Chapter 8: Suspicions and Ideas
Annabel sat at the desk in her room, trying to finish an English essay, but she was having some difficulty in concentrating. She scowled herself for her lack of sleep and therefore not paying attention in class as much as she should be.
I'm the School Captain for goodness sake! I shouldn't be looking like I'm lost in space during class! I should be setting an example for once! It didn't take her long to figure out why she didn't sleep well and why she daydreamed in class. It was kind of obvious after all…
A soft tap on the window interrupted her thoughts and she glanced over at the window to see a snowy owl sitting on the window sill, a scroll tied to its leg. Annabel frowned in confusion and looked at her watch. Owls never flew this early at night, especially with a scroll tied to its leg. This was very odd indeed…
"Aren't you going to let it in, Bel?" Her room mate and best friend, Janet, walked in and noticed the owl outside the window.
Annabel blinked, as if she thought she was imagining the owl was there. "You can see it?" she whispered, hoping she wasn't going insane.
"Of course I can see it and its getting rather impatient. Just let it in and see what it wants."
Annabel sighed and walked over to the window and opened it. The owl flew into the room and landed on top of her essay, holding out its leg, indicating Annabel to untie the scroll from its leg. She hesitated then walked over to the owl and took the scroll from it and patted the owl.
"Thank you," she whispered to it, stroking its soft fur. The owl hooted softly in thanks and she drew back, thinking it was going to leave. It didn't move however and just stared at her blankly.
"I think it wants you to open the letter while its here," suggested Janet, standing next to Annabel. "Go then, read it!"
Annabel nodded and unrolled the scroll to see that it was a short letter from the one she had been daydreaming about all day…Ron.
To my dear Annabel,
It has been four days since we last saw each other and I miss you already. I would have said goodbye to you before I boarded my train to school, but Hermione would have freaked out and I don't want her finding out about us yet.
So, how are you? How's your first day of school? Me, I'm alright. We arrived yesterday to a big dinner which I enjoyed a lot and returned to our comfortable beds which we have missed for the past two months! I didn't get to sleep till two because all the boys were catching up on some news and Harry decided to start a pillow fight with me. Guess who won? (Laughs)
So here am I now, writing this letter before I go to breakfast. I woke up early especially to write it. Classes start today, something that I'm slightly looking forward to. Hermione always does and she practically remembers all the material. Bet you anything she'll be dux of my school! I'm just looking forward to sports trails and that Harry picks me for the house team, he's captain. But I'll probably get a lot of homework so fat chance on that happening!
Anyway enough of my ramblings. I better get down to breakfast before my stomach explodes because it hasn't got any food in it. Before I go, I just want to say how much I miss you … I really, really, miss you Annabel, you're one special girl and there's no one else like you. You're one of a kind.
Take care, I miss you!
Love from Ron
P.S. I'm sending this with Harry's owl whose name is Hedwig. Hope you like her cause you'll be seeing her whenever I write to you. For some reason, the postman can't get to our school and so our only way to get mail is through the owls. Send a reply with Hedwig right away.
So that explains why he sent it by owl. Annabel sighed deeply and clutched the letter against her chest. She was already in love with him, she missed him a lot. She wished their schools weren't so far away …
"Wow, he's so nice," Janet commented who had read the letter over Annabel's shoulder. "Where'd you meet this one?"
"He's best friends with my cousin, Hermione. You remember Hermione, don't you? The one with bushy hair and who is too smart for her own good?"
"Oh yes," Janet replied flatly. "Her." Janet remembered Hermione well and didn't really like her much since meeting her a few summers ago. She thought Hermione was very outspoken and didn't know when to keep her mouth shut at times. Janet also thought the bushy haired was fishy, like she was hiding something from everyone.
"Well, do you have a picture of him?" she demanded.
Annabel got out her wallet and handed Janet the picture of the two of them at Hermione's party. Tim, one of her many ex-boyfriends, had been kind enough to take a quick shot of the both of them dancing together. Annabel's arms were around Ron's neck while he had wrapped his arms round her waist.
She had looked at this picture too many times since it was taken that it was plastered into her memory permanently. It was easy not to forget his freckled face and red hair.
