Hey everyone! Sorry for the long wait, but I know it'll be worth it. These next three chapters are going to be longer than normal, and the end of book 3! The fourth chapter will start the 4th book, and I'm excited! Lol So without further ado, here is the chapter.
P.S. Thanks to my Beta AiedailWing who makes these chapters the best they can be. Also, The only character I own is Haley Potter, the rest are copyright of J.K. Rowling.
XOXOXOXOXO
Haley was sitting at the Gryffindor Common Room table when someone crept up behind her, covered her eyes with his hands, and whispered, "I'm back," in her ear.
She froze, her muscles tense. She knew exactly who he was. Dean. She had been dreading the day he returned.
He dropped his hands. She turned around slowly. Feeling guilty, she stood up and plastered a smile on her face. Dean wrapped his arms around her and she placed her hands on his shoulders.
When he didn't let go, she awkwardly rubbed his back, until finally, he pulled away, but kept his hands on her hips. Not knowing what to do with her hands, she placed them on his biceps, before stepping back and dropping his hands in the process. She sat down, and slowly, he sat down next to her. It was a very awkward reunion, in her opinion, and she hoped that Dean didn't mind.
Still, aware of how rude she had been acting, she tried to salvage the situation. "Hey Dean, how was your holiday?"
As he launched into telling her how his holiday had been, Haley zoned out. Her eyes glazed over, and she stared unseeingly at the fireplace. What was wrong with her? Her boyfriend was sitting next to her. Her boyfriend who she hadn't seen in weeks, finally returned, and all she could do was to stare at the fire? So what? Just because she kissed somebody else, that gave her the right to treat Dean like he wasn't even there? She was being unfair, and she couldn't seem to stop it.
Ever since the kiss, she knew she had to break it off with Dean, but she just didn't know how to do it.
"Hales?"
She wasn't even sure if she wanted to do it. After all, she did like Dean. And he was her first boyfriend.
"Haley?"
So what if she had kissed Fred. Fred was just a friend, and it didn't mean anything. She shouldn't break up with someone over something that didn't even mean anything. It's not like Fred even came up to her and confessed his love or anything. They were both doing there fair share of avoiding each other.
"Haley!"
She felt somebody nudge her shoulder, and she snapped out of it. Startled, she swung her head around and saw that everyone was staring at her, not just Dean.
"I'm sorry, what were you saying?" Haley hated herself. She was being extremely rude, again.
Dean frowned. "I said, can we go for a walk?" Then, without waiting for her to reply, he stood up and strolled to the portrait hole. Haley glanced at Harry while trying to gather herself together. This was it, and she knew it.
His brother gave her an encouraging smile as she stood up and followed Dean out of the portrait hole.
As soon as they stepped through and made their way down the hallway, Dean started. "What's the matter with you? You seem so distant."
Haley bit her lip. She was at a loss of what to do and what to say. Should she just come right out and tell him? Should she pretend everything was normal? Or should she drag it out as long as possible and hope for the best?
"This is exactly what I mean! Every time I try to talk to you, you just retreat into yourself. Why won't you just tell me what's going on? What happened after I left?" Dean asked.
They were making their way down the first flight of stairs from the Common Room, and Haley still didn't know what to do. Why was this so hard?
They made it down the stairs and veered into an empty classroom. They sat down across from each other at two dusty desks, but Haley looked down at her hands instead of meeting Dean's eyes. She just couldn't look him in the face, seeing the anger and confusion there. To see the evidence of her hurting him was too much.
She could feel his eyes burning holes into her, but she still could not look at him. She knew she needed to be honest with him. Maybe if she just spat it out, it would be over with.
She lifted her head to look at him at last and opened her mouth. But all that came out was a sob. She didn't even know how it happened, but tears were running down her cheeks.
Dean just looked miserable. She could see it on his face that he knew it was ending, but he didn't know why.
"Just tell me," he said as he ran his fingers over his face and steeled himself for what was coming.
Again, Haley opened her mouth. "I'm sorry," came out in a choked whisper from her clogged throat.
"What did you do?" Dean's voice wasn't doing any better. "Spit it out, Haley. I don't know how much more waiting I can take."
"I...I didn't mean too. It wasn't like that. It just happened. And it didn't even mean anything, at least...I don't think it did." Haley stopped and took a deep breath. She knew she wasn't making any sense.
The look on Dean's face said it all. "You cheated on me!" he accused, loudly.
Haley choked down more sobs as she watched Dean's reaction. She couldn't stand the look on his face, but she knew she had to explain clearly what had happened, and tell him the truth.
