During the aftermath of the second task there was constant talk of what happened in the lake and Hermione was greatly teased about being the thing that Viktor Krum would miss the most. At breakfast today I was sitting at the Hufflepuff table joined by Tay (of course), Cedric, Fred, George, Nessie, Zac and Cat who was looking in a mirror with a frown on her face.

"I wonder if mirrors work in outer space" She said randomly and we all stared quizzically at her. "You the word mirror only has six letters and half of them are ours?"

"Really?" Asked Zac and they went into discussion about mirrors.

"So how are you?" Tay asked me

"Malfoy slightly pissed me off yesterday but I'm good now" I told

"Oh I wondered where that black eye came from"

"My dog back home has a black nose!" Cat interrupted "It's so cute! Like a baby meatball!"

"Meatballs are brown" George told her

"You're so mean to me!" and with that she went off to the Ravenclaw table where she sat by Luna Lovegood.

Me and Tay looked at the very appealing waffles on her plate, shrugged in unison and grabbed a waffle each and started to eat it then I couldn't eat any more of my waffle on the account that I have the most clumsiest bird in history and he loves to demonstrate that fact in front of large crowds known as the whole school and he - the bastard - had over my glass of pumpkin juice all over me and my waffle so that it was soaked and tasted of pumpkin instead of waffle. Fucking bird. Then I realised what Buckbeak had in his mouth it was a letter from Dad.

Ry,

Be at stile at end of road out of Hogsmeade (past Dervish & Banges) at two o' clock on Saturday afternoon. Bring as much food as you can.

Dad

I groaned. The idiot! What is he doing?! Does he want to be thrown back in Azkaban again?! Does he think me and Warren want him thrown back in Azkaban again?! What part of his brain is thinking right now?! What's next? Go all Hitler and kill off all the Jews?

"What's up Ry?" Tay asked

"Padfoot" I answer simply

"What about him?"

"I'll tell you in the common room after breakfast"

She nodded and finished her stolen waffle while I mourned yet again for the loss of mine and then went back to fuming about Dad. I can't believe he's back. He does know that if one person in Hogsmeade sees him then they'll owl the Auror office at the ministry of magic and the dementors will be back after him. What is it that he has to say that is so important enough to go back to a place without one zilch of happiness? Grr when I see him he is beyond grounded! Wow talk about role reversal. Once Tay had finished eating and said goodbye to Fred we went to the common room where Tay waited while I changed out of my pumpkin juice stained clothes - thanks again Buckbeak - and grabbed my supply of sugar quills but left my red vines. I love my dad but there is no stinking way that I'm giving him my red vines they're mine and Tay's favourite wizard sweets. When I got back to Tay I showed her Dad's letter.

"He's not back in Hogsmeade?!" She asked annoyed

"What do you think?" I shot back harshly I'll admit but I'm pissed so whaddya expect?

"If he's caught - mind you he hasn't done too badly so far and look on the Brightside this place isn't crawling with dementors anymore"

I guess that was lucky for him. As we exited the common room and made our way to the castle gates Cat, Nessie, Zac, and Cameron dragging Leah came running up to us.

"Guys! Guys! Have you seen this about Hermy?" Cat asked. She always called Hermione Hermy even though it got on her nerves. I looked at what she was giving us it was Witch Weekly - the wizard world's version of OK! Magazine. On the cover was Hermione. Tay flicked through the pages until she found the article which was titled: HARRY POTTER'S SECRET HEARTACHE.

A boy like no other perhaps - yet a boy suffering all the usual pangs of adolescence, writes Rita Skeeter. Deprived of love since the tragic demise of his parents, fourteen-year-old Harry Potter thought he had found solace in his steady girlfriend at Hogwarts, Muggle-born Hermione Granger. Little did he know that he would shortly be suffering yet another emotional blow in a life already littered with personal loss.

