His first instinct was to fight, but he calmed down slightly when he stared into the gleaming eyes of George Weasley.
"What's wrong with you two?" Harrison groaned, rubbing his face as Fred and George dropped him on the ground from how hard they were laughing.
"Did you see his face, Fred?" George wheezed, holding onto his brother's shoulder for support.
"I sure did, George! I bet he thought he was going to get…" Fred trailed off, his smile starting to fade. "N-nevermind."
"H-he didn't mean it, Harrison," George quickly assured him.
"It's fine… now what do you two want? Or have you come to watch me change?"
"That's only George, mate," Fred said. "I've come to give you something. A way to better your moods — show it to him, George."
George nodded and reached into his back pocket and pulled out a folded piece of parchment paper. He placed it in Harrison's hands.
"Whats this?" Harrison asked as he unfolded the parchment, only to discover it was blank.
"What's this, he asks," Fred chuckled, passing a grin to his brother.
"That is the secret to all of our success."
"A piece of parchment?"
"Not just any piece of parchment," Fred said, wagging his finger like his brother, Percy Weasley, always did. "Explain it to him, George."
"You see — back in our first year when we were young, carefree, and innocent-"
Harrison snorted. "Hard to believe you two weren't as mischievous as you are now back when you were just born."
"Alright," George sighed as if Harrison had caught him on something. "When we were more innocent than we are now — me and Fred got into a spot of bother with Filch."
"We let off a Dungbomb in the corridor and it upset him for some reason —"
"So he hauled us off to his office and started threatening us with the usual —"
"— detention —"
"— disembowelment —"
"— and we couldn't help noticing a drawer in one of his filing cabinets marked Confiscated and Highly Dangerous."
"So you stole this, from his drawer?" Harrison asked and he knew how much doubt was in his voice. If he were the twins, he wouldn't grab a blank piece of parchment paper.
"George caused a diversion by dropping another Dungbomb, I whipped the drawer open, and grabbed — this."
"It's not as bad as it sounds, you know," said George. "We don't reckon Filch ever found out how to work it. He probably suspected what it was, though, or he wouldn't have confiscated it."
"So, how does it work, or are you two just winding me up?" Harrison asked, examining the parchment once more for anything he had missed. It was still blank.
"Oh, are we?" said George.
He took out his wand, touched the parchment lightly, and said, "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."
From the tip of his wand emerged a black line that sprouted into more and more until they started to form in a drawing. A beautiful sketch of Hogwarts, all the floors and all the corridors. It also included all the people, including Harrison, Fred and George, who were correctly plotted in the Quidditch changing rooms — and once he looked closer, there were tiny figures of themselves.
Written in emerald green and fancy, curvy handwriting along the top of the page was:
Messrs. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs
Purveyors of Aids to Magical Mischief-Makers are proud to present
THE MARAUDER'S MAP
"Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs? Who are they?"
"Not one clue," George shrugged.
"They're legends, that's who they are!" Fred proclaimed passionately. "Setting the path for another generation of mischief makers!"
"Exactly," agreed George. And as if he almost forgot something, he whipped his head back at Harrison. "And when you're done, say: mischief managed, and it'll go away. If you don't, anyone could go and read it."
"But won't you need it? To do your pranks and stuff."
"Nah, me and Fred already memorized all the secret passages. Filch knows about these four," George pointed out. Then his finger trailed across the map and pointed to three more secret passages. "This one right here — behind the mirror — don't bother using it, we tried and found it was caved in. And I don't think anyone has used this one since its place right under the Whomping Willow — but this one is safe to use."
"It was George's idea to give it to you," Fred added, ruffling Harrison's hair, "we saw how miserable you looked —"
"So maybe you could pull off a bunch of pranks —"
"Or sneak off into Hogsmeade at night—"
"With the Marauders map," Fred and George said at once.
"I could definitely get away with a lot of stuff a lot easier now. Thanks, you two."
"No problem," George said.
"But remember, you didn't get it from us," Fred added on, placing a finger over his mouth.
"You got it."
Fred and George left, shutting the door behind him.
Harrison looked down at the Marauder's Map and examined the names once more. His eyes lingered over Wormtail, recalling it as some sort of memory from long ago. He remembered hearing that name before — but when?
