Chapter Thirty Seven
The next morning Harry's mind was filled with one thing and one thing only; and it wasn't the school work it should have been. The Easter holidays, now without the worry of impending doom, were fast approaching and Harry was really looking forward to going home and having a whole week with his family.
He sat at the breakfast table munching on more toast and bacon than one human could safely eat as the post owls soared overhead. Harry was glad, but not surprised to see Hedwig swoop over and land carefully on his shoulder.
He gave her a bit of bacon fat and took the letter from her leg. It was from his mother, he could tell from the smooth hand writing on the front.
"Dear Harry,
I'm so glad that you managed to complete the second task. Firstly well done for being in joint first place, you have clearly been putting in a lot of time and hard work. Secondly I am most proud of you for saving the Delacour girl. It showed your true colours shinning and I couldn't be more happy with you.
Danica sends her love, I must admit she knows very little of what is going on. She's too young to understand so if you could keep it quiet when you come for Easter I would be more than grateful.
I heard from Narcissa that the Easter ball is all planned for the 1st April so we will all be in masks. Please let me or your father know what you want to wear and we will get it sorted. Also please invite Hermione to stay with us if you and she would like.
Kreacher asked me to send his thanks for the Christmas photo album you send him, he has it on his bedside table and looks through it nearly every night.
Nikka said well done on the task, you did brilliantly. Sirius said you should have cursed Karkaroff for making a fuss about you saving the others and getting extra points, please don't listen to him though and just keep your head down. Your uncle is not always good at thinking things through, in fact he'd not very good at thinking full stop! And yes he is leaning over my shoulder reading this, say Hi Sirius.
Hi Harry!
All my love and I can't wait to see you Harry.
Mum. XxX
Harry smiled at the letter, and tucked it safely in his robes. Daphne was sitting opposite him, reading a copy of Witch Weekly, a small frown on her forehead.
Slightly further down the table, Gemini had sent away her following of other students and had one of her brothers on each side, looking over a letter and whispering between each other.
"This is not good." Daphne said, pulling Harry out of his thoughts and handing him the magazine, "Read this."
Dear loyal readers,
Do I have news for you! With the second task in the Triwizard Tournament comes some juicy news, and not the good kind!
As you are well aware, Mr. Harry Potter, age twelve, is our unexpected Hogwarts champion along with Cedric Diggory. We have Miss Fleur Delacour from Beauxbatons and Mr. Viktor Krum from Durmstrang. here's where things get interesting, my readers, but you'll have to stay with me for a moment as we go back to the Yule Ball.
My sources tell me that Mr. Krum took a muggleborn witch, Miss Hermione Granger, to the ball as his guest. They both wore red, which is Durmstrang's school colour, but Miss Granger's dress was, shall we say, a little above her age? The girl is only fourteen, and with the neckline she wore it's no wonder Mr. Krum seems enchanted by her!
Only a few weeks ago, I was in Hogsmead on other business and ran into Mr. Potter having drinks with Miss Granger, who seemed to be enjoying his company very much. They were laughing and giggling, and Miss Granger was not afraid to let her intentions with Mr. Potter be known. I know it's bad to speak of a child in such a way, but she was behaving like a little tart! Leaning all over poor Mr. Potter, touching and giggling like some disgusting gold grabber.
We fast forward to the latest challenge, one involving rescuing people from the bottom of The Black Lake from the Merpeople. An exciting adventure for all involved! I have been informed that Miss Granger was put at the bottom of the lake for the champions and was rescued by Mr. Krum, not Mr. Potter who rescued the young Mr. Draco Malfoy instead. So, what happened in the few weeks between their little "date" in Hogsmead and the challenge, when Harry was happy to leave her to the merfolk if Mr. Krum hadn't shown up? What has our little muggleborn witch been up to? it's obvious! Miss Granger has clearly been playing with the champion she thinks is most likely to succeed! First, Mr. Krum, a well known Quidditch player, at the Yule ball. Then Harry, when she found out he'd come ahead of Krum in the first challenge. So, why go back to Krum? And why would Krum take her back after finding out what she was really up to?
