Finding students with bleeding hands became a routine, the bitch did not desist in her endeavors to make everyone's lives miserable, and it wasn't just her handing out ointments and words of comfort to confused and hurt firsties anymore, so far she had witnessed Mcgonagall and Flitwick do the same. She realized after some time, punishments were exclusive to all houses except Slytherin, she hadn't found anyone with Salazar's crest and a bleeding hand just yet, but then it could be their secretive proud demeanor. She wouldn't expect a Slytherin to ever showcase weaknesses, and the thought brought her full circle back to Harry Potter, he showed too much similarities with the snakes and the notion of him almost being sorted into slytherin, like her, only made whatever she was feeling lately worsen.
She really wanted to stop thinking about him.
She felt too close and too far from him at the same time, if circumstances were different she would've simply blamed hormones, she would have talked to him awkwardly, maybe she would have kissed him that night at the library. But all that simplicity was shot to hell, things were too confusing now, too many variables. He could be affected by the ritual, he could be onto her, trying to find out what she was hiding, he could be simply curious about her runes, or genuinely trying to be friends, or he could be into Cho or Ginny or some other girl for that matter.
She couldn't know.
She sighed as she ploughed down on one of her favorite spots, the clock tower was always empty, only a couple of times did she find a couple trying to get away from the hustle and bustle of Hogwarts, for some intimate time.
She was getting a bit restless about her missing notebook as of late, she hadn't done much to find it, the runes lining it's cover and her coded words were protection enough, she had hope the thing would simply appear back with her things one day, that whoever it was would just give up. Hope was vanishing rather quickly though and she had no idea what to do to discover the thief, without just asking.
She sighed deeply and opened her Death Magick book, the chapter she was currently on was focused on the several secret societies created around the topic along the centuries. Studying death became something of a cult after it was categorized as taboo apparently, and the wizards and witches actively seeking to join were of the wrong sorts, so obviously, it's methods of research twisted into the dark form it was currently known for.
The study of the topic along the centuries went from showing respect to death, by killing the prey in a certain ritual to show gratitude to life and death, then turned into animal sacrifice, to human sacrifice, to mass sacrifices; everything in the name of coming closer to Death.
It was sickening to read how much humanity's involvement turned something natural to twisted, selfish and dark.
She closed the book abruptly, its tone only making her more upset, she was halfway through the thing and still there was no mention of visions or damaged magical cores or red stones, only crazy people along the ages.
She pulled her walkman cassette player, passed her glowing middle finger along the small power rune and put her headphones on.
The small object was only enhanced by two runes, one for power and the other to make it unbreakable, she had sneaked it out of her mother's 'I might need but never really will' boxes, and kept at it for two months until it worked.
Her delight only grew when she went on a trip to Soportújar, a little spanish wizarding town in Granada. She had visited the place with her mother when she was young, but never could have imagined their witch tributes, statue's and celebrations were in fact organized by actual, honest to God, Witches and wizards.
It was years later that she realized the little town was a tourist spot carefully managed by the spanish wizarding community to make profit from silly muggle tourists.
She remembered laughing so hard when she realized everyone posing as a witch with their fake warts and pointy black hats, was actually a witch, it felt like a particular fuck you to history, knowing that the wizarding community in Spain had been hit harder than anyone by the Spanish Inquisition, it was exactly what she expected they'd do.
She had visited the place for its annual witch celebration every year since then, and knowing the place was filled with magic, she only had to bring her little cassette experiment and see if it'd work, it was the closest wizarding community to home after all, only an hour and a half distance.
She stayed there, at the clock tower for hours, going from song to song watching the trees sway, the lake flicker when the light hit it just right, owls coming and going, until the sky darkened.
She had a ton of homework waiting and couldn't give two shits, rarely did she manage to find the kind of calm that brought her eyelashes together in sheer sleepiness without swimming, she cherished those days.
It was only when the cold seeped in and made her bones ache that she gathered her things to go back to her house. She realized curfew had passed an hour ago and did her best to be quiet trying to think if it was Slytherin's turn to Patrol, thankfully no Perfects found her and soon enough she was snuggled in bed.
