Chapter Six: The Truth about the Third Floor

Flying lessons were to begin on Thursday. Naturally, Frankie was excited. Being raised in the Muggle world, the girl had only seen flying once, when her parents took her to a Quidditch match for her birthday three years ago. The only downside to all of this was that the Gryffindors were going to be taught with the Slytherins.

Thursday came quicker than expected, because as soon as Frankie knew, she was walking towards the courtyard. The Slytherins had already arrived and about twenty or so brooms lay in the grass. The Gryffindors hurried over to the same area. A woman with short gray hair and yellow hawk-like eyes approached them.

"Good Afternoon, class." Madame Hooch said, greeting the students.

"Good afternoon, Madame Hooch." The class echoed.

"Welcome to your first flying lesson. Well, what are you waiting for?" Their instructor barked "Everyone stand next to a broom. Come on, hurry up!" The students scrambled to get next to a broom. Frankie ended up between Harry and Clawdeen.

"Stick your right hand over your broom and say 'Up!'" Madam Hooch told them.

"UP!" The class shouted. Very few brooms, one of which included Harry's, immediately jumped into people's hands. It took Frankie one or two tries to get the object to fly into her hand. When it did, she jumped, a little scared by the sudden motion. Then she smiled.

Madam Hooch showed them how to mount the brooms. She walked down the rows of students, assisting the ones that needed it.

"Now, when I blow my whistle, you'll kick off of the ground. Hard." Their instructor told them. "Keep your broom steady, rise a few feet, and then come back down by leaning forward slightly. On my whistle. Three-two-"

Several students began to gasp. Frankie looked over and saw Neville rising about twenty feet in the air.

"Neville!" She yelled with the crowd. "Please come down!" She gasped as Neville slid off of his broom and landed on the ground with a sickening thud. Their teacher went over to the boy.

"Broken wrist," she muttered, loud enough for very few students to hear."Come on boy. Get up." She turned to the class. "None of you are to move while I take this boy to the hospital wing. You leave your brooms where they are or you'll be out of Hogwarts faster than you can say 'Quidditch.'"

Frankie saw Neville's tear-streaked face as he passed. No sooner than they were out of an earshot, a group of Slytherins began laughing.

"Did you see his face?" said Malfoy as the others laughed.

"Shut up, Malfoy." Parvati snapped.

"Sticking up for Longbottom?" said Pansy Parkinson, a Slytherin. "Never thought you'd like fat little crybabies, Parvati."

"Look!" Malfoy said as he darted forward through the crowd. He picked something up out of the grass. "It's that stupid thing Longbottom's gran sent him." Malfoy held up the Remembrall for everyone to see.

"Give it here Malfoy!" Harry demanded, taking a few strides to face him. Frankie stood by her friend's side.

"How about instead of giving it to you," Malfoy sneered, "I think I'll leave it in a tree for Longbottom to find?"

"Give it back." Frankie yelled. Her fingertips grew warm with static. Her anger had never gotten the best of her-not even once. Frankie didn't want that to happen now. "I won't ask again." Malfoy ignored the girl and grabbed his broom instead. He mounted it, rising about twenty feet into the air.

"If you want it, come and get it, Creature." Malfoy shouted. Frankie could have sworn that she shocked some of the students nearby. Her knuckles turned white as she gripped the broom handle.

"Frankie. Don't." Hermione shouted. "You'll get us all in trouble!"

"Nobody calls me something so insulting!" Before Frankie could mount the broom, Harry took it from her hands.

"I'll get it." Harry told her. Frankie opened her mouth to protest, but Harry was already flying after Malfoy.

"Ron, give me your broom."

"What?" Ron asked. Frankie's eyes lit with flames...if that was possible.

"I'm going after Harry. He's never fought my battles. I didn't fight his. We worked together." Hermione shot a glare at the pair switched out places and Frankie rose in the air.

To Frankie, flying was both a thrill and a terror. She felt like she was going to fall off and hit the ground in a million pieces. Needless to say, Frankie felt like vomiting.

