Chapter fifteen
In Hogsmeade
/
"What's up?" in quite a good mood, Harry asked Ron and Hermione at breakfast, since they looked like very sour lemons.
"Well," Ron hummed. "I´ve got myself a detention. And Hermione too."
Harry's eyes widened: "For what?"
"Things sort of got mixed up yesterday and we went to see that Lavender party and well… We just stayed," Ron muttered as Hermione stared intently at the table.
"You were really there?" Harry did not quite understand. "Both of you?"
"Yeah, what's so weird about that?!" growled Ron.
"It's just that Hermione fought so hard against it and in the end you…"
"Hey, stop it, Harry, okay?" Hermione snapped at him too. "I don't want to talk about it!"
"Okay, fine," Harry held up his hands defensively, the corners of his mouth twitching. "Who caught you out there?" he asked curiously. "Filch?"
"Yeah," Ron nodded.
"And Snape came along with him," Harry added, almost laughing.
"How do you know?" Hermione narrowed her eyes suspiciously.
"Well, I ran into them when…" he trailed off.
"When what?" prompted Ron. "You were on a date again, weren't you?!" he urged on Harry curiously.
"Um," Harry fidgeted on his seat. "I was just taking a walk..."
"Yeah, sure," his friend snorted.
"Just leave it, okay? When are we having the Quidditch audition?" he asked, trying to change the subject.
"That´s up to you. You´re the captain, after all."
"All right… What about next weekend?"
"We´re going to Hogsmeade, Harry," Hermione swept his proposal off the table.
"But only on Saturday, right? We can organize it on Sunday."
"Then it will probably be the first time ever when everyone in Gryffindor gets up early on any Sunday," Hermione guessed.
"Why so?" Harry wondered.
"Do you even know how many people want to join the team now? Almost everyone."
"Well, that'll be really busy day then," Harry sighed.
/
Angela dug into her breakfast without any real appetite, yawning constantly. Draco watched her thoughtfully.
"How familiar are you with Quidditch?" he asked unexpectedly.
"What?" Angela raised her head. "Why?"
"We have a vacant spot," Draco explained. "A Chaser position."
"And what about that?"
"How good are you at it?" he asked again, a bit annoyed.
"Well, I did play once, but I've never really enjoyed it…"
"So, you don't want to try?"
"Not exactly," shrugged Angela.
"Fine," Draco gave up, not attempting for further conversation.
/
The following school week passed as usual. While the autumn sun was shining outside, they were busy making stinky potions, trying to concentrate on new non-verbal spells, trying to tame the wild and dangerous plants in greenhouse number four, and turning tables into pigs without any success. By the end of the week, they had a lot of homework and practice on their shoulders, so Harry did not even try to arrange a meeting with Angela.
He sent her a short message only on Saturday morning, saying that they could meet in Hogsmeade by the Shrieking Shack. Almost nobody dared to set a foot around there, so it was a perfect place for the two of them.
Angela sent him a subtle wink across the two tables reacting on his proposal and Harry finally had something to look forward to.
Fortunately, the weather remained as sunny as in the past days, so almost everyone from the third year and above came out of school for the first trip to Hogsmeade. With Ron and Hermione finally coming out of hiding, Harry peeked into Honeydukes and Zonko´s Joke Shop as well.
After one Butterbear, however, he left them in the crowded Three Broomsticks and rushed in the direction of the Shrieking Shack.
Angela was already there. In a dark hoodie, she was leaning against a half-collapsed fence, observing the hut thoughtfully. Harry quietly approached her and covered her eyes from behind.
"Come on, Harry," she laughed and turned to him.
"How did you know it was me?" Harry wondered, wrapping his arms around her waist.
"Who else would it be," Angela stated a logical reason, placed a playful kiss on his nose and turned back to the Shack. "It doesn't seem very scary to me," she remarked thoughtfully.
Harry laughed knowingly. "To me neither. After all, I was…"
Angela glanced at him: "You were in there?"
"Um, well…"
"Ah, something else you don't want to tell me, do you?"
"No, I… Yeah, I was there," Harry finally admitted, let go of her and leant against the fence as well. "In the third year, when my godfather was hiding inside," he added quietly.
"Your godfather? And why was he hiding?" Angela asked with genuine interest.
"Everyone thought he was a multiple murderer, who had been locked up in Azkaban for twelve years. But he was actually innocent," Harry replied after a moment.
"Wait… You mean your godfather is Sirius Black?" Angela wondered.
"He was," Harry said, looking down at the ground. "He passed away in June," he added quietly.
Pity appeared on Angela's face and she took his hand.
"Sorry," she whispered sadly.