Miss Granger, a plain but ambitious girl, seems to have a taste for famous wizards that Harry alone cannot satisfy. Since the arrival at Hogwarts of Viktor Krum, Bulgaria Seeker and hero of the last Quidditch World Cup, Miss Granger has been toying with both boys affections. Krum who is openly smitten with the devious Miss Granger, has already invited her to visit him in Bulgaria over the summer holidays, and insists that he has 'never felt this way about any other girl`.

However it might not be Miss Granger's doubtful natural charms which have captured these unfortunate boys' interest.

"She's really ugly" says Pansy Parkinson, a pretty and vivacious forth-year student "But she'd be well up to making a Love Potion, she's quite brainy. I think that's how she's doing it."

Love Potions are of course banned at Hogwarts, and no doubt Albus Dumbledore will want to investigate these claims. In the meantime, Harry Potter's well-wishers must hope that, next time, he bestows his heart upon a worthier candidate.

Leah was smirking by the end of it.

"Can I just say this is the best article that Skeeter has ever written?" said Leah yeah, she isn't too keen on Hermione we all gave her a look "I told her not to annoy Skeeter"

"Well that's a pile of shit" Summed up Tay "There's something weird going on though ..."

"Yeah I thought so too" Cat agreed

"What? She hasn't given them a Love Potion has she?" Zac asked

"Of course not dung brain! It's just how did she know Hermione was asked to visit Krum over the summer?" Tay asked

"How do you know?" I asked

"She told me, Ginny, Tay and Nessie at the second task after party" Cat told me "He asked her right after he pulled her out of the lake"

"And she said he did say he'd never felt this way about a girl before" Nessie added

"Yeah but how did Skeeter find out there was no one else in the room when she told us" Tay said

"Anyway she's been banned from the grounds"

"Well how abut we talk about this some other time because some of us have plans to meet people right Tay" I hinted

She nodded and we went into Hogsmeade and headed straight for Honeydukes and pushed each other out of the way to get to the red vines first. I won. Ha! Suck it Tay! Buying a couple things for Dad then we went to the meeting place where we saw a shaggy black dog that looked very much like my animagus form.

"Hey Dad" I said to him

He sniffed both mine and Tay's bags and led to the side of a mountain where there was a cave where we went inside and Dad transformed back into his usual self as we gave him all the food we'd got from the kitchens in our bags and a couple chocolate frogs and sugar quills but absolutely no red vines! When he had finished eating is when I turned on him.

"Well not meaning to be rude here but what the fuck are you doing here?!" I demanded

"How touching! Love you too Paws" He chuckled. Paws was his and Moms old nickname for me when I was little. Moony still called it to me from time to time but it wasn't the same it had been years since I heard Dad call me Paws and I never would hear Mom say it ever again. "I'm being a Dad. Don't worry to everyone here I'm just a loveable stray."

"Yeah lovable except when he's barking mad!" I muttered

"I heard that!"

"You were supposed to! Seriously don't you know how risky this is? Do you really think me, Warren, Harry and maybe even Tay want to see you go back to Azkaban?"

"Relax Paws! Times have changed since I was last here"

"Not by much"

"Look don't worry if and it's a big if any one recognises me I'll just hop on Buckbeak and high tail it outta here"

I glared knowing he wasn't going to listen to me and get away from here.

"You remind me more of your Mum everyday" He told me "Always fussing and making some crummy joke every five seconds"

He grinned and I put my hand to my heart in mock hurt.

"Crummy?! My jokes are hilarious! Right Tay?" I Insisted

"Sure Ry whatever floats your boat" She drawled

I gasped.

"Tay!"

She laughed and went to the three broomsticks to meet Fred for their date while me and Dad talked about everything. School work, Cedric, Harry, Tay, Mike, Cameron, Zac, Nessie, Fred, George, Leah, Cat, Pretty much everyone mentioned relationships, Mom and above all Evie. There was still no trace of her, Dad suspected she had run off to find and join Voldemort I shared that suspicion. Afterwards I walked to the Hufflepuff common room by myself as Tay had left me and as soon as I got there I collapsed on my bed for a nap.