MJs Hogwarts Journal Chapter 41

Thursday 27^th February

I really am hopeless at writing in here, aren’t I? So much for my New Year’s Resolution. Well let me see, what is there to catch up on? Arh, right, so I actually managed to catch Blondie the other day, when was it…? I think it might have been the Saturday or Sunday after Valentine’s Day. I had just been talking to one of the paintings when he walked by. “Morning MJ,” he said with a nod.

“Hi Malfoy,” I said turning to face him. A grin was plastered on his face. “My, someone’s in a good mood.”

“Yeah well…” he said with a shrug. He brushed a hand through his hair. He’d swept it to the side – that was different. “What’s there not to like?” he asked. I smiled at him. It was nice seeing him jolly instead of out to get people all the time. It was a rarity, but a nice one.

“Actually, can I ask you something?” I blurted out, wanting to catch him before he disappeared.

“Sure,” he shrugged. “Ask away.”

“Did you see Josie in the library on Friday?” I asked twiddling with my thumbs. Being too close to Blondie without anyone else around made me nervous. I guess I didn’t like not being able to read him. Like now, he seemed so at ease and calm, but within a second he could be spiteful. It’s not that I couldn’t handle him – I’m sure I could. It’s just that I don’t like being caught off guard.

“Yeah, I saw her,” he said with his signature Malfoy smirk. He ran a hand across the back of his neck. “Why? Did she say something?” His eyes dropped to his feet as he bit his bottom lip.

“Only that she saw you really,” I told him. “You showed her some card or something.” I tried to be a vague as possible.

“Nothing else?” he asked, shooting his eyes at me. I shook my head.

“I don’t think so,” I said with a frown. He blew out a breath. “Why?” I asked. “Was something wrong?”

“No,” he said, as the corner of his mouth poked up. “Well, nice speaking to you, MJ,” he said waving a couple of fingers at me. Then he left. Well so longs as nothing bad happened. Even Blondie didn’t seem to want to tell me the whole story though. I’ll squeeze it out of one of them, eventually.

*

Okay, so what’s next? Lessons. Right, I’ve been trying my hardest to pay attention in Professor Binns’ History of Magic. It’s so easy to get distracted though. It’s not that the Werewolf Code of Conduct or the uprising of Elfric the Eager weren’t interesting – after reading up about them myself, they were – incredibly interesting even. It’s just that monotone Binns drives you made after a couple of seconds of being stuck in his classroom. The boys are always goofing off in Binns’ class and it’s sometimes kind of hard not to join in. Yeah, I want to learn, but I want to have fun too. And using Professor McGonagall’s Alteareh spell to turn a stick into a needle and poke it into Crabbe’s arm as he stared off into space was technically learning. I was practising my magic and found out that Crabbe is scared of sharp objects. That may be a point that I need to remember for a future occasion – you never know.

Transfiguration itself hasn’t been too bad. I’m still struggling with the Avifors spell and I’m still getting some of the transfigurating formula confused, but I’m not overly worried. I’ve got until the third week in May before our exams. It’s the same with Charms really too. I’m not behind everyone else, like I was worried that I would be. If anything, I’m on an even playing field. I’m doing better than some people in my class, but at the same time there are others better than me. It’s a nice mix really. So longs as I do well enough in my end-of-year tests to prove to my parents that they didn’t waste their time sending me here, then I’ll be happy.

*

This morning’s Defence Against the Dark Arts class went downhill again. Professor Quirrell hadn’t been too bad since the Weasley twins had been forced to stop the constant barrel of snowballs from whacking him in the back of the head. But today we learnt nothing, hence the fact that I’ve actually been able to catch up with writing in here – Quirrell never noticed a thing, he was too busy hanging up garlic necklaces around his classroom. They stunk so bad. I can still feel myself gagging thinking about it now. Yuck! No wonder vampires hate the stuff. Next time, I’ll think twice before eating garlic bread. I don’t think I could stomach it for weeks, after sitting in that classroom.

