Harrison was quiet. He was shocked, of course. Kill Sirius Black… it seemed very unlikely she would even see him in person.
"Why?" he finally asked.
"I'll be worth her while. You said it yourself, she wouldn't be there for long. So I've thought by the time she gets out I can say I've killed Sirius Black and I'll actually mean something to her. I won't be the same disappointment. "
"You do mean something to your mother, Delphi."
"No I don't!" The paintings on the wall crashed to the floor, the stands of armour lost their balance and clattered around the two. Harrison was startled by it; he did not expect Delphi to lose control of her magic. It was unlike her, and to him it just showed how much she was unlike herself.
"Harrison, she didn't even know I was on the Quidditch team! And when she did, she didn't even care about what position I played, only about the Blood Statuses of people I played with-"
"And what did you expect, Delphi?"
"I expected that Harrison!" she snapped at him. "Don't you remember when I predicted that's all she would care about?" Harrison sighed because he did remember. Delphi expected it, and she was completely correct.
Delphi took his silence as an invitation to go on. "She doesn't give two flying fucks about my grades until I'm doing worse than some stupid mudblood! Maybe if I murder him, every single thing I do would be worth her while. She'll actually acknowledge my accomplishments!"
Harrison sighed, rubbing his temple as he processed what Delphi was saying. She wanted to make it up to her mother by killing Sirius Black, the man Severus told him to be wary of. It wouldn't be smart to go after him, and if Severus thought Harrison couldn't handle him, then Delphi wouldn't last a minute.
Why had it all come down to this? He wondered why, of all the options and possibilities for Delphi's reaction to her mother's arrest, that killing Sirius Black was the one she wanted to go with.
"You're crazy," he finally said after a very long and tense silence. "You can't kill Sirius Black-"
"But you can! You can help me kill him." Delphi said hopefully.
"Help you kill Sirius Black?" Harrison repeated and he shook his head furiously. "We can't — I can't, Delphi. We shouldn't be chasing after the person that also wants to kill me."
"But don't you want revenge?" Delphi asked, making Harrison freeze all over. The thought of the Quidditch match and Astoria creeped back inside his mind, setting his nerves off. He did want revenge, but he was smarter than that — wasn't he? He would listen to Severus' warnings, right? But he wanted answers that Severus refused to tell him, and getting to Sirius Black seemed like the only way he would get them.
"He almost killed Astoria," she continued, sensing the sudden change in Harrison's demeanor. "He put me, Draco and Blaise in danger just to kill you! Because of him you don't only have to worry about You-Know-Who trying to kill you, but now you have to worry about some Azkaban escapee killing you in your sleep!"
Harrison knew what Delphi was doing. She was mentioning all these things that would force him to agree. She was playing his own manipulative cards and he hated how much it was working.
"Whatever. Fine! I'll help," Harrison shouted, "but I'll warn you now that killing isn't something you can do like riding a broomstick. You lose a part of yourself when you murder someone."
"I won't feel anything for the Blood Traitor."
"But you will feel the weight of taking someone's life."
"I won't hold my breath," Delphi snarled.
The walk to catch up with their friends was very awkward as both friends couldn't get over their conversation. Harrison was very confused on what to do, it wasn't everyday your lifelong friend asks you to help her kill her mother's cousin.
"There you two are," Blaise said once Delphi and Harrison rejoined them. "I thought you got snatched up by Sirius Black while we weren't looking."
Harrison nor Delphi didn't say anything and just laughed weakly at Blaise's joke. It was not the best time to mention Black.
"Where were you two anyways?" Draco asked.
"Harrison forgot his book at the tower so we went back to get it," Delphi said, glancing at Harrison who then nodded in agreement.
When Harrison got back to his room, Delphi and Theo decided to stay with them for a bit to goof around before they all went to sleep. Harrison, however wasn't interested in goofing around, he wanted to talk to Ollyth about Delphi.
