Ambrogia

AMBROGIA

Chapter Three-Blazing

Hermione, Ron and I looked at each other.

"What?" Hermione asked in a squeaky voice.

"He's missing," Professor McGonagall said simply. "We've searched for Miss Peters, Mr. Malfoy and Mr. Longbottom all over the castle. They're no where to be found."

"Thanks," I said.

We faced each other.

"Bloody hell! It's just like they've vanished into thin air!" Ron said, looking pale.

"Let's get to Charms," I said.

Hermione was sticking close to us, eyeing each person as if they were a time bomb waiting to go off.

I could see that really shook her up and now I think her trust was shaken as well.

We entered the classroom and noticed that Crabbe and Goyle were gone.

"Them too? What in blazes is going on? Don't the teachers find this odd?" I mused, starting to get angry and scared as well.

"Were are Mr. Goyle and Mr. Crabbe?" Professor Flitwick asked.

The Slytherins shrugged.

"Totally weird huh?" Seamus asked, leaning over his desk behind us. "Students are going missing, returning, then missing again?"

"Aren't you scared?" Hermione asked him.

Seamus shrugged.

"Did you hear what happened to Hermione yesterday?" Ron asked.

Seamus shook his head.

Ron launched into the whole story.

When he was done, Seamus was pale.

"Wow. That doesn't sound like the Neville we know," he said, slowly.

"I know," I said.

Seamus just shook his head and sat back down.

We began the lesson.

Once again, halfway through the lesson, Crabbe and Goyle hadn't shown up yet...until the next morning at breakfast. They were shoveling food into their mouths like there was no tomorrow.

Hermione and I exchanged looks.

Then, suddenly, Crabbe started coughing.

Ron, Hermione and I kept our eyes on Crabbe.

He kept coughing. The Slytherins were watching him curiously and anxiously.

He coughed again, but this time, a red liquid sprayed across his fingers.

"He's coughing up blood," Hermione said, weakly.

Just before Crabbe collapsed, I saw a streak of white move from Crabbe to Goyle.

Professor Snape and Professor Dumbledore hurried over to the table.

They crouched down beside the table, examining Crabbe.

The entire Hall was silent.

Professor Dumbledore looked up with a grave expression on his face.

We all knew what that meant.

"I'm afraid that he's gone," Professor Dumbledore said quietly.

There were sobs coming from the girls at every table. The boys at the Slytherin table looked pale and sick. I swallowed a lump of nausea. I felt Harry put a hand on my shoulder and give it a gentle squeeze. I turned and looked at him. I felt tears brimming in my eyes, blurring Harry's profile.

"Blimey," we heard Ron say weakly.

"I want everyone to head back to their common rooms. Classes are dismissed for the rest of the day," Professor Dumbledore said.

There was complete silence as everyone got up and started to leave the Great Hall. Harry, Ron and I made our way to the Gryffindor common room.

We sat on chairs in front of the fire, which cracked softly. An orange glow reflected over each of us.

"What on earth happened?" Ron asked quietly.

"I dunno," I said, even quieter.

"Did you guys see a streak of light move from Crabbe to Goyle?" Harry asked, suddenly.

Ron shook his head and so did I.

"I saw this streak of light that moved from Crabbe to Goyle after Crabbe collapsed," Harry said. "Very strange."

I just sighed.

"What happened to Crabbe?"

"It looked like he had some kind of fit or something," Ron said.

"Maybe," I said, uncertainly.

We headed down to dinner after that. Everyone was still talking about what happened to Crabbe. Goyle, however, seemed uninterested in what was going on around him and just ate like it was going out of style.

Ron nudged Harry.

"Check out Goyle...look familiar?" Ron asked.

Harry looked up. So did I.

"Yeah...like he hasn't eaten in ages," Harry said, slowly moving his eyes onto me.

I looked back at him.

We went back to eating our dinner. I was eating roast beef, baked potatoes and carrots. Ron was shoving a tuna casserole into his mouth but Harry was just pushing his food around on his plate. I took a sip of pumpkin juice and looked at Harry.

"Is there anything wrong?" I asked.

Harry just shrugged and continued to push his food around on the plate.

"Ron?" I whispered to him.

He looked at me and I gestured to Harry.

"Harry mate? What's the problem?" Ron asked.