Harrison had forgotten all about his Hogsmeade permission slip and only remembered it when Daphne asked him about the day before the trip.
"Harrison," she called. "Are you going to Hogsmeade?"
"Oh! I haven't gotten it signed yet — I do want to go though… Why?"
"I was wondering if y-you would want to go with me?"
"Like a date?"
"N-no!" Daphne stammered, her face turning fully red. "Well… yeah," she confessed.
"Sure."
Daphne's face lit up and she began to smile. "You're not joking, right?" she asked, sounding as if she was in a dream.
"Of course not."
Daphne squealed in delight and practically ran over to Pansy to whisper with her excitedly, Harrison guessed she was passing on the news.
A date… he had agreed to a date with Daphne Greengrass. She was fit, Harrison had never really thought about it before. Maybe if things went smoothly, he could ask her to be his girlfriend. But he would be leaving by Winter break, so maybe he shouldn't get his hopes up.
"Could you stop grinning at me?" Blaise asked, taking Harrison out of his trance. "It looks as if you are thinking about killing me."
"Sorry… I was thinking about something else."
"Did Daphne ask you out?" Delphi asked suddenly. Before Harrison could ask how she knew, she continued. "Pansy and Daphne kept me up all night with it. They went down a list of boys to ask out — Pansy almost picked Terry Boot over you, Draco."
"It couldn't have been that hard of a decision. Look at me," Draco said, gesturing to himself as if he was the most obvious choice. Delphi rolled her eyes.
"Did you happen to go down that list of boys?" Blaise asked hesitantly to Delphi.
"As if," Delphi scoffed.
"When is Pansy going to ask me?" Draco asked, smoothing out his robes.
"No clue. Maybe she'll ask after dinner," Delphi said as shrugged cluelessly. "You should probably go brush your teeth before you scare her away with your horrid breath."
Draco huffed, annoyed, but discreetly held his hand over his mouth to smell his breath. He frowned slightly and continued to do his work.
Harrison decided he could get Severus to sign it. He was basically his Guardian, but Harrison wasn't sure if things between them were okay. He and Severus hadn't really talked since the beginning of the year — it was like they were both unintentionally avoiding each other. Maybe it was to save themselves from the awkwardness.
"I'm going to be back," Harrison said to his friends, packing his things with a sweep of his wand. They all fell into his bag neatly, and he left to go retrieve his Hogsmeade form.
Ollyth was asleep on his bed, but began to stir
once she heard Harrison enter.
"Hello," she yawned.
"How long have you been asleep?" Harrison asked as he started to summon his slip.
"Not long… what are you doing?"
"I'm going to get the Hogsmeade permission slip signed by Sev," he said, smiling at her.
"Are you sure you should be going to Hogsmeade? Voldemort can have easy access to you there," Ollyth said, sounding more awake than she did a few seconds ago.
"B-but Daphne asked me to go with her… on a date! Can you believe that?"
"A date?" Ollyth repeated. "I'm surprised you're going on a date with Daphne of all girls."
"What do you mean?"
"I thought you had your eyes on Ginny Weasley," Ollyth murmured.
"You sound stupid," Harrison snapped. "I only manipulated Ginny into thinking I'm interested in her. When hell freezes over I'll go on a date with her of all people."
"If you say so… but seriously Harrison, I know a date might seem like a big thing in your eyes, but it's too much of a risk. You need to stay in the castle."
"This'll be the only time I'll go Ollyth! And there'll be hundreds of other students, no way someone will identify me out of everyone else," Harrison whined desperately, as if he was begging his mother to let him outside.
"There's no swaying your mind, is there?" Ollyth asked rhetorically. Harrison didn't respond and after a few seconds, Ollyth finally sighed, but did not say a word. She just coiled around herself once more and seemed to drift off back to sleep.
Harrison left and arrived at Snape's office in no time. He hesitated whether he should walk in like he always did, or knock like he never remembered doing before.
After a moment of hesitance, he decided to knock, but the door had opened before he hit his knuckles against the door.
"Why were you standing at my door for so long, Mr. Riddle?" Severus asked, pulling the boy inside his office.
"Uh, fixing my shoe," Harrison lied, but Severus wasn't convinced. He didn't ask anything more and swooped behind his desk, sitting back in his seat.