Her next morning was much the same, the only difference came after lunch when Harry came half running after her, he was in full Quidditch training gear, broomstick in hand and everything.
"Hey Nina, I wanted to speak to you for a second." He said in one breath, his nervous energy making him twitch in place.
"Sure, everything Alright?" She asked looking at his hand.
"Oh ... Yes thank you umm nothing to do with... Yeah I was thinking, I mean Hermione was thinking about what you said the other day." He stumbled.
"Umm, ... I... Something I said?" She asked, confused.
He came closer holding her upper arm to push her out of the students filled corridor, and whispered, "about practicing Defense on our own... I mean If you'd like to join, Hermione is trying to get people together... We're meeting at the Hog's Head next Hogsmead's trip." He explained.
"Hey Potter, stop loosing my time, you already made us loose a week in stupid detention." Announced Katie Bell to the entirety of the student body currently on the corridor, she felt Harry wince at the loud voice as he hurriedly apologized and went away.
She wasn't given much time to react to the proposal safe for the usual red faced, heart acceleration business her body got oing on, and the stupid Quidditch uniform wasn't helping, the cold temperatures had made the teams bring out their New urban muggle looking jackets instead of their usual long impractical cloaks, a petition made by all Captains after many a horrific accident, not even Slytherins complained.
It was only a few days later when she realized the Hog's Head was in fact the seedy Inn two streets off of the high street.
So she made sure to watch the trio after dinner that night and excused herself to Dalia and Laurel when they left the Great Hall.
"Hey guys...How's everything going?" She said looping her hand with Hermione's and making the girl jump a little, "sorry" she whispered.
"Nina Hi... Is ..is everything okay?" Asked Harry confused as she watched up and down the corridor to make sure no one would overhear.
"Yep...I just have a question why the Hog's Head?" She asked straight to the point.
"Well it's quiet, and there's hardly anyone there," explained Hermione confused.
"Right,... And how many have you invited to this get together?" She asked
"A few... The Hog's Head is perfect I don't..." Hermione frowned and continued.
"Hermione what does it look like when a bunch of students who don't exactly frequent seedy places decide to go to the seediest place in town?" She interrupted hurriedly.
"The three broomsticks is always packed; we can't talk there." She argued.
"I know,... But we could all pitch in and reserve a private guest room at the three Broomsticks, you'll have to hurry and send a letter though."
"I don't know if anyone would want to come if they have to pay I mean." Said Ron twisting his features.
"The bigger the group the cheapest it's going to cost, just make sure it's people you can ...well... trust." She continued.
"I'll take care of it," Harry jumped in, looking at the three of them discussing how many people should attend as his nerves made his heart merge with his throat.
"Of course not ..." "That's not..." "Mate that is ..." The three friends complained at the same time just as he interrupted them again, "I don't want any more people than you planned on inviting Hermione, that's too risky." He explained, hoping to God it was enough to convince them.
"He's got a point, ...thanks mate" Ron pitched in as
Harry's face turned red, his eyes on Nina.
"Yes... Thanks, I... Okay, See you guys", she said as quiet went for too long.
"Well that was nice", said Hermione as the girl was turning the corner.
"Yeah ... She is" answered Harry absentmindedly as his friend snickered and abruptly tried smoothing his features into a normal expression.
"I mean... She's already participating which means ... She's very invested in this" Hermione explained making several pauses for extra dramatic effect looking straight at Harry and making his face go red again, just when he had taken control over it.
Like every night since he had his first detention with Umbridge, he waited until everyone in his dorm room was fast asleep and pulled the marauders map from underneath his pillows. He looked for the name he watched every night and found it along the corridors walking slowly, Nina Morgenstern was patrolling the fourth floor.
His friends had been surprised he told her about their meeting, it felt like they were giving him space to figure out if he trusted her enough with this or not.
