Dark Hogwarts

Oh, my life is a tin can,

There are only freaks around,

I live like a bait,

And I fly, and I fly,

And I want to fly.

***

POV Harry Potter.

—Harry, you're with us," one of the twins said to the boy when they just came into the living room after school, "you'll show yourself to Oliver Wood in business, and you'll get to know the rest of the team better.

He looked at his friends a little confused and fearful. After all, Harry and his friends were almost always at Hogwarts together, and now everyone had to go their separate ways. And if Kyle, Ron and Seamus all went to their club together, then he had to join the Quidditch team alone.

No, he wasn't the only one invited to participate in the aerial sport for wizards. Ella Wilkins from Slytherin and Macmillan from Hufflepuff received exactly the same appointments. But firstly, Harry hardly talked to them, and secondly, they joined the teams of their faculties, so the three sophomores ended up apart anyway.

"Go on, Harry. And we will also be moving to the Duel Club soon. Show them the class, okay? Kyle encouraged him in a friendly way, clapping him on the shoulder.

"Yeah," Harry nodded, "don't make a mistake there either. And at dinner we'll tell you how it went. Ok?

—Of course,— Ron chuckled, "by the way, you know you fly really cool, don't you, Harry?" So show it to everyone else.

Ron felt good when Harry needed such words, and had no problem saying them at the right time. If his friend could be too rude or indifferent to other students, then in his case Weasley was always able to provide friendly support in time, was quite sensitive to his fears and seemed to give Harry confidence and self-confidence by his behavior.

That was why he valued his friendship with the red-haired boy, just as he valued it with Kyle.

First, Harry went to his bedroom and took out of his suitcase the Nimbus 2001 broom he had bought in the summer, on which he was going to fly. After his return, his friends had already left for their club meeting, and he, accompanied by the Weasley twins, went to the Quidditch field.

As soon as they crossed the threshold of the castle gate, the twins immediately sat down on their brooms.

— They are already waiting for us. Let's hurry up, get on your Nimbus, Harry.

— Uh, — the boy hesitated, — is this allowed? Well, flying on a broom outside the stadium?

—Oh, Harry, Harry," Fred, or George—he was still confused about which of the twins was which, rolled his eyes, "of course we're happy to see how hard you follow the rules, but we don't arrange flights around the castle, we just want to get to the stadium as soon as possible.

—Don't drift, get in," the other twin said confidently.

Harry had no choice but to obey Ron's brothers and follow them on a broomstick, hovering about five feet above the ground.

Flights... Every time the boy soared into the air on a broomstick, everything changed immediately. He felt rather plain and insecure on the ground, but in the air... He felt like a real air ace, just like in those war movies that were sometimes shown on TV.

There were no worries for Harry during the flight, and all his worries and concerns remained somewhere down there. And no matter how unpleasant Madame Trick was, flying on broomsticks last year definitely became his favorite lessons, and every Saturday in his freshman year he waited with burning impatience.

The opportunity to fly became a real outlet for him. So, despite the temporary separation from his friends, Harry was very glad to be invited to join the team, in which he often had the opportunity to soar into the air.

They flew without incident. After a couple of minutes, the guys were already landing at the stadium walls and walking into the passage leading to the team's locker room.

— Well, finally! — with these words, they were greeted by Oliver Wood, a Gryffindor senior who was the captain of their team, — change your clothes and run to the field. The Slytherins will arrive in an hour and a half for a practice match, and our catcher hasn't even taken off into the air yet...

— But... — Harry was a little offended by such an unfair assessment of the captain, — I was rising into the air. And I can fly.

— Not during the match... There are completely different speeds and tasks. This is not foolishness and entertainment for you, when you fly wherever you want and don't think about anything. Quidditch is a tough sport. If you gape, you'll go to earth with a couple of fractures in no time," he typed to Harry, looking one hundred percent confident in his words, "so change your clothes and we'll look at your skills and reaction. Fred, George — this also applies to you. Have you also forgotten which side to hold the bat on and how to hit the bludger with it?

"You're hurting me, Oli," one of the twins chuckled.

