Victoria had a Potions essay in for tomorrow, and although I usually wouldn’t accept this as a viable excuse, I knew her grades were slipping – only slightly because of me! – so I let her go after half an hour. I made the most of our thirty minutes together though, so much so that when I returned to the common room, I was exhausted.
Wormtail had disappeared, probably to the dorm to practise Transforming because although James and I had succeeded into turning into animals a couple of times now, Peter had yet to change into a rat that didn’t have human sized arms and legs. Quite hilarious but not inconspicuous enough to roam the grounds with Moony, unfortunately.
I collapsed in our usual seats in front of the fire and, upon spotting Prongs’ half-finished Transfiguration essay, I picked it up for a sly read-through before attempting mine.
The common room was almost empty now – people were either finishing off dinner or working in the library or their dorms. I skimmed James’ essay but felt my eyelids drooping.
Suddenly there was a thud and my eyes snapped open. Wormtail had jumped the last few steps from the spiral staircase into the common room and was hurrying towards me, a gleeful grin on his face.
“I did it!” He hissed excitedly! “I DID IT!”
I grinned, “Excellent! Well done, Wormy! But keep your voice down…”
“Ah yes. Well, I’m starving after that, fancy grabbing some dinner?”
I realised that, once again, I’d forgotten dinner. But I’d never needed much food and besides, eating took up time in which I could be doing … other things.
“Yeah, why not, I’ll come down with you. You can tell me all about your transformation!” We grinned at each other; I put James’ essay back on the table and followed Wormy through the Portrait Hole.
Peter began a blow-by-blow account of his successful transformation and I was listening intently as we turned the corner at the end of the Gryffindor corridor and ran straight into – Prongs.
He looked so thunderous that I took an unintentional step backwards.
“I caught Snape,” he said quietly. “And now Dumbledore wants to see you.”
My heart, which had already sunk at his first words, dropped like a stone at the mention of Dumbledore’s name.
I’d never minded breaking the rules before but this – this was different. This was an altogether different kind of trouble.
I looked at James, intending to apologise, but he glared at me murderously and ‘sorry’ became impossible to say as he strode past me towards the Portrait Hole.
“So … Y-You won’t be coming to dinner?” asked Wormtail timidly.
“Of course I won’t!” I snapped, shame, disappointment and fear suddenly fusing into anger.
I turned sharply and hurried away from Peter, determined to get to Dumbledore’s office as soon as I could, and get this over with.