"Oh wow, he's cute! And you two look so good together, it's amazing!" Janet gushed, admiring the picture. "Are you going to write back to him?"
"Of course I am! I'm going to do that right now!"
Hedwig, the snowy owl seem to get the message that Annabel would be using the desk and so flew off, settling herself down on the bedpost. Annabel pulled a piece of her personalised stationary towards her and began to write.
Draco jumped in alarm, dropping the envelope. "Who's there?" he asked sharply.
"It's only me, Malfoy," Granger answered as she opened the door. "We're supposed to start patrolling right now."
Draco frowned at her and whipped out his wand "Don't come in unless I say you can," he sneered, pointing the wand at her.
"I can't talk to you through a closed door," she snapped in reply. "And you can put that down." She then noticed the envelope on the floor and picked it up. "What's this?" she asked, a curious expression in her eyes.
Draco froze for a second before snatching it back. "That's none of your business, Granger. Haven't you learned not to poke your nose into everything?"
"Sor-ry, Malfoy, you're getting so worked up today." She shook her head. "Hurry up then and meet me in the common room for patrol. It's already nine and we have to start at nine thirty. I like to be early, unlike you."
Draco said nothing, but instead stared hatefully at her.
Granger took in his furious look and got the message that he wanted to be alone for awhile. "Ok then, I'll just wait out here. Take your time." She left the room quietly, shutting the door behind her.
"Greetings Miss Granger, Mr Malfoy. I want you to go and patrol round the library, usher anyone near there away and send them back to their dorms. At ten, go round the fifth floor and patrol round the trophy room. If you find anyone, take house points off them and send them back to their dorms. Anyone who causes trouble and refuses to listen to you, you take down their names on a piece of parchment and hand them to me, they will be on detention. I want you to stick together, no wondering off on your own; corridors are dangerous at night for students to walk alone. Any questions?"
Hermione shook her head while Malfoy just stared at the ground. He looked like he hadn't listened to a single word Professor Dumbledore had said and instead found his shoes more interesting. This already ticked Hermione off as Malfoy was clearly being very rude to the Headmaster.
"No? Okay then, have fun patrolling. Come and see me at eleven o'clock by the Heads portrait." Professor Dumbledore smiled and walked away from them.
Hermione immediately rounded on Malfoy. "Who the hell do you think you are?"
Malfoy blinked and looked at her, the usual smirk on his face. "Excuse me?"
"Who the hell do you think you are, ignoring the Headmaster like that and thinking you know everything we have to do and not have to listen to a word he says!"
"For your information, Granger, I don't have to listen to him if I don't want to. It is my choice after all, and besides there are more important things for me to think about –"
"Like Pansy?" Hermione smirked. "I'm sure you're working up a scheme to seduce her or something –"
"Shut your mouth, you filthy little Mudblood!" Malfoy snapped, his eyes flashing furiously. "You have no idea what you're talking about. Pansy is an ugly bitch who prides on sleeping with every guy without them having to make her do it. Just because I'm very handsome and sometimes know as 'The Sex God of Slytherin' does not mean I want Pansy inside my pants, okay? Or that I want to seduce every girl in school for that matter."
Malfoy snarled at her and took out his wand. For a second Hermione was afraid he was going to jink her or something, but then he muttered, "Lumos."
She felt her body relax and she sighed in relief. Maybe patrolling with him wouldn't be so bad if he wasn't going to hex her, as long as they didn't walk too close to each other.
"Scared, Granger?"
He smirked at her and started to walk ahead of her.
Fury ran through Hermione's insides rapidly and she had to run to catch up to his long strides, he was at least seven centimetres taller than her anyway. "Hey! You're not supposed to leave me alone in the corridors! Dumbledore said we had to stick together, it's dangerous in the corridors at night."
"The only thing that dangerous in the corridors at night is your stench, Granger," Malfoy sneered, whipping around to face her, his robes flowing behind him. "Your Mudblood slim is infecting the air and is slowly suffocating me now as we speak. Another thing that is also dangerous in the corridors at night is me; you never know what I can do when the lights go out so I suggest that you leave me alone or you'll get it."