"She wants to kill Sirius Black? The man trying to kill you?"
Harrison nodded.
"And you're going to help her regardless of the warnings Severus has given you?"
"Well? What do you want me to do?" he asked in Parseltongue so no one understood. "Tell her no and have her track down Black on her own; because I know she will do it." Ollyth let out a hiss of annoyance which drew everyone's eyes momentarily. "Talk her out of it," she groaned. "And it's not like you can really help if you're leaving next month."
Harrison didn't think about that. He had a limited amount of time to track down Sirius Black (if he was still near Hogwarts ground) and help Delphi kill him. It seemed he had more time to brush his teeth in the morning than to find and murder Sirius Black.
"Then we'll have to find him fast." Harrison looked over to Delphi who was currently staring at him. Her eyebrows furrowed when they made eye contact then Harrison looked back to Ollyth. "I have around what? A little less than a month? No sweat… I'll find him by then."
"It'll take longer than that…" Ollyth murmured to herself. "Perhaps consider staying awhile longer to finish Black off." There was a change in her tone. She was reluctant one second but now she seemed to want Harrison to go after Black. Harrison ignored it though. He had better things to think about rather than Ollyth's tone change.
At least Harrison had something to do in his lockdown in the Slytherin common room. He examined the Marauder's Map everyday, scanned the school grounds every chance he got. He even examined the secret passageways and found out there was only one possible way Sirius could've gotten in, which was the Honeydukes passage.
At night he wandered where he had seen Sirius Black at the Quidditch game, only to realize that the Whomping Willow was closer than he expected to where Sirius was standing.
He wasn't making any process at all and was becoming a bit more tense as the days he had to find Black decreased right before his eyes.
When Harrison and Delphi had broken off from their group to walk to Ancient Runes, she decided to question him about his progress with finding Black. "So? Any luck? At all?"
"No. I haven't got a single trace of him. I'm starting to think I have to put myself on a silver platter and write: Kill me, above my head in order to summon him." Delphi did not make any attempt to laugh at his feeble joke. She ignored it and said, "I needed help anyways."
"With what exactly? I'm already helping you murder your," Harrison paused and watched Delphi's glaring eyes, begging him to say cousin so she could probably hex him. "M-murder Sirius Black."
"Could you teach me how to do the Killing curse?"
Harrison almost choked on air. The Killing Curse? Maybe he was letting things escalate too much — he couldn't possibly teach her the Killing Curse. But he was scared of what she would do if he refused, the last thing Harrison wanted was for Delphi to go after Black herself.
"Can't you just kill him with Reducto or something," he tried to reason.
"And what? Let him get away because I did it wrong or because I missed?" There was something unfamiliar in Delphi's tone. It almost sounded like she was insecure, which was very odd for Delphi because she was a confident person. Never once did she ever seem insecure about herself, or her ability to perform at that matter.
"I don't want to take the chance," she continued quietly. "And I'll track him instead while you teach me."
"Merlin, Delphi, fine. But where the bloody hell would I teach you how to do the Killing Curse? We can't do it on school grounds-"
"We go to the Forbidden Forest. There'll be Dementors so we can just stay near the edge. None of the Aurors are guarding there and the Dementors are pretty deep in the forest."
"Alright. Let's meet in the common room at midnight. I'll bring my cloak."
Delphi nodded happily, seeming to be holding back a grin.
At night, Harrison got out of bed once Draco and Blaise laid down to go to sleep. He sighed as he wondered how he would teach Delphi to perform the Killing curse. He barely remembered how his father taught him how to do it.
"Don't wander too far and make sure you're quiet. Even though the Dementors will be far away, if you're screaming 'Avada Kedavra' at the top of your lungs, then at least one of them will hear." Ollyth instructed, watching as Harrison got ready to leave.
"I'm not an idiot," he said.
"Says the one who kicked a wooden trunk."
Harrison passed Ollyth a glare and sighed, he had no argument.
"Whatever, I'll be back soon."
