An American at Hogwarts: Book Two

Chapter Forty-Three

"How about we just smash the stupid piece of shit to smithereens and see if it can still yell at us then?"

"Alexa, you have to stop suggesting that. Every time you say the words I want to actually do it more and more."

Cedric and I hadn't been working on our egg clue much since we'd tried so hard in the weeks after we got it. We'd both decided to give it one more good, long try on the first Saturday of break before calling it quits until January.

We were both regretting that decision immensely.

We'd been trying to think of some new, out of the box solutions for the egg, but it was hard. After dropping it from the Astronomy Tower and using every single spell we could think of on it, all with no effect, we were running out of ideas.

"Alright, what if we tried some enchanted ear plugs?" Cedric suggested. "Less than the silencing charm, but more than just normal muggle ear plugs. Maybe we'd be able to hear a message then."

"If that's the solution, Ana should've been able to pick it up when I had her record the thing yelling earlier." I paused. We really had nothing else to try, and nothing to lose. "Let's try it anyway."

Cedric enchanted two pairs of normal muggle ear plugs, and once we put them in I cautiously opened the egg again. It started screaming, and even through the ear plugs it was unbearable. I left it cracked open for a few seconds, but when nothing new happened, I slammed it shut again.

"This is ridiculous! I say we call it. Time of death, right now. We'll try again when we get back from break, once we're rested enough to deal with this bullshit again."

"I agree," Cedric sighed. He was usually pretty calm and collected, but even he was losing his cool.

"Great. I'm gonna go sprint until I collapse to deal with this frustration, and then maybe get Jackson to let me practice punching with him."

"I'm gonna go take a long, hot bath."

"Ugh yeah, I forgot you get special privileges since you're a Prefect. Shouldn't you have docked us both house points for throwing the egg off the Astronomy Tower?" I mused as we both headed out of the classroom we'd commandeered.

"Technically yes, but I don't think anyone could really blame us at this point, so I decided to let it slide."

"I appreciate that choice."

We walked together as far as we could, then stopped to hug before going our separate ways.

"Are you sure you don't want to take the egg?" asked Cedric, once we pulled apart.

"Ugh, no. Keep that thing as far from me as possible."

Cedric sighed. "I guess it's coming with me to the Prefect's bathroom then."

"Since you're already gonna be in there, do me a favor and drown the damn thing! Maybe then it'll stop screaming at us!" I called over my shoulder as I headed for the front doors of the castle. Cedric just laughed.

"You know, maybe I will!"

I waved him off as he disappeared around the corner. I had no idea what the hell we were going to do with that clue, but after the second task ended I resolve to blow that egg up with my repulsors. It was stupid, and if we didn't need it so badly I would've done it today.

I got outside as quickly as possible and took off running, despite the terrible, cold weather. I needed to burn off a lot of frustration, and for me, this was the best way to do it. Punching and sparring came close, but that could lead to even more frustration sometimes, especially with sparring. I think I'd explode on the spot if Jackson broke my win streak today, on top of everything with that stupid egg.