He turned and walked away.
Hermione growled at his retreating back and turned around, walking in the opposite direction to the library. If he didn't want to work with her, fine. She would tell Professor Dumbledore that Malfoy refused to work with her after the patrol. He can suffer the consequences of his actions later, though he probably wouldn't give a damn. Why he was picked as Head Boy was still a mystery to her and she was frankly not very pleased about it, especially as he was hard to deal with now.
She sighed and lit her wand, heading towards the library where a throng of students were standing by the doors chatting. "Okay everyone, obviously the library is closed and curfew has started. Please go to your dormitories before I take any points off your houses."
To Hermione's surprise, they seemed to follow her instructions, saying their farewells and heading off in the directions of their common rooms. There were no Slytherins in the crowd so maybe that's why they all seemed to listen to her.
"Hey Hermione," Felicity greeted Hermione as she walked by. "First night of patrol huh? Where's that slimy ferret that is called 'Head boy'?"
Hermione rolled her eyes. "Walked off. He's supposed to be doing this with me but of course doesn't want to."
"As I thought he would," Felicity nodded, hoisting some books under her arm. "It's a wonder how he got Head Boy."
"You're telling me. Why are you here, by the way? I never thought of you as a library person."
"I'm not," Felicity answered, screwing her face up in disgust. "Professor Snape sent us a five foot essay due tomorrow and I had to do some research on the topic. Ginny finished hers in her free, but I had Muggle Studies when she was doing it so, here I am at the library and you're shooing me off to bed." She grinned at the Head Girl.
"Yes I am and I'm going to have to take points off you if you don't go now."
"Oh come on, Hermione, you wouldn't do that, not for your own house! I'm kidding, Hermione, you have to treat everyone the same. Anyway, enjoy patrolling and say hello to the darling ferret if you run into him.
"Yeah, I will. Hey, do you have the AC/DC album "Back in Black" with you?"
"I sure do." Felicity reached into her bag and handed the CD over. "What for?"
"Let's just say I'm giving Malfoy a nice wake up call tomorrow."
Felicity grinned wickedly "Have fun with that. Goodnight."
"Night, Flick," Hermione farewelled Felicity as she walked away with the rest of the Gryffindor crowd, heading towards Gryffindor tower.
She watched the last of the students go and checked inside the library to see if there was anyone hiding in there. Seeing that there was no one around, she left the library and headed down the corridor.
Gee this job is easier than I thought. Well, this is the first night and this has only been going for twenty minutes, there's bound to be trouble soon.
She walked along the corridor for awhile, singing songs in her head to keep herself entertained. For over an hour, she didn't meet anyone except for a couple of first year Ravenclaws who had gotten lost on their way back to their common room. After showing them the way, she glanced at her watch to see it was quarter to eleven.
Knowing that she had to meet Professor Dumbledore before heading to bed, Hermione thought she should go and look for Malfoy. No sooner had the thought occurred to her, she heard frightened screams and a familiar cold sneering voice coming from a corridor ahead.
Draco walked very fast so that it was hard for Granger to catch up to him and follow him around. He really didn't feel like walking around with her for an hour and a half while she constantly bugged him about how rude, selfish and self-centred he was. Plus he was cranky at her for thinking that he would try and think up a way to seduce Pansy.
Why does everyone get the impression that I like Pansy giving me a lot of attention? Don't they see that I try and shake her off every single time? He sighed heavily. I guess not.
He shuddered at the thought of him ever getting together with Pansy and held his wand high, ready to strike the first student he saw. Who cared about taking house points away and sending them back to their dormitories when you could put a jink on them where no one would see you doing it?
Basically another reason he wanted to get rid of Granger.
Tonight was a perfect night to catch students who were out of bed, especially first years. They were the best year to pick on, so helpless and vulnerable. It would be fun to watch them get so scared before torturing them.