Harry shrugged again.

Ron and I looked at each other.

I was worried about Harry. He normally will tell what the problem is...unless its something bothering him that he didn't want to say in front of Ron.

I decided to talk to him later on.

We went to Care of Magical Creatures next. Hagrid asked us how Neville was. We looked at each other again.

"Neville's pretty sick, Hagrid," Ron said, slowly.

"Yeah. He's up with Madam Pomfrey," Harry said, cottoning on.

Hagrid frowned.

"What's wrong with 'em?"

"He's got...erm..." Harry began then looked at me helplessly.

"Crytus," I said quickly.

"Good lord. I 'ope he's okay," Hagrid said, looking shocked.

"Madam Pomfrey's taking good care of him," Ron said, nodding.

Hagrid looked relieved.

"Thas' good,"

"So, what are we learning about today, Hagrid?" I asked, eager to change the subject. That normally wasn't me, but I really couldn't tell Hagrid the truth about Neville.

"Drakongills," Hagrid said beaming.

Drakongills were creatures the size of cows, blue, with large leathery wings and a face like a cow. They breathe fire, but were much, much gentler than a dragon. They were more docile and could be pet like a horse.

We approached the paddock. The Drakongills were grazing. The Slytherins weren't their usual snickering selves. They seemed subdued and quiet as Hagrid taught the lesson.

Hagrid asked for a volunteer to pet the Drakongill.

Harry and Ron were talking amongst themselves. I boldly stepped forward.

"Ermione! Glad yeh stepped forward!" Hagrid said, happily grinning.

I smiled and stepped forward. I extended my hand to the Drakongill. It looked up at me with yellow eyes and then extended its nose to my hand. It licked me with a pink tongue. It wasn't forked; it was a regular tongue. It had thin pointed ears like a horse. The hide wasn't scaly or anything. It had smooth hair like a cow had. The hooves were solid hooves like a horse as well. The tail was long and white and it swished constantly.

I rubbed the forehead. It closed its eyes as if enjoying it.

"There yeh go! Anyone else for a pat?" Hagrid asked, turning to the other students.

To my surprise, the Slytherins stepped forward and reached to pet the other Drakongills.

Even Harry and Ron were startled. They couldn't believe that the Slytherins had changed so much. It made me wonder if Malfoy really had made himself like the leader of that house. That everyone had to follow him. I might have disliked; despised and possibly hated him, but I did not want to see him dead or missing.

He might have been a pain in the ass, but I'm not a cruel person. I didn't want anything to really happen to him.

The other Gryffindors stepped forward and were all patting one of the Drakongills.

I looked at Ron and Harry. They were still talking amongst themselves. I frowned and tilted my head curiously.

What on earth were they talking about for this long and not pay attention to Hagrid's lesson?

I thought. I decided to have a little talk with both of them after the class.

Once the class was over and we all made our way back to the castle, one of the Slytherin girls accidentally bumped into me.

"Sorry," she apologized softly and continued to walk a head.

Okay, now that was definitely weird. Slytherins being nice to Gryffindors?

The day the Slytherins are nice to the Gryffindors was the day hell froze over...but here the girl apologized to me for bumping into me. We all entered the castle now.

My eyes scanned the corridor. There were Ron and Harry talking again near a window. I narrowed my eyes and stormed over to them.

I stood in front of them and crossed my arms over my chest, glancing at each one of them and waited till one of them realized I was standing directly in front of them.

Finally, after almost 4 minutes of waiting, Ron slowly turned to me.

"Oh...hi Hermione,"

Harry looked at me and seemed almost embarrassed.

"Hi yourself. I was standing here for almost 5 MINUTES and not one of you knew I was here? What am I? A ghost?" I demanded angrily.

"Sorry," Harry apologized quickly.

"So what was so important that you couldn't include me in the conversation? Were you talking about me?" I asked irritated.

Harry and Ron slowly exchanged looks. A signal that meant they had been.

"Who's life did I ruin now? Yours Ron? Or yours Harry? Like the time I told McGonagall that Sirius sent you the broom before we knew the details?" I asked.

I was just hurt and scared now that the fact that these two were talking about me when I wasn't around, added pressure and made me feel actually self conscious now. It made me feel like I was some kind of leper.