She took a deep breath, then said, "It was at dinner, and there was a mistletoe. I was sitting next to Harry, but we weren't going to kiss each other, so I had to kiss Fred instead. It was just a kiss. A holiday kiss. A tradition."
"A tradition? If it's just a tradition, then why are you breaking up with me? Why the big deal? Screw that, Hales, you made out with another guy behind my back, and now you're trying to use a mistletoe as an excuse? That's low. Wow, Haley, I thought you were different. Don't ever talk to me again. We're through!" Dean snapped. He got up from his perch and stormed out of the empty classroom.
Haley put her head in her hands and wept in shame. She deserved that, she told herself. After all, she had indeed cheated on him, and then proceeded to have feelings for the person she had cheated with. She never hated herself more than she did at the moment.
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What felt like hours later, Haley wiped her face and sat up straight. She could feel a migraine coming on, and just wanted to be safely in her bed when it struck. But most of all, she was tired of feeling sorry for herself. What's done is done, and she needed to move on.
As she exited the classroom, she bumped into something hard.
"Oomph!" She cried out as she fell to the ground. Looking up, she saw Malfoy on the ground in front of her. Apparently she had run head first into him.
"What are you doing here, Malfoy?" she asked curtly as she picked herself up.
"What's it to you? Watch where your going next time," Malfoy said as he picked himself up as well.
"Whatever, Malfoy. I'm not in the mood," she said as she started to walk away.
"Finally got rid of the mudblood, I see?" Malfoy spat out suddenly.
Haley froze in mid step, then spun around. "What did you just say?" she asked in shock.
Malfoy looked confused but tried to hide it at the same time. "What? I can't say mudblood?"
Haley waved her hand in dismissal. "No, before that. What did you say before that?"
Malfoy looked unsure of where she was going with this. "I said, you finally got rid of the mudblood."
Haley narrowed her eyes at him. "Bloody hell, Malfoy. You were spying on me!"
Malfoy's eyes widened. Then he tried to look mad as he scoffed at her. "Right, like I would go around spying on you. I have better things to do with my time."
"Then what are you doing in this hallway, and how do you know we broke up?" she pressed him.
He was starting to get honestly mad. "Not that I have to explain myself, but I happened to just come back from holiday and saw you go into the classroom with the mudblood. Then when I bumped into you, your eyes were all red like you'd been crying. It's not a hard assumption to make."
Haley wasn't sure if she wanted to believe him or not. Because if that story was indeed correct, then why was he still in this hallway, and why had he happened to be outside this room when she walked out?
A wave of tiredness swept over her again. She sighed in defeat. She just wasn't in the mood to try to figure Malfoy's intentions out. It's just too impossible. Besides, her headache was increasing. She just wanted to go up to her dorm room and crawl under her covers. Then again, she might run into Dean in the Common Room, and she didn't want that. Maybe it was just better to go visit Sirius. But then again, it was daylight out, the castle was filled with students, and she didn't have her cloak on. How would she explain why she was walking around outside in the snow with no protection from the cold?
Feeling deflated, she decided to just go to the library and pretend to study. But that was the last thing she wanted to do. Then again, Hermione was probably in the library. She could keep her company. But then, the other girl would just be buried in a book. Not much company after all. It was all very confusing.
She was being quiet again, like she had been with Dean. She also realized that the only company she had right now was Malfoy. But how to keep it going and how to keep from hurting him or herself? Did she really wish not to hurt him, after all the suspicion?
"What's with you?" Malfoy finally asked. He couldn't stand the quiet or the staring. She was starting to freak him out a little.
And just then, she got an idea. She would go to the owlery and have Hedwig send a message to Harry, asking him to get her cloak for her, and then she would go visit either Hagrid or Sirius.
"Nothing. I've just thought of something is all," she said distractedly, then she turned around in the direction of the owlery. But before she finished her second step, she froze in realization. She didn't have any ink and quill and parchment. Would the library have any, or should she check the classroom, or, god forbid, ask Malfoy for some?
She turned back around, and saw Malfoy staring at her weirdly. "What?" she asked, a little snappishly.
"What's wrong with you?" he pondered out loud, then seemed to catch himself. "Not that I care. You're just acting stranger than usual."
Haley shrugged as she made her way back into the classroom and searched through some desks. She didn't see what she was looking for, and that made her all the more frustrated. It didn't help that Malfoy was still watching her.. He was leaning cockily against the door frame with his arms crossed.
She knew she was acting strange, but she couldn't help it. She was starting to get desperate. She was too far into her head, and she needed to get out from the castle – or at least from Malfoy's too-interested eyes. She needed a distraction, but so far it wasn't happening. She perched herself on the nearest desk, hoping to be able to think some more with that slight comfort.