After over an hour, Draco was really bored. He hadn't run into any students and so was getting extremely cranky. He wanted to strike someone, something to take his anger against Granger on. He hadn't forgotten about what she did this morning …
A little scuffling sound brought him out of his thoughts and he turned to see a small boy in Hufflepuff robes, looking absolutely terrified at the sight of the tall Slytherin standing in front of him. He reached for his wand, but Draco was quicker.
"Expelliarmus!"
The wand flew out of the small boy's hand and Draco caught it, shoving it in the depths of his pocket. "What do you think you're doing out late, wandering around the corridors?" he sneered, approaching the boy.
"Oh um … well um … I was heading … back to my dormitory … I came from the library see," the boy stammered nervously, obviously scared of Draco.
Draco smirked in reply. "Liar," he hissed, grabbing the boy's robes and slamming him against the wall.
The little boy screamed and tried to wiggle out of Draco's grip, but he wouldn't release him. "Well, what do we have here? You're second year by the looks of it. You're too tall to be a first year unless you repeated. Wouldn't be surprised if that was the case, Hufflepuff is full of duffers after all."
"Yeah, well at least I have friends in Hufflepuff!" the small boy retorted. "Slytherin is full of selfish arrogant brats like you who have no feelings whatsoever! And you, Malfoy, have a cold empty soul and you're a heartless person! Who would want to be friends with you?"
Draco felt the harsh words hit him in the gut. He hadn't expected that from a first or second year to say that to him and it hurt. He didn't want to admit that though. The only thing he had on his mind was revenge.
"Why you little –" he snapped, pointing his wand at the boy's neck. "You'll pay for that comment!"
"Malfoy, what the hell do you think you're doing!?"
Draco looked over his shoulder and saw Granger standing a few metres behind him with her arms folded and her face spotting a look of disapproval, her eyes flaring in anger. The little boy sighed in relief, knowing the Head Girl was going to get him out of his situation.
Draco, meanwhile, frowned at Granger and replied, "Isn't it obvious? I'm teaching this second year a lesson. This is my way of warning students why not to walk the corridors after curfew."
"Malfoy, you know that's not we do! We take points off them and put their name down on a list if they refuse to go back to their dormitories."
"I don't care about what we're supposed to do, Granger! We're not working together, do you hear me?" Draco shouted. "I'm doing it my way! I don't care what you think! And besides he called me a heartless person who has a cold empty soul –"
"But it's true!" the little boy cried out, struggling to get out of Draco's grip. "Everyone else says so –"
"Silence!" Draco ordered, rasing his wand to hex the small boy, but it flew out of his hand. Dumb-struck, he turned around to see Granger holding his wand in her left hand. "What the hell, Mudblood?"
"Release him," she snarled in a threatening voice, pointing her wand at him. "Now."
Draco shot her a murderous look which she seemed to ignore and moved closer, poking her wand into his back. He winced as she hissed in his ear. "Release him now or I'll use Ginny's bat bogey hex on you. Your choice, Malfoy, I haven't got all night."
Somewhere deep inside of him seem to weaken at her words and it spread to his fingers, loosing his hold on the second year. The boy felt Draco slowly letting go and he pulled himself free and backed away.
"Um, Miss Granger … he has my wand," the second year muttered nervously, avoiding Granger's eyes.
"Hand over his wand, Malfoy."
Draco grunted and pulled the wand out of his pocket before chucking it onto the floor and walked away from them, his feet scuffing the floor as he took long strides. He faintly heard Granger whisper small words of comfort to the Hufflepuff and send him on his way before almost sprinting to catch up to Draco's long strides. He groaned loudly.
"What do you want now, Granger?"
"What is wrong with you today, Malfoy?" He turned to see a faint look of concern in her eyes which turned back into anger a split second later. He scowled, wondering why she even cared.
"What it's to you?"
"You seem very moody today," she observed. "I mean first you were annoyed about me playing my music and that it woke you up. Then at breakfast you looked upset when Felicity said that no one cared about you and then you get annoyed because I do well in class. And just now, you've been threatening a student. What's going on?"
Draco rolled his eyes, wincing deep inside as she mentioned the incident at breakfast. Higgins' words had hit him hard, he had to admit. Not that he would tell anyone that fact and for good reason. At the moment though, he still wondered why Granger was bothering to question him so much on his 'odd' behaviour.