— Let's see. Last year we took the third place, and this is no good. We will catch up and, if necessary, train twice as often — fortunately, now we have priority on the training schedule due to Gryffindor's points victory. Potter, your locker number three, there's a ready-made uniform. And the broom? Oliver walked over and looked at the broom Harry was holding in his hand. "Nimbus two thousand and one," he whistled, "it costs fabulous money." Where did you get it?

Harry was a little shy and blushed at the same time, and was about to answer, but one of the twins beat him to it:

— We encouraged him to buy it back in the summer. We knew that you decided to take him on the team. With such a broom, the chances of catching a snitch will be higher than on a regular Comet, right?

"You're right," Oliver said thoughtfully, "but it all depends on the skills of the hunter. And if, without Merlin's help, they turn out to be the same as Reeves', then we're in the shit.

— No, no, — one of the twins waved his hand, — Harry and I flew in our yard in the summer. He's going to be a lot better than Reeves, don't worry.

Harry assumed that the named Reeves was their previous hunter. And the boy really wanted to prove to the captain and everyone else that he could fly much better than his inept predecessor.

The Weasley twins were the beaters on the team, and the captain was the goalkeeper. Hunters, or rather hunters, Gryffindors had three girls: Alicia Spinnet and Angelina Johnson from the fourth year, as well as Katie Bell from the third. It turned out that almost everyone in the team was not much older than Harry, and only Oliver Wood was already in his sixth year.

Harry got to know the hunter girls quite warmly. Alicia seemed saddened by something, and Angelina was brisk and cool due to her bold manner of communicating with interspersed different words that he had heard only once, from cousin Dudley's friends back in the distant days before Hogwarts. With Katie Bell, the boy began a more active acquaintance. She was a year older than him, and had joined the team only a year ago, so it was quite easy to find a common language with her.

— That's it, we've met, we're taking off. And so we have already lost precious time," Oliver Wood said in the end, dissatisfied. "Hunters, repeat last year's schemes and practice transfers. The twins are a standard bludger cover. Harry... You will get acquainted with your main task.

Wood opened a large box that stood by the stands and pulled out a small golden ball with wings.

— Try not to lose sight of him. The snitch will not leave the field, but it is not so easy to see it again in such a large space. Remember: until you or your opponent catch him, the game will not end. Go ahead!

The captain released the ball from his hand, after which it began to hover next to him, moving in different directions with sudden movements. As soon as Harry got off the ground, the snitch rushed vertically upwards, and the boy rushed after him.

The chase. Chasing the coveted snitch, Harry did not think about anything else, tried his best to keep track of the nimble ball and catch up with it. It turned out to be quite easy at a straight distance, but the snitch often liked to unpredictably change the trajectory of its flight in the three-dimensional space of the stadium.

Harry didn't notice how time was flying while he was moving at full speed behind the snitch. Out of the corner of his eye, he sometimes saw other teammates: here Wood was already hovering at the rings and beating off quaffles from hunters with his hands in hard goalie gloves and his own broom, here one of the twins beat off a bludger from right under him, and here Katie Bell was already passing a pass to Alicia on the other side of the field.

Everything was happening in a blur. The boy had only one goal, and he still hadn't lost it, even if he couldn't catch up. The cat-and-mouse game with the snitch dragged on, but after a sharp decline, the snitch slowed down a little, and Harry managed not to hit the ground and gradually level the broom, and then catch up and grab the frisky ball in his hand.

— I got it! I got it! Harry shouted, showing his catch to the team with his eyes burning with delight.

The teammates flew up and congratulated the boy on the first snitch they caught: they slapped him on the shoulder and made compliments pleasant to Harry's heart.

— great. You fly great, you're not afraid to take risky turns and you feel your broom well. This is very cool," Oliver told him, and Harry listened to this praise with enthusiasm. "You're perfectly focused on the Snitch—you've never lost sight of it. Remember two more things: first, sometimes try to look around, because the beaters of the opponents will want to take you out of the game first. A beaten bludger flies much faster than usual, so a good reaction is needed here. Of course, the twins will cover for you as much as they can, but anything happens at a match... Secondly, the snitch is released by the referee in the center of the field along with the quaffle throw and the launch of bludgers, and at that moment you are at the other end of the field. So before you catch the snitch, you still need to find it. So far, this has not happened — you help the hunters as much as possible: you chase opponents, knock out the quaffle, pass the pass and return to the search for the snitch on the field. And do not forget to keep in mind the location of the enemy catcher — he may notice the snitch earlier, and in this case you should not miss this moment.

