Around 3:30 that afternoon, the classes went outside and were met with Madame Hooch. They were already getting shouted at the minute she arrived.

"Welcome to your first flying lesson. Well, what are you waiting for? Everyone step up to the left side of their broomstick. Come on now, hurry up. Stick your right hand over the broom and say, up!"

"Up!" Erica looked directly at her broom, hand out.

Erica's broom took a second before it flew up into her hand.

"Hey, I'm quite good at this." Erica smiled.

"Only 'cause Cedric helped you." Ron muttered.

"Up!" Parker held her hand out.

As expected, the broom flew up into her hand.

"Me too." Parker hummed.

"We're just naturals." Erica shrugged,"It has nothing to do with Ced."

"Cedric Diggory?" Parker glanced at her.

"Mhm, he's like the best person ever." Erica nodded.

"I've heard nice things about him." Parker hummed.

"Up!" Ron groaned.

"Come on, Ron, you tell that broom." Erica smirked.

"Up!" Ron shouted as the broom flew up, hitting him right in the face.

Erica turned her head away. snickering and covering her mouth.

"Shut up." Ron pointed.

"Now, once you've got hold of your broom, I want you to mount it. And grip it tight, you don't want to be sliding off the end. When I blow my whistle, I want each of you to kick off from the ground, hard. Keep your broom steady, hover for a moment, and then lean forward slightly and touch back down. On my whistle. Three... Two-" Madame Hooch began.

Before Madame Hooch reached one, Neville pressed off the ground prematurely, clearly very nervous.

"Mr Long- Good heavens." She gasped as she saw Neville raise higher and higher,"Come down, boy!"

Erica looked up as friend rose higher and higher... God, he was probably twenty feet in the air now!

"Help!" Neville shouted.

They all stood helplessly. frozen in shock. Why wasn't Madame Hooch doing anything!? By the time Madame Hooch grabbed her broom, Neville's grip loosened and... He fell.

He landed on the ground with a thud. Everyone was just... Stood there as he lay in a heap.

"Oh no." Hermione gasped.

Madame Hooch hurried over and bent over him, examining him.

"Ow- My arm! My arm!" Neville yelped out.

"Hm, broken wrist. Come on, boy. It's alright." She then turned to the rest of the class,"None of you is to move while take this boy to the hospital wing! You leave those brooms where they are or you'll be out of Hogwarts before you can say 'Quidditch. Come on, dear."

As soon as they were out of earshot, Draco burst out laughing.

"What's so funny?" Ron turned.

"Did you see his face, the big lump." Malfoy snickered.

"Shut up, Malfoy.," Erica clenched her fists.

"Ooh, sticking up for Longbottom? Never thought you'd like fat, little crybabies, Weasley." Pansy scoffed.

"Shut it." Parker pointed.

"Look!" Draco quickly picked up an object from the grass,"It's that stupid thing Longbottom's gran sent him."

"Give it here, Malfoy." Harry stepped forward.

Malfoy grinned,"I think I'll leave it for Longbottom to find actually. How about, hm, up in a tree?"

"Give it!" Harry leapt towards Draco.

Draco quickly leapt onto his broom, taking off and hovering in the air. Guess he wasn't lying about his flying ability.

Harry went to grab his broom.

"Don't you dare, Harry. Madam Hooch told us not to move!" Hermione sighed.

Harry ignored her, mounting his broom and kicking hard off the ground, soaring into the air. Draco flew up further and further before he stopped, looking at Harry flying up to him.

"Give it here, Malfoy or I'll knock you off your broom!" Harry glared at him.

"Oh yeah?" Draco challenged.

Harry kept his glare firm as he gripped his broom tightly and launched himself at Malfoy.

Draco quickly dodged to the side,"Catch it if you can, then!"

Draco smirked as he threw it away. Harry saw the world as if it was in slow motion as he dove straight down to catch the remembrall.

"Go on, Harry!" Ron shouted, cheering on his friend.

Just in time, he swooped down and caught the remembrall, clutching it in his hand.

