Holly Potter - Heiress of Slytherin Chapter 20

Printer-friendly version

"A lot of things don't make sense. You're gonna have to narrow it down." I said.

"Yeah. Like how they got it in there in the first place." chimed Susan.

No. I meant, why are we on the third floor?" Seeing the confused look on Susan's and my face she continued before either of us could say anything. "Shouldn't there be rooms right below us?" We all stared at each other in silence for a moment, before all coming to the same idea. Without a word we all made our way back down the corridor, towards the staircase, and down to the second floor.

We checked the rooms on the second floor that should be under 'Cerberus', and none showed signs of having a trapdoor in their ceiling. We decided to call it a night, and meet in the library after lunch to discuss our next step. After making sure the coast was clear, Hermione headed back up to the third floor while Susan and I made our way down to the ground floor. It was when we were leaving the landing on the first floor that I had a realisation. "Susan? What if the rooms are larger on the inside? Like our trunks, or closets."

I could see the wheels turning in her head as she replied, "So, the trap door could be behind the walls and no one would notice."

"Exactly. There could be any number of hidden passageways scattered through Hogwarts. It could prove useful to find some if we keep up these late night meetings."

"Indeed. Well, good night. I'll see you tomorrow." She gave me a quick peck on the lips before heading off towards Hufflepuff, leaving me to head back to Slytherin.

Once I was back in the dungeons, the excitement of the night started to wear off and I could feel my tiredness start to cloud my mind. I passed through the entrance to the common room, and made my way to my bed. By the time I got to my room, I had just enough left in the tank to strip off my clothes and crawl into bed. I was sound asleep before my head even hit the pillow.

I woke a little after breakfast when Pansy came back to the room. She wasn't being loud, but neither was she being quiet. "Mornin' sleepy head. You've missed breakfast." She said as she was stuffing books into her bag.

I yawned and stretched before replying, "That's okay. How's the weather today?"

"Other than still cold? Don't know. Haven't gone outside."

"It's a shame we can't actually see outside from here. I hate having to come back to change when it's raining."

Pansy stopped what she was doing and walked to her dressers. She rummaged around a bit before finding what she was looking for. "Here." She said, tossing me a piece of cloth.

"What is it?" I asked, looking at a black ribbon of what felt like silk.

"Tie it in your hair. If it's raining, that will keep you dry… well, mostly dry."

"Thanks. I'll need to get me one."

"They are useful. Just put it back on the dresser when you're done with it." And with that she grabbed her bag and headed out, probably to the library if I were to guess.

I showered and dressed, light grey sweatpants with a pink stripe running down the legs, and a matching color sweater over a light pink shirt. I put my hair in a ponytail using the ribbon that Pansy lent me, and then put on my running shoes. Before I headed out, I wrote a letter to Flourish and Blotts informing them of my desire to study muggle legends to separate fact from fiction, and asking them if they were able to acquire muggle books on Greek mythology and send them to me. With my letter finished I headed up to the owlery and with my letter now sent, went down for my run.

The sky was overcast and I could feel the imminent rainfall in the air. Hopefully it will wait for me to finish my run, but it seemed doubtful. I decided to run along the forest instead of the lake, as there is a stone path to run on instead of a potential muddy dirt one. I set off at a faster pace than normal, opting for a faster two mile run instead of a slower three miles I had planned on.

I was coming up on my intended turnaround point when the sky darkened substantially and the first drops of rain fell. Lightning struck off in the distance and the thunder roared through the forest, seeming to have been amplified by the echoes bouncing off the trees. I was considering continuing on to my turnaround point, but decided against it as the rain was quickly getting heavier.

I don't think I've ever ran so fast for so long. Pansy's rain repelling ribbon did help keep me dry, well for a time anyways. The charm seemed to lose the fight against the onslaught of water I was running through and eventually I was soaked to the bone, which my warming charm didn't seem to like either. I made it back to the castle out of breath, soaking wet, and shivering. I'm glad I didn't have breakfast this morning because it probably would have ended up on the floor.

The charms started working again once I was out of the rain, and by the time I made it to the common room I was dry as a bone and sufficiently warmed up. The common room was fairly crowded, the weather seeming to have ruined everyone else's day out of the castle as well. A few heads turned to see who had just walked in, but everyone went back to whatever they had been doing before I entered. I remember the comments the first time I wore a similar outfit, they thought a Slytherin wearing an outfit that was 'so utterly muggle' was an affront to wizarding kind. Once they understood what I was actually doing most of the comments stopped, and by now it had lost its novelty and no one seemed to care anymore. Back in my room, I untied Pansy's ribbon and placed it on her dresser and grabbed my towel and headed to the bath for a long relaxing soak in the hot water.

up
98 users have voted.
If you liked this post, you can leave a comment and/or a kudos! Click the "Thumbs Up!" button above to leave a Kudos

Comments

And the story continues! I'm

And the story continues! I'm glad to see another chapter and it's good to see the plot keep advancing. The waterproofing ribbon would be nice to have irl....

Indeed

I think I would rather have warming charms than water repelling, but cold and wet both suck, even more so when combined together.

Thank you for the chapter.

WillowD's picture

It's short but...

tis a far better chapter that I read than no chapter at all.

Seriously, thanks for writing this.

I'd love to make the chapters

I'd love to make the chapters longer, but I have so little time these days, and almost no inspiration. I'm glad you are still enjoying it, though. Knowing I have readers that I don't want to disappoint helps keep me motivated.

Jogging outfit

WillowD's picture

I'm surprised I didn't comment on Holly's jogging attire the first time I read this. What an awesome bit of trivia. It's things like this that makes the story feel a little more real.

I'm glad your re-read is

I'm glad your re-read is allowing you to see some of the subtleties I've put in. Sometimes I take the fact that everyone already knows what things look like to save having to describe every detail. But I'm glad you enjoyed that bit.