"It's all right," Harry squeezed her tightly. "He was an admirable person. And I spent too little time with him."
After a while, they preferred to go into the shade of the trees that hid them well. After all, someone crossed the road from time to time.
"You look tired," Harry commented cautiously, as they settled by the tree trunk on his spread sweatshirt.
"I haven't been sleeping well lately," Angela replied dejectedly. "I've had such strange dreams again..."
"What dreams?" Harry asked, hoping she would finally tell him something more about herself.
Angela hesitated for a moment, before speaking again.
"Since I was eleven years old, I sometimes dreamed about something that actually happened after," she began slowly. "Something like a hunch, a vision or so. But those dreams were draining my energy. The worst was when I was fourteen. I dreamed like that every night and I used to fall asleep during lessons. My aunt then took me to St Mungo´s hospital and they made some tests on me there…"
Harry listened, while gently stroking his girl's hand.
"After looking through some old records, they found out what was really wrong with me. Predicting the future in dreams is a special ability that disappeared sometime in the 18th century. They actually congratulated me back then, but I was not exactly happy about it. Sometimes… Those dreams were… dark and often not just about me or my surroundings, but about complete strangers."
"That must have been hard," Harry said quietly. "How did they manage to help you?"
"My Healer found an old recipe for pills which can suppress dreaming in a controlled manner, until they disappear completely. I stuffed myself with them for a year and the dreams stopped. However, I had to take them every night and I could not even fall asleep without them in the end. I tried to reduce the dose before the summer holidays, and those dreams did not return, so I thought I´ll be fine... But then... After my aunt died, I moved in with the Malfoys and it started all over again. At first, it was just little things, but it kept getting worse. I started taking those pills again. It was okay for about two months, but... They´re not working anymore," Angela concluded her longest monologue he had heard from her with a sigh.
Harry was stunned for a moment, trying to absorb everything.
"Why didn't you tell me this before?" he asked quietly.
Angela smiled weakly: "I could not see a proper reason why I should worry you."
"But, Angie, I like worrying about you," he said, holding her tight. "You can tell me anything."
Angela snuggled into his arms wordlessly.
/
"What's it like with the Malfoys anyway?" Harry asked curiously, as they slowly made their way back to the village.
"Quite normal," Angela replied absently. "They´re like any rich family."
"I don't get how you can bear that cocky jerk anyway," Harry snorted.
"You only know him from one side," she frowned. "But he has a second, a better one."
"That sounds quite incredible to me... Why do you keep standing up for him? He hit you…"
"He apologized…"
"That´s not enough."
"You know what, Harry? Leave it before we start arguing again," Angela looked a little upset.
"Fine, but if he ever touches you again, I..." Harry agreed with a frown.
"That's not going to happen," she interrupted him. "And you'd better go ahead. We will be seen over that hill."
However, Harry was not in the mood for secrets. "Why do we have to hide all the time anyway?!" he bristled and stood still.
"We´ve already talked about this and both agreed, so please – stop this," Angela breathed out tiredly.
Harry froze and quickly grabbed her arm as she turned to leave.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to. It just makes me sad that we must treat each other like strangers."
His girl's upset expression softened a bit.
"I don´t like it either, Harry… Let it be, okay?" she smiled apologetically and gave him one last soft kiss. "Bye," she said and walked away quickly toward the post office.
Don't you want to come watch our Quidditch audition tomorrow? Harry sent a question after her.
I can't, I'm from Slytherin, Angela turned as she walked. It would look like I'm spying on you.
Inconspicuously, she blew him a kiss and disappeared over the hill.
/
Daria was just leaving the post office and met Angela in front of the entrance. She waited for her and then together they went to the Three Broomsticks. They made themselves comfortable with Butterbeers in the corner and chatted in a slightly depressed mood at first, but they managed to shake it off.
Daria then headed for another batch of the tasty drink. She joined the line that ended right at the door. She didn't realize they were opening inwards, not until someone suddenly opened the door that it hit her in the back. Daria staggered, almost falling to the ground with empty glasses in her hands.
Before that, however, someone's hands caught her and helped her remain standing. Daria looked up with a smile and met cold eyes.
"Sorry," Malfoy hummed.
"It´s okay. I wasn't paying attention," replied Daria slowly. "We're somewhat lucky, to meet like this, aren't we?" she added quietly and rather turned away from him.
Draco watched the long black hair falling down her back for a moment, stunned, and then looked around. He saw Angela in the corner and quickly headed toward her between the tables.
Daria felt pleasant warmness, where Malfoy had caught her and let out a shaky breath. She told herself she must be going crazy, but she could not get Draco Malfoy out of her thoughts.