Harrison left and stalked off to the common room, as quietly as he could. He wondered if it was too late to change Delphi's mind. It's not like he was scared of killing someone or facing off against Sirius Black, he was scared of how it would affect Delphi. Maybe she would be fine how she claimed she would be or maybe she'll just crumble from there. Maybe he should've told Draco and Blaise, but he knew Delphi would get mad at him.
"There you are," Delphi whispered to him, interrupting his thoughts. "Let's hurry."
The two cousins got under the Invisibility Cloak and made their way to the Forbidden Forest. They avoided Filch on their way out who was trying to get Mrs. Norris down from on top of an armor stand.
Harrison charmed his and Delphi's feet so their footprints in the snow would disappear and nobody was going to be able to possibly track them. They stalked down the hill towards Hagrid's hut that currently had its lights on.
Advancing quietly and carefully past Hagrid's hut, they got a glance through his window and saw he was crying. Delphi seemed to be refraining from laughter as they hurried off towards the trees.
They walked deep into the Forbidden Forest for a couple of minutes before stopping in a space that was secluded, but cleared of enough trees to practice in.
"Do you know the indication?" Harrison asked Delphi once they took off the Invisibility Cloak.
"Yes. It's, Avada-"
"Okay!" Harrison interrupted, quickly moving Delphi's hand down so her wand was facing the ground and not him. "Merlin, don't point your wand anywhere! Just keep it down, and don't say it for now."
"Alright. Sorry."
"When I say it, I usually focus on why I'm casting it — Look at that flower," Harrison pointed at a shriveling rose that seemed on the brink of death. No way it got sun when the trees were blocking all the sunlight and rain. "Pretend it's some suffering person and you want to put it out of its misery."
"Why?"
"Because it won't work just because you say it. If I aimed my wand at you and said Avada Kedavra, it wouldn't work unless I really wanted it to — which I don't."
"Okay." Delphi took a deep breath and steadied her wand at the almost dead flower. She was silent for a minute or so and when she was ready, she said: "Avada Kedavra!"
Nothing happened. Not even the tip of her wand lit up. He hadn't known what to do or where Delphi went wrong, it was supposed to work.
"Uh, try it again."
Delphi nodded determinedly and pointed the wand at the flower. "Avada Kedavra."
Once again nothing had happened.
"What am I doing wrong?" Delphi gruffed, looking back at Harrison as if he had the answer.
"I don't know."
"Well you're the one who knows how to do it!"
Harrison sighed and without a word being said or an extra second being wasted, he casted the Killing Curse at the flower and it shriveled up, crumbling over onto the ground.
"There," he said, lazily gesturing at the flower.
"Thank you Mr. Show-Off," Delphi snapped at him, hesitantly looking down at the dead flower.
"You have to do a zigzag, and by the time you get to 'Kedavra' it should be finished," Harrison instructed, moving his wand in the motion, making Delphi copy him.
She tried it over and over and over again, and not even the slightest sign of the spell working appeared. As they went into the night, they only got more tired and finally decided to leave when they felt the air get cold, both of them afraid Dementors were near.
"I think tonight really opened my eyes," Harrison murmured to Ollyth as he got into bed. She hummed quietly. "I'm not fit to be a teacher."
"How bad did it go?"
"Well Delphi couldn't do it… at all."
Ollyth was silent for a few seconds, thinking to herself. She soon asked, "How long did it take you to master the Killing Curse?"
"I don't remember," Harrison sighed. He really tried to rack his brain for the memory of learning the Killing Curse, but it was lost in his vast collection of memories. "All I know is that I was really young."
"And how exactly did you try and teach her?"
"I just told her what to do."
"Perhaps don't throw her into it headfirst. Like your Professors, ease your way into the final goal. Maybe have her practice the wand movements, or get used to indication."
"Yeah… I'll try that next time. Thanks Ollyth."
"Yes, but don't think about it too much. Go to sleep, it won't do you any good if you stay up all night."
