Chapter five

Conversations

/

After two hours of Transfiguration class, immediately followed by another Defence lecture with Professor Shiernov, the entire trio gathered at lunch with quite a relief. Professor McGonagall had approached the revision of previous years quite casually, so they were already going over the new textbook and Harry had just enough information in his head.

As the boys happily enjoyed the turkey steak with rice, Hermione kept frowning at her timetable, muttering something to herself.

"What are you still looking for, please?" wondered Ron. "Your lunch will get cold."

"I just find it a little strange that we don't have Apparition classes in the schedule at all. We should take them in the sixth year…"

Harry raised his head: "You're right. After all, Fred and George could apparate all around before their seventh year here."

"Neither Dumbledore nor McGonagall said anything about any ban or something," Hermione probed further.

"I wouldn't be too excited about it if I were you," said Ron. "We're already overwhelmed as it is."

"But Apparition is terribly important!" Hermione objected. "Almost as much as the Defence. I think I'll go to ask about his after Runes class."

"A´u ´ing um!?" Ron asked with his mouth full. He swallowed quickly and repeated the question. "Are you kidding me?"

"Not at all," snapped Hermione.

"Leave it," Harry cut them off before it could turn into an argument. "Hermione's right, Apparition will come in handy in the future."

"Oh, well," Ron hummed, getting back to his lunch.

Harry suddenly felt someone watching him. He raised his head and to his surprise, he caught Angela's interested gaze…

/

Even from that distance and through the round glasses, the distinct green of Harry's eyes pierced her through, when he suddenly raised his head. Something stirred the air between them and soft ticking filled Angela's stomach. Quickly, she leant down to her plate, which, however, had almost nothing on it anymore.

On the other hand, Draco sitting right next to her was literally niggling in his lunch, scowling somewhat annoyed. He had been making faces like that all the time lately and it was getting on her nerves.

"I must say I had no idea you´d like to be a Hit Wizard," she spoke quietly in a mocking tone. She could not help but nag him a little, hoping to change that expression of his a bit.

"As far as I know, the specialization for 'Future Henchman of the Dark Lord' is not included among options at this fine school," Malfoy retorted cynically without even looking at her and naturally so quietly that only she could hear his words.

"That's true," Angela chimed in, refilling her glass with orange juice. "Studying to be a Hit Wizard is probably the closest thing to it, isn't it?" she assumed.

"Look, this is what my father told me to do, so keep your useless remarks to yourself," Malfoy looked downright angry now.

Angela put down her glass and turned to him, "But what would you like to do?" she asked without a hint of irony.

"It doesn´t matter at all," he replied more calmly. "You know it yourself."

Angela frowned: "I wouldn't advise anyone to force me to do anything," she growled.

"You're lucky your obnoxious aunt finally kicked the bucket," Malfoy noted, returning to his lunch.

"My aunt was also your relative, albeit a distant one, so you shouldn't talk about her like that."

"She can't hear me now, can she?" Draco snorted.

"You can never know…"

"Don't come at me with that!" he hissed, raising his fork menacingly. "You know I hate this kind of bullshit talk."

"Sorry," she raised both hands in defence. "I just let it slip."

The blonde Slytherin prince turned attention back to his food, but it did not last long, before he spoke again.

"I still don't understand what made my mother take you in and move you to our house. She never got on very well with your aunt."

"She probably thinks that she'll have greater influence on me now that I don't have anyone else," Angela smirked. "And didn't she happen to ask your dear father in advance?"

Draco's expression turned cold. "She doesn´t visit him. They wouldn't have let her anywhere near him anyway," he added quietly.

Angela was in a mischievous mood and dangerously continued: "I´m quite surprised about that. In case of such an esteemed and wealthy family they should…"

Suddenly, Draco Malfoy's face was only inches away from her own. Looking into his furious eyes, Angela fell silent.

"I warn you for one last time, Rosier. Shut your mouth. Just because you live with us now doesn't mean you can afford talking to me like this."

Angela let his threat fade away in tense silence.

