Reviewers:
Dragonfirechick – (snuggles) You da best! Thank you sooooooooooo much!!!!!!
Potterrulz – I'm so flattered! (snuggles potterrulz too) About the Lupin question...read on, mein freund! (Don't ask. I've speaking a little in German lately, for some reason)
Caitlin Cat: Lol. Yah, I love how I suddenly get an idea out of the blue and it fits perfectly! And yes, you may copy-paste the 'annoy Voldemort' list. Isn't it hilarious?! I got it off of
Author's Note: To answer potterrulz's question (which I'm sure the rest of you are wondering too) concerning the Lethifold... "A Lethifold (quoting Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them) resembles a black cloak half an inch thick (thicker if it recently killed and digested a victim), which glides along the ground at night." A Lethifold, which you might have guessed, suffocates victims in their sleep. Only the Patronus charm can repel it. Also, a weird fact: The part about the Lethifold came to me in a dream the night before. Freaky, huh? Actually, it was me performing the Patronus in the dream, but putting Haylie in my place fit perfectly. Now on with SITS! (heh heh. SITS. Get it?)
Secrets in the Shadows
Chapter 7: Excuses, Excuses
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"Is she asleep?"
"Yes, yes! She must be. It's been two hours since she lay down."
"Keep your voice down, or you'll wake her!"
Various voices surrounded Haylie as she lay on the pillows in the corner. She didn't open her eyes, just listened.
"...Dumbledore is worried. You-Know-Who hasn't stirred up any trouble for three months! He must be cooking up some plan with his followers, especially after he freed those Death Eaters from Azkaban..."
"...And now that the Dementors have joined him, who knows what he might do?"
"What if he plans to attack the school?"
"Now, now Phineas, be reasonable. The grounds are too well guarded for something like that to happen."
"But Albus says that there is a rumor about His followers having spies among the Aurors."
"Exactly. Rumor. Not fact. Keep your hat on and stop worrying. As long as Albus is around, no one will enter the castle...nor the grounds, as a matter of fact."
"Ah, but what if he does leave? What if there's an attack somewhere else, and he must run off?"
Silence.
"Exactly. And, even more so, you're forgetting the Potter boy. What if he runs off? Not only has he gotten to the point in his training where he would be a great help in protecting the castle if Dumbledore leaves, as all of you have seen, what if Potter is the reason he must be off to save him for some reason?"
"Yes, but Harry wouldn't go out for revenge, or to save somebody. He knows better, especially after last year's incident. And now that he practices Occlumency at a higher level, he won't have to know..."
"Are you sure about that?" Phineas cut off. "Are you sure he practices every night before bed? I mean, he might think that he'll be able to see You-Know-Who's plans before He executes them."
"Perhaps, but Dumbledore wouldn't let it happen..."
Haylie listened in for another hour, picking up a few more discussions, including this 'Prophesy' she heard about the year before and just last month. From what she could piece together, Harry is this person You-Know- Who chose to be His 'equal' or something like that, and either He, or Harry has to die. She couldn't get the rest, mostly all she heard were bits and pieces of this 'Prophesy' thing.
After a while, she tuned out the portraits' voices and slowly started to drift off to sleep.
When she awoke the next morning, she was back to her normal form. She stretched her legs and picked up her wand. From what she could tell from the soft light coming from the window, it was still pretty early, perhaps six o' clock or so. It was a Saturday, so she would be fine taking her time to get to the common room.
She gently opened the large door and walked out of the office, heading back to the Gryffindor common room.
When she got there, she was surprised to find Hermione sitting in an armchair, fully awake, and reading a large book. Her head snapped up when the portrait hole opened.
"Where were you?" Hermione demanded Haylie. Haylie just stood there with her mouth open in surprise.
"I...uh..."
"You said that you were just going to talk to Flitwick about some homework," Hermione said, pointing an accusing finger in Haylie's direction. "You never came back to the dorm. Where were you?"
"I...um...Went to the hospital wing," Haylie quickly lied. "You know I haven't been feeling well. I just started to feel so awful after I left Flitwick's office; I decided to go straight to Madam Pomfry."
"Oh," Hermione said simply, still not looking convinced. But she didn't say anything else.
"Well...I'm going to go get changed and then go get some breakfast," Haylie said, finding an excuse to get out of her this uncomfortable situation. Hermione just nodded and went back to reading her book.
As Haylie climbed the stairs, she thought, That was close. Too close. I'm not used to making up excuses to my monthly absences. Oh, well. Guess that's one of the drawbacks of having friends...
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November was pretty much the same, when the full moon came and went, Haylie found herself making up an excuse for not coming to bed that night. She realized that they would find out sooner or later. Preferably later.
The good thing was, the next full moon was during winter break, when she was at her house. Snape sent her the potion the night before the full moon. It was just like it had been for five years.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione all sent presents to her. Her parents, happy that she finally has some friends, encouraged her to send 'thank you' letters. She shook her head, smiling, thinking that would be a little kiddish, and said that she'll say thanks when she meets up with them in January.
When Haylie did meet up with them when she came back, she gave them each an American gift. Mostly it was a September 11th memo. She knew that they weren't American, but she thought they might like something from her birth country. She gave Ron a magical American flag that waved and played the national anthem (like the ones at the Quidditch World Cup), and American football jersey, just to tease him about his dad, who she saw when she boarded the train. Haylie also gave Hermione a book about the Salem witch trials.
She gave Harry a small, golden eagle with the words 'Pain nourishes courage. You can't be brave if you've only had wonderful things happen to you. - Mary Tyler Moore' inscribed on it.
When Harry read the quote, he looked at her quizzically, but she just smiled gently, her grey eyes sparkling.
In mid-January, a notice was set up in the Gryffindor common room, announcing a Valentine's Day dance on the 14th of February. Almost instantly, you could find boys asking girls to be their date, and vise- versa. As February grew closer, more and more students could be found blushing and breathless.
A few days before the 14th, to everyone's surprise, Ron blurted out, in front of the entire Gryffindor house, asking Hermione if she wanted to go with him to the dance. The comment was followed by a roar of laughter and a very embarrassed-looking Hermione.
But what shocked everyone even more was when Hermione accepted Ron's request. ("I knew they would hook up sooner or later," an amused Pavarti said later on.)
Somehow, Fred and George got the whiff of the incident (Ginny was looking particularly guilty), and sent Ron a Howler, which was filled mostly with howls of laughter and taunts. Luckily, they sent it to the Gryffindor common room so Malfoy and the other Slytherins couldn't hear and torment Hermione and Ron afterwards.
Author's note: I'm sorry I couldn't get this in sooner, it was just that the doc. manager was down yesterday. Sorry!
P.S.- This has nothing to do with Harry Potter, but has anyone seen the video 'Girls Lie Too' by Terri Clark? And does anyone know if that's Johnny Depp or not?!?!