in California
August 24th, 2002
Chapter 2. The Big Day
The professors finished arguing and Dumbledore said, “Relax, everybody. The Mystery Fire, a bad substance, is at Hogwarts.”
“Oh no,” said Harry as he looked around, “The Mystery Fire is everywhere.”
“And the muggle finally learned her lesson to go away,” said Malfoy.
“ Uh oh,” said Ron as he looked at Harry.
Meanwhile, Hermione was running down the third floor corridor, but she could not run away from the substance. She ran all the way to the Fat Lady and quickly said, “buzzbee.” She waited and waited, but the door wouldn’t open. The substance was now onto her knees. She took no chances and ran down to the great hall. When she went to the stairs, the great hall was already flooded.
Harry and the others had all ran to the tallest towers in the castle to escape from the substance. Ron, Snape, and Malfoy were together in one tower as Dumbledore, Hagrid, and Harry were in another.
Hermione was now running frantically around because the Mystery Fire was up to her neck. She quickly found the stairs and escaped from the substance. She kept going up until she met Dumbledore, Hagrid, and Harry.
Harry saw her and asked, “Where were you?”
“Down on the third floor,” answered Hermione.
“Me fault,” muttered Hagrid. Then the powdery object appeared again, the Mystery Fire. Hagrid quickly grabbed everybody and jumped down the tower.
At the bottom, they didn’t see the others.
“Where are the others?” asked Hermione.
“Me don’t know,” said Hagrid.
“They are still in their tower,” said Dumbledore. They called and called, but there was no sight of the others jumping down. All they saw was Snape’s face in the window. Then they gave up and lied down on the damp, green grass and looked up at the bright little stars.
At midnight they saw Ron jump out of the tall tower. Hagrid quickly got up and ran to catch Ron just in time.
“Are you all right?” asked Harry.
“Yes,” Ron answered. They all waited for the other two as the stars disappeared one by one. By morning, Snape had not come out of the tower. Malfoy had collapsed out of the tower earlier in the morning. When they saw the substance at window level, they all knew that Snape was in trouble.
“Oh no!” shouted Malfoy as the substance filled the window. Snape suddenly dropped out the window and fell flat on his face. Ron, Harry, and Malfoy walked toward Snape.
Malfoy sprinted to Snape’s body and asked, “Are you OK?”
“Of course I am,” Snape groaned. Hagrid and Dumbledore followed Ron as they came to Snape. The three gathered in a group and started to mumble to each other. Hermione and the other students ran out of the field and ran away. Ron suddenly stopped in the middle of everybody’s way and they all tumbled over.
Hermione got up and asked, “What’s your problem?”
“We can’t leave the professors alone,” said Ron. “We can’t leave without them.”
“Yes, of course you can,” said Malfoy in a mean way.
“Oh whatever,” said Harry as he walked away. Hermione followed Harry as they left Malfoy and Ron arguing. Malfoy shouted and fought with Ron until Malfoy noticed that the other two were gone. He looked around, but Hermione and Harry were nowhere in sight.
Ron looked around and also noticed that they were separated.
“Oh no,” said Ron as he looked around. Malfoy was also gone.
Malfoy ran and ran until he caught up with Hermione and Harry. Harry turned around and let Malfoy walk with them. Their first stop was Hogsmeade station; they all sat down and saw the train.
Ron was already sitting on the bench.
Hermione asked, “You with us or not?”
“Not,” answered Ron as he walked away from the others. Harry looked at Ron as he and Hermione followed Ron to the dry meadows.
“Stop following me!” shouted Ron as he ran across the yellow field.
“Ron is not being Ron today,” Hermione whispered to Harry.
“I know,” said Harry in a quiet voice. They kept walking and walking until Malfoy tripped both of them.
Harry asked, “What are you doing here?”
“Not letting you get away from me,” answered Malfoy as he tumbled over into the grass. Harry looked at Hermione as they both ran as fast as they could into the barn.
“That was close,” said Hermione as they hid under the yellow hay.
“Shh,” said Harry. They waited and waited until they heard footsteps running around them. The footsteps suddenly stopped as a hand with a sharp knife appeared in the hay.
Hermione couldn’t take it anymore and shouted, “Ahhhhhh!!!” The hand grabbed her and threw her out the window.
When she was out of the barn, she stood up and thought, “At least I’m safe now.” There was only one problem, and it was that Harry was still inside.
“Hello,” said Malfoy. “What are you doing?”
“Nothing,” said Hermione impatiently as she went inside the room to save Harry. Inside the old barn, she saw Harry and a white skeleton in the hands of a hooded body.
“Thank you,” it whispered as it floated away.
The creature was going away, but Harry punched the beast hard on the back as the beast dropped him on the damp ground.
Hermione ran to Harry and asked, “Are you OK?”
“Yes,” answered Harry. After that, they all walked and walked as they followed the train tracks. They saw Ron in the distance and started to sprint toward him.
“Wait for me!” shouted Hermione as she stumbled on a root. Harry and Malfoy halted immediately when they saw the Hogwarts Express coming right at them.
“Help me!” cried Hermione as the train was still going toward Harry and Malfoy. She watched the boys go out of sight as she got up and kept following the train tracks. By the time she arrived at the next farm, lots of animals were grazing, but one animal was hooded. She looked at the animal and started running away.
The hooded creature watched her run as it followed Hermione. Hermione ran faster as the hooded creature was catching up. When the hooded creature was very close, she stopped. The creature fell down as she ran for her life.
She ran and ran until she reached King’s Cross Train Station Platform 9 ¾. She went through the wall and was at King’s Cross. Hermione got out of the train station and walked to Diagon Alley. She went to Gringotts bank. She got out with lots of money and took a bus home (with muggle money). She got home and looked for books about the Mystery Fire.
Her dad welcomed her and asked, “How come you came back so early?”
“Nothing,” answered Hermione. She looked around and finally found a book that mentioned fire. The dangerous book of fire, that precious book that Hermione bought one day after Hogwarts ended. She flipped to the first page and a picture of a fading substance.
“No, that can’t be,” said Hermione as she flipped to the second page. It was it, the Mystery Fire! She read and read until she finished the page.
“That’s it! The Mystery fire needs stone to destroy the object,” said Hermione. She walked back out of the house and walked to Leaky Cauldron. Hermione went to Diagon Alley and looked for things that weren’t stone.
Once in a while, people would ask, “Why not stone?” She didn’t even bother answering it herself, she just said, “I hate stone.” When she got out of Diagon Alley with a bunch of wooden and plastic toys. She jogged to the train station, and through the barrier. When Hermione got out, she looked at Hogwarts Express in front of the platform and got inside of the train and found Harry and Malfoy.
“Hello,” said Harry and Malfoy as they poked their heads outside the window.
“Hello,” said Hermione. They all got on the train as they headed toward Hogwarts once again. When they arrived, Hagrid, Dumbledore, and Snape were already waiting for them.
Hagrid helped Harry out and asked, “Where is Ron?”
“I don’t know,” said Harry and Hermione. They all got in the train as they started going back to London.
“This is relaxing,” said Hagrid as he lied on the table, but Hermione said, “There’s Ron!” The train stopped immediately as they saw Ron peeking out from the trees. They all jumped out of the train and started chasing Ron. Ron saw them as he ran away.
“Don’t run away!” cried Hermione as they saw Ron run out of sight.
“I won’t,” said a soft voice. Then a hooded creature came and laughed, “Ha!”
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