It was only when they asked that he realized he didn't last two days, didn't even occur to him to leave her out of it, she was the first person he thought of when they suggested someone to teach them. He would have asked her for help, even if she hadn't gone through a Massacre, he knew she was good at Defense.
He remembered the Impostor Moody's astonished face when he realized he couldn't get his impirius to hold, he had simply assumed it was an error of spell casting. Only when he asked for the girl to stay behind and later on showed her attention in the smallest ways did he realize, his professor was rather impressed by the girl.
He had given her an assigned seat, making it look absolutely random and putting her right in front of him, anything he needed to hand to his students it would be handed to her first, any other demonstrations he made in class he would ask her, any random questions he would ask her first.
It just looked like he liked her, and of course it was proved when they started dueling and trying to block the most gruesome hexes. He realized now, everyone must have simply assumed the Impostor Moody never let her duel with anyone else because she was bad at it. Far from it.
He only went to sleep when the little Morgenstern squiggle on the map was back at the Hufflepuff common room.
She witnessed Hermione go about as discreetly as possible along the next day to speak with the students on her list of trustworthy people and almost wanted to hit her head on the table when she saw her go straight to stupid Macmillan. Of course there was the possibility that he was indeed trustworthy but who was she to know, she hated his guts and she would happily continue to do so. Secret defense club or not.
She watched as the girl moved from Macmillan to Diggory and witnessed as his face became grim and his frown deepened as Hermione's face became hesitant. She couldn't hear much, they were eight seats away from her, but she understood he had refused, Hermione tried to smile at him and then bid him goodbye.
She saw Hermione lock eyes with her in question and she shrugged not knowing what the hell was that about.
She had been thinking of telling him herself just like she was going to do with Dalia and Laurel, excused herself and moved after him almost running, his long legs taking him faster when fueled by anger.
"Diggory!" She called as he stopped.
"Nina I... I have to go do some ..." he tried to sneak away still frowning, so she went straight to the point.
"Why did you refuse to go?" She asked.
He looked at her surprised as she held his arm for a second to stop him from running away. He was smart, responsible, and he would have been the winner if it wasn't for Voldemort.
He sighed and softened his frown a little, "you're going then?" He asked instead.
"Yes, we need this", she said. "You don't," he said.
"Just because I manage, doesn't mean I'm good, Cedric,... Why did you refuse, you could help us so much," she continued frustrated.
"I could help you if you want, you only have to ask, you know that, Nina", he said voice softening.
She looked at him trying to understand what was going on, he hadn't been very talkative since the last trial, she only knew about his relationship with Cho going to hell because Dalia and Laurel told her.
"What's going on?" She asked. He kept silent for a bit struggling with his words and moving in his place. "You've been hanging out with him,... Potter I mean", he finally said smiling humorlessly.
She visibly recoiled at the face he made and he noticed, instant regret taking over his features, and continued hurriedly, "I mean,... Do you believe him then, what he says...about that night?"
"Yes, don't you?" She asked, astonished.
"I'm not... I don't know, he says so. Dumbledore says so and we're left in the middle grappling for the truth... How should I know if he says the truth, I don't even know him", He explained.
"You helped him, in the second task just like he did in the first,... You told me yourself you didn't believe he out his name in the Goblet ... What happened?" She insisted.
"I was going to win, that's what happened,... Nina, I was about to touch the cup and he petrified me and had the gall to tell me it wasn't meant for me... What? ... Am not good enough for glory?" He spat, indignation dripping from his words.
She couldn't believe what she was hearing. Her stupid big mouth. Her fucking mouth.
The trial had ended months ago and here she was, reaping what she sow. Fuck.
Her stunned silence seemed to worry him more than her words as he muttered, "say something..."
She tried getting her mind in order to answer without biting his head off, she wasn't the right person for this conversation, she had enough shit to deal with from her screw ups that night, and now this. She opted for reason.
"There have been attacks on muggles, and people disappearing just like last time..." She said swallowing the lump forming on her throat, "No one wants to believe he's back Cedric, because no one wants to live in a country where they can get into your home and murder your family one by one,... This isn't about the the truth anymore." She continued softly.
