Thank God Hector was as big as a brick house, because he was just about as clumsy and slow as one too. He had tripped up the very first step in the castle, and Lonan had to hang off of Zelda to [s]surreptitiously grab her ass[/s] keep himself from falling over. But put him on a broomstick, and he was one of the most agile people around. Lonan compared the two states of Hector to a werewolf that needed a Quidditch pitch and broomstick to activate it's powers.

“You're stalker,” Zelda said as she pointed ahead of her to a head of pale purple hair dipping behind one of the wide pillars in the entryway. “starting early this year.”

“Jealous?”

Zelda didn't answer him, but quickened her pace and disappeared into the throng of students crowding into the Great Hall.

“Touched a nerve,” Hector said, adjusting his robs.

“HIGHTOWER!”

“I HAVEN'T EVEN DONE ANYTHING YET, FILCH! RELAX!”

The ancient looking man shambled up to him, poking him in the chest with a bony finger.

“Your brothers were--”

“ 'Shining examples of discipline, order and respect for authority, and in all my years, I've never seen such a bad apple fall so far from the tree.', yeah, yeah, I get it Filch. This is only the fourth time we've had this talk.”

From somewhere up ahead there was a loud bang, followed by several smaller bangs and then what sounded like a very large vessel of some liquid being spilled on something else, followed finally by a mixture of shrill screams and a devilish cackling.

“PEEEEEEEEEVES!” the old man bellowed as he turned with an unnatural speed and shambled off deeper into the castle, totally abandoning his quest to reform Lonan with bony finger pokes to the chest.

He didn't know why, but as he and Hector walked past the pillar that Lovegood was hiding behind, Lonan turned and smiled at her.