Etched, Engraved, Everlasting (a Hogwarts Mystery Year 6 Retell)

18 - Em

"Bill's brilliant."

It was all I could think to say to Diego as we walked through the corridors, the rest of the group having left before us. Diego just chuckled at my remark, though, and nodded.

"Indeed, Bill does have a lot of skill," Diego agreed. "A shame we didn't get to duel before the end of last year. He's certainly shaped up to be quite the dueller."

"Well, with a few more spells he knew compared to the rest of us, I'd say we stand no chance against him," I joked with a laugh. "Though I'd like to ask--how in the world did my sister get to duel the troll and the dragon and the Acromantula and the Ice Knight and the werewolves and all those dark wizards over the last few years, and end up undefeated against them all?"

"I'm sure she had a lot of help," Diego responded thoughtfully. "Much like the rest of us now, what with him tutoring us. She didn't do it alone."

"Did you help her with any of those things last year?" I asked him then.

Diego nodded. "Well, I helped her train to fight both the troll and the dragon. The actual duel, she called Merula to help with the troll--"

"She WHAT?!"

"Not sure why. I suppose she wanted to see whether she was able to take the offer of redemption. But Merula was my duelling student," Diego said. "I suppose you could say both of my pupils went to fight the dumbest beast in history."

"And somehow survived to tell the tale."

"Yup."

Just as the two of us reached the entrance to the Hufflepuff common room, however, we were greeted by the sixth year Hufflepuff prefect--Sarahi, I think her name was--and three first-year Gryffindor girls. Well, not just any first-year Gryffindor girls. Angelina, Alicia, and Nora were all standing at the doorway, practically pleading for entry into the common room.

"I'm sorry, girls, but you're not in Hufflepuff so I can't let you in. And the fact that Fred and George released Dungbombs in the Gryffindor common room isn't a good excuse," Sarahi was saying.

That was when Alicia spotted me, and she quickly rushed over to me, knocking the air out of me without warning as she threw her arms around me.

"Em!" she cried. "Please, please, please tell your prefect to let us in! We can't study anywhere else, the library's closed and our common room stinks and it's too dark to go outside and--"

"Alicia, slow down," I told her gently. "Of course you can camp out in the Hufflepuff common room for a bit. You can borrow our showers and do your homework by the fireplace. It's really a cozy place to be."

"But it looks like your prefect's putting the foot down. Not that she'd blame us. No one wants to smell the stink of the Dungbomb," Alicia said dejectedly. "She's even turning down Nora's requests, and they're really close friends from what I can see."

"How in the world did your common room get the Dungbomb treatment?" Diego asked Alicia warily, an eyebrow raised in intrigue.

"Fred and George. Probably the next wart on Filch's backside," Alicia responded. "They just released a huge crate of them and ran off! Honestly, I have no idea why they would do that. My hunch? Probably to annoy Filch for the fun of it."

"Nora, I'm really sorry, but I have to put the foot down," Sarahi told her friend firmly. "You could try the Artefact room, it's worked as a good study place for a few students I've encountered--"

"BUT IT STINKS!" Nora argued. "What now, you want us to wander around the school smelling like mouldy cheese and stinky socks? Filch would throw a fit if he caught even the slightest whiff of that!"