Harrison listened to his friend's advice and forced himself to go to sleep. However it wasn't peaceful.
He had been brought back to the shack however he was getting chased around by Black. Green spells missing him by inches — it was almost like torture. When he had stopped moving and Sirius had hit him with the Killing Curse he awoke with a gallon worth of sweat running off of his face.
Harrison slowed his breathing when he had registered; it was all a dream.
Ollyth was sleeping next to him… or she was being very still. It was hard to tell considering her eyes were always opened.
Harrison was up for an hour or so by himself until Draco and Blaise woke up to get ready for school. When Harrison stood up he was punched right in the head with a glove or drowsiness and felt like sinking back into his bed.
As he struggled to process which way he could tie his tie, Blaise had begun to speak to him. "Where did you go last night?" he asked. Harrison was shocked at first and looked at Blaise, wondering if he was joking.
"Huh?"
"I went to use the bathroom last night and you were gone." Blaise then elaborated.
"Oh, I had a lot on my mind and needed a walk," Harrison casually lied. He didn't want to lie to his best friend, but he knew Delphi didn't want anyone else to know what she was planning.
The boys left their room and were a bit surprised to see Delphi was not waiting for them in the common room. Usually, she was up before the boys and was so impatient that she came to wake them up herself. Now they were left waiting for her and it was not like they were able to go and check on her because of the charms on the stairs.
"God, what's taking her so long?" Draco grumbled, glancing down at his watch. "I'm starving."
"Maybe she's still asleep," Blaise shrugged.
"Let's wait for her then," said Harrison. He wondered if she had stayed up through the night, or was exhausted from practice last night.
"Hey!"
The three boys turned around and saw Theo and his goons standing there.
"Good morning mate," Draco said, smiling at Theo. Blaise turned back around, ignoring Theo's presence and stared at the girl dormitorie's staircase while Harrison nodded at Theo.
"Get lost you two," Theo scowled at Crabbe and Goyle. They nodded like mindless slaves and scurried off, out of the common room.
"Why are you so mean to them?"
"Because they're pathetic," Theo chuckled. "It's as if they can't function without a master instructing their every move. They decided to latch onto me for some reason which proved helpful sometimes, but it gets annoying when you have two meat sacks following you around every second of the day."
"It seemed as if you were bestfriends," Harrison commented, exchanging glances with Draco.
"Meh. I wouldn't say that. They're just… company. Unwanted company — I would prefer to be alone."
"Then why hang around us all of sudden?" Blaise asked him, his words sounding very harsh. It didn't seem Theo noticed though.
"Because Delphi mentioned," Blaise scoffed, "how she likes to hang around you guys. And you don't seem even slightly as bad as the other idiots."
Harrison nodded his head automatically. "Thanks, Theo… I guess."
"Sorry, I'm not good at complimenting people."
"It's fine really — we were just waiting for Delphi to come, we don't usually leave without her."
"Then I don't mind waiting on her."
Instead of three now there were four, each of them staring expectantly at the girl's staircase for what seemed an hour. Eventually, they saw the stumbling Delphi descend from the stairs, looking exhausted out of her mind. Behind her, Pansy and Daphne followed.
"There you are," Blaise said, smiling at the girls.
"We had to drag Delphi out of bed," Daphne said, looking quite serious about what she said.
"I only asked for five more minutes, you didn't have to float me out of bed," Delphi growled and huffed moodily. Draco snickered and was met with her glower.
"We've already wasted enough time. Let's go."
Once they sat down for breakfast, Delphi immediately began to spill what she was doing last night to Harrison.
"I snuck back out to try and see if there was any sign of Sirius Black."
"Why? I would've come along with you. What if you actually ran into him, you could've ended up like Astoria — or worst!" Harrison hissed at her, making sure nobody heard their conversation.
"But I didn't," Delphi scoffed. "I've figured out that there was no way he could've sneaked in through any of the entrances because Dementors are at every single one."