Harrison stayed standing; the room was more awkward than he anticipated, but it seemed it had no effect on Severus since he was still grading homework.
"Are you going to stand there and watch me grade, or are you going to tell me what it was you wanted?"
"Could you sign my permission slip?"
At once, Harrison knew he had said the wrong thing. The room dropped many degrees, it was as if the office had been coated in a layer of snow. Severus' head jerked up, his piercing cold stare going right through Harrison.
"No," he muttered, but he seemed like he was refraining from going on. He sighed, and looked back down at his homework.
"N-no?" Harrison repeated. Severus never said no to him. He had always given Harrison about everything he wanted, but why now was he rejecting Harrison?
"No," Severus repeated again.
"Why?"
Severus' hands began to shake with anger as he corrected the misspelling and simple grammar mistakes in a student's essay. "I am not giving you my answer."
Severus had the daily Prophet next to his homework pile. It was on the front page and Harrison saw his smiling face, next to the screaming Sirius Black. He did not even want to read the headline.
Severus was staring at it as well and Harriosn just had to ask —
"Is it because of Black?"
Severus' quill ended up going rogue and he accidentally made a line across the Potions essay. "There are some things," Severus' voice was loud and angry at first, but it calmed down into a whisper, "you won't nor ever will understand about Black. He is dangerous."
"I don't think some lowlife Blood Traitor is a match against me," Harrison said seriously, his eyes narrowing on Snape.
"Has anyone ever broken out of Azkaban before, Harrison?"
"No."
"Not even You-Know-Who's best Death Eaters have managed to escape, but somehow that Blood Traitor — who never ever allied with him — escaped. He's powerful Harrison-"
"It only took him twelve years though," Harrison snapped. Sirius Black was imprisoned when he was just one years old, according to what his friends told him. He was sent to Azkaban for murder of a Wizard and many muggles. "I bet he was thinking of all the ways to escape every second of his time there, and finally went through with his plan on my birthday."
"Even if that's the case, there are Death Eaters who-"
"Those Death Eaters in Azkaban right now aren't good wizards! The good ones are still here fighting today, Severus! Do you know why?" Snape sighed, raising an annoyed eyebrow. "Because they have an ounce of power and knowledge in them, and know how not to get caught by a damn Auror!"
There was a pause. Snape waited to see if Harrison was done with his rant.
"There are Death Eaters," Severus said again, sounding quite annoyed this time, "who have been in Azkaban since you were born and some of them do have the ounce of power and knowledge you claim they all lack, but they're still rotting away, whereas filthy scum like Black is walking free."
"Why are you scared of Black anyways?"
"I am not scared of Black!" Snape shouted and Harrison realized he must've hit a nerve. "I want to kill that Blood Traitor myself, but I'd be upsetting Dumbledore."
"If you're not scared of him, then why won't you let me go to Hogsmeade?"
"Because I'm scared for you! Sirius Black didn't escape from Azkaban just because he was tired of it — he wants revenge!"
"Why would he want revenge on me? I haven't even met the Blood Traitor."
Severus gasped, as if he said something he wasn't supposed to. He shook his head, and refocused on the homework, getting rid of the rogue line across the page.
"Answer me," Harrison ordered, stepping closer to Severus' desk.
"Drop it, Riddle," Snape hissed, refusing to look Harrison in the eyes. "I am not going to sign the slip — that's my final word."
"What are you not telling me? Why does Sirius Black want to kill me?" Harrison asked again, but was answered with silence. "I order you to tell me!"
"I do not take orders from you anymore! As far as I'm concerned, you're no longer in a position above and you are now my student, and I'm your Professor that'll give you detention if you don't leave at once!"
Harrison felt the Hogsmeade slip turn to ash in his hands — he hadn't meant to do it, but he was glad he did. It wasn't like he was going to get it signed by Dumbledore or anyone else.
"I hate you," grumbled Harrison.
Severus' glare didn't falter, his eyes seemed to become colder in fact.
Upset, and with a lot of magic ready to cause an accident, Harrison stormed out of the office before he accidentally set everything aflame and not just his Hogsmeade slip.
Most people didn't notice Harrison storming into the common room, but his friends did and stopped him when he tried to storm past.
"Are you alright?" Draco asked, even though Blaise was the one who stopped him.
"I'm fine. I have to talk with Ollyth, see you later."