Everyone cheered for Harry, although it was abruptly stopped by an older voice,"Harry Potter!"

Harry's heart sank as he landed, turning to see Professor McGonagall running over.

"Never in all of my years of teaching here- How dare you? You could've broken your neck!" McGonagall gasped.

"It wasn't his fault, Professor-"

"Be quiet Miss Patil."

"But Malfoy-"

"That's enough, Miss Weasley. Potter, follow me now." McGonagall nodded.

Harry gave his friends one last look before he was whisked away.

*********************************

"So you've made the Quidditch team?" Ron asked, in awe.

"I start training next week." Harry nodded.

"That's so cool." Ron smiled.

"You can't tell anyone though, Wood wants to keep it a secret." Harry pointed to the twins.

"Right, right." Ron nodded.

"What's to get kept a secret?" Parker asked as she sat down.

"Nothing!"

"There's something." Parker hummed.

"There's nothing."

"You're liars." Parker crossed her arms.

"We can't tell secrets." Erica shook her head.

"But I'm your friend." Parker sighed,"Please?"

Erica covered her ears and shook her head.

"Well done," George clapped at Harry quietly,"Wood just told us. We're on the team too- Beaters."

"You made the Quiddich team?" Parker whispered.

"Yeah, that was supposed to be secret." Harry whispered back.

"It's not a secret when Wood is going about telling everyone." Parker sat down.

"I tell you, we're going to win that Quidditch cup for sure this year. We haven't won since Charlie left, but this year's team is going to be brilliant. You must be good, Harry, Wood was almost skipping when he told us." Fred pointed.

"Well, we've gotta get going. Lee Jordan thinks he's found a new secret passage way." George told them.

"Can I come?" Erica asked, looking up at her older brothers.

"As long as you won't tell anyone." Fred shrugged.

"I shall tell no soul." Erica assured him.

"Come on then." The older twins ran off.

Erica smiled and ran after them happily.

That's when Draco and his two followers walked to the table,"Having a last meal, Potter? When are you getting the train back to the Muggles?"

"Y'know, Malfoy, you're a lot braver now that you're back on land and have your little friends with you." Harry commented.

"I'd take you on anytime on my own, how about tonight, if you want. Wizard's duel. Wands only, no contact. What's the matter? Never heard of a wizard's duel before, I suppose?" Draco challenged

"Of course he has." Ron spoke up,"I'm his second, who's yours?"

Draco looked at his two friends before he spoke.

"Crabbe." He turned back to the boys,"Midnight alright? We'll meet you in the trophy room that's always locked. Bring your sister too."

Then he walked off, Crabbe and Goyle following closely behind.

"Uh, guys, what's a Wizard's Duel?" Harry looked around.

"You don't know?" Parker blinked.

"No." Harry shook his head.

"You won't need to worry. The most you'll both do is send sparks to each other." Parker assured him.

"Yeah, neither of you know enough magic to do any real damage." Ron agreed.

"And what if I wave my wand and nothing happens?" Harry asked.

"Throw it away and punch him in the nose. Parker shrugged.

"Really hard." Ron nodded

"Excuse me?" Hermione spoke.

"Aw, can't someone eat in peace?" Ron sighed.

"I couldn't help overhearing what you and Malfoy were saying-" Hermione began.

"Bet you could." Ron muttered.

"And you mustn't go wandering around the school at night, think of the points you'll lose Gryffindor if you're caught, and you're bound to be. It's really very selfish of you." Hermione continued.

"And it's really none of your business." Harry finished.

"Bye." Ron waved.

"Guys." Parker sighed.

"Sorry." Harry sighed,"But this was our conversation, not hers."

"She doesn't have many friends, you should be nice."

"Is it that big a surprise when she always acts the way she does, like she's better than us?" Ron crossed his arms.

Parker sighed and walked off, shaking her head as she looked for Erica. Erica had gotten her own little nap from the twins, showing all the secret tunnels that she quickly shoved in her pocket

"Erica!" Parker pointed as she ran up to her.