"I knew that much."
"Yeah, and I even tried to sneak past them, but…" Delphi shuddered, obviously disturbed by the memory of last night. "I couldn't. There was no space to squeeze around them. So imagine a man, taller and more noticeable than me trying to get past. It'd be impossible."
"And?"
"And I'm starting to believe he found a way to apparate inside."
"Impossible."
"Then I don't know how else he would get in. He's not a powerful Wizard like You-Know-Who or Dumbledore."
"There are secret passages in the castle."
"Really? How do you know?"
"I've got a map. It shows me all the passages in Hogwarts."
"Where'd you get something like that?"
Harrison glanced at the Gryffindor table, his eyes briefly landing on the twins before he looked back at Delphi. "Got it from Filch's office," he told her.
"But it doesn't matter where I got it from. What matters is that there are seven passages. Filch knows about four and there are three that he doesn't know about. However, I can only use one of those three."
"Why?"
"One is blocked off and the other is under the Whomping Willow."
"And the other?"
"It's behind the Humpbacked Witch statue and it leads into Honeydukes so the only way he could've sneak in was…" Harrison trailed off as he was struck with a sudden realization of how Sirius Black got into the castle. He didn't realize how smoothly it was flowing out his mouth and how obvious it was.
Was that why he heard the statue shift when he had gotten caught by Lupin? It had to be — Black must've used the passage without realizing someone was on the other side! He probably hid quickly once he saw Professor Lupin — or maybe he had left through the passage.
"What is it?" Delphi asked.
"I'm sure I saw Sirius Black sneak in on Halloween. I was there when he snuck in. Professor Lupin had stopped me before I could get close to the statue, if he hadn't I would've come face to face with Black."
"So that's it then," Delphi concluded with a smirk, "he sneaks in that way."
"Well now we can be wary of there."
"What? Be wary?" Delphi repeated in disbelief. "No, we can plan a way to catch him as he's sneaking in. Some sort of trap."
"That isn't smart, Delphi."
"But we'll be able to catch him faster!"
"No, Delphi! We're not setting up any trap or camping in front of the statue to try and catch him."
Delphi sulked in her seat and turned away from Harrison, giving him the cold shoulder as she ate. He didn't apologize though, because he was right. They couldn't just charge Sirius Black.
Quidditch matches were back on and Gryffindor and Hufflepuff had their rematch at the end of the month, and Ravenclaw would play Hufflepuff before the day of the Hogsmeade trip.
Hufflepuff had surprisingly won against Gryffindor and no one let the team live that down. Harrison had joy in teasing the twins, making jokes about how they got distracted by Diggory's smile.
Harrison and Delphi had been making progress with the Killing Curse. Now when she said the indication, the tip of her wand lit up briefly. It wasn't much, but at least they were making progress.
Harrison was growing slightly anxious as the days ticked down towards break. The day before he would need to sign his name to leave for Hogwarts, he decided to start packing his stuff — he wanted to leave Hogwarts as fast as possible once break started.
He and Ollyth mused a plan that Harrison would make it seem like he boarded the train so Voldemort would be waiting for him at the platform, but when in reality he had snuck into Hogsmeade and ran away from there. Harrison had no clue where he wanted to go though after that, or what in the world he would do. Whatever he chose was better than getting murdered by his father — but losing his friends forever was worse.
"The more you think about it, the worst it seems." Ollyth suddenly said, as if she was reading Harrison's mind. She didn't have to read his mind because his emotions were written on his face.
"I don't think it's because I'm thinking about it, I think it's because it is as bad as it seems." Harrison said, rummaging through his drawers. He would've used magic like always, but he wanted the process to go as slow as possible.
"If you don't want to run away, then stay at Hogwarts."
"Then what Ollyth? I can't just stay at Hogwarts forever."
"You are failing to realize how many options you have. You can simply go back home and face your father-"
"Thats out of the question."