Being on guard, Harry calmly accepted information from the captain, and everything that was said seemed to him quite understandable and quite simple to implement.

—And it looks like you're going to learn all this in practice soon," said Wood, frowning at once, looking at the passage to the locker rooms, from which the Slytherins were coming out in an even formation.

— Well, well, well, - the captain of the Slytherin team grinned nastily, — it looks like the cubs are already flying at full speed and want to win the tournament. Well, we can show you the depth of your misconceptions right now.

—You can't wait, Flint,— Oliver replied through clenched teeth. — Did you come to scratch your tongue or to a practice match? Get your team in the air and let's get started.

— Not so fast, Wood, — Flint leaned on his broom, continuing to smile ugly and thereby showing his crooked teeth. — The fact is that we have a new beater. So, I think it's worth raising the speed of the bludgers by a couple of points. She still needs to train for a real match, and not play in the sandbox, with her size," he nodded towards a thin sophomore who was quietly standing surrounded by her teammates.

Harry knew that the girl was also good with a broom, and was also rumored to be excellent at hitting bludgers, despite her small weight and build.

— A couple of points? Are you crazy? Even a five is put on the match. Do you want to fly with six? So that half of them break their bones? Like hell you are, Flint.

"Well, maybe your half, hehe. You've heard my terms, otherwise I don't see the point in training together.

Oliver Wood looked at his team and gritted his teeth as he replied to the other captain:

— As you wish. Just know that we will not come to visit you in the hospital wing while you are there to splice the bones.

— Of course you won't come. They'll take you there, hehe," Flint repeated his trademark grin, "okay, guys and... girls. Let's get started.

Harry understood roughly what they were talking about: bludgers could be adjusted by choosing an acceptable speed and degree of aggressiveness of the enchanted balls. Madame Trick once talked about this, exposing bludgers to the top five in her lessons at moments of punishment. And it seems that now they will face one of the highest levels of difficulty.

— Fred, George, you are the only hope. Harry, you are not interacting with the Quaffle this time, otherwise you will be knocked out immediately. Focus on the snitch and circle close to their catcher, but don't be led by provocations.

— Yes, Harry. Don't be led into provocations like your captain did," Angelina spat out the accusation, "what the fuck is this, Wood?! Did you decide to kill us at the very beginning of the year?

"We need practice," he said nervously, but at the same time firmly. — And hold your tongue. Let's learn how to play with such bludgers, and the first match against the Hufflepuff will seem like an easy walk to us. Otherwise, we will lose our sparring partners, I heard it myself.

— I wish I could have lived to see this time... She answered with a frown and flew up to the center of the field, and the other two girls silently followed her.

The training match started very actively. The balls flew up at the same time, and hunters with beaters began to surf the expanses of the Quidditch stadium at high speeds.

Harry began to look out for the snitch, moving above the rest of the players, but was distracted when he saw the first bludger. The ball flew with amazing speed, and the hunters made serious efforts to dodge it. The beaters barely managed to beat him off, while hitting him aimlessly, wanting only to take the threat away from themselves and their team.

The boy noticed that the opponent catcher flew somewhere and went after him. If his competitor noticed the snitch, then he just needed to keep up with it as early as possible. Harry flew through the players flying back and forth like a knife through butter and began to get closer to another hunter.

Suddenly, he felt a threat on his right, and when he turned around, the rabid bludger was already a couple of feet from his face. All the boy managed to do was close his eyes in anticipation of the blow, but at the very last moment a bat whistled near his ear, hitting the bludger and sending it away to the other end of the field.

"Don't sleep, Harry! The Weasley twin shouted in a pleased tone. — I won't always be around to... — the second bludger, which Wilkins had hit earlier, crashed straight into the twin's jaw. The blow knocked out a couple of teeth, and a trickle of blood from his mouth splashed straight onto Harry's face, which was hovering at that moment very close to the beater who saved him.