Her voice barely worked at the end of her sentence, and she took that as her cue to leave, he didn't stop her and she was grateful for it.
She understood now why he had been having problems with Cho, she had been very obviously supporting Harry since coming back to Hogwarts.
She couldn't believe she was the reason Cedric and Cho broke up, she couldn't believe Cedric had the audacity to only think of glory, when the other side of the fucking cup, only held death for him.
He didn't see himself drop dead, lifeless, pale and cold, he didn't feel how devastating it was to watch someone's soul just disappear.
She barely held herself together until she got to a bathroom to let her tears down and her breath fight her over control.
A high pitch screech sounded at one of the stalls and she jumped swearing loudly. Mirtle floated down and made several pirouettes as she watched her face.
The jump scare made her little pity party vanish pretty quickly, adrenaline taking over, she breathed deeply as the unusually quiet ghost watched her. She ended up sitting on the floor as her body crashed down from its adrenaline highs, she felt exhausted.
Mirtle came down near her and pretended to put her head on her shoulder, making soft weeping sounds as if accompanying her in her sadness. They stayed like that for a while until she was calm and ready to face the world again. She thanked, said goodbye to the ghost and went straight back to her house.
Unfortunately just when she rounded the corner reaching the stairs leading to the Basement, Cho came to a stop in front of her.
Her mind instantly went, 'please God no', her body leaning over to the right side for a quick escape, but to no avail, the girl in front of her opened her mouth and said what Nina had been avoiding for weeks now.
"Hey Nina, I've been trying to catch you... I thought we could have that talk," she said.
"Oh ... Umm... Now?" She asked dumbly.
"Yes, of course", she said smiling.
"Right" she muttered waiting for the other girl to get it over with.
"So,... I've been meaning to ask you, if you and Harry ... Umm well if you guys are dating?" She asked hesitantly.
"What...? That's what you wanted to ask me at the train?" She asked, astonished.
"No,...that was... I mean I'm getting to the point,... So like... Are you dating him?" She explains stumbling on her words.
"Uh,... No" she answered annoyed as hell.
"Okay, good..." The girl must have seen her left eyebrow climb all the way up because she tried to explain, "I mean,... Cedric has been having a hard time ever since he lost to Harry and especially with his father... It's not good for him if you're friends with both, it's just ..."
She felt some of her brain cells die at the utter bullshit that this conversation was proving to be, and didn't hesitate to interrupt, "so ...I'm not allowed to hang out with Cedric... Or is it Harry?" She asked sarcasm dripping from her words.
It didn't look like it passed her notice because she scoffed and scowling she answered, "what did you expect? You can't be selfish, especially now..., They've been having such a hard time... You can't just play with their feelings like you've been doing last year,... Always hanging out with Cedric to help you with Charms and Transfiguration, and then just forgetting about him over summer when he was so sad and hurt... Taking advantage of him like that, and then trying to get Harry's attention at the ball and now following him around... You should be ashamed of yourself." The girl finished her rant, head held high in some misguided feeling of superiority.
She felt like punching her. Like screaming bloody murderer and sending her to the other side of the freaking corridor. She was seeing red, indignation fueling her blood to pump harder and faster but she had no words to say. So she turned and left.
The girl left behind, called after her two times and when she didn't turn screamed frustrated, "you're such an arrogant bitch."
She kept walking to the Basements, never looking back. Cho's words running through her mind like a fucking loop. She knew she wasn't like that, she wasn't selfish or arrogant or trying to get Cedric upset by seducing Harry or anything of the sort. Was this the result of everything she did, did people really think she was all those things, is that how everyone viewed her.
She got back to her dorm room and went straight to the bathroom to change, Dalia, Laurel and Michaela were there chatting amicably before bedtime. They must have seen something in her face because they didn't say a word until she bid them goodnight quietly and closed her curtains for silence.
She could pretend she was alone in the room, when she cast a muffliato around her and stuck the curtains closed.
