Harriet Potter

I had just finished my butterbeer when Hermione suggested that Hogsmeade trip be over, and we agreed.Katie and her friend, who sat near us, made the same decision, and we followed them down the road toward the castle, our feet slippery from the frozen mud.

It happened when we turned a corner. The two figures in front were suddenly entangled in the quarrel. I was squinting my eyes to see the situation clearly. Something fell to the ground, and Katie floated up. The screams were mixed in the wind, and it was extremely cruel.We rushed to help her friend yank her out of the air as she writhed violently and screamed, apparently not recognizing either of us.

"You guys stay here!" I yelled to the others through the howling wind. "I'm going to get help!"

I bumped into Hagrid on the way back to the castle and bounced straight into the hedge.When he followed me to the scene, a small group of people had gathered there.Seeing the situation clearly, Hagrid picked up Katie and ran away. After a few seconds, her screams could not be heard, and only the howling wind remained.Hermione hurried over to Katie's wailing friend, put her arms around her, and whispered comfort.I caught a glimpse of the faint green light from the thing on the ground, and grabbed Smith who was reaching out to it.

"Don't touch it!" I warned, and Smith looked haughty, and before he could speak, I leaned over and saw that it was a brown paper bag with a rich opal necklace inside.

"What do you think this is?" Alvin knelt down next to me, his blond hair covered in snow, still bright against the overcast sky.

"I've seen it before," I said, looking at the thing. "It was on display at Borgin-Bock a long time ago. The label says it's enchanted. Katie must have touched it." I looked up The girl in Hermione's arms, but Smith asked a step ahead: "How did she get this thing?"

"Well, we were arguing about that just now. She came out of the Three Broomsticks toilet with it in her hand, saying it was a present for someone at Hogwarts, and she was passing it on. She spoke She had a strange expression at the time... Oh, no, oh, no, she must have been under the Imperius Curse, I didn't realize it at the time!"

"Didn't she say who gave it to her, Lini?" asked Hermione.

"No...she refused to tell me...I said she was in a daze and she must never take this thing to school, but she just wouldn't listen, and then...then I wanted to snatch it from her... And then—later—" Lini let out a desperate scream.

"We'd better go back to school," said Hermione, still holding Lini in her arms, "so we can find out how she is doing. Let's go..."

I hesitated for a moment, then pulled off the scarf and wrapped it around my hands.Alvin stopped me. He pulled out his wand and cast a Levitation Charm. The soggy paper bag flew a few feet before it burst. The kraft paper flew out of sight and the necklace fell back to the ground.He tried a few more spells, the necklace wouldn't budge, and I reached out to it with my shawl-wrapped hand, and he stopped me again.

"It's too dangerous." Alvin said, "Why don't I stay here and wait, and you go back and call the professor."

"It should be fine if you don't touch it. Katie has walked so far with it." I replied, avoiding his hand, "We have to show it to Madam Pomfrey."

It was Ron who stopped me this time. He said "I'll do it", pulled off his scarf to wrap his hands, took a deep breath and grabbed the necklace.Nothing happened, he and I breathed a sigh of relief at the same time, he shrugged and stood up, without glancing in Alvin's direction, he beckoned Hermione and Linny to walk back to the castle, carefully keeping away from them.Alvin helped me rewrap the scarf in the wind, and I thanked him and caught up to Ron, faintly hearing the loud voices of Smith and Griffin behind me.

Alvin and his team have been following us not far away, and I haven't been able to express the rolling thoughts in my mouth until I cross the school grounds.As we approached the castle, Professor McGonagall walked quickly down the stone steps in the whirling rain and snow.

"Hagrid said you saw what happened to Katie Bell - what are you holding, Weasley?"

"That's what Katie touched," I replied.

"My God," Professor McGonagall looked at the necklace nervously, and took it from Ron. "No, no, Filch, they're with me!" The cipher, coming eagerly and tapping from the hall, said to him hastily, "Have you put on your gloves? Are you sure there are no holes in them? - Very well, take this necklace to Stan at once." Professor Nepe, don't touch it!"

Filch walked away holding the necklace, Professor McGonagall looked sullenly at the students in front of him.

"Me, Harry, Ron and Lini saw what happened," said Hermione, gesturing to the Hufflepuffs. "They arrived after Harry went to get Hagrid."

"We saw a lot of things too!" Griffin interjected.