The twin fell to the ground, and Harry stared in shock at the equally surprised sophomore.

—I didn't mean to," she said very softly, but Harry understood what she said on her lips.

— Wilkins, great shot! You really have the potential to kill opponents, haha! Don't get distracted, go ahead, they have less chance without a beater! Marcus Flint shouted at her, pleased.,

—Damn it, George! — the twin brother of the victim shouted angrily and continued to play with an evil look: more harshly and trying to hit the new beater with a bludger in retaliation.

Downstairs, a senior ran up to the body of the lying George, cast a spell on him and began to levitate the victim away from the field.

— Harry! The Snitch! Katie Bell shouted to him a few seconds later, pointing at the catcher, who was already chasing a barely discernible golden ball with might and main.

Harry shook his head and ran after him. Thoughts about the twin who suffered because of him were replaced by a single desire to catch this damn snitch so that all this would not be in vain and other victims could be avoided.

The pursuit of the snitch was intense, and the enemy catcher played meanly and aggressively, trying to push Harry off the broom at every opportunity. But the boy stuck to his opponent like a bath leaf, and then, thanks to a high-speed broom, he managed to overtake the Slytherin, so now he was already trying to catch up with a small golden ball, and the opponent was breathing down his back.

Harry had already stretched out his hand, trying to grab the snitch that was flying in a straight line, but at that moment the bludger appeared on the horizon again. The Snitch jumped a little higher, but Harry did not have time to dodge the flying ball. At first, he collided with the boy's hand, which made one of his fingers crunch disgustingly, and then bounced off and into Harry's face, hitting him painfully on the cheekbone.

For a moment he lost his bearings, but he was able to stay on the broom even at that speed, and when he looked around, the opponent catcher was already lying on the ground from a collision with the very bludger that, although it hurt Harry, in fact walked tangentially.

With a broken finger, he was holding a broomstick in great pain, and freed the other one to catch the snitch, which he was still flying in a straight line, approaching the end of the stadium.

On his last breath, clenching his teeth so hard in pain that Harry's jaw ached horribly, he inexorably approached the cherished ball.

His eyes were twofold. Somehow, the boy reached out and still managed to grab the ball with three fingers, relieved to go down on a broomstick to the safe green lawn of the stadium.

"Gryffindor has won.. at a practice match. What awaits me during the tournament, with such and such training?" thought Harry exhausted, cradling his hand and feeling the swelling bruise on his cheekbone.

***

POV by Megan Jones.

"And where is everyone else?" Blaze Zabini asked a question for all the sophomores present when they all arrived at the designated office, which was not too far from the entrance to the Hufflepuff living room.

Looking around, the guys did not see any of the older students, which is why they stood in front of the door for a while, waiting for who knows what. And if it hadn't been for Blaze's question, this senseless standing in the hallway could have dragged on even longer.

— Maybe we got the descent wrong? Or an office," Isabelle McDougal suggested.

"Don't talk nonsense," Morag's twin sister snorted at her. — We've come to the right place. They're probably already all inside, and we're standing here like idols.

In response to her sister's rudeness, Isabelle frowned, crossed her arms and turned away from Morag, clearly holding a grudge.

However, Megan, despite the Slytherin's behavior, was more inclined to her version. After exchanging glances with her best friend Jack, the girl was convinced that she thought the same way.

There were two pairs of twins in Megan's course, which surprised her a lot. Before Hogwarts, the girl had never met people who looked like two drops of water, but here out of fifty people there were already two pairs of them. Even more surprising was the fact that girls who looked very similar entered different faculties. The Patil Indians were distributed between lions and crows, and one of the MacDougal went to Ravenclaw, while her sister went to Slytherin.

And looking at the trivial quarrel between the sisters, Megan became even more convinced that being apart affects the relationship between relatives quite strongly. Even for someone as close as the twins.

— Then why don't we come in ourselves? Otherwise we'll be late," Jerry Puff suggested, trying to switch from a conflicted atmosphere.

Megan had no doubt that it was her friend who would suggest it. The boy combined hidden courage and at the same time tried to extinguish any conflicts as much as possible.