Simple; she's muggleborn. Muggleborns can be seen as "new blood" in some parts of the Wizarding world, considered rare since they haven't come from a magical family. So, all Miss Granger had to do was allow certain things to happen, like how her teeth have suddenly seemed to fix themselves, how she suddenly became pretty just for the Yule ball, and she can catch herself Mr. Krum and be in the spot light. I am, of course, not entirely sure as Miss Granger made her thoughts on having an interview with me very clear.
I did, however, manage to get an interview from a charming Gryffindor student, who I won't name for obvious reasons. I will say that they have mousy blonde hair, in curls, and big brown eyes. This is what she had to say…
"Harry Potter seems really sweet but he always hangs out with that Malfoy, who I think is a bad influence but what is worse is he seems to try really hard to surround himself with 'pretty' girls! It's clear he's lost and would of done a lot better in another house, away from people who are sooooo fake!"
Well it certainly paints a vivid picture!
Another idea may be that she really does like Krum, but is simply using poor Mr. Potter as a pawn to keep her in the lime light. Who will be next? Mr. Diggory? Or has she already gone there and found Mr. Diggory quite happy in his relationship with the beautiful and exotic Miss Cho Chang? How far will this scandalous tart go to get the attention she needs? I can't blame her, really. Not for needing the attention anyway. Her parents are Muggles, and although that's not a crime, I've been informed that she doesn't hear from them all school year, doesn't go home for the holidays either. So is this because she wants to stay, or that they don't want her there? Can they stand looking at her for an entire holiday? At least her teeth have been fixed now and she can move on to the next project to make herself look a little more presentable. Her hair, maybe? If that's what's sitting on her head and it's not some sort of wild animal that's made a nest there!
We shall just have to wait and see what this harlot does next. The next task is less than six months away, who will she turn up with and what scandal will she cause in the mean time? Will she leave poor Potter's heart broken from what she did to him? Will Krum join her little group of broken hearted lovers as she moves onto the next one? Who knows?!
Until next time, my faithful readers,
Rita Skeeter.
Harry read over it with disgust, "This is ridiculous." he spat, "Anyone who knows me or Hermione would know that this isn't true."
"But most people don't know you, either of you." Daphne sighed, "It's clever though, making out like you are all broken hearted; people might not know you but they've heard of you, they care a lot more about you than they do some random muggle-born."
Harry glared at the paper, knowing that what Daphne had said was true; people would not be happy with the thought of poor defenceless Harry Potter being dumped by a no one.
He glanced over to the Gryffindor table. Hermione had just finished reading Neville's Mother's copy of Witch Weekly, placing it carefully by the side of her bowl of cereal and continuing to talk to Neville as though the magazine had had nothing of interest today.
Draco and a sleepy looking Pansy flopped down at the table. Daphne didn't even give them a chance to pour themselves a drink before thrusting the magazine under their noses.
"She shouldn't have pushed her." Draco said, "Typical Gryffindor, never able to not raise to a fight. This is going to backfire horribly."
"It's not Hermione's fault." Pansy said, "That Rita Skeeter women is revolting."
"There is a quote from an 'unnamed Gryffindor student' in here, from the description very clearly Lavender Brown." Harry said, "How did she get a quote? Hagrid said she'd been banned from the grounds."
"Well, that is a very good point." Daphne said, crossing her arms, "Dumbledore is unlikely to have let her in to bad mouth the student who is best in her year."
It played on Harry's mind for most of the day, Rita Skeeter was somehow getting in and then out of the castle without anyone knowing. Harry felt like every year he was at school he was becoming more and more paranoid; he could have sworn that the walls were watching him at this point.
Harry was still not really focusing on his lessons when it came to Potions at the end of the day. They were meant to be making a rather difficult potion that Harry knew he would get wrong before he'd even started.
Ron kept glaring at him, Harry could feel his eyes boring into the back of his skull.
"What is your issue this time?" Harry finally snapped, after an hour and a half of being glared at.
"You." Ron hissed back, "Hanging out still, with that… that… scarlet women."
"Scarlet women?" Harry laughed, "You have got to be kidding!"
"You don't need to be talking." Came Severus's voice from his store room.
"No! We've all read what she's like." Lavender said smuggly.