*

Me and Jed found Josie at lunch – she was just about to leave the Great Hall as we came in. How she managed to eat that fast, I’ll never know. We called her towards the Slytherin table, so that we could walk to Herbology together. “Guess what?” she gasped, as she neared us. Before we even had the chance to guess, she told us, “Professor Snape’s agreed to go over some Potions stuff with me in his office straight after last lesson.”

“That’s amazing,” said Jed. “Snape actually agreed to it?” Josie nodded. “Wow… that’s a first.”

“I know,” Josie said as she hugged a book at her chest. “I just hope he can help.”

“Of course he can,” I told her. “And if you’re still stuck, just come to me and Jed – we’ll give it a go.” Leaning up from my seat, I gave her a hug. I was so happy for her. That’s exactly what she needed. A teacher to help her and let her know that she’s not struggling as badly as she thinks she is. See, I knew Snape wasn’t such a bad guy.

*

As always, the three of us sat together in Herbology. It was kind of a strange lesson. Professor Sprout had each of us come to the front of the room and assist her with a fierce, fighting plant – I think it was called a Mandrake Sproutling. Blondie made fun of almost everyone, whether they did well or not. He was so asking for detention. He spent the entire class acting up. Even Pansy had to tell him to cut it out, and she usually goes along with him. She was probably just nervous – she didn’t want him to laugh at her too. I don’t blame her. I felt the same. My palms grew sweaty as Professor Sprout made her way down the register.

Jed didn’t seem to have much trouble. Professor Sprout reassured him that he must remain calm, while he assisted her with re-potting the wriggling creature. It had the top of a leafy plant, with thin branches and spikey green leaves, but underneath where the root is, it looked like a little man with four arms and legs, kicking and punching at you the entire time. Professor Sprout had told us that it was a herb and its leaves are used to help heal a type of fever. It looked like a menacing monster to me.

When it was my turn, Jed wished me luck. Holding the sproutling by the stem, it swiped at me. I jerked back a little. It scratched my hand, but luckily, didn’t break the skin’s surface. As Professor Spout held the new, larger plant pot in front of me, I flung the thing forwards. It dropped inside and I threw the soil over it faster than I even realised that I was doing it. “Congratulations Melanie,” I heard as my heart hammered at my chest. I looked up. Professor Sprout was smiling at me. I relaxed my shoulders, letting out a breath.

Dropping back into my seat I whispered, “Phew,” as the professor called for her next victim, I mean student.

When she called Josie’s name, Josie gripped her head as she pushed herself up. “You okay?” I asked her, placing a hand on her arm.

“I’m fine,” she muttered. “Just a little dizzy.”

“Probably stood up too fast,” Jed told her. She agreed with him and made her way to the front of the classroom.

“Oow,” gasped Professor Sprout as she held out a small pot containing the creature. “This one’s a feisty one.” The professor’s arms jittered forwards, as she tried to keep a firm hold of the pot. Josie rubbed a hand to her forehead again, as she placed one hand on the stem of the plant. “Nice and steady now,” she warned her. “Now pull on three…” Gripping the plant’s stem with both hands, Josie nodded. “One, two, three.” What occurred next, in my eyes, happened in slow motion: Professor Sprout staggered backwards as the beastly creature flew out of the pot. Josie wobbled back too. She went over on her ankle. Her eyes closed. Her knees buckled. Letting go of the plant, Josie fell to the floor. Gasps and screams filled the air as the Mandrake Sproutling slithered across the floor. Leaping across the classroom, Professor Sprout scooped the sprouting up threw it into a heap of soil, whilst all eyes lay on Josie.

I fairly certain I’m not over exaggerating when I say everyone was worried – even the boys at the back stopped their stupid comments to see if she was okay. Professor Sprout lent over her and muttered something about petals. She told me and Jed to keep an eye on her, whilst she went to fetch them. I ran straight to Josie’s side. Jed followed close behind me. “Is she okay?” asked one of the Ravenclaw girls.

“What happened?” muttered someone else.

“She’s just a big lump,” I heard Pansy laugh at the back. “She’s overreacting.”