Did her roommates think she was arrogant and selfish too, that she was trying to seduce Freaking Harry Potter, taking advantage of Cedric, that she was an utter bitch.
She knew she wasn't a good friend, she always forgot birthdays and tried sneaking out of parties, and never shared secrets like they did with each other, never invited them to her home even though they made it clear they'd be ecstatic to visit Spain.
A sob escaped her as she thought of everything she did wrong and realized fucking Cho was right, she was self-centered and selfish, not even once did she think to check on Cedric in summer. Not once did she organize anything on her birthday and called in her friends for a party at their common room like the others did, not once did she remember a birthday and actually invested time into a good present like everyone did.
She wanted the earth to open up and swallow her whole, maybe then she'd stop messing things up.
She cried herself to sleep and only when the sun rays of the window behind her hit her face did she groan aloud waking up.
It took her aproxemetly three Seconds to realize the position of the sun shouldn't be so high if it was seven o'clock, and as she tried to open the sticked shut curtains she remembered not unsticking the fucking thing before going to sleep.
She put her uniform on as fast as she could as her owl flew around indignantly, she made sure to open the window so he could go fly around for a bit and she went straight to Potions.
The dungeons were closest to the Basement but then she was still a good half and hour late.
She knocked and went in when given permission.
"Do you own a watch Ms Morgenstern?" He asked sternly.
"Yes sir" she answered swallowing hard, expecting the mother of all verbal beat downs, no one has ever dared coming to his classes half an hour late. She was done for.
"Then make sure you make use of it, I will not tolerate anymore tardiness,... Your detention is at five o'clock this evening" he sneered in disgust.
And she couldn't have been more grateful for it, she had seen the man quite literally lose his shit with Longbottom and Potter, and there was a grand difference between the words he used today and those acidic dards he sent Potter's way every once in a while.
"I will, sir", she nodded politely and sat down in the only seat available.
The girl came in disheveled, brown eyes huge and tired, her usual sensibly pulled up hair was free to disturb any and all potions. He had seen too many teenagers sniffle for days on end to not see the symptoms, he could have rolled his eyes at his own thoughts the child did not seem particularly invested in matters of the heart just yet.
Still it looked like his mission now was to discover all her secrets and now he was invested in teenage romance, he needed to have a talk with the headmaster, because this was getting ridiculous.
He saw the girl get her things together, and pull her hair up and away from her face distractedly reading the blackboard and stealing looks at him.
He only found time to do what he intended when all students became focused on their cauldrons, he remained standing at the corner of the classroom that hid him from view and put him exactly in front of the girl, and slowly, very slowly he pushed into her mind. He was hit by a wall of magic and barely managed to get himself balanced before she winced, rubbed her forehead in pain and looked up.
Thankfully, he had composed himself back to his normal sneer before she locked eyes with him.
He should have known better, the girl had proven to know more than she let on and here he was bulldozing into her mind for information like an amateur.
It shouldn't surprise him, Poppy had handed them a map of her runes but the meaning of its symbols remained a mystery to them, he had to hand it to the girl, she was cornered by Dumbledore and she still only gave away what she wanted.
He went back to class keeping a careful eye on the girl.
Her detention wasn't that bad, she was left in his dark and cold private basement storage, to clean and reorganize the fresh produce shelf.
The thing was huge, enough to fit an entire wall, and the beautiful view of the Lake behind her was calming, she only had trouble with the part of the shelf that was growing a bit of mold from the low temperatures, the rest was dust, strange moldy plants and root remains.
She used gloves to not touch anything, and started cleaning, She realized halfway through, the man was pretending to get something or other every hour or so. She had conjured several of her light balls to float around so she could see what she was doing, and the room had turned a dark golden instead of its greenish lake induced glow, the look of distaste on Snape's face didn't pass unnoticed, it made her fight a snicker every time he came back down.
