Lost Memories

xvi. missing people

The only reason I got out of my room was the noise coming down from the common room. My shoes had been long discarded, so the cold wood floor caused goosebumps to rise up my arms. Throwing Cedric's Quidditch jacket over my shoulder, I walked down the spiral stairs to witness Ron and Hermione yelling at each other.

"I don't like that you had Krum as your date and then ignored me the entire night! I tried being nice and catch up with you, but you were too busy clinging to Krum to notice!" Ron threw his hands in the air.

"I wasn't clinging on Viktor," Hermione gasped.

"There you go again, calling him by his name–"

"It's his name!"

"And on top of it, you had to release Charlotte to chew me out, di'int you?"

At my name, I took another step down the steps, allowing me to see them better. Hermione was standing, scarlet in the face, and her hair was coming down from its elegant bun.

"I didn't have her do anything, she defended me against you! Your cruel words and horrible attitude," Hermione responded.

"I only had a 'horrible attitude' because you went to the ball with Krum!"

"Well, if you don't like it, you know what the solution is, don't you?" yelled Hermione.

"Oh yeah?" Ron yelled back. "What's that?"

"Next time there's a ball, ask me before someone else does, and not as a last resort!"

Ron mouthed soundlessly like a goldfish out of the water as Hermione turned on her heel and stormed up the girls' staircase right past me. Ron looked around the room and finally spotted me on the steps.

"Oh, now you've come to rip me a new one, yeah?" scoffed Ron.

Instead of engaging with Ron, I just walked back up the stairs only to hear Harry laugh at Ron, "you've managed to piss off the only two girls who'll talk to you. How'd you that?"

Throughout the day, Hermione and I stayed together because it was more likely that Ron wouldn't corner Hermione if she were with me. She claimed it was because Ron was afraid of me (I laughed). But as the day proceeded, it got harder. Especially when we had to comfort Hagrid.

The other day, Rita Skeeter had asked Hagrid to give an interview. Despite our pleads to deny it, Hagrid still met up with the viperous woman and she spun his words and exposed his secrets. Hagrid hid in his cabin ignoring our love and support for him. Eventually, Hagrid let us in and we comforted him.

Later that day, Harry invited me to eventually go with him to the prefect's bathroom to work out the secret of the golden egg. Cedric had given him a clue on how to figure out the secret by submerging the egg underwater in the prefects' bathroom.

On Thursday night, Harry met me in the common room where he threw the cloak over me and crept back downstairs towards the bathroom. Moving under the cloak was a little awkward because of the heavy egg Harry had me carry while he held the Marauder's Map. When we reached the statue of Boris the Bewildered, a lost-looking wizard with his gloves on the wrong hands, he located the right door, leaned close to it, and muttered the password, "Pinefresh," just as Cedric had told him.

The door creaked open. Quickly, we slipped inside, bolted the door behind us, and pulled off the Invisibility Cloak, looking around.

The bathroom was beautiful. It was softly lit by a splendid candle-filled chandelier, and everything was made of white marble, including what looked like an empty, rectangular swimming pool sunk into the middle of the floor. About a hundred golden taps stood all around the pool's edges, each with a differently coloured jewel set into its handle. There was also a diving board. Long white linen curtains hung at the windows; a large pile of fluffy white towels sat in a corner, and there was a single golden framed painting on the wall. It featured a blonde mermaid who was fast asleep on a rock, her long hair over her face. It fluttered every time she snored.