“Oh shut up,” Blondie sighed at her. He and Goyle got up out of their seats.

“I’m back, I’m back,” muttered Professor Sprout, more to herself than us. In her hands she held a bunch of huge, floppy, creamy-pink petals. They swamped her hands. “Okay, okay, back now everyone,” she said, as she knelt at Josie’s side. Standing up on my toes, I tried to see over Professor Sprout as she wafted the petals in front of Josie’s nose. Josie’s eyes flickered. I gasped. My heart fluttered. She was okay. Josie gave a groan as she tried to sit up. “Now dear, you gave us all a scare,” Professor Sprout told her as she helped Josie to her feet. “Are you alright? Should I get Melanie and Mister Edwards to escort you to Madam Pomfrey?”

“No,” mumbled Josie as her cheeks reddened. “I’m fine. Really.” As Josie took her seat, I threw my arms around her shoulders. Jed rubbed a hand against hers. I have no idea what just happened, but I’m so glad that she’s okay.

*

Professor Sprout let us all go a little early, due to Josie fainting. In a way this was good, because it meant that we could walk Josie most of the way to her next lesson and still not be late to Charms. I held an arm around her shoulder as we left the greenhouses. “I’m fine,” Josie insisted, brushing me off. “I don’t need any help.”

“But I was just-” I began.

“I’m fine,” she told me with a smile. “I don’t need extra attention – or any at all. Just pretend like I’m invisible.”

“Watch it!” Jed yelled, as Blondie and his cronies barged past us, as we approached the castle entrance. They ignored him and carried on. I gave Jed a soft smile – he could be caring when he wanted to be. “Don’t worry José,” he told Josie, giving her shoulder a squeeze. “I’ll get Malfoy later.”

Walking a few paces ahead of us, Blondie projected: “Can you believe Snape?” as he nudged Goyle in the arm. “That traitor’s giving the Ravenclaw private lessons.” The boys began laughing. “A Ravenclaw needing help – obviously got sorted into the wrong house, don’t you think?” As they cackled away, I glared long and hard at the back of Blondie’s head. “And what does Snape think he’s playing at, tutoring a Ravenclaw – he must be stupid.”

“That’s enough Mister Malfoy!” roared Professor Snape. “Detention.” Spinning my head to the right, Professor Snape was standing at the bottom of the staircase. That’s it; Blondie was in for it now. He really shouldn’t be so careless.

“Detention?” Blondie repeated with a whine. Seriously, did he actually think that he would get away with that? “Just not today, Sir,” he said with his usual smirk. “Not straight after school, I-”

“Detention. My office. Straight after your last class,” said Snape with his sinister stare, barely moving his lips. “I expect you no later than three minutes from your last lesson. Do I make myself clear?” Blondie nodded. With that, Professor Snape swept away down the corridor, his black robes billowing behind him.

Turning towards me, Jed’s eyes widened. We both looked at Josie, who was still staring ahead at the scene that had just unfolded. “I’m so sorry, Josie,” I muttered. “You’ve got Malfoy for company.” Straight after last lesson was the exact time that Josie said Professor Snape had promised to help her with Potions.

“Perfect,” she muttered rolling her eyes. “Just what I need, Mister Perfect seeing how imperfect I am at Potions.” She gave a sigh. “I’ll see you guys later,” she said as she forced a smile. “Library at five, yeah?” Jed and I agreed and watched her go up the stairs to her Defence Against the Dark Arts class.

*

After Charms, Jed and I made our way to the library. We wanted to make sure that we got our favourite spot, so that it would be easy for Josie to spot us when she appeared. Facing the doorway, Jed was first to spot her. “So, how’d it go?” he asked her. Looking up from my Charms book at Jed, I spun my head around to see Josie.

“Malfoy wasn’t a menace, was he?” I asked her.

“It wasn’t too bad,” Josie told us, as she dropped into her seat. “Professor Snape just had Draco sit in the corner, whilst he went over everything with me.”

“You missed the part where you thanked me for helping you with a way to remember the difference between Wiggenweld, Wiggentree and Wideye,” came the smug voice of Blondie behind her. Josie shuddered.