"Quite frankly, Granger, that is none of your business," he snarled. "You do not need to know what is going on in my life and even if you did need to know, I still wouldn't tell you. And I couldn't really give a damn what that half-blood traitor Higgins says."
"Don't you dare called Felicity that!" Granger snapped. "Why did you threaten the Hufflepuff second year like that?"
"I told you, he insulted me. He needed to know what happens to people who dare to insult me."
"I'm sure he didn't mean it. You're not allowed to harm students like that, Malfoy, you should have just waited for me and let me handle it."
"But you weren't there!"
"This is what I mean, Malfoy. You're supposed to stick with me while we're patrolling and have equal share of roles. That's what working together is or don't you know what that means? And I don't mean you bossing me around all the time!" she added, when Draco opened his mouth to protest. "You're not in charge of everything."
"Technically I am. What does the title "Head Boy mean to you?" Granger opened her mouth to answer, but Draco cut across her. "Head means head of the students and Boy refers to me. If you recall, Granger, males have more authority than women in society so in fact I'm in charge of everyone, including you. And the fact I'm a Pureblood rules over Mudblood so that still makes me in charge."
"Malfoy, you slimy, selfish, arrogant, self-centred ferret! You have no power over me –" Granger started to argue, but Draco interrupted once again, before she could throw more insults in that sentence. He vowed then she would pay later for the ones she mentioned
"I don't want to hear it, Mudblood, so save it for later when I'm ready to listen to you."
Which will be never. Malfoys do not have time for Mudbloods, he reasoned.
He glanced to see they were in front of their portrait and that the picture had changed to the pictures of them when they were in second year. Granger's hair was slightly less bushy, but Draco still had his hair slicked back and they were both slightly taller.
"Oh, what do you know, we're home. I don't know about you, but I'm going to bed. It was nice having this discussion." He stuck his finger down his throat as if he was going to gag and said the password, climbing into the common room.
He closed the portrait behind him and pressed his ear against it, listening to Granger's furious mutterings under her breath. He then heard the Headmaster approach and ask the question Granger was probably dreading to answer:
"How did it go?"
Granger screamed in response, the sound echoing off the walls. Draco smirked smugly to himself before straightening up and heading to his room. He had succeeded in annoying her.
Hermione was still in a bad mood when she woke up the next morning. She groaned, remembering what Malfoy had said to her the night before and cursed. One day, he would pay.
She got out of bed and walked over to her stack of CDs and flicking through them until she found what she was looking for, AC/DC. The CD she had borrowed from Felicity the previous night. She was going to take Harry's advice and wake Malfoy up with "Hells Bells".
Turning on the stereo system, she put the CD in and cranked up the volume to its maximum limit. The sound of bells rang loudly through the room, shaking the walls and vibrating the floor as an electric guitar joined in, followed by drums and a voice.
I'm a rolling thunder, a pouring rain
I'm coming on like a hurricane
This is so going to annihilate Malfoy, Hermione thought wickedly as she gathered up her things and walked into the bathroom, shutting the door behind her.
You're only young but you're gonna die
Sure enough she heard a distant door bang open and a faint yell of, "Turn that bloody thing off, Mudblood! Where the hell are you?" She sniggered quietly to herself and leaned against the door, fingers in her own ears, waiting.
Suddenly, there was silence. Puzzled, Hermione opened her bathroom door and poked her head out.
Malfoy stood in the middle of the room with his wand out, pointing it at the stereo system.
"Guess I've found a way to turn it off, Granger," he smirked. "Did you think you were going to make me a fool two days in a row? No way." His smirked widened and he turned to leave, but paused in the process. "Oh and I almost forgot."
He muttered a spell under his breath and a click echoed through the room. "I've put a jink on it, Granger, so you won't be able to play it now. Have fun trying to get it off."
He laughed coldly at the look on her face and left the room.
Two weeks later, things hadn't improved and Malfoy was, in Hermione's opinion getting a bit more difficult to deal with.