"Huh? Oh, hey Parker?" She turned around.

"Hey, how did looking in the passageways go?" Parker asked.

"It was super fun!"

"You'll need to let me see them sometime." Parker hummed.

"Hm, maybe."

"My brother wants you to go to some stupid duel that's happening at Midnight." Parker sighed, "Harry and Draco are meant to duel, Ron being his second."

"And I'm invited because?" Erica raised a brow.

"I don't know." Parker shrugged, "He wanted you there... And I still wasn't invited."

"Well, I'm inviting you." Erica stated.

"Huh?" Parker raised a brow.

"I'm inviting you to come with me." Erica stated.

"But I wasn't-"

"You're coming with me."

"Are you sure? You're not gonna leave me?"

"Why would leave you?"

"I'm used to it, happens a lot." Parker shrugged.

"Well, not with me, Missy."

Parker smiled,"Thanks Erica.:

"No problem!" Erica gave her a thumbs up.

"You know, I think we're gonna be really good friends."

"We are really good friends." Erica assured her.

"So, want to come?" Parker smiled.

"Mhm."

Parker held out her hand for her friend. Erica smiled and took her hand.

"Let's go." Parker hummed.

"Yeah!"

*********************************

After nightfall, Parker waited outside the Hufflepuff common rooms for Erica. Which she happily skipped out of, right on time.

"Erica." Parker whispered.

"Parker?"

"I'm over here." Parker waved.

"Ah!" Erica ran over to her.

"Hi." Parker hummed.

"I missed you."

"You did?" Parker smiled.

"I did."

"Aw." Parker hummed,"Thanks. Now let's go find the boys."

"Right!"

Soon enough they walked near the Gryffindor corridor, seeing the boys but they had a third body with them?

"Hermione?" Erica raised a brow.

"Hello Erica." Hermione waved.

"What-I'm confused- Why are you here?" Erica blinked.

"She forced herself in." Ron rolled his eyes.

"Well- Now we've got a smart person with us." Erica shrugged.

"Hey!" Ron nudged her before looking at who Erica brought,"And what is she doing here?"

"Parker is my friend and I invited her. End of story."

"Draco didn't want her there either."

"So?" Erica crossed her arms,"We both don't like him, who cares about what he wants?"

"Fine." Ron sulked, giving in to his sister.

"Huzzah, another victory for me!"

"Shut up." Ron rolled his eyes as they all walked.

"Shutting up." Erica hummed.

"What did Malfoy even want anyway?" Hermione sighed.

"To fight Harry?" Erica shrugged

They all stopped after a while and leaned against the wall as they waited for Malfoy. But he was late.

"He's always like this, isn't he?" Erica turned to Parker.

"Late?" Parker raised a brow.

"Mhm."

"Depends." Parker shrugged.

"Ugh, I'm bored." Erica sighed.

"They're in here somewhere.. Probably hiding." They heard a voice.

"Oh, I'll find him." Erica commented before stopping.

They all recognised the voice after a second. Filch

"Everyone... Run!"

"Already on it." Parker quickly turned and ran.

Erica quickly followed after her,"I know a secret!"

"What?" Parker looked back.

"There!" Erica grabbed her and pointed at a painting.

Parker didn't think twice, she just ran to the painting. Somehow, they arrived in a corridor that Parker hadn't seen before.

"Tada!"

"Where- What?" Parker blinked.

"Secret passage!" Erica smiled

"This is what your brothers showed you?"

"Mhm!" She nodded,"Speaking of, where'd my other one go?"

"He ran with Harry and Hermione." Parker shrugged.

"Oh well." Erica shrugged.

"My brother tricked you." Parker sighed.

"Asshole." Erica muttered,"He probably ratted us out to Filch too."

"Probably. I'll have a talk with him." Parker nodded.

"Please do... Maybe hit him."

"I might." Parker smiled.

"If you don't, I will." Erica told her.

"How about... We both do it?"

"That will suffice." Erica nodded.

"Right, where do these lead to?" Parker walked.

"Uh... I'm not sure."

