Bat-Bogey Hexers

91

Nor did they see Hagrid at all over the next couple of weeks.

"I hope he's okay," Viola kept saying.

They even went down to his hut one evening, but there was no reply when Hugo knocked on the door. So there wasn't much they could do about it.

On January 17th, there was another trip into Hogsmeade.

It was cold and wet out, so they bundled up accordingly.

Hugo was just pulling a blue hat on top of his dark brown curls, when his eyes suddenly narrowed across the entrance hall.

"Oh look, it's arse head," he said.

His words were referring to Ben Cameron. The older Gryffindor boy was heading out with a bunch of friends.

In the two weeks since Viola had told Hugo that story, he hadn't stopped saying rude things about Ben.

The other day Hugo'd pulled out his wand like he was going to hex him, but Viola stopped him.

"You're right," said Hugo, "you don't need me to defend you! Go on Viola, do your bat-bogey hexing stuff!"

But Viola had just shook her head.

"Hugo, can you please stop swearing," said Ava, who was tightly wrapped in a Slytherin scarf. "It just sounds bizarre coming out of your mouth."

Hugo put an arm around Ava.

"Miss Scarlett, in most cases, I would agree with you," said Hugo, "Normally in against it, but there are just some people and no words work better to describe them than swear words!"

"Let's just go," said Viola. She was done talking talking Ben.

The three of them headed out of the castle. They weren't far behind Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. Viola stared at the back of Harry's head.

"Blimey, look at Viktor Krum!" said Hugo unexpectedly.

Viola looked around and was surprised to see Hugo pointing at the lake. Viola's mouth fell open when she saw a skinny Viktor Krum in swim shorts standing on the dock in the frigid cold air.

"Oh my goodness!" gasped Ava a moment later when Viktor went diving into the water.

"Blimey!" said Hugo, "He's insane!"

Ava shivered involuntarily, and hugged herself as if she was the one who had just dove in.

"That take a lot of nerve," said Viola, "I wonder what on earth inspired him to do such a thing! The water must be below freezing!"

They continued on their way into the village, still talking about how cold the water must be, and how insane Viktor Krum had to be to go into it.

They visited Zonko's, filled up with candy at Honeydukes, then were on their way to the Three Broomsticks when Viola saw something that made her day turn in a direction it had previously not been going.

It was a group of Gryffindors, all of them third years. There was Wish, Pamela, Peggy, Vera, Colin and some other boys Viola couldn't name. Then at the very back of the group was Ginny Weasley walking along side none other than Michael Corner.

Viola's previous smile fell. And she couldn't help but send Ginny a little glare as she walked past her.

Viola didn't say a thing as she and her friends headed into the three broomsticks. Her and Hugo found a table while Ava went to go get drinks.

"What made you go sour all of a sudden?" asked Hugo, noticing what a bad mood Viola seemed to be in. "Is it 'cause we saw Ginny?"

"You know I still need to think of a dare for her," said Viola, not answering his question. "it's been weeks and I still haven't thought of a good one . . . And it's got to be a really good one!"