"Or you can go home with Severus and stay with him for a while."
"I'm not putting Severus in danger."
"Or you can run away."
"But I don't want to-"
"Then stay at Hogwarts."
Harrison paused, realizing he had left himself with only one option. Ollyth did that on purpose. "I see what you did there."
"Which one is it going to be then?" Ollyth asked seriously. "If you don't want to leave your friends and your life behind, I suggest you stay, Harrison." By her tone Harrison could tell she was being genuine.
"I don't want to think about it right now." Harrison snapped at her. He turned his back to his snake and focused on everything in his drawers which was mostly of his old school books, or the books he had borrowed from the library. He sorted them out, into two piles, his own books going into his trunk.
At the very bottom of the drawer was a book Harrison had recognized immediately. It was the Animagus book he bought during the summer, or stole in his case.
He sat next to Ollyth on the bed and opened the book. Desperate for any distraction, Harrison read through the book, skipping to the interesting parts.
Harrison didn't want to become an Animagus, just in case he got stuck forever or worse — got a horrible animal. He didn't see the point in becoming one anyway, and from what he was reading in the book it was an annoying and troubling process to go through.
Harrison's mind wandered back to the Animagus he encountered in the forest. He still had no clue who he was, the theory of him being Mad Eye was beginning to seem more silly to him as he read on. He was an Auror, a skilled one at that. He led troops into clashes with Voldemort's followers everyday, there was no way (if the process of becoming an Animagi took months) that he could have the time to become an Animagus.
"Animagi tend to look a lot like their human form," Harrison quietly read outloud. "A cat Animagus, for example, may have the same color fur as the hair of their human form. People with scars, or loss of limb Animagus form will transform them into their animal with their injury."
"Are you thinking about the Animagus from the forest?" Ollyth asked. Harrison looked up at her and her eyes were on the page instead of him.
"Yeah…" he said.
He hadn't given the Grim much thought since Professor Trelawney's prediction, nor did he think about the prediction itself that much. It was complete rubbish, wasn't it? It wasn't a real Grim… but it had tried to kill him… now Harrison felt his gut twist.
So what if she was some descendant from some famous Seeer? Doesn't mean the gift made it to her. She seemed like a phoney anyways.
Ollyth's voice cut through his thoughts like a sharpened knife, and the guilt in her voice did not make Harrison's uncomfortable feeling go away. "I should've mentioned this before, but-"
Harrison did not like the beginning of what Ollyth was saying.
"Sirius Black is most likely an Animagus. More specifically, the Grim that chased us through the forest."
Those words struck Harrison harder than anything ever before. It was such a big realization, but it seemed so simple and obvious. Black had been getting past the Dementors because he was an Animagus! A dog for that matter! That's how he escaped Azkaban as well.
And him being the Grim that chased them through the forest made sense too. It wasn't coincidence that an Animagus tried to kill him and now Sirius Black is trying to kill him. He was dunce for not realizing it before.
Once he had fully processed the fact, he realized that Ollyth had known that for a while now. That piece of information would've been very useful to him these past weeks when searching for Black. If he had known before Black could turn into a dog,
"So… how long has it been since you've figured that out?"
"Since November… I had my suspicions before but Astoria's attack confirmed it," she added quietly. Her eye slits were big and wide, which didn't help Harrison convey his anger through his tone.
"I'm really mad at you Ollyth," he slowly said.
"If I had told you then, you would've… you wouldn't have…" Ollyth fumbled over her words. Harrison knew she had the answer, she just wouldn't say it. Why wouldn't she say it?
"Wouldn't have what?"
"Nothing. I'm sorry. I didn't want to concern you further."
Childish and annoyed, Harrison kicked Ollyth out of his bed for the rest of the day. He was glad she had finally given up that valuable piece of Information, but vivid that she had only told him now.
Now all he had to do was tell Delphi… whenever he felt like it.
