When Thomas, Adam, Michael and James entered the Great Hall for breakfast the next day, the first thing they saw was Draco Malfoy, who seemed to be entertaining a large group of Slytherins with a very funny story, no doubt about what happened yesterday thought the boy. As they passed, Malfoy did a ridiculous impression of a swooning fit and there was a roar of laughter.
"We should ignore him," said Adam, who was right behind Thomas. "I'd rather not get detention in the first week."
Before the boys could even reach the Ravenclaw table, they all notice the smirk on Malfoy's face as one of his friends, a girl with a pug like face shouted as loud as she could after them.
"Hey, Grayson! Grayson! The dementors are coming! Woooooooo!"
All of the Slytherin burst out laughing, not knowing that unlike Malfoy or any other of his friends, Thomas had destroyed one of the accursed creatures.
Thomas, Adam and Michael turned to leave, but James stood frozen in place, glaring hatefully at the Slytherins. For once, he felt both ashamed of not standing beside friends, and at the same time angry at those cowards for saying those things about Thomas, who saved the lives of his friends.
James took a deep breath and relaxed his muscles. He knew that a physical attack on Malfoy would be a no go, but there were other ways of fighting back. A moment later, a large grin morphed on his face. Too much time had passed since he pulled up a prank on the snakes, and this year seems quite a good one. Time to start with the good old bad jokes to embarrass daddy's dearest.
"Hey, Malfoy! Malfoy! I have a joke for you. What do you get when you cross a dementor and a ferret?"
As soon as James' loud voice was heard, The Great Hall went silent, as everyone turned to look at James and Malfoy. At the same time, Malfoy's face turned red, and he snarled, "Shut up. You're not funny."
James ignored him and continued with a smile on his face, "You get a dimwit who can't even kiss a girl without asking for daddy's permission. Woooooooo!"
The Ravenclaws and even the Gryffindors laughed at James' poor attempt of a joke, mostly to get back at the snakes for all the mean things they had said to them over the years. It was not a secret that James was not the best at making jokes, but they appreciated his courage and loyalty. They also enjoyed seeing Malfoy's face turn from red to purple, as he struggled to come up with a witty retort.
"Ha ha ha, very funny, O'Sullivan," Malfoy said sarcastically. "Did you come up with that all by yourself, or did you need help from your friends?"
James shrugged, "Actually, I got it from your mother. She told me that's what she calls you when you cry for her at night."
The laughter grew louder, and Malfoy looked like he was about to explode. He reached for his wand, but before he could draw it, Professor McGonagall walked into the great hall, almost as if she had overheard their fight, "That's enough, Mr. Malfoy. Mr. O'Sullivan. Detention for both of you. Now."
Neither one of the boys dared to say anything against the stern professor and so, despite this being their second day, both of them walked behind McGonagall as she led them to Flitch for their long-awaited detention.
Meanwhile Thomas, Adam and Michael face palmed themselves when they saw their friend acting so stupid, though none of them were angry or disappointed that their friend decided to defend Thomas from Malfoy.
Thankfully that was the end of it and once Malfoy and James were escorted out of the hall, Thomas and his friends made their way to their table, ignoring the looks the rest of the Slytherin were throwing at them.
For the rest of the breakfast, Thomas and his friends talked about their upcoming classes mostly about their first one being a shared one with the Gryffindors, and while that was all fine, the fact that it was divination… made it less appealing to say the least. While Thomas knew there was definitely someone interested in the subject, neither he, nor his roommates were all that keen on spending more than necessary in the tower.
By the time they were done with the breakfast, Thomas, Adam, Michael, Harry, Ron, Hermione, Daphne and a somewhat sulking Tracey were getting ready to leave, when Hagrid entered the Great Hall. He was wearing his long moleskin overcoat and was absentmindedly swinging a dead polecat from one enormous hand.
"All righ'?" he said eagerly, pausing on the way to the staff table. "Tom, yer in my firs' ever lesson! Right after lunch! Bin up since five gettin' everythin' ready. . . . Hope it's okay. . . . Me, a teacher . . . hones'ly. . . ."
"You're doing great Hagrid. Don't sell yourself so short." Daphne said gently, after all she had seen just how good of caretaker Hagrid was compared to the last professor.
He grinned broadly at them and headed off to the staff table, still swinging the polecat.
"Wonder what he's been getting ready?" said Ron, a note of anxiety in his voice.
The hall was starting to empty as people headed off toward their first lesson.
"We'd better go, look, Divination's at the top of North Tower. It'll take us ten minutes to get there. . . ."
Sadly, for Ron, Harry and Hermione, the three of them weren't quite done with their breakfast and so they forced themselves to eat in a hurry before joining Thomas and the others. As they passed the Slytherin table, none of the Slytherin dared to do anything not even throwing a glance at them.
After bidding the Slytherin duo farewell, Thomas and the other quickly made their way to their class, fearing that they might get there late and have to listen to one of the lessons about the importance of reaching your destination in time.