Harrison walked away quickly because he knew his friends were going to pester him more. He had just hoped they'd leave him alone long enough for him to tell Ollyth what happened.
"What happened?" Ollyth asked, before Harrison could even step into the room. He continued in, still as angry as he was just a few minutes ago. He slammed the door behind him and kicked his trunk, whimpering quietly because it hurt more than he imagined it would.
"That is why you aren't in Ravenclaw," Ollyth drawled, "you just kicked a wooden trunk."
"I know that," Harrison hissed, falling on the bed next to his snake. "I hate Snape."
"Why? What happened?"
Instead of explaining calmly what happened, Harrison was yelling at his snake, wishing his harsh words were to Snape instead. Only when he was finished and panting heavily, did he realize he was yelling at Ollyth and apologized to her. She didn't seem to care though.
"Snape isn't putting on everything he knows… he knows something about Black that others don't."
"Obviously," Harrison groaned. He ran his hands through his head, pulling his skin as he did. "Why would he want revenge against me? I mean — I haven't met him before, and I doubt anybody mentioned me to him since he's been in Azkaban before I could walk."
"You are a person people would want revenge against-"
"I haven't done anything to harm anyone! All the people I've killed are filthy muggles and mudblood nobodies that my father captured for me to kill!"
"Then it's not what you've done," Ollyth gasped, "it's who you are."
Before Harrison could ask what Ollyth meant, Draco, Blaise and Delphi filed into his room, all three of them talking. They slowly trailed off from their conversation when they met eyes with Harrison.
"Are you okay?" asked Delphi.
"I'm fine," he muttered. "Sorry about earlier. I had an argument with Snape."
"What about?" Blaise asked.
"He said no to signing my permission slip, and it went on from there."
"You'll make up though, right?" Draco asked hesitantly.
"Not this time."
Harrison had studied the Marauder's map during the night with Ollyth. He didn't show his friends it because Delphi would get mad at him for taking a gift from the Weasley twins. She had a stronger hate for them after George had hit her with the Bludger last year and almost killed her — it was understandable. He decided he could sneak into Hogsmeade with the help of the map. Now he would just have to explain that to Daphne.
"Did you get it signed?" Daphne asked Harrison as Potions was coming to an end that Halloween day.
"No — but I'm going to sneak into Hogsmeade to meet up with you," he whispered back, watching closely as Snape stood up from behind his desk.
"How are you going to do that? I mean, Filch will be guarding the entrance."
"I've found a way that Filch doesn't know about."
"Put your quills down," Snape drawled, and the class put their quills down at once. Their parchments disappeared and reappeared on Snape's desk, in a neat stack.
"Ravenclaws, since the trip to Hogsmeade is today I suggest you hand in your permission slips to Professor Flitwick if you haven't already. And for my Slytherins," Snape's eyes landed on Harrison, "hand in your permission slips on the way out of class if you have not already — and I will not be accepting ash."
Nobody else understood what Snape meant by ash, but Harrison did. He had burnt his yesterday. Harrison silently glared at Snape, but he didn't seem to notice.
The class filed out, talking excitedly about their first trip to Hogsmeade.
"I'll see you there, right?" Daphne asked once they left the Potions classroom.
"Right. Meet me outside of Honeydukes."
Harrison split away from his friends and made his way down to the Slytherin dungeons. He ran into Astoria who was also heading back there.
"Oh, hi Harrison," she said, passing him a smile. However something was off about it, she seemed in pain.
"Hi Astoria…" he mumbled. "Are you okay?"
"Y-yes. It's just my Blood curse… it's making me feel a bit sick." Astoria continued forward, Harrison not wasting time to catch up with her.
"Did you tell Daphne?"
"I didn't want to bother her. She seemed so happy when you said yes to going on a date with her," Harrison blushed, "I didn't want her to stay with me during the Hogsmeade trip."
"I wouldn't have mind if she missed it… I can take you to the Hospital Wing-"
"No, it's fine. I'm only supposed to go if it hurts really bad," she assured him. She stared up at the Slytherin entrance, her eyebrows furrowing as if she was trying hard to remember something.
"Did you forget?" Harrison asked her and she nodded. "Its, malitiae."
