"

"I agree," said Professor McGonagall, nodding. "It is commendable."

Professor Flitwick nodded as well. "This is good. Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, and Hufflepuff are awarded twenty points each for being able to defeat a troll despite being first years, and another thirty points each for a show of house unity."

"Excellent," said Professor Sprout. "Well, the six of you can go now. Students are finishing up the feast in their respective common rooms."

The six students quickly left the bathroom. Once they had gotten away from the stink, they stopped and looked at each other. "Thanks for rescuing me from the troll," said Hermione quietly.

"We're your friends," said Neville. "It's the least we can do."

"Well, you don't have to question your not being brave enough to be in Gryffindor anymore, Neville," said Ron. "You were afraid of the troll, yet you worked up the courage to help us fight it."

Beth said, "I feel like we should all swear friendship with each other or something."

Draco brightened, because he hadn't made any friends so far, unless you counted those five and Daphne. He held out a hand and said, "I swear to be eternal friends with the rest of you." After a second of hesitation, the others also stuck out their hands and repeated what Draco said. A gold cord appeared around each of their wrists for a few seconds.

They looked at their wrists, then stared at each other, puzzled. Finally Susan said, "I think this means that we're close friends now." The others considered it, then decided what Susan said made sense. They then went to their respective common rooms. When the three houses discovered that they had won fifty points each, the six students were briefly popular.

After that, the six of them became a tight circle of friends that were practically inseperable. After all, there were some things you can't share without becoming very close friends, and facing a ten-foot tall mountain troll was one of them.