The journey through the castle to North Tower was a long one. Despite being involved in more than one dangerous endeavor, two years at Hogwarts hadn't taught them everything about the castle, and they had never been inside North Tower before, after all why would they even go there?
"There's — got — to — be — a — shortcut," Ron panted as they climbed their seventh long staircase and emerged on an unfamiliar landing, where there was nothing but a large painting of a bare stretch of grass hanging on the stone wall.
"I think it's this way," said Hermione, peering down the empty passage to the right.
"Can't be," said Ron. "That's south, look, you can see a bit of the lake out of the window . . ."
"You are wrong, look there." Adam pointed in the same direction Hermione just mentioned.
"We are lost, aren't we?" Harry sounding a bit hopeful.
Meanwhile something caught Thomas's attention inside of a painting. A fat, dapple-gray pony had just ambled onto the grass and was grazing nonchalantly, but a moment later, a short, squat knight in a suit of armor clanked into the picture after his pony. By the look of the grass stains on his metal knees, he had just fallen off.
"Aha!" he yelled, seeing them. "What villains are these, that trespass upon my private lands! Come to scorn at my fall, perchance? Draw, you knaves, you dogs!"
But their utter astonishment, the little knight tugged his sword out of its scabbard and began brandishing it violently, hopping up and down in rage. But the sword was too long for him and after he attempted a particularly wild swing , it forced him overbalance, and the next the little knight felt was how he landed face down in the grass.
"Are you okay, sir?" Hermione asked, peering into the frame.
The knight groaned and lifted his head, his helmet askew. He glared at them with a mixture of anger and embarrassment.
"Of course I'm okay, you impudent wench!" he snapped. "Do you take me for a weakling?"
"No, no, of course not," Hermione said quickly, trying to calm him down. "We were just worried about you, that's all."
"Worried?" the knight scoffed. "Or amused? I saw the red haired fool laughing at me, you scurvy rogues! You think it's funny to see a noble knight fall from his steed, do you?"
"We weren't laughing, we swear," Thomas said, holding his hands up. "We were just surprised, that's all. We didn't mean to offend you."
"Offend me?" the knight repeated, getting to his feet. He dusted off his armor and straightened his sword. "You have done more than offend me, and now, you have provoked me to a duel!"
"A duel?" Harry repeated, alarmed. "But we don't have any swords, or armor, or horses, or anything."
"Then you shall fight me with your bare hands, you lily-livered curs!" the knight declared, pointing his sword at them. "Prepare to meet your doom!"
He charged at them, but instead of breaking through the painting, he bounced off it and landed on his back again.
The kids backed away, not sure whether to laugh or run.
"Sir, please, this is a misunderstanding," Michael said, trying to reason with him. "We don't want to fight you, we're not your enemies, we're just students at Hogwarts."
"Hogwarts?" the knight said, looking confused. "Ah, Hogwarts."
"So what are you?" the knight asked weary.
"As my friend said ser, we are students at this magical school."
"Magic?" the knight said, his eyes widening. "You are sorcerers? Necromancers? Warlocks?"
He scrambled to his feet and raised his sword again.
"By the saints, this is worse than I thought!" he exclaimed. "You are not only trespassers and mockers, but also heretics! You must be destroyed, for the glory of God and the honor of the king!"
Sadly, for the knight, before he even made two steps, he fell once again.
"Ser, please listen to us first. We are on a quest. We have to reach the Northern Tower or it would be bad for us. Can you help us brave ser?"
"A quest!" The knight's rage seemed to vanish instantly. He clanked to his feet and shouted, "Come follow me, dear friends, and we shall find our goal, or else shall perish bravely in the charge!"
He gave the sword another fruitless tug, tried and failed to mount the fat pony, gave up, and cried, "On foot then, good sirs and gentle lady! On! On!"
And he ran, clanking loudly, into the left side of the frame and out of sight.
They hurried after him along the corridor, following the sound of his armor. Every now and then they spotted him running through a picture ahead.
"Be of stout heart, the worst is yet to come!" yelled the knight, and they saw him reappear in front of an alarmed group of women in crinolines, whose picture hung on the wall of a narrow spiral staircase.
Puffing loudly, Harry, Ron, Hermione, Adam, Michael and even Thomas climbed the tightly spiraling steps, getting dizzier and dizzier, until at last they heard the murmur of voices above them and knew they had reached the classroom.
"Farewell!" cried the knight, popping his head into a painting of some sinister-looking monks. "Farewell, my comrades-in-arms! If ever you have need of noble heart and steely sinew, call upon Sir Cadogan!"
Cursing in his mind, Thomas swore to raise his training intensity as this almost left him winded just like his friends are right now. Though he had to admit that despite the bumpy start, it was nice meeting the knight. Yet at the same time, Thomas wondered just who the man was, since there was no way a normal muggle knight would be here in an enchanted portrait. But such thoughts would have to be put aside for now, as they still have to reach their class.
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