The day of the Hogsmeade trip, Harrison was overly excited and just a bit nervous which was reasonable since he was going on a date with a girl. He wondered what he'd and Daphne do in Hogsmeade. Where would they go? All of his thoughts just made him more and more excited for class to end.
"And you're not going to get caught or anything?" Daphne asked Harrison, obviously still hesitant after the last trip. "Yes. I promise I'll meet you outside of Honeydukes, and if I don't I give you full permission to punch me in the face like Delphi said you should."
"Alright then. See you soon, Harrison." Daphne walked off to join Pansy, Draco, Blaise and Theo who had already left for Hogsmeade. Delphi had disappeared after their last class which was weird, but Harrison assumed she went off to her room to get something.
Once he got back to the common room after retrieving his Invisibility Cloak, he saw Delphi pacing around. Once she saw him, her face lit up.
"Harrison! I was thinking while we're in Hogsmeade, we can-"
"Uh, I can't help you with Sirius Black today," he cut in.
"What? Why?"
"I've got a date with Daphne. I'll help you tomorrow, promise."
"A date? Are seriously avoiding murdering one of the biggest Blood Traitors just to go on a date with Daphne?"
"Maybe if you'd gotten someone to go with you would understand," Harrison told her, sounding harsh. "Tomorrow. I promise." he repeated, feeling guilty about how his last words came out.
"Fine."
Delphi stormed off in the opposite direction, blending in with the crowd of students that were all going to Hogsmeade. Harrison was going too, but he was taking a different route. Under his Invisibility Cloak, he walked to the third floor and approached the One-eyed Witch statue. He pulled out Marauders' Map and muttered, "I solemnly swear I am up to no good." The beautiful map of the castle appeared in front of Harrison, and he quickly found his name in front of the One-eyed Witch statue on the map.
Letters appeared on the map, some sort of spell. Harrison pulled out his wand and hesitantly pointed it at the stature. He muttered the spell: "Dissendium."
The statue shifted out of the way, but Harrison did not put his wand away. He needed to be cautious if Sirius Black used the passage to get in, they could accidentally run into each other.
Harrison was glad he was slim enough to fit in the entrance. He was thrown down a stone slide and dropped off onto a damp, wet ground. He had remembered unpleasant memories of the Chamber of Secrets, and it took him a while to contain himself before he carried on.
With help of his wand and the map, he navigated through the narrow twists and circles in the secret passageway. Eventually the ground started to become steep until he faced staircases.
He double checked with the map to make sure the stairs led into Honeydukes and they did, so he went up, opening the trapdoor in the tunnel's roof slowly, just in case someone was near.
It led up into a cellar. Once he was sure no one was around, he threw the door open and lifted himself out of the hole and onto the cellar floor.
There were many boxes of many varieties of sweets surrounding him, the cellar had a very pleasant smell. He quickly closed the trapdoor so it would blend in with the dusty floor and there wouldn't be a gaping hole for the owners to see.
The Invisible Harrison crept up the narrow, creaky and equally dusty stairs, and quietly opened the door that led him behind the counter of Honeydukes. It sure was loud.
He wondered if Daphne had already left because he took too long. Had he taken too long? It had only been twenty minutes.
Harrison shifted past the woman and the man behind the counter, shoving through the crowd of students to get to the door. They were all a bit confused by the random force moving them out the way.
When Harrison made it outside, he saw Daphne looking around as she rubbed her gloved hands together.
He took the Invisibility Cloak off of himself, and appeared in front of Daphne, startling her slightly.
"I was starting to get worried," Daphne said, chuckling nervously. Her cheeks were rosey red and Harrison wasn't sure it was because she was blushing or because it was cold.
"Sorry, the passage was pretty long." Harrison looked around the snowy village and it's many buildings; all of them looking very interesting. "Where do you want to go first?"
"Lets go to Zonko's. I wanted to show you something."