The most ridiculously childish things could send him into a frenzy of scowls, verbal beat downs and hilarious deadly sarcasm, one only needed to put Potter in the same room and sit back and watch with some popcorn. It looked like many didn't realize how much fun the man had by taunting scaredy cats, she was one of them of course, the man looked scary on purpose even his movements screamed intimidation, but he probably could tell by now she was just fighting laughter when his attention was not on her.
She finished by midnight, thanking God today wasn't Patrol day and barely making her feet take a step after another.
She slacked off on exercise for weeks now, and she was starting to feel it, she had taken to swim at home for a minimum of 15 hours a week and it was enough, just like she did last year. Now that she couldn't leave Hogwarts borders that was impossible to divide in the two days she could sneak out to the Lake, the perimeter wasn't that big and she couldn't risk pissing off Mere Guards. It started with headaches and then came exhaustion, her body needed to unleash the extra amount of energy it produced so as to not damage tissue, her runes only protected her from the biggest threat, the rest she had to take care of herself, and she had been lousy at it these days.
She got to her dorm room as quietly as possible and after a shower she practically moaned at the softness of her bed covers.
By next morning her body was still lethargic, a good breakfast woke her up and the prospect of a long walk to Hogsmead would make her muscles ache a bit less.
She reached the little village, made her usual round of purchases, and when time came, headed to the Three Broomsticks. The place was packed and loud, lunch hour making everyone fussier than usual. It was perfect.
A loud voice interrupted her climb to the stairs and to their meeting point. "Hello there, ... You look in such a hurry", the older boy was handsome, his perfect jaw made his smile even better, his blond stubble and blond hair only enhancing the roguish look, he looked familiar, but he didn't have the kind of face one would easily forget. She frowned and asked "Do I know you?".
He laughed loudly and tried placing his arm around her shoulders, she recoiled from him and placed her hand in his broad chest to stop him from approaching, the touch could have looked innocent even flirty to anyone, but the truth was, she only needed a little push and he'd be twisting in pain.
"Okay, Out of the way buddy, I don't have time" she said clearly, in case he was drunk and hard of hearing too. "Well that's a temper you've got there little lady," he said looking amused and very sober.
It pissed her off, she came closer to threaten him and he turned to whisper to her instead "Nina, It's Snuffles".
"Oh my God, ... You absolute idiot," she hissed at him as his face turned into a larger grin, "Happy to see you too, Darling".
"Don't say that, you can't say that with that face, it's not allowed..." She said as she pulled him with her towards the staircase and to the private room.
"It's my face though,.. what's wrong with my face?" He said with such seriousness that she turned and looked closely at him. He was right, the only thing different was his youth, his blonde short hair and glasses. She turned bright red.
"Oh my God, you're just making it worse," She muttered.
"Can I ask at least where are you taking me?" He whispered as a couple passed down the stairs.
"I'm taking you to see the person you came for," she said eyebrow raised as his smile grew and he looped his arm around hers.
"Oh, well let's go make someone jealous," he said, winking at her and turning her a darker shade of red. "Don't you start with that. Harry has something important planned today and he likes one of the girls, so no unsubtle hints of any kind." She said as her scolding tone turned into frustration.
He leaned and whispered coily, "who said anything about Harry?"
She pinched him hard, and scowled further as he ouched loudly and laughed.
Their entrance was awkwardly silent, the three Gryffindor friends were sitting on a small table in front of many other smaller ones. She poked him with her elbow, when he didn't say anything and she cleaned her throat instead.
"Umm, Hi ... So this is my friend..." She said as some of the Hufflepuffs invited came in greeting everyone loudly. She pulled him closer as he continued to smile and watch everything with curious knowing eyes, and leaned awkwardly towards a disapproving looking Hermione, "meet my friend..umm Snuffles" she saw the girls head practically jump to the left and she hissed in warning, "freak out later", meanwhile Harry was greeting everyone coming in and offering the free butter beers that came with the room.
He turned his head to them and pursed his lips together, he wasn't pleased and the older boy glued at her side only smiled wider.
She watched as Hermione intercepted him and whispered something to which he nodded and turned to the other students coming in.