“Draco, are you following me?” she asked.

“Well, we wouldn’t want you to faint again, would we?”

“Shove off Malfoy,” Jed barked.

“Well,” breathed Blondie as he turned away. “You’re not terrible at Potions, by the way,” he added over his shoulder, glancing at Josie. I watched as she smiled at him as he carried on walking.

- Josie -

MJs Hogwarts Journal Chapter 40

Friday 14^th February

Oh gosh, dare I even say it? It’s Valentine’s Day. The school went all out as well. There were pink and red streamers wrapped around the pillars in the Great Hall and the tables were scattered with confetti hearts. Even the food was themed. Heart shaped pancakes, toast and crumpets, pink drinks – it was a little over the top really. Lots of the girls were really into it. More of the older girls could be seen scribbling away in Valentine’s cards, hiding what they were writing from everyone else. Pansy, of course, was no exception. “D’you think he’ll like it?” she asked showing us a pink coloured card with a red heart on the front, which simply read, “Be my Valentine.” I just smiled and nodded along with Scarlett and Priscilla.

It wasn’t very magical. In fact, it was even more lame than the Muggle cards. Wouldn’t it make more sense to have a Golden Snitch on the front and have it say, “You’re a catch,” or in Blondie’s case, “You’re my Golden Snitch.” He is golden when it comes to snitching – oh seriously, what the perfect card. I should so send him one as a joke. But honestly, if Pansy’s card is anything to go by, the wizarding world sucks at Valentine’s Day. How’s about a flaming heart saying: “You + Me = Incendio,” or, “I Accio You.” Seriously, I should be a wizard greeting card designer. At least people would be more impressed with the stuff that I come up with than a plain pink/red heart that says, “Be mine.” I mean, how tacky?

Jed groaned as he entered the Great Hall and dropped into the space beside me. “Seriously, pink?” he frowned looking around at the decorations. “And what’s with the toast?” he asked picking up a piece by the tip of the heart and dangling it in front of him, as though touching it properly would infect him with some crazy, girly disease.

“I know,” I sighed, rolling my eyes. “Disgusting, right?” Jed agreed. I told him about Pansy’s card and let him in on my little card-designing plan.

“That’s ace,” he laughed, ripping the heart shaped toast between his teeth. “You should totally trick Malfoy with that card. You should sign it from a secret admirer. It’ll drive him mad.” I couldn’t help but laugh, Jed was getting more carried away with this than I was. As Blondie and his cronies walked in, Jed elbowed me and whispered, “Do it.” He sniggered. “You know you want to.”

I thought about what Jed said for a while. It would be really funny, and it was the most perfect thing for Blondie – you couldn’t use that line on anyone else in the whole school. But did I really want to? What if someone saw me and asked what I was doing? I guess I’d blend in. All the other girls were doing it. As Blondie appeared at the table a few seats down from Jed, Jed leant towards me and whispered, “If you don’t do it, I will… and who knows what I’ll write inside…”

“Fine,” I agreed with a giggle. Why not use the best slogan on the person it fitted most perfectly. Diving into my messenger bag, I pulled out some parchment and all of my different coloured inks. If we were going to prank Malfoy, we had to do it properly.

Okay, so that’s what my finished drawing kind of looked like.

“Whoa, MJ,” gasped Jed. “You didn’t have to go all out.”

“I didn’t,” I shrugged. “It’s just a sketch.” Jed seemed really impressed. All I did was draw a circle and gave it wings. It’s wasn’t a masterpiece. When it came to the inside we decided to keep with the flow of the front of the card:

To Draco,

You’re my Golden Snitch - just don’t snitch on me.

Happy Valentine’s Day.

love,

Your secret admirer

x x x

“Perfect!” beamed Jed. “Now all that’s left is to slip it into his textbook during Potions an’ hey-presto, he sees your amazing design and it drives him mad for the rest of the day… if we’re lucky all weekend.” I pressed a hand to my mouth to hide my laughter, as Jed slotted the card into his bag.