"I didn't ask for moving in with your family," she replied, forcing her voice to stay calm. Then she pulled away from him and hastily stood up.

She felt two stares in her back as she was leaving, but she did not look back.

/

Harry had been watching their dialogue most of the time, albeit without sound. He wondered what could be between those two. They did not look like they were dating, but it was obvious that they knew each other quite well. Since Angela had been apparently studying at Hogwarts from the very beginning, they had to get close sometime during the past summer. In all those years before, Harry did not see her in Malfoy´s company even once…

Propping his chin thoughtfully, he watched Angela until she disappeared from his sight.

"Come on, Harry!"

He winced and turned to Hermione standing behind him. "What is it?"

"We have class in a little while, so let's go, shall we?"

"Sure," Harry gulped down the rest of his juice and followed their over-motivated student.

/

In the afternoon, Harry was a little surprised that Angela was not present at the next two-hour Charms class. Then he noticed that the other future Witchers and Curse-Breakers were not there either, so they probably had a different lesson. And his conclusions were also confirmed at dinner.

He was already sitting at the table with Ron when Hermione walked into the Great Hall with none other than Angela walking beside her. The two girls stopped for a moment and talked about something before they went to their desks.

Harry watched Hermione intently as she sat down and began to eat her dinner with gusto. Then she caught Harry's gaze.

"Is something wrong?"

"No, I just… That you're suddenly hanging out with Slytherin girls."

"Angela has Ancient Runes lessons with me and she happens to be pretty cool. You can't be prejudiced against everyone, Harry."

"But I don't…" he began indignantly, but Ron cut him off.

"Look to the exit," he warned them quietly.

Both of them turned inconspicuously there. Right outside the wide open door Severus Snape was engulfed in the conversation with their new professor. And they didn't seem to realize where they were because they were arguing quite loudly.

Shiernov looked angry, and while a knee-length skirt and high-heeled shoes suited her, Harry certainly would not want to get in her way at that moment. The face of usually cool Snape had a slight pink colour and he kept spewing something at her angrily.

The pair, talking quite loudly, soon attracted the attention of almost the entire Great Hall. The usual noise died down so the trio could clearly hear a part of their argument.

"I've had enough!" Shiernov snapped like an angry cat. "You're acting like an idiot, Severus! It's below my level discussing this with you!"

"You're the one talking about level, Margaret!" snapped Snape scathingly. "You'd better get over yourself..."

Snape stopped mid-sentence as he noticed the grave silence and glared at the students. Shiernov put her hands on her hips and did not seem to mind at all. Potions professor turned to her again and whispered something they had not heard. Shiernov just smirked, turned on her heel and walked away quickly with her head held high proudly. Snape looked behind her for a moment, clenching his fists. After that, almost all the students were staring at him curiously, as he walked into the Great Hall.

"Is there anything interesting about me?" Snape asked in a dangerous voice.

The students immediately lowered their heads to eat and slowly resumed their conversation. Their topic, however, was none other than Snape's fight with Shiernov.

"This year is getting pretty interesting, isn't it?" Ron commented with a smirk.

Both Harry and Hermione just nodded their heads in agreement.

/

"Listen, Hermione," Harry said as they were working on Shiernov's essays in the common room after dinner. "Did you ask about that Apparition?"

Ron gave her a slightly annoyed look.

"Yes, I did," she replied calmly.

The redhead snorted knowingly.

"Well, so what?" Harry asked.

Hermione ignored Ron's reactions and calmly replied, "McGonagall told me we will have it scheduled in the second term. Some lessons will be reduced because of it. She mentioned that this year, they added more Defence classes, which is why they couldn't fit it into the timetable for the first semester."

"Ah," Harry mumbled. "That sounds like a reasonable explanation."

But Ron didn't appreciate it. He did not even say goodnight to Hermione, just packed up the parchment that was barely a quarter written on and walked up the stairs.

"This mood of his will pass, you´ll see," Harry remarked.

"I know," sighed Hermione.

After barely half an hour, they were both done and went to their bedrooms.