She had managed to get a little control over him, ordering him walk with her during patrols, even if it was five metres behind her. It suited both of them quite well that way, or at least in Hermione's opinion. She got to run the Prefect Meetings while he just sat in a chair next to her, his arms folded and not saying anything, but instead chose glare at everyone. Occasionally he would say something, but it would be a negative comment or an insult.
But he was insulting Hermione more often than usual and she was having a hard time in hiding her anger when he did so. She didn't know how long it would take her to eventually crack and lash out at him for constantly calling her 'Mudblood'.
Something that she found annoying was that Malfoy was never on time for anything. After he jinxed her stereo system, he started to sleep in and wouldn't wake up. He would stumble into the Great Hall ten minutes before the end of breakfast and carry pieces of toast with him and eat them during the first class.
After going through this for six days, Hermione couldn't take it anymore and one morning decided to wake him up herself.
Malfoy was a big sound sleeper and didn't even stir when she yelled his name into his ear and shook him roughly by the shoulders. It was either that or that he didn't want to get up.
This was the final straw for Hermione and she did the only thing she could think of, getting a bucket of ice cold water. She filled one up and chucked it over Malfoy. He opened his eyes at once and screamed for ages, shivering uncontrollably.
"DON'T DO THAT, MUDBLOOD!"
"Well how else am I going to wake you up?" snapped Hermione. "You don't seem to set yourself an alarm clock and you're always late to breakfast. The least I could do was to make sure you get enough food to eat and not eat it during class. It's rude and you flick crumbs on my lap! It's disgusting!"
"What are you? A healer?" Malfoy snarled, getting out of bed. "Stop bossing me around!"
"I'll stop 'bossing you around' when you learn to be on time for everything." Hermione scowled at him and left the room.
"No, Ron, the skin of a beaver does not go in the Sleeping Draught! Don't you pay attention in class?"
"Why would I need to pay attention when I have you to help me understand? And besides, you're a better teacher than Snape!"
"Yes, Ron, but that does not mean you tune out when he's talking! Sometimes I don't read what he's teaching us and so I obviously need to listen to him!"
Hermione shook her head, sitting back in her regular seat in the Gryffindor common room the afternoon after waking up Malfoy with a bucket of water. Once again she was helping her best friends finish their homework on time. Especially Ron who always seemed to rely on her for it.
"She's right you know," Harry spoke up, eyeing Ron over his Potions essay. "Even though I don't want to, I pay attention to whatever he says and I complete the set class work … I don't know where your brain is, but I bet it's still on holidays."
"Yeah, on holidays …" Ron trailed off, knowing exactly what Harry really meant. He was talking about Annabel, Ron had been thinking about her ever since she first wrote back to him. He had written three more letters and was expecting her next reply to letter number four.
"Well, Ron, get your brain back to work mode and concentrate! I've never seen you so distracted!" Hermione snapped.
Ron was about to retort when Harry suddenly gasped in pain and clapped his hand on the forehead. "Harry! What's wrong?"
Harry had his eyes fused shut tight as he tried to block out the pain. He heard a high cold laugh echo, but it was very faint. Though he didn't have to think twice to figure out exactly who it was.
Finally the pain settled and he felt okay. He took three deep breaths and answered Ron's question. "Voldemort, he's laughing. He might be happy about something …"
"That's nothing new, he's always laughing," Ron said, shuddering as Harry said the name again. He still didn't like it when Harry said it. "What about?"
Hermione frowned at him and looked at Harry. "But you're not supposed to see inside his mind, you have to block it!"
"Do you realise how hard it is to close your mind and not think?" Harry argued, shaking his head. "I haven't heard much from him since the Department of Mysteries. He's out there somewhere and it's been over a year. you would have think we would have heard something about it, since everyone knows he's still alive."
"HOW RUDE, HE DIDN'T EVEN DROP BY FOR A VISIT!" Felicity's voice shrieked from the other side of the room.
The trio jumped in alarm and looked to see her and Ginny sitting next to the notice board. Felicity's face was red in anger. "I thought he, of all people, would have the decency to drop by and say a quick hello before perhaps cursing you!"
Harry stared at Felicity in shock. "Um, what are you guys talking about?"