Pansy rolled her eyes, "Aww is someone jealous that they weren't even noticed at the Yule ball with Hermione there?"
Hermione, who was trying very hard to ignore them all and focus on her potion blushed.
"Don't worry Brown, there are always left over wizards after the… more superior ladies have had their pick, but for example I am sure that Weasley will still be available." Draco smirked.
"Well if you want to go out with... people like her." Ron said.
"It's very clever the name when you think about it." Daphne said sweetly, "Scarlet women, like the dress Hermione wore at the Ball, when she turned you down."
Ron flushed bright red with a mixture of anger and embarrassment, "Fuck you Greengrass."
"Language Mr Weasley, ten points from Gryffindor I think." Severus said, coming back through to the classroom and sitting behind his large desk, "You have five minutes to finish you work and place it on my desk."
Ron continued to glare at Harry.
"You really didn't need to say anything." Hermione whispered to him, "They'll get bored sooner or later."
"I know," Harry said back, "But you've not done anything wrong, you shouldn't have to wait for 'sooner or later'."
Hermione smiled and bottled her potion. Harry dropped his potion off on Professor Snape's desk and turned to pack up his things.
"Mr Malfoy, Mr Longbottom, Mr Potter, Miss Granger, Miss Parkinson and Miss Greengrass please stay where you are, the rest of you may go." Severus told them, not looking up from whatever he was marking.
Harry looked at him confused as the classroom emptied. Ron made sure to give them a loud laugh for having to stay in class late. As Millicent, the last person to leave, closed the door behind her Severus finally stood up.
"Line up in front of my desk please." he told them.
They did as they were asked and waited while Severus looked up and down the line of six students.
"One of you has stolen, or gotten someone to steal for you, from my store room." he said, "I wasn't able to watch Harry's second task but I know how difficult Gillyweed is to get and that my supply is missing."
They said nothing, Harry could see Neville go red behind the ears.
"Who was it? Now."
"It was me." Neville said, "I took it while you were distracted one lesson."
"I helped." Hermione said quietly.
Severus nodded, "Thank you for telling me. I don't care about the Gillyweed. Danica has been learning to grow some with Nikka at home so getting more will not be an issue even if my normal suppliers were out. What I care more about is what else you took."
"Nothing Sir." Neville said, looking horrified, "I promise you."
"There have been other things taken Neville, Gillyweed is harmless enough, and I can't exactly blame you for not wanting my son to drown but the other ingredients taken paint a very different picture. I need the truth, now." Severus demanded.
He was angry, Harry could tell; he rarely saw his father like this. Harry also had absolute trust in his friends.
"They didn't take anything else Dad, I trust them." Harry said firmly.
Severus nodded, "Yes, so do I. I don't believe it was any of you who took these other ingredients, but you understand that I had to check."
"Who else would have had the chance to take anything?" Hermione asked.
"We nearly got caught when we got the Gillyweed." Neville said, "It was only because Professor Moody came to the door that we managed to get it at all."
Professor Snape looked very thoughtful, crossing his arms over his chest, "I don't know. Anyway I won't keep you any longer, thank you for being so truthful with me."
Harry nodded and grabbed his bag, leaving with his friends, almost afraid to say anything.
"What could the wonderful Harry Potter have possibly done that would get him into trouble with Daddy-dearest?" Drawled Tracy Davis, she was stood leaning against a pillar.
"None of your business, Davis." Daphne said, swishing her honey blonde hair and moving to move past her.
"Watch yourself." Tracy spat, "You should be careful how many people you push away."
"We have everyone we need." Harry said, "It's you who is all alone."
Harry didn't wait to hear what she said next, instead stalking down the corridor. Pansy glanced back, Tracy was glaring at them so viciously she felt a shiver run down her spine.
Harry was looking forward to the Easter holidays, more and more with everyday that passed really. He'd asked Hermione if she'd like to spend the holidays with his family and she'd seemed very happy to except.
As the days moved along though she seemed to be getting more and more distant with him. The other morning she had ignored him completely in Charms.
Harry was just buttering his third bit of toast, late one morning, hoping he would have enough time to eat it before having to run to Herbology.
"Has Hermione seemed a bit odd with you lately?" he asked.