Astoria nodded even though she didn't seem to be paying attention to Harrison's words. The common room was empty except for the few first and second years who weren't allowed in Hogsmeade.
"Shouldn't you be in Hogsmeade with everyone else?" Astoria asked, once they stepped in the common room.
"I had to get something — I hope you feel better Astoria. See you."
Astoria waved goodbye as she stalked off to the girl dormitories while Harrison went to the boy's.
"About time you're back — it's in the top drawer… where you left it," Ollyth deadpanned once Harrison started to search his trunk for the map. He grabbed the map from his drawer and as quickly as possible, ran out of the Slytherin common room to get to the Humpback Witch.
As he was about to turn the corner to reach the Humpback Witch, someone had called his name. He skidded to a stop, turning around to see Professor Lupin was the one who called. He walked over, his smile not once leaving his face.
"What are you still doing in Hogwarts, Harrison?" he asked.
"Oh! My father didn't sign it so I didn't get to go," Harrison told him.
Just afterwards, he heard shifting coming from the way of the Humpbacked Witch, and he turned to look at the statue, but it was still in the same place and same position. But Harrison could've swore he heard something.
"Since you're free, mind talking with me?" Lupin asked and Harrison looked away from the statue. "All the other staff are busy at the moment."
"I-"
"C'mon. I promise I won't bore you with spell theories or anything."
Harrison, seeing as he had no other choice or excuse, walked with Professor Lupin to wherever he was leading him.
"Your friends… I reckon you're pretty close to them," Professor Lupin murmured, passing Harrison a glance.
"Yeah. We all basically grew up together."
"Draco and Delphini are cousins, right?"
"Yeah."
"About Delphini… I've noticed her behaviours are bit… strange." Harrison slightly panicked. Was Delphi acting strange? If she was, how come he never noticed? Maybe it was just that he was so used to seeing her act a certain way, or he had shrugged it off as nothing.
"A bit harsh to a lot of her peers. Such as the Muggleborns, the Halfbloods, Gryffindors and sometimes the Hufflepuffs — actually, I barely see her interacting friendly with anyone except the people in her small friend group."
"W-well Delphi has to hate certain people," Harrison murmured, rubbing the back of his head.
"Why is that?" Lupin asked, though something about him told Harrison he knew the answer or he had asked this question before to someone else.
"She's from a Pureblood family. Strict rules — I've grown up hearing her family drill it into her — No talking to muggleborns and if you even consider dating one you might as well blast your own name off of the tapestry — don't do muggle stuff. They're the filth of the human race — You must marry a Pureblood so you don't taint the family line."
"As I expected. An old friend of mine grew up with the same exact rules, he however didn't listen. But it just got him nowhere in life. He's gone now."
"Oh- is he, erm- dead?"
"Oh no! He… he had to run away and I haven't seen him since."
Harrison wondered if Professor Lupin's friend was from one of his friend's families. The Blacks, Lestranges, Malfoys? He didn't bother to ask the Professor though, and was left wondering. Perhaps his friend had upsetted his father and had to run before he got killed by him — and it was likely too. There were people in the Pureblood families who killed those who didn't agree with Pureblood rules.
"Ah, Professor Lupin," a familiar, annoying voice gasped. Harrison looked from Professor Lupin to the source of the voice to unfortunately see Professor Dumbledore and his copyright smile. He seemed to be ignoring Harrison's presence since his eyes were on Professor Lupin the whole time.
By his side was Neville Longbottom who was beet red, and shaking violently. He seemed scared out of his mind.
"Hello Headmaster."
"I see you took a student yourself too."
"Me and Riddle were just talking since he wasn't able to make it to Hogsmeade."
"Is that true, Mr. Riddle?" Dumbledore asked, finally acknowledging Harrison standing there.
"Yes. My father advised it wasn't best for me to leave the premises of Hogwarts."
"Yes, I see. Well, be on your way, me and Mr. Longbottom," Neville flinched at the mention of his name, "need to talk. Good day to you." Dumbledore started to walk off, but paused when Neville didn't follow him. He stood in his spot, still shaking.
"Come on Neville," Dumbledore called, bringing Neville out of his trance. He gulped nervously and followed Dumbledore out of sight.
"I notice you're very advanced for your age Harrison — but your other Professors have said you've been the same way since your first year," Professor said once Dumbledore was gone. He continued walking with Harrison following behind.