As breakfast came to an end, I must admit, I caught a case of the giggles. It was partly from Pansy, but mostly from mine and Jed’s prank. I couldn’t wait to see the look on Blondie’s face when he sees it. Thinking about the card, I caught myself staring at him. I shuddered, hoping that he hadn’t noticed. I didn’t think he did, anyway. Bringing myself back to reality, Jed elbowed me. “Fancy going for two in a row?” Jed asked with a grin. He pointed towards Fabian and Josie, who were leaving the Great Hall together. Getting out of our seats, Jed and I followed them.

“Josie…” Jed called after her, as we skipped out of the Hall. “Fabian… wait up!”

“You alright Jed, MJ?” Fabian smiled, as we caught up with them.

“Where are you two off to?” Jed asked.

“I’ve got Care of Magical Creatures,” Fabian told us. “Josie’s got Charms.”

“You can walk with us if you like,” Josie offered. Fabian looked down at her and smiled, before turning back to us and agreeing.

“Nah, you’re okay,” I said with a grin.

“A couple’s plenty company,” said Jed.

“Yeah,” I agreed with a smirk. “We wouldn’t want to intrude or anything.”

“Hey!” Josie exclaimed, as her cheeks reddened. “That’s not funny. You know we’re just friends.” Holding a hand to his stomach, Jed burst into a fit of giggles.

“Sorry, Josie, you’re just funny to wind up,” he told her.

“Don’t worry about it,” beamed Fabian. “It was funny.” Smiling down at Josie, as she looked up at him, he told her, “You’re cute when you blush.” This only made Josie’s cheeks turn a deeper pink.

“Hey, don’t worry you’re not our first target,” Jed admitted, as Josie buried her face behind her Charms textbook. “Gotta run,” Jed said as he grabbed my arm. “Lots of people to annoy, not a lot a time t’ do it in.”

*

During Potions, Jed managed to casually walk past Blondie’s desk and accidentally-on-purpose knock his textbook off the table. “Sorry Malfoy. I’ll get it,” Jed told him, as he secretly slipped our card into Blondie’s book. It wasn’t until part way through class that Blondie found it. It was a theory-based lesson today and Professor Snape got us to refer to several pages in out Potion’s textbooks. When Blondie flicked through his book, the page with the card in peered open. I watched as he stared at it, before looking around to make sure that no one was watching. I shot my eyes down to my desk, before sneaking a glance back up at him. He slipped it off the desk and onto his lap, before glancing down to read it. His cheeks turned pink. Stuffing the card into his pocket, he spun his head around, examining the class. I shot my eyes down at my textbook and pretended to be reading. “We got ‘im,” Jed muttered to me. “This’ll drive Malfoy mad.”

*

Throughout the rest of the day we tried other silly little things on people too. It was just harmless fun, but it was so funny. We hinted at Dean, in Potions, that Scarlett had a thing for him – within minutes he was over at her table asking if she needed help. When she turned him away, Jed leaned over and told him, “She’s just playing hard to get.” Then there was Potter – we had to get him. Jed found some stale sweets in the bottom of his bag. We dipped them all in red ink before tying them up around a piece of parchment with the note, ‘A Crimson heart for a scarlet guy,’ which was obviously posted from Scarlett’s Gryffindor twin, Crimson. He got caught by Snape for reading admirer notes in class. We did stop him before he tried to eat one of the sweets though – we aren’t that mean. Then at lunch Jed started chatting away to Justin Finch-Fletchley from Hufflepuff, whilst he got me talking to Hannah Abbott, also from Hufflepuff. Jed’s idea was to trick them into thinking that the other liked them, only for us to find out that they actually did. Jed was a little annoyed, but I found the whole thing quite sweet.