"Why did I ever do this?" she muttered to herself. Then she remembered why. "Why did I have to go and say that?!"

"Need your girlfriend to save you, Potter?" sneered Malfoy.

"Frankie? What are you doing up here?" asked Harry.

"You don't fight my battles, I don't fight yours," Frankie replied, "And I'm not his girlfriend!" Malfoy laughed.

"Give it here, Malfoy, or I'll knock you off your broom!" Harry snapped.

"Is that so?" Harry made a dash for him, but Draco twirled around his broom in a 360. Frankie's eyes narrowed. She made a grab for the Remembrall, only to almost fall off her broom. "Have it your way, then!" Draco threw the Remembrall into the air. Harry zoomed after the ball, speeding towards a tower. It was at this moment that Draco sped by Frankie, spinning her around enough to knock her off her balance, sending her down to the ground. She closed her eyes tightly, waiting to hit the ground, but instead she felt someone catch her. Opening her eyes, she saw Clawdeen holding her steady.

"Stay still," the werewolf ordered, "I'm not a good flyer." The two landed on the ground just in time to see Harry catch the Remembrall. The students all cheered and ran to see him. Frankie checked her friend over.

"Are you alright?" she asked him. Harry nodded.

"I'm alright. You?"

"Clawdeen caught me." Frankie turned to the taller girl. "Thanks for that." Clawdeen grinned.

"No probl-"

"HARRY POTTER!" The three turned around to see Professor McGonagall quickly walking towards them. Their faces fell. "Follow me." Harry handed his broom off to Frankie and followed the teacher inside.

"Is he going to be alright?" Clawdeen shrugged.

Later on, Frankie met back up with Harry, who was with Ron. He explained what had happened to her after he left.

"You're the seeker?!" she said in surprise, "But I thought that first years weren't allowed on the house teams."

"Well, Harry is," Ron added, "He's the youngest player in over a century!" Two redheaded brothers approached the trio with large grins on their faces.

"Hey, well done, Harry," said one of them, "Wood's just told us!"

"Fred and George are on the team, too," Ron explained, "Beaters." The two muggled raised wizards nodded.

"Our job is to make sure that you don't get bloodied up too bad," said the other twin, "Can't make any promises, of course. Rough game, Quidditch."

"Brutal. But no one's died in years. Someone will vanish occasionally…" said Fred, or at least that's who Frankie believed it was, as the twins broke off from Harry, Ron, and Frankie, who began to walk across a courtyard.

"But they'll turn up in a month or two!" The twins ran off. Ron put a hand on Harry's shoulder.

"Oh, go on, Harry, Quidditch is great," he said with a smile, "Best game there is! And you'll be great, too!" Out of the corner of her eye, Frankie saw Hermione jumping up from her work and coming to join them.

"Ron is right, Harry," Frankie added, "I saw a match myself. It seemed really fun."

"But I've never even played Quidditch," Harry said in disappointment, "What if I make a fool of myself?"

"You won't make a fool of yourself," Hermione said suddenly, "It's in your blood." The trio exchanged weird looks. Hermione sighed and led the three to a trophy case. Hermione pointed at a plaque of Quidditch players. Upon closer inspection, Frankie saw the name "Potter" written upon it. It had to have been Harry's father. It listed him as the Seeker.

"Whoa," said Ron in surprise, "Harry, you never told me your father was a Seeker, too."

"I-I didn't know," Harry told him.

After a few minutes, the four decided to head back to their Tower. The three began walking up a staircase. A railing started pull in. Hermione tapped Frankie on shoulder, showing her what was happening, but both girls ignored it and continued walking.

"I'm telling you, it's spooky," Ron whispered to Harry, "She knows more about you than you do."

"Who doesn't?" Harry whispered back.

"I don't," Frankie said with a laugh. Suddenly, the staircase shuddered and began to move. The four grabbed onto the railings in order to steady themselves. "What's going on?!"