Maybe it was because of these qualities that she liked him, although no one would ever know about such a thing, of course, except for a faithful friend who could be trusted even with such an important secret.

Gryffindor Sally-Ann Perks, who was standing closest to the door, immediately after Jerry's suggestion tried to open it, and it easily gave in.

During her stay with Megan, Jack often talked about how they lived with their guardian for the first part of the summer holidays: how they went to Scandinavia, how they managed to make good friends with her and how this girl got herself a very rare pet.

Megan was even a little jealous of the Muggle—borns' summer adventures, having spent that period of time essentially alone - in her parents' often empty house, with the infrequent company of a boring and very busy uncle. He was the only one of her relatives who had stayed with her since the Civil War, but none of them liked such cohabitation, which is why their mutual tacit decision was to cross paths as rarely as possible.

Looking through the opening, Sally Ann whistled:

— Look what's here!

The other guys were curious and opened the door wide, and the picture that opened in front of them clearly had traces of magic: instead of a passage or a new door, the tiny room was surrounded by three stone walls, thus forming, together with the same stone opening from which they entered, a rather narrow square. In the center, a wide variety of objects hung in the air: books, desks, some pieces of wood, pebbles and other things.

"They seemed to have stopped in time, frozen in place and forming a kind of ascent," Megan concluded, examining the tiny room with the others.

Above, through numerous objects of various shapes and sizes, a parapet could be seen adjacent to another door. Moreover, it was clearly above the dungeons, but by eye, with the high ceilings of Hogwarts, it was decidedly unclear whether it led to the ground floor or to the first.

"And how do we get to her?" Isabelle asked the others in frustration.

Immediately after her question, the girl's sister touched the nearest floating folio and tried to move it. The attempt was unsuccessful, no matter how hard Morag tried.

— Apparently, we need to climb up in these subjects, — she announced her conclusions.

"It reminds me of freshman year trials," Jerry whispered to the girl.

"I hope there will be as few similarities as possible," Jack, who heard the boy instead of Megan, answered, looking up thoughtfully and a little apprehensively.

Megan felt goosebumps involuntarily. And if Blaze, along with the McDougal sisters, knew about the trials only from rare eyewitness accounts, most of whom were not at all eager to talk about the horrors they had experienced, then the three of them and Sally Ann remembered everything perfectly.

— Don't worry so much, — the Gryffindor tried to cheer them up, instantly realizing what exactly this room was associated with. — Most likely, this is some kind of problem of the club we are joining. Think about it — this is a Club of Researchers. So they're investigating something there, which is obvious. And such an unusual entrance should logically weed out those who can't even get up.

— And when she learned to speak like that.. is this the right way and in an adult way? Blaise asked Morag. He tried to do it quietly, but he did not calculate the volume and everyone heard his words.

And Megan knew the answer to that question, just as she knew someone who, at the age of twelve, talked in a similar, even more noticeable way. Even Jack's speech changed a little after spending a month with him, becoming more even and confident.

Kyle Golden really had a strong influence on those with whom he communicated for at least a long time.

Blaze's question remained unanswered, and the boy himself was embarrassed and already regretted having asked it at all.

After a couple of minutes of other discussions, the guys climbed up. Pretty quickly, they found the easiest way to start the route, where it was quite convenient both to lean with their feet on nearby objects from below, and to climb up with the help of the same ones — higher and higher.

The stone walls, located quite close, helped a lot in this case. Thanks to them, it was possible to rest your hand on a smooth surface in the gaps between new objects that you had to climb, pull yourself up or catch on.

For Megan, this was not an easy task, as, indeed, for everyone else. It was very unusual to feel only a small plank, a crossbar or the spine of another book under your foot. Their whole nature argued that the objects on which they directed all their considerable weight should, if not collapse down, then at least change their position: turn over or move away. But despite all the fears, things froze in space as if they had been poured in. Even on a thin piece of parchment, one could stand with one foot, and he would not move a bit, remaining completely and completely motionless.

But with such thin objects, one had to be extremely careful, which Jerry proved to everyone when he put his foot on one such vertically arranged leaf, and he almost cut his brand-new school shoes, almost reaching the foot. It was lucky that her friend caught himself in time, sensing something was wrong, and quickly took his foot away from this seemingly safe object, which turned out to be a razor-sharp trap in a frozen state.