We met up with Josie after we had eaten lunch and the three of us roamed the castle for a while before our next lessons. Jed and I had Defence Against the Dark Arts, while Josie had Potions. The three of us were on the second floor, having come from Professor Flitwick’s office, where Josie had gotten him to show us a plate full of dancing cupcakes – it was really cool. Turning onto the main corridor stretch, we noticed Blondie, Crabbe and Goyle walking a little way ahead of us. Walking beside me, Jed poked me and jerked his head towards Josie, before looking over at Blondie. These two were the next victims, I mean targets for today. “We’ll kill two birds with one stone,” Jed muttered to me. As I frowned, he whispered, “Watch,” and his plan began.

“Hey José,” Jed whispered, loud enough for her to hear him from being on my other side, but quiet enough so that Malfoy and his minions didn’t know that we were behind them. “Still think we ought to ask Malfoy about that thing we saw drinking the unicorn’s blood?” It wasn’t as though the question had come out of the blue. We had already discussed several times that if anyone had any more information about the unicorn attacks then it would be him. He was actually there when the creature was attacking the unicorns.

“Come on Josie,” I said nudging her. “Go ask him.”

“No,” she hissed, hugging her arms around herself. “Besides, it was dark; we don’t even know what we saw.” I sighed. This was going to be more difficult than Jed realised.

“Not again José,” Jed sighed at her. “We’ve been through this. We know it was a unicorn. You said it yourself, its blood’s silver.”

“Well why me?” she asked, looking over at Blondie. Her cheeks turned red, as she looked back and Jed and me.

“Because,” said Jed with a shrug. He walked behind me and appeared on Josie’s right side. Placing an arm around her shoulder, he said with a grin, “He’ll tell you.”

“No, he won’t,” she retorted, pushing Jed’s arm off her. “Can’t you guys ask him? Just sit next to him in the Common Room when he’s on his own or something.” Just at that moment, Crabbe and Goyle disappeared down a staircase, leaving Blondie on his own.

“It would seem suspicious if we ask him,” I told her. “But you can just tell him that you’re interested in unicorns, or that you want to hear his fascinating story.” I rolled my eyes at my own comment. Josie smiled at me.

“Well now’s your chance,” said Jed. He nodded at me and the two of us pushed her forwards.

Staggering forwards, Josie bumped into Blondie’s back. “Hey! Watch it!” he growled, as he turned around.

“I’m sorry!” Josie exclaimed, with blushing cheeks. “Jed and MJ pushed me.” She turned around to glare at us, but Jed grabbed my arm and we darted into a nearby empty room to spy. Seeing us hide, Blondie’s expression softened as he looked back at her. Brushing a hand through his hair, he pulled it to the side in a swift attempt to neaten it. His pale complexion deepened to a slight pink. I think being caught off guard without his bodyguards and being able to see how obviously we set the two of them up, Blondie almost seemed lost for words. However, he soon got his cool back, as he smirked, and they carried on walking.

Peering out of the classroom doorway, I sighed to Jed, “We can’t hear them now.”

“Well then we’ll move closer,” said Jed.

“We can’t,” I hissed. “There’s nowhere else to hide. Besides, Blondie won’t be his charming self if we’re there.”

“True,” Jed muttered. “But it doesn’t mean we can’t try. If that fails, we’ll just have t’ get it out of ‘em. You take José an’ I’ll talk to Malfoy tonight.” I nodded – it seemed like a fair enough plan.

Poking my head back around the doorway, I watched as Blondie and Josie passed a staircase. “Come on,” I told Jed. “Let’s hide there.” Running down the corridor, Jed and I tried not to giggle as we darted behind the wall of the staircase. Leaning back against the wall, Jed kept watch this time. “What’s happening?” I hissed.

“He’s leaning towards her,” Jed told me.

“What?” I gasped.

“He’s whispering to her.”

“Let me see,” I cried. Jed shimmied back a bit and the two of us stuck out heads out. Blondie grabbed Josie’s hand and pulled her towards the next staircase. Hidden behind the wall we could no longer see them. I gasped. Jed pulled me back.

“Ssshussh,” he hissed. “They could’ve heard you.” We waited a moment before peering back around again. We couldn’t risk them seeing us. Jed peered around again. His head shot back to mine as he said, “Malfoy’s alone.” Josie must have left down the staircase. I sighed. I guess we wouldn’t know what had happened until we managed to speak to them later. I just don’t like waiting.

