Yo! Tonight's the Royal Rumble guys! I'm so hyped! Anyway, glad the previous chapter sounded alright. Thank you to all readers so far!
"Harry? Are you alright?" Hermione asked her friend curiously the next morning.
Green eyes widened. "I wasn't having dream sex with a man!"
Hermione blinked. "What?"
"N-nothing! So how's the potion going?"
"Er, fine. It should be done by Christmas."
"Okay, good. That's good."
"...Are you sure you're alright?"
"Y-yep, peeerfectly peachy. Oh look, the mail's here."
There was nothing particularly interesting in today's paper either, which was somehow both a relief and a disappointment to many. Some now assumed that everything that had happened so far was a fluke, that it was all lies, and that Dumbledore was just being falsely accused again, like the previous year.
Harry hoped new information was found and published soon, because this was bad. Once a few people went back on their doubts, others were going to start to do the same, and everything they were trying to prove would be utterly pointless. They would be back at square one, and that wasn't going to be good for them at all.
"Hoot, hoot."
Harry blinked. "Oh, sorry girl." Telling himself to focus, he took the letter his dear owl had brought him and read it, surprised by how oddly short it was.
Potter,
Do not question my decisions. I am fully aware of what I am doing. And I will not kill Draco Malfoy for you. Yet.
Voldemort
"...Huh."
"Harry?" Hermione voiced curiously. "What is it?"
"I think Voldemort's in a bad mood," he replied, passing the letter over so she could read it for herself.
"This...might be a stupid question," said Neville from next to them, "but is he in a bad mood often?"
Harry smiled. "It isn't a stupid question, Nev. And yes, and no. I mean, the guy's a Dark Lord, so it's not exactly weird for him to be angry or frustrated, but discounting the occasional threat, we seemed to be getting along just fine. But he sounds really curt in this letter, which is pretty weird right now. I figured we'd gotten past that, you know?"
Hermione frowned slightly, and crossed her arms over her chest. "You know...from everything you've told me so far, this is definitely weird. I wonder if something happened?"
"Maybe his latest plans failed, so he's angry?" Neville suggested with a shrug.
But now Harry frowned too, brow scrunching up. "I can usually feel it when he's angry though," he said slowly, tapping his scar. "And I didn't feel anything at all. Not even annoyance or anything to show he's upset."
"Well, I suppose he could have just had a bad night."
Having had an...odd night himself, Harry found he couldn't really fault the Dark Lord, if that were truly the case. Still, something just...didn't seem right with all this.
"Hoooot?"
The teen blinked, green eyes surprised as he was pulled out of his thoughts. "Sorry Hedwig, go ahead and take some of Ron's bacon-I doubt he'll notice."
Hedwig did just that before flying off, hooting triumphantly at her delicious prize.
Breakfast came to an end, and Harry went to class, did his work, and even held and attended Quidditch practice that evening. And yet, all throughout the day his uneasiness didn't fade. Seeing a cheerfully smiling Dumbledore chatting with the other professors at dinner didn't help matters at all either.
Harry didn't hear from Voldemort for nearly three weeks.
Looking forward to reviews! Laterz!