"I guess I copy after my father. His Headmaster said he was very advanced when he was at Hogwarts — why do you mention it?"
"Well I've wanted to ask if you mind helping me during my lessons. Help your peers understand the material better."
"Will I be getting house points?" Harrison asked, though he wasn't being serious.
Lupin chuckled, "Yes. I promise you House points after every lesson."
"Then I don't mind Professor."
"Great," Lupin cheered. He stopped in front of a door and grabbed the door knob, but he paused and turned back to Harrison. "Want a cup of tea before you go on with your day?"
Harrison glanced at his watch then back at Professor Lupin. It had been half an hour since the Hogsmeade trip had started. Maybe he could have a cup of tea then be on with his day.
"Sure, Professor."
Lupin opened his door, and Harrison walked in before him.
Professor Lupin's office was definitely different from Snape's. There had actually been light in his office, shining through the window. Though he wasn't very decorative with his space, Professor Lupin had a Water Demon, in a big glass tank, in the corner of his office, which Harrison thought counted for some sort of decoration.
"I see you've found interest in the Grindylow." Lupin said, his eyebrows raising slightly. "It's for our next lesson."
"I've wanted to ask, Professor, what are we going to be covering this school year?"
"Many, many things, Harrison. I might go into the night listing them all." Lupin searched for his kettle and once he found it he tapped it with his wand, a line of steam billowed from it.
"You can sit right there, Harrison," Professor Lupin said idly, pointing to a seat. Harrison fell into it, waiting patiently for Professor Lupin to finish making the tea.
"So, how are your classes going? I've heard rumors that your first Divination class didn't go so well."
"Professor Trelawney predicted my death," Harrison yawned, rolling his eyes. "Delphi is doubtful it is going to be true, while Draco and Blaise are already deciding what my coffin should be."
Professor Lupin gave a slight laugh, shaking his head. "You know, you remind me of someone from my school days."
"Who? Is it your friend that ran away?"
"No, not him. He caused too much trouble at school, so did James, but not as much."
"James?"
"Yes, we were friends back in my Hogwarts days. He was smart, but always had a thing for landing himself in situations… I've heard from your other Professors," Harrison had a thought he heard from Snape, "how much trouble you've run into in the past years."
"I guess trouble finds me attractive."
Lupin laughed wholeheartedly at his joke, as he poured their tea into cups. "Ah, good one."
They sipped on their tea silently, Harrison found it hard to keep up with Lupin since the tea nearly burnt his tongue off. He had to wait awhile before he could actually drink it.
"Have you been dealing with the Voldemort thing fine?" Harrison nearly choked on his tea, staring at Lupin as if he had just said the craziest thing — which he did. He said Voldemort's name.
"Y-you said his name," Harrison pointed out in astonishment.
"One wise man told me: not saying the name only brings fear to it. Perhaps you should-" Professor Lupin was cut short by two knocks on the door. He told the person to come in and the last person Harrison wanted to see was standing at the door. Severus Snape. He was the reason Harrison was even here right now — he was the reason Harrison wasn't on a date with Daphne Greengrass right now.
"Professor Snape, I believe you brought my-"
"Why are you here?" Snape barked at Harrison, taking a dangerous step into the room. Harrison stood from his seat, placing his cup of tea on the table.
"Since I couldn't go to Hogsmeade I decided to have a cup of tea with Professor Lupin," Harrison retorted, keeping his glare up. Severus looked about ready to kill both of them.
"Uh… is there something-"
"That is none of your concern, Remus," Snape snapped.
"Well if you're going to burst into my office to bark at my student, then now it's my concern," Remus said challengly.
"Me and Professor Snape are not on good terms at the moment," Harrison said before Snape could say something snarkily. "Well? Is there something you wanted from Professor Lupin?" Harrison asked, wondering why Snape had stopped by.
"Delivering his Potion. He gets rather… vicious," Snape put emphasis, as if he meant something by it, "without it."
"Thank you, Snape," Lupin said tightly, obviously looking annoyed with him, the same way Harrison was.
"Only following orders," Snape sighed, placing a steaming goblet on Lupin's desk. He flipped his robes dramatically, and they trailed behind him and once they were fully out of the room, the door slammed closed.