Ginny glanced at him and then quickly looked away, a blush creeping into her cheeks. Obviously she hadn't forgotten what happened at breakfast the first day. "We were talking about Percy and what a prick he is," she answered, very confused at why they were asking. "What were you guys talking about?"
"Oh, nothing," Harry said quickly, wishing he didn't ask.
Felicity frowned to herself as she watched Harry. Something didn't seem right with him, in her opinion. Obviously it wasn't nothing … and she knew exactly what it might be. After all, he just screamed a moment ago. She could hear it above all the noise and chatter of the common room. She stood up abruptly and strolled over to him, taking the seat next to him.
"You were talking about Voldemort weren't you?" she asked, keeping her voice low.
All three of them gasped in utter shock. They hadn't heard anyone else except Harry, Hermione and Dumbledore say the name and to hear it come from Felicity's mouth sounded strange.
"Felicity, you said his name!" Ron whispered horrified.
"Oh come on, the poor bloke has a name you know," Felicity replied, waving her hand dismissingly. "He doesn't need nicknames like You-Know-Who. Besides, it gets confusing and even you, Hermione, said once "Fear of the name increases fear of the thing itself". I believe in that quote you know."
"Okay fine, we were talking about Voldemort," sighed Harry. "Now will you go?"
"No, not until you tell me exactly why you were screaming a moment ago," Felicity argued. "What did he do to you this time? Did he posse you? Steal a memory? Break into your mind? Although, they all sound exactly the same," she voiced aloud, as an afterthought.
Harry shook his head. Even though Felicity was a good friend, he didn't want to tell her anything. "Flick, I don't want you to get involved in this again," he said, trying to reason with her. "You know what happened last time in the Department of Mysterious –"
"Are you going to fight him, Harry?" another voice spoke up. Harry turned to see Neville looking intently at him from the seat behind where the trio was sitting. Obviously he wanted to join in on the conversation as soon as he heard about the Department of Mysterious.
"Because we'll all help, just like we did in the DA," Neville continued, nodding. "And I want to fight him for my parents, make them proud."
Harry took in Neville's determined face, but shook his head. "I'm sorry, but I can't drag you all into this," he said, sighing heavily. "It's got to be me and me only. I'm the one to finish him. I don't need help."
Felicity sighed. He really is stubborn, she thought. "If you insist," she shrugged. "Let's go for a walk Ginny. We could practice some Qudditch too while we're at it, I really want to be a Chaser this year."
She stood up and waited for Ginny to join her before starting to walk to the portrait hole. She paused though as she noticed Neville sitting alone. "Hi, Neville, I didn't see you there. Would you like to come with us?" She smiled kindly at the round face seventh year.
Neville bit his lip nervously. "Oh alright," he shrugged and he got up to join the two girls, following them towards the portrait hole.
"Thank Merlin, they're gone," sighed Harry, closing his eyes.
"Mate, do you think You-Know-Who is going to come after you?" Ron asked, looking very worried.
"I don't know, Ron. I would like to think he forgot about me but you know he'll never rest until he has my head on a platter. Besides, I'm also supposed to be looking for him and killing him. The prophecy did say after all that neither can live while the other survives, so that means I'm the one to kill him."
"Oh, Harry, aren't you scared?" Hermione whispered, small tears running down her check.
Harry looked over at her and wiped the tears away from her face with his finger. "A little, but not really, Hermione," he replied. "I'm not scared."
He stood up and walked over to the window, gazing out in the grounds where a faint orange glow hit the grass as the sun set. He sighed as his mind went to the pain he experienced minutes earlier.
He was surprised that it had been so long since his scar had prickled like that and he was suspicious of what Voldemort would be up to now. He felt a little scared, but more determined than ever, feeling a sense his mission was left unfinished. It was about time he went to find Voldemort and kill him, making him go for good.
"I'm going to eventually kill you if it's the last thing I do," he whispered to himself, pressing his forehead against the glass as the sunlight faded away.
"Can I ask you something, Ron?" Hermione asked at dinner the next day.
"Yeah sure, what is it?" Ron replied, stuffing pasta into his mouth.
