ÍROAS

The following day, after Hermione and I almost get busted as Animagi, Ron and Harry have been giving us silent treatment ever since. I sigh... I keep scolding myself because I got myself distracted again just like the night when we sent Norbert away. - 'I should really practice being aware of my surroundings for all the time.' I thought. I hadn't immediately noticed Harry and Ron's presence back then, until they opened the door. - 'But... I think we really deserve the punishment.' I noted to myself. For the millionth time, a heavy sigh escaped from my lips.

"Hermione, could you please remind me again why we didn't just tell them yesterday?" I asked the Gryffindor girl walking next to me. She breathed in heavily and looked at me.

"Because McGonagall specifically said not to tell anyone before we register ourselves, even in the two.Plus, we are totally guilty and terrified for not telling them from the very start."

"We're too focused on the process we didn't notice that we're isolating ourselves from them."

"Yeah! And I think Harry's jealous of me." She vaguely said. I stopped myself from walking and looked at her with a furrowed brow.

"And why would he be jealous of you?"

"Uhm... because you two are brothers but we kept something from him. Plus, you mostly spent your time with me now." I released a heavy sigh and just didn't answer.

"By the way, what's your plan about blackjack?" I raised my eyebrow at her.

"What do you mean?" I asked. She just rolled her eyes and crossed her arms.

"Iro, you can't bring him with you back home." It made me feel like an idiot for not thinking about that. "How about we let Hagrid take care of him over the summer?" she suggested. I pondered for a moment before I hummed in agreement.

"Yeah! That's a great idea. Let's go ask Hagrid." After we finished our lunch, we went out of the castle and proceeded to the keeper's hut and saw him sitting in an armchair in front of his house, playing his wooden and badly curved flute.

"Hello there, Iro, Hermione." He greeted us when he saw us approaching. We smiled at him and greeted back.

"Uhm Hagrid, we were just wondering if you could look after our friend just for the summer." My classmate asked.

"Er... when you said friend, is that supposed to be a person or a creature?"

"He's a Pegasus Hagrid. Name's Blackjack." I hummed and that made the giant let go of his flute and fell open his mouth while his eyes were wide round.

"Blimey, where did you get a Pegasus? That's a very rare magical creature."

"I met him beside the lake, and he came over me." I began, "But that's not important. Could you please take care of him while we're away? Just until the end of summer." I pleaded.

"Yeah! I'll gladly look after him. Not every day I'll be seeing a Pegasus, much less pet it." He giggled and that made me and Hermione crept a blissful smile upon our faces.

"Thanks Hagrid." I said, "He likes to eat doughnuts and sugar cubes, by the way. - And please don't try to ride him. He doesn't like..." I abruptly stopped my sentence as I averted my gaze towards the castle.

"What is it Iro?" Hermione immediately asked as she perfectly knows what my abilities are. "Someone's coming here. Two, and they are both running." I said and that made the Giant raise his eyebrow. But as if on cue, a couple of figures frantically showed up, panting and drenched in sweat from exhausting themselves. But the two seem to not notice me and Hermione as they are too focused on the keeper sitting across from us.

"Hagrid, the night you got Norbert, what does the stranger who gave him to you look like?" Harry spoke as soon as he got closer.

"Dunno. I never saw his face; he kept his hood up. It's not that unusual you get a lot of funny folk in the Hogsmeade. That's the pub down the village. The stranger must have been a dragon dealer."

"What did you talk... Oh! You're here? I didn't see you there." Harry said when he finally noticed the both of us. But he instantly shifted back his gaze to the keeper.

"Hagrid, what did you talk to him about? Have you mentioned Hogwarts?"

"Well, I told him about my job here as a gamekeeper. Then he asked me about the creatures I look after, and I told him; that's when I mentioned I wanted to have a dragon. But I can't remember that rest as he got me drunk. –"

"- He showed me then the egg, said if I wanted it I have to win it by playing cards, but he said he wanted to make sure I could handle it so I told him about Fluffy..."

"What!?" I yelled, cutting in Hagrid, "What exactly did you tell him Hagrid?" I continued with a knitted brow. When he didn't respond, Harry then spoke.

"Did he seem interested in Fluffy?" he asked, trying to keep his voice calm unlike mine.

"Yeah, I told him a three-headed dog is a piece of cake if you know how to calm him down. I said a little bit of music would do and Fluffy will fall into sleep."

"Hagrid you did not! You said you won't tell anyone!" Hermione intervened, now irritated and disbelieving towards the giant.

"Err... I got carried away by the dragon. Oh God! What have I done? – hey where are you going!?" he shouted when he saw the four of us run towards the castle.

Harry, Hermione, Ron, and I didn't speak to each other with all the tension until we halted in front of the entrance hall, which seems to be rather cold and gloomy after the grounds.

"Why are following us!?" Harry suddenly snapped us out with a furrowed expression.

"Harry, could you just set aside the bitterness for a moment, we've got to move!" I bustled out.

"Well, last time I checked, we don't have any business with each other so..."

"Boys! Stop arguing like a kid. We've got to go to Dumbledore." Hermione growled at us. I groaned the same time as Harry did. We continue to run with no plan where to until Ron for the first time decided to speak out,

"Hagrid told that stranger how to get past Fluffy, and it was either you-know-who or Snape under that hood. Let's just hope Dumbledore believes us. – wait, did you know where his office is?" The four of us once again stopped from running as realization hit us hard.

"We have to find him immediately." I said between my panting. We glance around hoping to find a clue about the Headmasters' whereabouts.