"Arg, I just need ink and parchment!" she groused out loud.
"Is that what you're looking for?" Malfoy said. He snorted in derision and continued, "Why don't you just summon it?"
Haley closed her eyes. She felt like a fool all of a sudden, and it was all thanks to Malfoy. She was a witch, and she needed to start thinking like one. She took out her wand and said, "Accio ink and parchment."
A moment later, they came flying through the room and landed on the desk she was sitting on. She quickly wrote out a memo that said:
Harry,
Could you do me a favor and fetch me my cloak? Things didn't go so well and I want to take a walk around the grounds. Maybe go see Hagrid? I would get the cloak myself, but I don't want to run into Dean just yet.
Thanks. And you can bring the cloak to the Entrance Hall.
Haley
Afterwards, she gathered the things she had summoned alongside the short note and left the room. As she passed Malfoy, she said a grudging thank-you without looking at him, before continuing on her way to the owlery. She coaxed Hedwig down from her perch and attached the note to her leg.
When Hedwig left, Haley made her way back to the Entrance Hall to wait for Harry and her cloak, hoping he was quick enough.
Five minutes later, Harry appeared. He tried to talk to her, but she made up some excuses and quickly ran away from him. She started to make her way to Sirius, but at the last second changed her mind. She knew that if she saw him, she would have to explain what had just happened between Dean and herself, and she wasn't in the mood for it. So, she instead made her way to Hagrid's hut and hung out with him for a couple of hours.
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At the beginning of February, Harry got his firebolt back good as new. Harry and Ron made up with Hermione, though Ron didn't last long because he accused Crookshanks of eating Scabbers.
Gryffindor beat Ravenclaw during Quidditch some time later, and the Gryffindors stayed up all night celebrating. Around One in the morning, though, Professor McGonagall came by and made everyone go to bed.
But not much later, Haley woke with a start in the middle of a dream as a commotion broke outside of her dorm. The other girls were starting to stir as well.
"What's going on?"
"Who's yelling?"
"What's with the stomping?"
They all got out of bed and grabbed their dressing gowns, putting the garments on as they made their way down the stairs. There was a small crowd already gathered in the Common Room when they entered it.
As Haley tried to smoothe out her dressing gown, she heard the words "Sirius Black," "dormitory," and "knife" floating among all the din. She froze with one arm in her dressing gown and the other arm behind her back. Sirius Black, here? With a knife? That didn't make sense.
Professor McGonagall came in at last, and Ron shouted that Sirius Black woke him up and was standing over him holding a knife. He asked the Professor to ask Sir Cadogan. Reluctantly, she complied.
And he said he did. The intruder had a list of this weeks passwords, and read from it.
Thunderstruck, Professor McGonagall came back in and, with her voice shaking, asked who wrote down that weeks passwords. Before anyone could respond, Haley put her hand in the air.
Taken aback, Professor McGonagall was at a loss for words for a moment. Then, furious, she gave Haley a detention and forbade anyone from giving her the password if she forgot it, and finally said she had expected better from her.
Haley didn't mind it very much. She was just protecting Neville Longbottom, because she knew it was his list and that he had lost it. Poor Neville was always getting in trouble. Besides, she knew Sirius wouldn't have hurt Ron, so in a way she was protecting everyone. She had to talk to him later, though, to see what he had been thinking, nearly attacking a student.
That night, no one slept as they all waited in the Common Room as the castle was being searched. Haley was distracted but not nervous, and therefore had no trouble falling asleep in her favorite chair. Harry shook her awake around dawn when Professor McGonagall came back and said Sirius Black has escaped again.
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That night after dinner, when Harry and Ron were visiting Hagrid, Haley snuck into Harry's room and took his invisibility cloak. She made her way to the Whomping Willow, and finally, the Shrieking Shack.
When she got to Sirius's room, she knocked at the door. After she was permitted entry and had taken the cloak off, she spilled what she had been intending to say in a half-rant.
Sirius sighed. "Hullo to you too, Haley. You know I can't tell you these things." His face seemed to light up, though, as she removed the food the house elves had given her before she came there. In fact, he looked quite excited.
"Tell me, how's everyone reacting to my grand entrance?" he asked.
Haley tried to get mad at him, but it was hard when he beamed happily like that. It was so rare to see him so alive.
"This is serious, Sirius!" She tried for a stern voice, but burst out in giggles instead because of what she herself had said. So she took some deep breaths before trying again. "Honestly, what were you thinking? Attacking Ron like that."
"It wasn't him I was after," Sirius said as he chomped on his food.
Haley tried not to look too excited, because she knew that would stop him from telling her. "Who, then?"
