|
Point Taken
Neville Longbottom had lost many items this year. From his toad to his remembral, he was slowly learning of his need to keep a better eye on things and that he often had a responsibility that one shouldn’t neglect. Recently, however, there was another loss he was concerned about. As Neville passed from class to class, he couldn’t help but wonder what the reason was for the tremendous absence of house points.
He brought up the subject with Seamus one morning at breakfast, who showed an extreme amount of lassitude at the situation. As he promptly said,
“It’s just house points. You should be more concerned about our finals comin’ up.” Neville was quite worried about those as well, but he considered them nothing compared to the larger view of a house that hadn’t won the house cup in what seemed like an eternity. He planned to delve into this matter of missing points, and not let it happen again.
That night, he lay awake in his bed trying to figure out what would cause a change in house standings as extreme as this. Working backwards, he tried to figure out any abnormalities he had seen as of late that might explain for an absence of 150 points. The troll in the fall seemed like a possible connection, and Neville could remember his genuine fear of the beast. Nonetheless, he had never heard of a student who had control of a troll, or who recieved points after such a lapse of time.
Still, he wondered. Harry, Ron, and Hermione had been involved, hadn’t they? Actually, it was only a couple nights ago that Neville had awoke in the middle of the night to find two empty beds where Ron and Harry should’ve been. When it had happened, he was tired and thought nothing of it, but wide awake and thinking hard now, he never had found out where they had gone. He'd heard rumors, but no facts.
The next day, he entered the Great Hall for lunch. He sat down in the center of the Gryffindor table before reaching for a spoon and his warm, tomato soup. Before eating, he took another look at Gryffindor’s current standings in house points. They were in last place. He stirred his soup slowly, watching the swirling liquid move with the likeness of a red mud puddle. As students slowly arrived, Neville found himself sitting in between Dean and Seamus.
“You’re not still upset about the whole house points thing, are you?” Seamus asked. Neville continued to stir his soup. “I’d let it go if I were you. There’s a lot more going on than that.”
“Yeah,” agreed Dean. “Some of us are being attacked.” Neville looked up.
“What?” he asked.
“Some people had to serve detention with Hagrid,” continued Dean. “Apparently they had to do some assignment in the forest. The details are sketchy.”
“Why?” Neville asked.
“I dunno,” said Dean, “But something attacked one of them in the woods. Or at least that’s what Parvati said.”
“No,” Neville persisted, "Why were they in detention?"
“Oh,” Dean said. “I dunno.”
“I heard it had somethin' to do with curfew,” Seamus said.
“Really?” Dean asked. "I heard there's nothing to do after hours." And with that, all three of them continued with their lunch.
Neville had never thought of Harry, Ron, and Hermione as bad people, and he hated thinking about what he might have to do to stop them next time they attempted such a thing. Slowly sipping his soup, Neville was still, nonetheless, quite satisfied at how he had put the facts together. He took even more satisfaction knowing that none of this would ever happen again.
--------------------
"In case I don't see ya, good afternoon, good evening, and good night." -Truman (The Truman Show)
"Beneath this mask there is more than flesh. Beneath this mask there is an idea, Mr. Creedy, and ideas are bulletproof". -V (V for Vendetta)
"Who throws a shoe? Honestly!" -Austin (Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery)
|
The Game - Round Two: Logic and Physical Dexterity, Mission and Submissions
Department_of_Mysteries The Game - Round Two: Logic and Physical Dexterity Jun 17 2006, 11:41 PM
Jun 17 2006, 11:41 PM