"We'll just have to..." Harry began but a voice interjected him.

"What are you four doing inside?" I glanced back and there stood our Transfiguration teacher carrying a large pile of books.

"We want to see Professor Dumbledore." Ron timidly said, "Immediately..." she raised her eyebrow and examined the four of us. I have a sudden feeling that we'll hear a rather not so good news, "This is important, Professor." I blurted out.

"Well, I'm afraid you have to wait as he received an urgent owl earlier this morning, summoning him to the Ministry of Magic. –"

"– Now...It's either you wait for his arrival or tell me what it is that is so important, and I could express your concerns to the Headmaster." The four of us exchanged glances for a minute until I decided to speak up.

"It's about the Philosopher's Stone, Professor." I scoff. And that made her quiver and lose hold of the books making them fall on the floor. I observed his expression and it certainly said that she doesn't expect to hear that at all.

"How did you..."

"Professor, we think someone is going to steal it. We've got to tell that to the Headmaster." Hermione spluttered but that made our Transfiguration teacher look at us with a mixture of shock and suspicions. I could now really see that this conversation won't really end well for us.

"Professor Dumbledore will be back tomorrow. I don't know how you found out, but rest assured that it is heavily guarded and well protected." She finally said. Then he eyed me and Hermione with disbelief hung on her face.

"Mr. Olympia, Ms. Granger, didn't I tell you, no more dangerous quests!? It doesn't mean you two become a successful An... I mean, the four of you!" she shrieked out, then eyed us all, "If you do something unimaginable again, I'll make sure that you won't only lose a hundred and fifty points to your house this time... Now, I suggest that you all go back outside and enjoy the sunshine." And with that, she left us cliff-hanged when she retrieved the books that fell over the floor a while ago.

Silence has rather devoured the area as we all nervously eyed each other, and tension filled the midair. I examined Harry's expression and I could see the different emotions running across his face, but the traces of nervousness and fright dominates them all. And I perfectly know why; the moment Voldemort got the stone in his hands, he's dead.

"Err... should I ask what McGonagall means when she said no more dangerous quests?" Ron sniffled at me and Hermione. I just bit my lip and ignored him.

"Tonight..." Harry began, snapping me out from my thoughts. "Snape's going through the trapdoor tonight. He found out everything he needs to get to the stone, and now he's got Dumbledore out of the way. He must be the one who sent the letter." I snorted from the last sentence.

"Yeah! I bet the Ministry of Magic will get a real shock when Dumbledore turns up." I said.

"But what can we..."

"Good afternoon." Said by a sudden suspicious voice behind us, cutting in Hermione. I looked around and shiver engrossed through my spine as the subject of our topic suddenly materialized.

"You shouldn't be inside on a day like this." Snape mockingly said.

"We were..." Harry began.

"Careful – Hanging around like this, people will think you're up to something. And Gryffindor really can't afford to lose any more points, can it?" He dramatically said, and with that, he strode off in the direction of the staffroom. I noticed Harry stiffened from where he stood but immediately reinforced his expression and looked at us.

"Okay, here's what we're going to do. Hermione; go keep an eye on Snape outside the staffroom, follow him if he leaves. Ron, and Iro will come with me to the third-floor corridor."

"Why me?" she protested.

"It's obvious, you can pretend to be waiting for Professor Flitwick. – oh professor, I think I got question 7 wrong blah – blah – blah..." Ron sarcastically said and that made Hermione scowled at him. If it wasn't with the situation, I would have laughed at their argument.

"I should go with her; I could cloak myself in the shadows. And if something happens, I'm going to blind Snape to stall you some time." They all nodded in agreement and off we went to our destination.

Hermione and I silently walk in the corridor towards the office, not wanting to attract any professor's attention and question us with suspicious looks. Upon our arrival, I could sense shadowy figures behind the doors of the staffroom.

"Is he there?" the person next to me muttered.

"There's 5 of them. But I don't know if Snape is inside. I wish I could tell whose shadows it is."

"Well, we just have to wait." I hummed in agreement and we both leaned our backs to the wall across the room. A moment had passed; Whenever someone was moving closer to the door, it startled the Hades out of me because I thought it would burst out of the room and catch us.

"Hermione, I really think we should hide ourselves. You know, just in case Snape found us lurking outside. I don't want to give him another reason to demerit points Gryffindor. Is that okay?"

"Can't you just do that when you sense that someone is going out of the room?" she pleaded.

I immediately shook my head, "I haven't mastered my abilities yet. I couldn't hide our body immediately. By the time I covered us in the shadows, the professor had already seen us." I examined her face and she seemed hesitant at first but apparently nodded at the end. The two of us sat in a secluded and dark part of the corridor, a bit farther to the room but still enough to monitor it.

"It's better if you close your eyes." She didn't argue back and simply closed her eyelids. I took a deep breath and started to do my work.

I closed my eyes and imagined the clouds of darkness extracting from my body, then I felt the tugging sensation rippling in my gut. I slid open my eyelids and saw the pitch-black clouds now hauling out from my open palms. I weave the threads I conjured and let myself dwell in it until it totally covers my entire body. I then felt the stinging coldness rummaging inside my eyes and my vision started to adjust from the absence of light.

As my cloak successfully hid me from anyone's naked eyes, I summoned another portion of clouds and let it devoured Hermione's entire entity. I saw her quiver from her seat as she felt the sudden chill that surrounds her.

"Just let your eyes close. I'm going to monitor them."