"The staircases change, remember?" Hermione reminded her. The staircase suddenly stopped, but was in a new place.

"Let's go this way," Harry said, pointing up the staircase. Ron nodded.

"Before the staircase moves again…" Ron said with worry. They quickly climbed the stairs, which ended at a door. They all opened the heavy door and entered it. The foursome walked into a spooky, dark room. Frankie felt a chill run up her spine.

"Does anyone feel like… you know, that we shouldn't be here?" she said, her voice shaking. Hermione looked around.

"That's because we're not supposed to be here," said the Gryffindor, "This is the third floor. It's forbidden." Suddenly, a flame lights on a tall stone support. At that moment, the caretaker's cat came running in and meowed. The group jumped.

"Let's go," Harry said quickly. The cat meowed again. They all turned to meet the gaze of the creature.

"It's Filch's cat!" Ron said.

"Run!" The group broke into a quick sprint. Flames lit as they ran by. They got to the end of the corridor and met a dead end with a door. Harry grabbed the handle, but was unfortunately locked. "It's locked!"

"That's it, we're done for!"

"Oh, move over!" Hermione said angrily, pushing through. She pulled her wand out of her robes and pointed it at the lock. "Alohomora." Frankie heard the lock click and the door opened. "Get in." They scrambled in and slammed the door behind them in. Ron looked at Hermione curiously.

"Alohomora?" He repeated.

"Standard book of spells, Chapter Seven." Frankie leaned against the door, listening for any noise or movement. She held her breath for a moment, and then sighed in relief.

"It's clear," she sighed, wiping the sweat off of her face.

"Probably thinks this door's locked…" Ron muttered.

"...It was locked."

"And for good reason," said Harry. Ron, Frankie and Hermione turned to stand with Harry. There was a massively huge three headed dog sleeping in front of them. The dog suddenly began to wake. It growled, yawned, and growled more...noticing the intruders. While the three human students screamed, Frankie remained calm. After all, she had a dog of her own, not to mention that the dog was only barking at Harry, Ron and Hermione. Frankie went to take a step closer, hoping to calm the beast down, but Harry grabbed her by the wrist. He pulled her out of the room. They turn quickly to shut the door and ran as fast as they could back to Gryffindor Tower.

They didn't stop their movements until they were safely back in their common room. All four students were breathless.

"What were you thinking!?" Harry panted, "Were you about to try and-"

"Calm the dog down?" Frankie finished. Harry nodded. "Yes. It was only barking at you three. I don't see what the problem is."

"The problem is that the teachers are insane!" said Ron with what little breath he had, "Keeping a thing like that locked up in a school!" Hermione rolled her eyes.

"You don't use your eyes, do you?" she said, "Didn't you see what it was standing on? Frankie must have, being so calm like that."

"I didn't see anything…" Frankie told her. Hermione groaned.

"Well, I wasn't looking at its feet!" Ron shouted, "I was a bit preoccupied with its heads. Or maybe you didn't notice, there were three!" As soon as the four regained their breath, they begin to climb the stairs to the dorms."

"It was standing on a trap door" Hermione explained, "Which means it wasn't there by accident."

"So what?" Frankie asked, "Is it guarding something or what?"

"Guarding something?" Harry repeated. Frankie nodded.

"Why else would it be there?"

"I agree with Frankie on this," Hermione said. The four reached the part of the stair where the staircase split into two, one way going the the boys side, and the other going to the girls. "Now, if you two don't mind, I'm going to bed before either of you come up with another clever idea to get us killed...or worse, expelled!" Hermione turned and left, shutting the door to her dorms.

"Night, guys," Frankie said as she followed Hermione. As they walked to their dorm, Frankie turned to the human. "So, what do you think the dog is guarding?"

"I don't know," Hermione muttered, "Probably something important." As the girls entered their room, Frankie ignored the questions of her roommates. Instead, exhausted from her adventure, dropped down on her bed and fell asleep.

Next Chapter: Halloween