Hermione frowned at him in disgust and waited until he finished his mouthful before asking her question. The question that had been bugging her for several days now.
"Who's been sending you letters?"
Ron froze midway to feeding himself more pasta and looked up at her. "What do you mean?"
"Well you seem to get a letter every few days and I notice that Hedwig is out an awful lot. No offence, Ron, but no one besides your family writes to you that much and even they don't write every couple of days."
"Oh …" Ron looked down at his plate and tried to think of someone that would cover the fact he was writing to Annabel. "I'm writing to a pen-pal," he lied, showing no sigh of dishonesty in his face.
Hermione raised her eyebrows. "A pen-pal?"
"Yeah, his name is … Lance Clippers. He lives in Ireland." He glanced back at Hermione, hoping she believed him. He couldn't believe even he came up with that lie in about ten seconds.
She, though, nodded at him in response. "Good on you, Ron, you're interacting with people who lead slightly different lives than you and that is a good experience. Hope you two become great friends." She reached into her bag and pulled out Standard Book of Spells Grade Seven.
Harry glanced from Hermione to Ron, amazed that Ron had managed to come up with such a brilliant cover up and that Hermione had brought the story. It might not take long for her to figure that Ron was lying though so Harry would have to prepare for the screaming match that would rise from it. At least, he hoped it wouldn't come to that.
The two boys ate for awhile while Hermione read her textbook, turning pages every now and then while she ate her meal.
"So how is Malfoy coping with you 'annoying' him so much?" Ron smirked, glancing at Hermione.
"Oh, I'm not annoying him; I'm just trying to prove that he can't rule over me and be the boss of everything. He has to learn to work together, but he seems to think I'm bossing him around."
"He doesn't seem to be taking it very well," Harry observed as he looked over at the Slytherin table to see Malfoy slamming his fist on the table. "He seems very cranky."
"Oh he'll get over it eventually," Hermione said, turning a page in Standard Book of Spells Grade Seven.
"I don't know about that," Harry whispered to Ron. "I think he's already cracked under pressure."
Ron nodded in agreement.
"I hate Granger!" Draco shouted, slamming his hand on the table. "She's bossing me around all the time! She never gives it a break!"
"What does she say?" Blaise asked. Draco sighed heavily and cleared his throat.
"'Don't do this, don't do that. Get out of bed, Malfoy! You're always sleeping in! What did you do that for? You can't take points off them, they didn't mean it!'" he mimicked in a high pitched, girlish voice.
He growled angrily and roughly brushed a piece of meat off his plate. It wasn't worth going into his stomach anyway. "What is the point of being Head Boy when you can't take points off people and when the Head Girl orders you around twenty fours a day!"
"It sounds like she's killing you, Draco," cooed Pansy, serving herself some pasta.
"Tell me about it," Draco moaned. He glanced down at his plate suddenly not feeling hungry anymore. Damn the Mudblood! She's even ruining my dinner!
"What am I going to do?" he asked, appealing to his fellow seventh year Slytherins.
"You've got to boss her around more, show that you're the boss," said Theodore Nott.
"No, I'm past that stage, I'm really fed up. I need to do something that will embarrass her and make her think twice of ordering me around again."
"Destroy her homework?" asked Crabbe.
"No, she'll just write it up again, she has a weird memory."
"Hide her underwear," Goyle suggested.
Draco shivered at this idea. As brilliant it might have sounded to Goyle, Draco wasn't gamed enough to touch anything that the Mudblood wore especially her underclothes.
"Put maggots in her bed," Blaise suggested, smirking wickedly.
"Put a jink on her that will cover her face in pimples," said Millicent Bulstrode.
"Make her hair fall out!" Pansy giggled.
All of those suggestions seemed good but he needed a really good prank to pull on her, something that she would never forget for the rest of her life. He suddenly smiled knowing just what he could do … and tomorrow would be the perfect day to do it.
"I've got it," he said mysteriously to the seventh years who looked confused.
Feeling hungry, he twirled his fork in the pasta and shoved it in his mouth, enjoying his moment of triumph and looking forward to the next day.