Pansy shook her head, "Not really."
"A little over busy maybe?" Daphne shrugged, "But then it is coming up to exams, we're all a little stressed."
Harry nodded, "Yeah, I guess. She just seems like she doesn't want to be seen with me."
Draco opened his mouth to say something when there was a loud scream from the Gryffindor table. A large flock of owls that had been fluttering around took off in shock. Harry was up in a second, looking over the heads between the table and him.
Hermione was wiping her hands, tears streaming down her face. Harry ran around the table and over to her, Draco, Pansy and Daphne close behind.
Harry saw Hermione's hands were swollen and covered in painful looking pus filled sores. There was also a layer of thick yellowy/green gel. He reached onto the table for another napkin, digging through a large pile of letters.
Draco carefully picked up an envelope that was dropped on the floor where Hermione had been sitting, he gave it a look over and handed it to Neville.
Neville gave it a sniff and dropped it on the table, "It's Bubotuber pus. Undiluted I think."
"What's going on?" Harry asked, "Why would someone send you bubotuber pus?"
"Harry!" Daphne said, "Not now! She needs to go to the hospital wing." she took Hermione by the shoulders and led her out of the room, to the sound of several people laughing.
Slightly down the table Ron was smirking and chuckling to the other Gryffindor girls in their year.
"What's so funny?" Harry demanded.
Ron ignored him. Harry looked at the piles of letters around Hermione's seat, one caught his eye, it said his name.
"I read in Witch Weekly about how you are playing Harry Potter false and that boy has had enough hardship and I will be sending you a curse by next post as soon as I can find a big enough envelope." Harry read out loud, "They're all the same, well not the same but near enough."
Draco picked up another letter and glared at it, "This one isn't hand written, cut and pasted from a paper, like in one of those comics your Mother had."
Neville sighed and started to gather them up, "She's been getting a lot of them."
"Is this why she's been ignoring me?" Harry asked, "Why wouldn't she tell me?"
"She didn't want you to worry." Neville said, "She thought it was just a bit pathetic and would blow over."
Harry sighed, "I wish she'd told me."
Hermione didn't turn up to any of her classes for the rest of the day. Harry was rather miserable by the time he walked down the grass slopes to Care of Magical Creatures class at the end of the day.
His heart fell even further when he saw a large stack of crates by Hagrid's hut.
"Hagrid, please tell me that those are not more hatchling Blast-ended Skrewts?" Draco begged.
"Na, na I gave up on 'em. Not too friendly." Hagrid shrugged, "Got somethin' good for yeh today."
Hargid waited for the rest of the class to gather round before opening one of the crates. Harry peered forward and looked into the crate. Inside were several black, fluffy creatures piled on top of one another. They had sharp looking claws on strangely flat paws and large snouts but they looked totally harmless, cuddly even.
"These're Nifflers." said Hagrid, making sure the whole class could see, "Yeh find 'em down mines mostly. They like sparkly stuff… there yeh go, look."
One of the Nifflers had leapt out of the box and made a dash for Lavender Brown's anklet which had several silver and gold charms on.
Hagrid laughed and grabbed the Niffler back into the crate, "Cute ain't they?"
Lavender looked less than impressed but didn't say anything.
"Useful little treasure detectors." Hagrid said, giving one a gentle stroke, "Thought we'd have some fun with 'em today. See over there?" he pointed towards a large patch of freshly dug earth, "I've buried some gold coins. I've got a prize fer whoever picks the Niffler the digs up most. Jus' take off all yer valuables, an' choose a Niffler an' get ready ter set 'em loose."
Harry took off his watch and shoved it in his pocket, he wasn't wearing anything else that was valuable so moved over to the boxes and picked up a large Niffler with a shiny black coat. It seemed very cuddly really, snuggling into his arm and blinking happily at him.
"Where's Hermione?" Hagrid asked, holding the last Niffler.
Crabbe and Goyle laughed nastily and several of the Gryffindors laughed. Ron smirked earning him a nasty glare from Harry and Ron.
"She had to go to the hospital wing this morning." Draco said, "We will tell you more later."
Hagrid nodded and tucked the spare Niffler back into a crate.