"Well . . . erm . . . well, you know why you're here. Umm ...Harry here had the idea... I mean
...I had the idea" she corrected as Harry sent her a sharp look, "that it might be good if people who
wanted to study Defense Against the Dark Arts... and I mean, really study it, you know, not Umbridge's rubbish" she continued with a stronger voice "because nobody could call that Defense Against the Dark Arts ... well, I thought it would be good if we, well, took matters into our own hands."
She looked sideways at Harry, and continued on, "And by that I
mean learning how to defend ourselves properly, not just theory, but the real spells..."
"You want to pass your Defense Against the Dark Arts O.W.L. too though, right?" interrupted Michael Corner.
"Of course I do, but I want more than
that, I want to be properly trained in Defense because ... because..."
taking some air in she finished, "Because Lord Voldemort's
back."
The reaction was immediate and frankly ridiculous Cho's giggly friend shrieked
and slopped butterbeer all over the place, Terry Boot gave a ridiculous twitch, Padma Patil shuddered, Neville gave a yelp halfway turning it into a cough and the man/boy beside her bravely fought a chuckle at her rolling eyes.
The attention turned to Harry then and it looked like everyone was waiting for him to speak already. Her heart lurched and she locked eyes with him as they both realized the lie he had been telling would be questioned once more, and the importance of it living on was paramount to their success today.
He hadn't seen Voldemort come back, his blood wasn't taken against his will, he hadn't set foot in that maze, he was called a liar since then, and it looked like only now did he understand how little truth mattered sometimes.
"Well ... that's the plan anyway," Hermione continued, "If you want to join us, we need to decide how we're going ..."
"Where's the proof You-Know-Who's back?" said Zacharias Smith aggressively.
"Well, Dumbledore believes it.." Hermione answered.
"You mean, Dumbledore believes him," he interrupted again.
"Yeah those who died in last summer's random attacks also believe him..." Nina said loudly.
"Those were muggle terrorist attacks", Ernie Macmillan answered scowling at her.
"Do muggle terrorists know how to summon the dark mark, McMillan?" She asked, noticing Harry's eyes on her.
"Those were Sirius Black's friends, don't use one crazy guy's madness to create fear." He said heatedly.
"So you prefer sitting idly and not question anything then..?" she asked
"That's what the Prophet is doing questioning Dumbledore." He continued.
"That's not questioning, that's slandering someone's name...and it's been clear since the beginning, you don't go from seeking someone's advice one day, to calling them senile the next, hardly questioning isn't?", Explained Hermione as several heads bobbed in agreement.
"Look," continued Hermione, "that's really not what this meeting was supposed to be about..."
"It's okay, Hermione," interrupted Harry.
She fumed at the turn in conversation, it looked like most of them were here for gossip, even Dalia and Laurel sitting at the last table looked too eager for Harry to speak.
"What makes me say You-Know-Who's back?" he asked, locking eyes with
Zacharias. "I saw him. But Dumbledore told the whole school what happened last year, and if you didn't believe him, you don't believe me, and I'm not wasting an afternoon trying to convince anyone."
She locked eyes with Sirius as he winked at her, looking proudly at his Godson, it didn't go unnoticed the way Harry neither confirmed nor lied in his sentence.
Zacharias said with an annoyed dismissive tone, "All Dumbledore told us last year was that you know who's back, that he had placed a Death eater Imposter Moody at the school, and that you fought him and gotten back to Hogwarts... I mean I think we'd all like to know what you saw exactly that night..."
"If you've come here to hear what it looks like when Voldemort performs a dark ritual to make a body you can just clear out."
"Is it true that you can produce a Patronus?" interrupted Susan bones, looking at Harry,
"Yeah," answered Harry defensive.
"A corporeal Patronus", confirmed Ron happy to stir the conversation in their favour.
"And did you kill a basilisk with that sword in Dumbledore's office?" demanded Terry Boot. "That's what one of the portraits on the
wall told me..."
"umm... yeah, I did, yeah," said Harry.