"You leaded us to a passage where you don't know where they go?"

"I haven't learned where they all go yet, I just knew it was here." Erica crossed her arms.

"Alright." Parker held up her hands.

"Come on, let's figure it out." Erica started working.

Parker and Erica travelled for a minute before they opened a door.

"Is it just me or is it... Really dark here?" Erica squinted as she looked around.

"Is it your glasses?" Parker raised a brow.

"I don't know." Erica took them off.

"No, it's still dark." Parker sighed as she rubbed her eyes.

"Hm, what about-" Erica stopped and a thud could be heard,"Ow.."

"Are you alright?"

"I walked into a wall." Erica sighed.

"Oh... Alright." Parker laughed slightly.

"Don't laugh." Erica huffed.

"I'm not." Parker hummed.

Erica sighed before reaching her hand out," Hang on... It's a door."

"A door? Open it." Parker leaned against the wall.

"It's locked."

"Wait!" Parker pulled out her wand,"Alohamora."

And just like that, the door unlocked and Erica pushed it open.

"There we go. Any more luck seeing the light in here?" Parker asked.

"Nope."

"Oh for Merlin's sake." Parker sighed.

"Shoot- Uh- Lumos?" Erica held out her wand.

Parker nodded as the room lit up.

Erica then froze,"Parker?"

"Hm?" Parker looked in the hallway they came from.

"Whatever you do... Don't. Move."

Parker paused,"Why?"

Erica slowly pointed in front of them.

Parker turned and her eyes widened,"Oh no."

A massive three-headed dog was sat in front of them. Luckily, it was sleeping for now.

"Oh Merlin. Oh no." Parker shook her head as she whispered.

"How have we done this?" Erica whispered back.

"Back, back. Shuffle." Parker shuffled backwards.

"Shuffling." Erica muttered, copying her.

Once they had went back into the secret passage, Parker swiftly closed the door and let out a sigh.

"Just our luck, eh?" Erica leaned against the wall.

"Who keeps an animal like that?!" Parker whispered.

"Dumbledore, clearly." Erica shook her head.

"Why?" Parker looked back at the door.

"Oh, y'know, for fun." Erica rolled her eyes.

"I really think we need sleep now." Parker sighed.

"Yeah." Erica nodded.

"Can you lead the way out of here?" Parker hummed.

"Sure." Erica nodded and started walking.

"Thank you, M'lady."

"Not a problem, Ma'am."

Parker laughed as they exited the passageway, ending up where they began.

"Now, we just need to be quiet." Erica whispered.

"I'll see you in the morning." Parker waved.

"Bye, Parker." Erica waved as well.

Parker hummed and skipped off to her common room. Erica nodded and headed back to the Hufflepuff common room.

*********************************

"Hey guys." Parker waved as she sat down at the table.

"Hey Parker!" Erica smiled.

"How did we all sleep after last night?"

"Well, we won't be for a... Well, a long while." Harry sighed.

"My brother is stupid, never let him rile you guys up." Parker sighed.

"Too late." Erica shook her head.

"How are you feeling Neville?" Parker turned to him.

"I'm a-alright." He nodded.

"That's good." Parker nodded.

"Has Hermione spoken to either of you? At all?" Erica raised a brow at Harry and Ron.

"Not lately, not after she walked off from us after Flitwick." Ron shrugged.

"You were mean to her."

"Ron." Erica sighed.

"What?" Ron sighed.

"You have to stop being so mean to her."

"I don't see why she needs to be with us. She's not our friend." Ron pointed.

"I never said you needed to be friends, I just said be nice to her." Erica shrugged.

"Well I'll get round to it guess." Ron shrugged.

"You better."

"Anyway. Mail again." Parker pointed to the owls flying into the room.

"Ooh." Erica looked up.

"Oh my-" Parker gasped as something rather big fell onto the table in front of Harry.

"I wonder what it could be." Erica hummed.

Harry then took the wrapping paper off to reveal a new broom.

"Now... Who got you that, I wonder." Erica looked around.

