Chapter Eighty-Two: The Fight
Harry sat down on the bench next to his godfather once the dog transformed back into Sirius Black. "Hey Harry, it's good to see you." He began before hugging him tightly.
"It's good to see you too but you shouldn't have risked coming here." Harry told him.
"It's alright, nobody is going to recognize me as long as I'm careful. What I want to know is where you got that lightning bolt pendant from." Sirius wondered while Harry held up his chain necklace.
"Oh this? Draco gave it to me." He explained as Sirius raised his eyebrows at him.
"Draco? Draco Malfoy?" He questioned him with uncertainty before leaning in towards him. "Don't his parents work for Voldemort?" He whispered inside his ear.
"Well, yeah,.. but he's changed. He's one of my best friends now and he's dating Hermione which is currently causing a lot of controversy in his family. That's why my father is working it out for him to stay with my family." Harry explained while letting go of his chain.
"Well, I'm hoping that everything works out for you. Anyways, what I wanted to tell you_" Sirius began but that's when suddenly he heard his father calling him.
"Harry come on! If you don't hurry up and say goodbye to your friends, they're going to miss the train!" He called out.
"Sorry Sirius, I'll talk to you later send me an owl." Harry told him before leaping up from the bench and racing back to his friends.
"Was that who I thought it was?" Draco asked him as Harry silently nodded at him.
"I would recognize the dog that put me in the hospital wing anywhere." Ron said while Harry climbed back on top of Spike's back.
"I'll see you guys at the castle." He told them as he placed his feet inside the stirrups and then with a triumphant roar Spike rose into the air and started flying away.
….
Hermione leaned her head down on top of Draco's shoulder once they were inside their compartment and Draco turned to her and smiled. He kissed the top of her head and wrapped an arm around her.
"It seems kind of strange not to have Harry with us." She said as Sarah nodded at her.
"Yeah, but at least we have Ginny." She pointed out.
"I wonder what Sirius was telling Harry." Ron said as Hermione simply just shrugged.
"I dunno, but we can ask him later." She replied while Patches started to whine, and Hermione picked him up and sat him down on top of her lap. "It's alright boy, you'll see your master later." She told him as she scratched him behind the ears, and they bought their refreshments from the trolly.
A little while later, Hermione had fallen asleep with her head still lying on top of Draco's shoulder. He smiled down at her and kissed it softly so he wouldn't wake her up, but she woke up anyways when there came a knock on the compartment door.
"Come in." Ginny answered and after the door opened two Hufflepuffs were standing on the other side of it. One was Amber Baker whose father had been a very powerful wizard that decided to marry a muggle, and the other was muggleborn April Anderson. Draco had given them both difficulty in the past for having muggle backgrounds.
"It's that kid again?" April questioned in disbelief having caught sight of him and that's when Draco started feeling really guilty and sickish inside.
"Listen girls, I'm sorry that I was so mean to you before. It was wrong of me, and I hope you'll forgive me." He told them and then silence fell over them for a few moments.
"It's alright." April finally responded.
"Yeah, don't worry about it." Amber began. "We just came over here looking for Harry." She finished.
"Yeah, have you seen him anywhere? He's usually with you guys." April said before Hermione lifted her head.
"Actually, he's flying to Hogwarts on his dragon." She began. "But if there's anything you want me to tell him for you I can." She replied.
"Well,.. it isn't exactly good news." April began anxiously.
"Why? What is it?" Draco wondered.
"Some of the buzz around here is that Harry was lying about Voldemort coming back and fighting him because he actually murdered him himself so that he could have the Triwizard cup all to himself." Amber explained and that's when Draco quickly rose to his feet in a rage.
"What!?" He hollered angrily on the top of his lungs while withdrawing his wand. "Who's saying that!?" He cried out as Hermione started to worry.
"Draco, please, sit down." She pleaded as Amber and April went quiet again.
"Well!? Who was it!?" He shouted.
"Well, we heard it from Vincent and Gregory as they walked by our compartment." April told him while pointing over her shoulder with her thumb and that's when suddenly Draco's eyebrows furrowed.
"Crabbe and Goyle." He growled.
"I wish Harry was here." Hermione said while she got to her feet and watched as Draco left the compartment.
"Yeah, so do I." Ron began. "But I'm sort of siding with your boyfriend for once. That's some serious allegations to be accusing Harry of. I actually think that Crabbe and Goyle deserve to get their asses whipped by Malfoy." He finished and seeing that she was extremely hurt and frightened, the two Hufflepuff girls went to go comfort Hermione and leaned their heads down upon her shoulders and Hermione leaned her head upon Amber's in return.
"Uh oh, this isn't good." Luna began as she suddenly appeared outside their compartment and shook her head. "There's currently a major fight happening in one of the Slytherin compartments." She told them as Hermione started breathing heavily and felt her heart beginning to pound against her chest. For the first time in her life, she did not know what to do. She could not get a teacher, otherwise she would risk the expulsion of her boyfriend. She could not remember the last time she had been so frightened in her life.