Daphne and Harrison traveled through the Wizard town, having innocent fun with each other. They visited almost every shop (Harrison paying for everything Daphne wanted) and walked down every street, until they finally sat down outside of Honeydukes, where they began.
"So," Harrison said, starting the conversation. Daphne looked over to him, her eyebrows rising. "Are you going back home for break?"
Daphne's eyebrows relaxed and she sighed. "I have no reason to stay," she said. "Besides, I've been wanting to go home ever since Astoria left Saint Mungos. She's been sending me letters everyday."
"Is she feeling alright?"
"Better than alright," Daphne told him, giggling into her chocolate. "Lots of people have been sending her letters asking about Black or wishing her well. She thinks it's quite funny how people think she is some sort of war hero."
Harrison chuckled, "I'm glad she's okay — Do you think she'll be able to come back?"
"Yes. My mum and dad said she's gotten better a lot faster than they expected."
"I'm glad." It was quiet for a couple moments and Harrison decided to sweep Hogsmeade and all its people. He didn't see anyone familiar — specifically anyone that could have the intention to kill him.
When he looked back and caught Daphne staring at him, she noticed her cheeks were red. "You want some Butterbeer?" he asked. "Your face is all red."
"I-it is?" Daphne whispered, covering her face from view. "Oh, I erm, yeah I would like some."
They got up and walked down to the Three Broomsticks. Harrison entered after Daphne and was swept with the hot air of the pub. He and Daphne let out a sigh, relieved that they got some hot air. They unraveled their scarves and placed them on the chairs at a table near the window.
"I'll get the Butterbeer."
"But they can see your face without the scarf."
"Okay. Uh," Harrison pulled out his wand and transfigured his hair so it was long and blonde now. Nobody would recognize him with first glance. "There. Can you recognize my handsome face?"
"Only when I focus, the hair is really off putting."
Harrison walked off toward Madam Rosmerta. She was a curvy lady with a pretty face, just like Harrison heard plenty of boys describe her.
Madam Rosmerta looked up at Harrison once he approached the bar. "Butterbeer?" she asked before he could speak.
"Yeah. Two please."
"Bottle or tankard?"
"Tankard."
"One second then."
Madam Rosmerta disappeared for a couple of seconds then reappeared with two how, and foamy Butterbeers in her hands. She placed them on the bartop.
"Four sickles."
Harrison dug into his Gringotts pouch and pulled out four silver Sickles and exchanged them for the Butterbeers.
He sat back down in his seat and handed Daphne her mug. Almost immediately after he took his seat, the door opened and Harrison's favourite group of people entered the shop. The Gryffindor Trio.
"Are you alright being here Harrison?" Daphne asked, drawing Harrison's eyes away from the Gryffindors. "I mean, I know your father wants to kill you and you're not necessarily safe in a Wizard filled village."
"I'm fine. Besides, when I can do this," Harrison transfigured his hair back to it's normal black and curly style, "it'll be impossible for any Death Eaters to recognize me."
Harrison looked up once he noticed the familiar brown eyes trying to get his attention. He looked past Daphne to Hermione who mouthed to him, "Why are you here?"
Harrison nodded towards Daphne and Hermione frowned at him. Daphne tried to turn back to see who Harrison was talking to, but he quickly grabbed her hand to distract her.
"I was wondering, Daphne," she blushed as she looked down at their hands, "what you think we should buy our friends for Christmas?"
"Merlin, we should've bought Christmas gifts for our friends instead of waltzing around the place," Daphne sighed, pulling her hand away and placing them in her lap. Harrison sighed, thankful that she didn't get to see the Gryffindor Trio sitting a few tables away.
"Once we finished our Butterbeer we could browse around. Surely we'll have enough time-"
Harrison's mouth slowly closed as he watched who walked through the door. Professor McGonagall, Flitwick, Hagrid and the Minister of Magic himself.
Cornelius Fudge!
I had to go off the grid Thursday and Friday. This is why I'm updating Saturday. I hope you enjoyed.