During the ascent, everyone was out of breath, and Megan's muscles were cramped and tired almost all over her body. But, fortunately, they helped each other: where it was possible to pull the other up, the guys did it, and none of their company became selfish by acting alone. This greatly lifted the general spirit and suppressed the fear of falling or finally becoming exhausted halfway through.

So, overcoming foot by foot, each of them with difficulty, but still reached the very top of the room, carefully fitting on the parapet so as not to accidentally push the others down.

For Megan, it was a real miracle that no one fell down, hitting painfully on the way of falling against objects frozen in the air. Just thinking about it, her body was paralyzed by fear: she wanted to hide in the farthest corner, cry bitterly and for a long time there, as it happened many times last year.

Now, though not always, she was able to overcome such breakdowns, and an invaluable role in this was played by the help of Jack, who was there in the most difficult moments, skillfully selected the words so necessary to calm down and by her presence alone made even the most terrible event a little better and brighter.

So, while she was thinking, Megan almost missed the moment when the ill-fated door, which some monster decided to place a couple dozen feet above the floor, opened, and senior students could be seen inside the new room.

They clapped and congratulated the guys who got there, and when they found out that absolutely everyone had climbed up and there were no accidents, the guys from the club became even more cheerful.

— Welcome to the Explorers Club! A senior from Hufflepuff greeted their company when all the other students fell silent with congratulations, and the sophomores finally went inside: into a spacious room that looked more like a recreation room in one of the living rooms. "I'm Prudence Poole, the head of this club. Please introduce yourself.

Megan, as always in such situations, first exchanged glances with Jack.

—Megan Jones, Hufflepuff, sophomore year," she decided to take the initiative by introducing herself first.

— Em... Jack Spinks. The same thing," her friend answered after her, awkwardly covering the edge of her robe, which managed to catch on one of the frozen objects and slightly tear.

"We'll have to try out that enchanted sewing kit that we bought in Diagon Alley," Megan thought.

—Jerry Puff," the third of their inseparable group said at the same time as her thoughts.

They were followed by Sally-Ann from Gryffindor, the McDougal twins from Slytherin and Ravenclaw, as well as another Slytherin, Blaze Zabini.

"Nice to meet you,— Prudence replied with a smile. — You are all great fellows that you decided to join our club, and also that you were not afraid and got to our place of residence.

"Of course we didn't get there. This task is nothing compared to the horrors that happened to us in the first year," the girl thought.

— ..our club is special for many reasons, and you will soon realize them well," the head of the club continued to say. — The Explorers Club is the best choice for many reasons. Our main hobby, as well as yours in the near future, is traveling to a variety of magical places. Whether it's an abandoned wizard's house, a cave hidden by enchantment in the rocky mountains, or an enchanted forest, this is our area of interest. We research, record and memorize, collect rare species of plants and animals, artifacts of the past and ancient manuscripts, and then give them to Hogwarts School for preservation, receiving points, privileges and honor for this...

While Prudence Poole was vividly describing the activities of the Explorers Club, actively gesticulating and taking full advantage of the won attention of the sophomores, Megan was haunted by one single question.

— But how can we travel if leaving school is forbidden? — he broke out from her when the head of the club was silent for a moment.

The girl immediately gasped and covered her mouth with her hand, realizing that she had inadvertently interrupted the opening speech. Prudence glared at her, and Megan just squeaked, "I'm sorry."

— Well, I'll answer, although next time, Megan Jones, try not to interrupt anyone with your questions.

The girl actively nodded her head at this.

"My tongue is my enemy!" she mentally berated herself.

— This is our main difference from other clubs. Someone may think of themselves as the most skilled wizard, the most inventive artefactor or the most popular and beautiful girl, but all of them only flaunt from behind the fence of Hogwarts. Unlike everyone else, we have the opportunity to leave school! Yes, yes, you heard right. And since our reputation is impeccable, and our discoveries find fame even among adult magicians, we go on expeditions alone, without teachers or escorts. Complete freedom! She shouted loudly, and the rest of the seniors supported the cry with agreement.