That's when they saw McGonagall giving them a small smile.

"Ah, now I know. Erica nodded.

"That's what you get for being the chosen one." Parker sighed.

"It has it's benefits." Harry shook his head,"And downsides."

"Yeah, still." Parker nodded as food appeared on the table.

"Let's just eat, okay?" Erica tried to diffuse the growing tension.

Halfway through the meal they heard the doors to the Great Hall open and yelling was heard.

"TROLL! Troll in the dungeon!"

"So Parker, do you think there's a troll in the dungeon?" Erica turned to her.

"I don't think so." Parker shook her head with a laugh.

"... Just thought I'd let you know." Quirrel muttered and fell to the floor.

The hall of students burst out into screaming, clearly panicked by the news.

"Oh Merlin." Parker covered her ears as Ron and Draco screamed the loudest.

"Silence!" Dumbledore roared as purple sparks flew from the end of his wand.

Everyone stopped screaming and turned to the Headmaster.

"Prefects. Lead your houses back to the dormitories immediately!" Dumbledore commanded.

"We need to find Hermione." Parker turned to the boys and Erica.

"Last I saw her she was in the girl's toilets." Erica told her.

"In the dungeon?" Harry asked.

"Well- It's- Uh... Okay, it's near the dungeon but-" Erica stammered.

"I'm not going down!" Ron pointed.

"You're going down!" Erica pointed back.

"You can't make me."

Erica grabbed his arm,"Can so!"

"No-"

"Too bad!" Parker walked, nodding for Harry to follow.

Harry looked between the twins and followed after Parker as Erica dragged her brother along

"Right, so we'll just find her down here." Parker ran into the girls toilets, only to see that the troll had entered the bathroom.

The bathroom was destroyed and they could see Hermione hiding under the sink.

"Hermione, move!" Harry called to her.

"Help!" Hermione yelped.

"Oil Pea brain!" Ron threw some debris at the troll.

The ogre turned to Ron.

"Nice one, Ron!" Erica looked over at him.

That's when the troll picked Harry up and hung him upside down.

"Do something!" Harry called to them.

"Do what?!" Parker ducked.

"Anything!" Erica stumbled backwards.

Ron pulled his wand out and waved it, trying to remember the spell.

"Remember, swish and flick!" Hermione urged him.

"Wingardium Leviosa!" Ron shouted and flicked his wand, causing the troll's club lifted up.

The troll slowly looked up. confused, only to be smacked in the head as his club fell down on him. The troll then stumbled, dropping Harry and falling to the ground.

"Is it... Dead?' Parker walked slowly towards it.

"No, just knocked out." Harry sighed, brushing himself off.

All of a sudden, McGonagall and some other teachers rushed into the bathrooms.

"Oh! Oh, my goodness! E-Explain yourselves, both of you!"

"Well, you see professor-" Erica began.

"It's my fault, Professor McGonagall." Hermione stopped her.

The others turned to look at her.

"Miss Granger?" McGonagall blinked, almost in shock.

"I went looking for the troll because- Well, thought I could handle it because I'd read about them." Hermione lied,"If the others hadn't found me... Well, I'd probably be dead."

"Be that as it may be...it was an extremely foolish thing to do.I would have expected more rational behavior on your part, Miss Granger. Five points will be taken from Gryffindor for your serious lack of judgment." McGonagall turned to the four beside Hermione, "As for you four.. I just hope you realize how fortunate you are. Not many students could take on a fully grown mountain troll and live to tell the tale. Five points will be awarded to each of you. For sheer dumb luck." McGonagall sighed.

Snape glared at the group before turning on his heel and leaving with the rest of the staff.

"Good for you to get us out of trouble like that." Parker smiled at Hermione as the five of them walked out the bathroom.

"It was the least could do, you all saved my life." Hermione sighed.

"Mind you, Hermione wouldn't need saving if you hadn't insulted her." Harry nudged Ron.

Ron sighed,"And I'm sorry that it happened."

"Besides, what are friends for?" Parker smile softly.

"Helping each other!" Erica smiled.