"Granger, Goodman, Potter, and Weasley, the four of you go to the office with me." Professor McGonagall said bluntly, "I suggest that everyone else go back to the common room as soon as possible. Hot drinks will be delivered to all common rooms."

Even at this moment, Hermione frowned at the elf.The few of us followed Professor McGonagall up the stairs into her office, which was cold in spite of the crackling fire in the grate, and the snow-splattered panes rattled in the frame.

"Tell me," Professor McGonagall quickly walked around behind the table, speaking in a stern voice, "what's going on?"

Lini stammered, pausing several times because she was crying uncontrollably.She told Professor McGonagall how Katie went to the toilet at the Three Broomsticks and came back looking a little weird with that unmarked package in her hand; An unknown item was supposed to be promised to be handed over; at the height of the quarrel, the two began to fight over the package, which was torn apart.At this point, Li Ni's emotions completely collapsed, and she couldn't say a word anymore.

"Okay," Professor McGonagall said softly, "Lini, you go to the school hospital and ask Madam Pomfrey to give you some medicine to calm you down."

After Lini left, she asked us about what happened next. After a moment of hesitation, I decided to express my doubts.

"I think Draco Malfoy gave Katie that necklace, Professor."

The other three stared at me, and McGonagall pursed her lips again: "This is a very serious accusation, Harry. Do you have any evidence?"

"No," I said, a little frustrated, "but that necklace was in Borgin-Bock's window before, and I said before that I saw Malfoy go there over the summer to have Borgin fix things, and he bought something at the time. "

"You saw Malfoy leaving the shop with a package like that?"

"No, Professor, he asked Borgin to keep it for him in the shop—"

"But, Harry," interrupted Hermione, "Boggin asked him if he wanted to take things away, and Malfoy said 'no'—"

"Because he doesn't want to touch that thing, so needless to say!"

We immediately got into an argument, and Professor McGonagall stopped us by raising his voice.

"Thanks for telling me that, Potter, but we can't lightly accuse Mr. Malfoy of visiting the shop that might have sold this necklace. There were probably hundreds of people who went to that shop, and , this year we have stepped up strict security precautions, I don't believe that necklace will enter this school without our knowledge—"

"But--"

"—and one more thing," said Professor McGonagall in a firm tone, "Mr. Malfoy didn't go to Hogsmeade today. He has failed to complete his Transfiguration homework twice in a row, and he is in confinement with me. "

I stared blankly at her, suddenly discouraged.

"Now I'm going to the hospital to see Katie Bell. Have a nice day."

She strode past us and opened the office door, and we had no choice but to walk past her one by one.On the way back to the common room we kept arguing about Malfoy's fault. Neither Ron nor Hermione believed my theory, which annoyed me more and more.

"Malfoy's not in Hogsmeade! You can't blame him for all the bad things just because he's plotting!" snapped Hermione.

"He must have an accomplice," I insisted, "Crabbe or Goyle—yes, maybe another Death Eater, and he's sure to have a bunch of better buddies now than Crabbe and Goyle !"

"Fennel Oatmeal!" Hermione and Ron exchanged a look of "it's no use arguing with her" and said the password decisively. The portrait of the Fat Lady unscrewed and put us into the lounge.

The lounge was full of people and smelled of wet clothes.It seemed many people had returned from Hogsmeade early due to the bad weather.There was no panicked whispering and speculation, though, as if they hadn't heard of Katie's tragic fate.

"If you think about it, it's actually not a very clever arrangement." Ron carelessly pushed a first-year classmate away from a good chair by the fire, and sat down by himself, "Filch is still holding that thing It's a curse that can't even get through the castle gates. It's not a foolproof arrangement."

"You're right," said Hermione, kicking Ron off the chair and allowing the first-year student to sit down again. "It really wasn't a very well-planned plan."

"Since when is Malfoy a world-class thinker?" I asked, to which neither Ron nor Hermione paid any attention.

We each went back to the dormitory to change our clothes, and then went down to the common room to do our homework.A few students heard about it from Hufflepuff in the afternoon, and the news spread. After that, the three of us were busy with endless questions until Lini came back from the school hospital in the evening.She told us Katie would be transferred to St. Mungo's tomorrow.

I checked the Marauder's Map again before I went to bed, and Malfoy was in the Slytherin dormitory, I guess he was hiding under the curtain, very regretful about this miss.