*

During Defence Against the Dark Arts and Charms, Jed and I had a little play about with more matchmaking. We managed to convince Crabbe that Scarlett has a crush on him. He spent the whole of Professor Quirrell’s class gazing at her, then in Charms he turned her textbook to mush, when he overdid the Spongify charm. It was so funny. After class, Jed even tried wind up Potter’s friend Weasley – he tried to get him to think that Granger had a crush on him. The two of them avoided each other for the rest of the afternoon. Jed wanted to try something on Longbottom too, but I managed to convince him not to. I just felt a little sorry for him. Everyone’s always picking on that boy – even the teachers.

*

When it came to dinner, we laid off the matching up. I tried to make sure that I ate my food quickly, because I wanted to make sure I caught Josie before she left the Great Hall – she never stays long. She must really eat her dinner super-fast. Seeing Josie get up to leave, I called after her, while Jed promised to talk to Blondie. Josie waited for me just outside of the Hall. Closing the door behind me, I smiled at her. “Hi José!”

“You know, what you did back there wasn’t very nice,” she said hotly. I found myself frowning. “At lunch… after we saw Professor Flitwick… second-floor corridor…” My spine tingled. I lowered my head. “He could’ve shouted at me,” she exclaimed. “I could’ve been a part of some really horrid trick.”

“I’m sorry,” I blurted out. For the first time from joining in on Jed’s Valentine’s jokes today, did I actually feel guilty. My heart panged. She was right. I was always the one worrying that Blondie was out to get us, thinking that Josie couldn’t see it, yet here she was telling me off for being careless. “Josie, I’m so sorry,” I sobbed. She folded her arms and turned away from me. “Jed seemed to think Blondie would tell you.”

“Why? Jed’s more his friend and your both in Slytherin,” Josie snapped, as she looked at me.

“Because you’re a Ravenclaw,” I told her, as though it was obvious. “He’d just think you were after knowledge.”

“So, you say,” she retorted. “Then why wouldn’t you let me ask him myself, instead of pushing me into him and running off? If he’d have yelled at me, we’d have gotten nowhere.”

I looked away from her. I couldn’t bear to see her teary face. She was mad at me. She had every reason to be. Playing pranks is always fun until someone gets hurt – it’s just that emotionally is sometimes the most difficult to spot straight away. My stomach churned. Having eaten my dinner too quickly and not had time to digest, the guilt that I now felt threatened to force the food back up. I gipped my stomach tight. “Was it bad?” I asked her. Josie turned her back to me again. “Please, José,” I begged. “Can’t you tell me what happened?”

“Why should I?” she asked.

The door to the Great Hall opened. We both turned to see who was there. Striding out with a grin on his face, Blondie tossed an apple in the air. “Evening girls,” he smiled, as he caught the fruit.

“Hey Malfoy,” I said forcing a smile.

“Hi Draco,” Josie smiled and gave a little wave.

“Whatcha doing?” he stopped to ask.

“Just talking,” I replied with a shrug.

Looking at Josie, Blondie said, “I hope you haven’t been snitching on me,” with a huge smirk. Biting her bottom lip, Josie shook her head. “Good,” he laughed, throwing his apple up again. “Well you two have fun. Catch ya later,” he said to us and gave Josie a wink. Josie’s cheeks reddened as she giggled.

“Bye Draco!” she called after him.

“See ya Malfoy,” I added. Well she certainly perked up a bit.

Once Blondie was out of hearing distance, I turned to Josie. “Okay, what was that all about?” I asked her.

“What?” she said with a shrug. She pressed the backs of her fingers against her cheeks.

“You and Blondie… what did he do?” I asked her.

“Nothing,” she muttered. Oh no, here we go again. Whenever Josie says, ‘nothing,’ she means something.

“Josie,” I sighed, raising an eyebrow at her.