"And in our first year, he saved
that Sorcerous Stone from you know who", said Neville loudly.
"And that's not to mention," said Cho as Harry's eyes locked onto hers, she was looking at him, smiling, "all the tasks he had to get through in the Triwizard Tournament last year... getting past dragons and merpeople and acromantulas andthings..."
She struggled to keep her eyes from rolling down the floor, controlling her body from showing a reaction was proving to be a near impossible task.
Hermione locked eyes with her and interrupted the happy smiley moment the girl was taking too long to finish.
"well... We agree we all want Defense Classes with Harry, then?" She asked, not leaving any space for more arguing.
After some insistence on a fair ,well thought schedule, they all agreed they would think of a place to practice in. Soon enough Hermione was passing along a parchment for everyone to sign.
Of course Macmillan and his stupid friend Smith made a fuss until they were promptly shut up by Hermione.
Everyone signed and moved to the door to leave, except of course Cho stupid Chang who stood there awkwardly and very obviously wishing to stay as her friends pulled her towards the door.
It was at that moment that Sirius, caught her full on scowling at the girl and leaned in, "oh... Harry's got a type I see" he whispered.
"I will punch you" she said murderously.
"Tu tu tu, such a temper", he mocked as he moved to his Godson for a hug now that they were alone.
Hermione left the boy's catching up and asked with a low voice, "Do you know why Cedric refused?" At her stunned silence she continued, "I saw you follow him after I told him."
"It's...umm... He's upset ...at ... Well...The impostor Harry petrified him as he was reaching for the cup and told him the cup wasn't meant for him ... apparently ... I guess he didn't like the implications." She explained.
"What implications...,that he was saved from death by sheer luck." Hermione whispered furiously as Nina shushed her, "Listen... Just... Don't tell Harry, this is just another thing that's not his fault and he can't fix,so..." She said.
"Yeah, I guess he doesn't need to know ..." She said looking at her pensively.
"So...umm, Cho was acting strange, did you notice." Nina swallowed, and just wished the meeting could be over.
"No... Not really, ..what do you mean?" She asked.
"Nothing, she's just been ...umm extra attentive lately, I've heard she's not dating Cedric anymore."
Now this was weird, Hermione actively gossiping about other people's romance.
"Right...umm... No idea really... Haven't talked to him in a while." She replied avoiding the other girl's searching gaze.
"Right..."
Some time after, they all left the three Broomsticks and saying their Goodbyes to Sirius, she excused herself to go get some more shopping done.
The walk back to Hogwarts seemed lighter somehow, his nerves this morning made everything into a mountain, he was rather pleased with the outcome, and though his godfather technically put himself in danger for some fun time, he was grateful he got to see him and talk to him in person.
Hermione's voice pulled him out of his thoughts, "I learned something today." She said proudly.
"Mm, what's that?" He asked, locking eyes with Ron.
"Nina saved Cedric that night", she confirmed with strength in her voice.
"What do you mean?", said a confused Ron.
"Cedric would have won that night, it wasn't a thing of circumstance... She didn't just get to the cup first and accidentally get Portkeyed to the site of the ritual... She petrified him." She explained heatedly.
"So she cheated?" Asked Ron.
"I doubt cheating would have been a priority at the moment Ron", she answered huffing.
"Harry she petrified him and told him 'it wasn't meant for him'..." She continued.
His mouth dried and he felt his heart accelerate as he whispered, "She meant the Portkey, not the cup... She knew what it was".
Hermione nodded, "he thinks it meant the cup, though... And ...well ... He's upset with you."
"It doesn't make any sense though how she would know about any of it... Moody, the cup... He couldn't have told her, I mean why would he... Are you sure Hermione?" He asked his mind going a mile a minute.
"She asked me not to tell you...and well she was... rather nervous." She explained.
"Of course she did", He muttered to himself.
Special thanks to xYasaminax, no sabes lo bien que me ha sentado tu comentario, Besos enormes :)
Also, sorry...still haven't found out how to answer reviews directly.