"Hermione, this is different. You didn't ruin my life back then. You were being concerned and I appreciated it," Harry replied calmly.

I studied them for a moment before cottoning on.

"You think I'm sick in the head...don't you?"

"NO! Absolutely not!" Ron added looking shocked.

"Excuse me. I'm going to the common room," I said abruptly and stalked off to the Gryffindor tower.

HARRY.

Ron prodded me. "She loves jumping to conclusions,"

I sighed. "I've got to talk to her,"
Ron looked surprised.

"But that will ruin everything!"

"Ron. I'd rather ruin everything than have her be mad at me. I don't know about you," I replied.

Ron sighed also.

"Fine. Go talk to her. I'm gonna go to the library,"

I looked at him.

"Yeah I know. A first for me," Ron muttered as he began walking away. I snorted and hurried up to the Gryffindor tower.

I found Hermione just staring into the crackling fire with an emotionless expression on her face. The rest of the students had gone down for lunch.

I slowly stepped into the common room and over to her. She looked up at me before returning her eyes onto the fire again. I sat down beside her.

"Hermione. The reason why Ron and I were talking about you is because..." I said, swallowing. It was making me nervous trying to get the words out.

"You think I'm a nutter," Hermione replied in a deadpan tone.

"No! I..." I began again.

Just say the words! I scolded myself.

"I want to ask you if you'd go out with me," I blurted out.

She looked at me startled.

"I was asking Ron how he thought I should ask you, even though he has no clue himself," I said as my lip twitched.

Hermione's eyes filled with tears. "That's not the reason I was upset. It's the fact that something horrible is happening here and no one knows how to stop it,"

I looked at her sympathetically.

"I know. It is scary. But I'm sure Dumbledore will figure it out and stop it,"

"The answer to your question is yes," Hermione said smiling as a single tear slid down her cheek.

I grinned and gave her a hug. She hugged me back.

At that moment, the fire shot out of the fireplace, and lit the rug on fire. Hermione and I jumped up and began backing away from it.

"How on earth did that happen?" I demanded as the fire continued to spread and it caught the furniture and it was streaking up the walls.

"I don't know. The only charm that would cause the fire to do that is the Trynox Charm," Hermione replied. "But that charm is even hard for the teachers to perform. Not many witches and wizards know how to do it."

Now the fire was getting thicker, causing dense gray smoke to fill the common room. The flames were starting to corner Hermione and me.

We turned and tried to open the portrait entrance, but it wouldn't.

"Why won't it open!?" Hermione asked shrilly as she began coughing from the smoke.

"I don't know!" I cried and began banging on it.

"LET US OUT! FIRE!" Hermione yelled before another coughing fit took over.

We continued to bang on the portrait but it still would not open. The flames were getting closer. Hermione let out one last cough before she slumped to the floor unconscious. I feebly banged more before not long the smoke got to me too.

RON.

I came back from the library and headed to the Gryffindor tower. Neville was standing outside the portrait with a glazed look on his face. I saw a thin gray jet of smoke slither out from underneath the portrait.

"Neville! There's fire! Open the portrait!" I yelled. "Hermione and Harry are in there!"

Neville didn't move. I stood in front of the portrait and tried to open it but the Fat Lady wasn't budging.

I ran to get Professor Dumbledore and some of the teachers.

Professor Dumbledore got the portrait door opened. Neville was still standing with the glazed look on his face. The fire inside the common room was devastating. We saw Harry and Hermione lying next to each other near the portrait entrance. Both of their uniforms were burned away in some areas and they had 2^nd degree burns on their arms, legs and hands. The fire was still going.

Professor Snape grabbed Hermione and carefully pulled her out of the common room. Professor McGonagall grabbed Harry.

"Get them up to the hospital wing immediately!" Professor Dumbledore said.

Snape and McGonagall gently and carefully carried Hermione and Harry up to the hospital wing. Professor Dumbledore aimed his wand into the common room and shouted: "AQUASORIN!"

A thin jet of turquoise shot out from the tip of his wand and entered the common room creating a small wave of water that put out the fire. Everything inside was scorched and soaked now. Dumbledore turned to Neville.

"Are you alright?" he asked, putting a hand on Neville's shoulder.

Neville's body began crumbling before us like a dried piece of cookie. There was nothing left of Neville but his uniform laying in a heap where he had once stood.