— Wow, — Blaise squeezed his eyes shut with pleasure, — and what, you can leave the school right at any moment?

— Will it be possible to go home? Sally—Ann managed to insert her question.

— It's not that simple, and no: visiting the house is the main prohibition during expeditions. If the club makes up any kind of trip, then the path goes from the school to this place, and then back. In any other case, the teachers will find out about the violation. Our reputation will be seriously damaged, and you will be very lucky if you fall into the mouth of some werewolf on the way before someone from Hogwarts finds you," Prudence answered the question in a serious tone. — Ask all the other questions after, let me finish. In addition to privileges, we also have certain obligations, because our work is not limited to school weekends. Get ready for the fact that you will spend Christmas not at home or at school, but with us, in some mysterious place. The same applies to the first month of summer holidays.

"And when to rest?!" — Megan exclaimed, managing this time to leave the phrase only in her head, and not to pronounce it to the whole team.

— ..Our entire club consists of thirty-five people with you. This is very good, as we can split into seven equal groups of five students each. This will be fair, and the number of expeditions in this case will be higher than last year, when there were only six groups. Each expedition will be led by one of the senior members of the club and now we will choose our team in turn. As the head of the club, I'll start: Truman, with me.

After Prudence, another senior began to choose, and then the next one... And so, seven of them called the names of their teammates, forming separate groups of students. The oldest were chosen first, gradually moving lower and lower from course to course.

"It makes sense, because a sixth—year student will obviously be more useful for the team than a third-year student," Megan thought.

And so, when the last members of the club were dismantled, it was the turn of the sophomores.

"Five people in seven groups... This is... It turns out... One sophomore per group!" Megan made a shocking conclusion for herself.

—Zabini, come to us," Prudence was one of the first to choose.

— Perks, and you come to us, — another senior student made a choice.

—Jones, join us," said the third of them.

"But... I..." Megan tried to object, but she couldn't find the right words at all, "can the three of us join the same group together?" — she found an explanation for her hitch.

— You don't choose the team, she chooses you, Jones. Don't delay the others, go to your group," the head answered her coldly, crossing her arms.

— But we are... I'm not going," she replied sullenly, gathering her courage. She really didn't want to be separated from Jack and Jerry. Even if it is meant as participation in different teams.

"The McDougal twins just enrolled in different faculties—and that's what came of it. No," she mentally confirmed her position.

— Then we have no choice but to kick you out of the club for this. You know what that means, right? The others won't take you anymore, because you're here right now," Prudence said threateningly in a low voice, "though.. It's your choice. Marvin, choose another one. And you, Jones, get out of here—let this be a lesson to you and everyone else.

Tears welled up in Megan's eyes.

"Then I'm leaving too,— Jack said peremptorily, taking Megan's hand.

"Thank you, friend..."

—So am I,— Jerry said softly, and, like a real man, stood in front of the girls, ready to take the hit on himself.

"Jerry..."

—Very well,— Prudence rasped, "anyone else, eh?" Who wants to leave the club?! These are children's toys for you, since you can show your whims! — it was obvious that the situation had seriously escalated.

— Hush, Poole, calm down, — a guy in Hufflepuff colors came out of the faceless crowd of seniors, — how about I return Edgecombe and Rickett to the pool, and take these three myself? How do you see it?

— Have you decided to exchange the third and fourth courses for two second courses, Diggory? Prudence grinned maliciously, still angry, "Well, this looks like a way out," she took a deep breath, "so be it, if none of the other teams mind."

There were no opponents to this idea.

— Come here, — the guy amiably called Megan and her friends, — from now on we will all be in the team together, — he smiled at them the way real handsome men smile, and through the clenched hand of Megan's friend, she felt Jack's pulse quicken.

—Thank you, you helped us out a lot," she said quietly when the selection of the remaining sophomores continued, and they stood behind the guy.

—You're welcome," he replied good—naturedly, "but don't relax, now there will be a choice of the first expeditions, and I already know where we will be sent. Still, Megan Jones, you've given our head a good hard time.

"And... where are we going to be sent?" Jerry asked, startled.

"To Loch Ness," Diggory replied, staring into space.