"Peter Petti..." flew out of his mouth faster than he could stop himself. His eyes widened as he realized what he had let slip.
Clenching his jaw, he said, "forget I said that."
Haley snorted as she flopped down on the bed next to him, almost knocking over his meal. "Yea right. Why go after Ron, if it's Peter you're after?" she pondered out loud.
Sirius stayed tightlipped as he chewed and pretended she wasn't there anymore.
Haley moved her pondering inside her mind.
`Hmm, what do I know about Peter Pettigrew? According to everyone else, Sirius killed Peter and all they could find was his finger. According to Sirius, Peter was the one who betrayed her parents to Voldemort, that he was a Death Eater. According to her father, Peter was one of his best mates. They were all best mates, and they all happened to be friends with a werewolf.` She thought back to an idea she had come across a few months ago. Was it impossible that Peter was an animagus? After all, Sirius was. If she didn't know better, she would have thought that her father, Sirius and Peter had become animagus so they could hang out with Remus.
She looked over at Sirius, her eyes alight with excitement. Her mouth opened to say something, but he put up a hand before she could say anything. "I don't want to hear it. Whatever you're thinking, it's not true."
"Peter Pettigrew is an animagus!" she blurted her conclusion out nonetheless.
Sirius looked at her in amazement. "How…" was all he managed.
Haley smiled triumphantly. "I knew it! Tell me, what shape did he take? No wait, let me guess," she chirped.
"Let's see. You went to the boys dormitory. You didn't go after Harry, or Neville, or Seamus, or Dean..." Haley paused on the name Dean. Just thinking about him still hurt. She hated the way things ended. As far as they were concerned, though, things were still the same between them, though it did get awkward at times.
But she was distracting herself now. She sat up straighter as if that would help her focus. "You went after Ron. Therefore there must be a reason. Why Ron? Animagus, Ron. Ron, animagus." As she said those two words, she moved her hands up and down like one end of the scales.
Sirius chuckled as he finished the last of his dinner, despite his irritation.
"An animagus is a human who can shape-shift into an animal. Ron had a pet ra..." Haley trailed off as her eyes grew huge and her mouth fell open in shock. "Peter Pettigrew is Scabbers!"
"Very good, Haley. You're very perceptive for your age. You figured all that out without me saying anything," Sirius said grudgingly. "Yes, Peter can take the shape of a rat, and has been a rat since your parent's death. He cut off his own finger to make me look like a murderer when I confronted him. He's been living with the Weasley's ever since. It's Peter I was after last night. I need to prove my innocence, and I'm afraid to say, my patience is waning."
"Hang on. Does this mean Scabbers is still alive and Crookshanks didn't eat him?" Haley asked, disbelieving.
"Oh he's alive. The git fakes his own death any time just to get out of anything," Sirius said flatly with his fists clenched.
Worried but with a trace of the excitement she had felt, Haley was quick to convince him. "Listen to me, Sirius. Don't sneak into the school anymore. It isn't safe. They've tightened security too much. Let me find scabbers, and I'll bring him to you. How about I take him outside where there's a group of people around? I'll show off Scabbers, and then you tell me how to turn him human. The professors will recognize him, and everyone will see that he's been a rat this whole time, and that his death was faked. Then I'll try to get a confession out of him. This way, everyone will know that you're innocent, and you can come out of hiding."
Sirius thought long and hard about it, before he finally said, "Do what you can, Haley, but stay out of trouble. You have to promise there will be professors around. If anything happens, you let them take care of it. Then later, you come back here and tell me what happened. It's getting late now. You should get back to the castle before anyone realizes that you're gone."
Haley obliged. When she got back on school grounds, she made her way towards Hagrids cabin. When she was sure there was no one around, she took off the invisibility cloak and knocked on the front door. Once inside, Hagrid filled her in on how the boys' ignoring Hermione affected her, and about Buckbeak's upcoming trial.
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Sololight Thank you! I hope you enjoy the other chapters I have coming up.
Sweetiepie200494 Wow your favorite twin story? I'm honored! Yes it is sad all those chapters are gone, but I'm currently writing book 4, and it's coming back to me, which is a good thing!
Faith Your in luck! I have more updates for you, so as of right now, this story isn't going anywhere.
Ellie Clemons I don't want to stop writing this story until it's finished. Lol sometimes my inspiration leaves me, or there's setbacks, but I will continue this story. Especially now that I'm so far into it.
AbbyMatthews13 Lol here's your update!
Sapphire Serina Riddle I have a few relationships in mind, so she might not end up with who she's meant to be with for a very long while. Lol, so bear with me.