“Fine,” she sighed with a smile, rolling her eyes at me. “I’ll write it down for you.” A grin broke across my face, as she looked down at her watch. “Meet me back here thirty minutes before curfew,” she said. My forehead creased, as my brain registered what she just said. “You’ve got to give me time to write it. I’ll meet you back here in an hour – it’s about halfway from both the Slytherin and Ravenclaw Common Rooms.” I agreed. Josie smiled weakly at me before dashing off in the direction of the Ravenclaw tower.

*

Meeting up with Jed in the Slytherin Common Room later, he handed me a Hogwarts napkin. “Everything you need to know about what I got outta Malfoy’s on there,” he told me, as he dropped into the space on the sofa beside me. Glancing down at the napkin, there really didn’t seem a lot there. Either Jed was rubbish at writing everything out, or he really didn’t get much of a chance to speak with Blondie.

Jed was right; there wasn’t a lot to go on. That does prove something about the fake Valentine’s card I sent him though – he had been thinking about it. He had to have done for him to say, ‘I’m over it.’ So, what if he stopped thinking about it? The main thing is that it messed with his head – hopefully for the majority of the day. He didn’t even seem that sore at us for pushing Josie into him earlier. Someone’s got him in a jolly mood. Still though, that doesn’t solve our unicorn’s blood mystery. I just hope that I get more luck out of Josie.

*

Checking my watch, I made sure that I got to the Great Hall at exactly twenty-five minutes past seven. I couldn’t have waited another five seconds in the Common Room. As soon as Josie’s head appeared from the staircase partway down the corridor, I sped-walked towards her. “Josie!” I called out to her, grinning as wide as I could. Seeing me she smiled and handed me a coil of parchment. “Thank you,” I gasped. “Thank you, thank you, thank you.”

“You haven’t read it yet,” she smiled at me.

“I know, but thank you,” I told her.

“I tried to include all of it,” she told me as she looked down at her feet, poking the point of her shoe at a spot on the ground.

“Don’t worry,” I told her. “It will be perfect. I know it will.” I let her know again just how much I appreciated her writing everything out, before I let her leave. I wanted to read it all there and then, but I knew that with eight o’clock approaching, I needed to get back to the Slytherin Common Room as quickly as possible. Once there, I found Jed and plonked myself down beside him and began to read.

  

 

 

Okay… where do I start? Well I guess at the part that we were most hoping for – the information about the dying unicorns. So, if you drink the blood of a unicorn, you become cursed… who would want to curse themselves? As for them being locked away – if no one ever catches them then whoever it is creeping about out there will still be doing what he’s doing. I really hope that Blondie’s right and that someone does catch whoever is doing that. They sound dangerous.

Now as for the rest of Josie’s essay, I actually decided against showing this one to Jed. He’d probably complain that it was too long to bother reading anyway (with any luck), but also because I feel like it’s pretty personal. Josie’s really letting me read this. I feel like I can see everything going on. I can picture me and Jed hiding and spying on them, then I can picture Josie and Blondie’s conversation. Is it strange that I can picture the whole thing so clearly, like the way she would have looked at him and the way that everything was said.

And then what was with him finding her in the library? Okay, so I’m glad that Blondie was thinking about my ‘Golden Snitch’ joke – I may have to let Josie in on the fact that it was me. But what was his purpose… the motivation…? Did he try to find her purposely to see if she knew who the card was from? Did he think it was from her? Oh dear. The ‘smart and witty’ comment was quite flattering though. It’s strange how one silly, little day can make people so vulnerable. I guess that was Blondie game in teasing Josie about some supposed crush – he was shifting the vulnerability onto her.

Part of me feels like she isn’t telling me everything though. She ended it so abrupt. Okay, so one possibility is that she ran out of time… but, ‘Okay. That’s it. Done,’ and how the two of them were behaving after dinner… very suspicious. I really need to talk to Josie about this. I wish we were in Fifth-Year, so that we had an hour longer – once you get to Fifth-Year curfew is nine o’clock instead of eight. I’m sure that I heard it’s ten o’clock if you’re a Prefect. What I wouldn’t give for one more hour. Oh well, I’ll just have to pester Josie about it tomorrow.

- Josie -