"You and Professor Snape are not on good terms?" Professor Lupin asked, passing a look to Harrison.
"It is rather personal Professor," Harrison said vaguely, gulping down his tea that was now cold.
"I won't ask any further then — you can go now since you finished your tea."
Harirosn didn't have to be told twice. He bidded Lupin goodbye and checked his watch as soon as the door closed behind him.
"Fuck… theres only fifteen minutes left," Harrison whispered to himself, scowling at his watch. He didn't mean to talk to Professor Lupin for so long and now he felt bad for deserting Daphne after he said he would go on a date with her. He would have to do a lot of apologizing when she got back.
"And so you know, she almost started crying because you didn't show up. Merlin, Harrison, I had to drag her away from Honeydukes and convince her you weren't coming—"
At the moment Delphi was scolding Harrison for ghosting Daphne on their first date, but all she was saying was going into Harrison's left ear going out through right. He didn't care what Delphi thought about it, he just wanted to speak to Daphne.
"Alright, I get it!" Harrison cut in, "can you please just tell me where Daphne is?"
Delphi rolled her eyes, and stepped to the side, to show the blushing Daphne standing just a few feet behind her.
"Aw, Daphne, I'm so sorry," Harrison said, running up to her. "Professor Lupin, he caught me as I was trying to sneak off, and I had to go with him so I didn't seem suspicious. We talked for a little bit — well, actually, it was a while, and I lost track of time and by the time he let me leave, there was only a couple minutes left," Harrison took a deep breath from all his rambling. "I'm sorry," he gasped with the remainder of his breath.
"It's alright, Harrison. I sorta figured you got caught."
"You should punch him in the nose to make him feel real sorry for ditching you, Daphne," Delphi sang quietly, walking forward to catch up with Draco and Blaise who had left during her scolding.
"So, does that mean I get another chance to go on a date with you?" Harrison asked awkwardly, over pronouncing his words.
"Yes. We can go on the next Hogsmeade trip… whenever that is."
They continued to the feast and Harrison was relieved he could say there was no lingering danger that Halloween night. No troll, no Basilisk, just the fear of bats flying out of the pumpkins.
"I can't believe you're scared of a bunch of bats," Delphi drawled, leaning forward to take the lid off of the pumpkin that held the sweets. However, she let out a scream that turned the heads of everyone as Blaise's head appeared out of the pumpkin, him appearing dead.
Blaise and Draco erupted into a fit of laughter first, the two high fiving each other under the table.
"Real funny!" Delphi snapped at them, seizing Blaise's fake head from the pumpkin. It looked rather realistic, but Harrison could see it was made out of some sort of paper.
Delphi threw the head at Blaise and Draco, both of them ducking as it came flying at them.
"Haha, you really got her," Harrison chuckled. It was not often he had heard Delphi scream like a little girl.
"Have you seen Astoria?" Daphne asked as the feast started to come to an end. "I've thought she would've been here already, but I don't see her." Everyone shrugged, while Harrisn had an idea where she might be.
"I saw her earlier and she said she wasn't feeling well — said it was because of her Blood curse-"
"Did she go to the Hospital Wing?" Daphne asked, the color draining from her face.
"No. She said she was only supposed to go if it hurts bad. It looked like it hurted to me though."
Nobody had ever seen Daphne move faster in her life. She was up from the table, marching out of the Great Hall in a hurry. Harrison decided to follow since he was full on food, and he heard the footsteps of his friends behind him.
As they approached the Slytherin dungeon, the group paused as they heard the faint sound of whimpering — or so they thought. They stayed quiet, not even the sound of their breathing could be heard, and tried to make sure they heard correctly.
"I'm going to die," the same voice whimpered quietly again.
"No, no, no!" Daphne frantically whispered, breaking off into a run, her blonde hair losing it's grace that always seemed to be with her in whatever she did.
Harrison felt his gut twist itself over and over again as he thought of who that voice belonged to… but it couldn't.
Harrison took off after Daphne, but before he could even catch up with her, she let out the most deafening scream, even louder than the one Delphi let out at the feast.
Harrison pulled out his wand, immediately thinking there was danger, but as he appeared at Daphne's side and saw the sight she saw, he felt like releasing his own scream.
Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukah, Happy Kwanzaa or if you're not celebrating anything I hope you have a great day.
