Chapter 9: Meeting The Guards
The next morning was a rather chaotic one. Delia was woken up by the shouting of Percy. He and Ron were sharing a room next to her. She was somewhat able to understand through the wall that it was about his badge gone missing.
She did her morning exercises, took a shower and finished packing her trunk. As she stepped outside her room and headed for breakfast, she walked by Fred and George. They were giggling in a more shadowy part of the hallway. The telltale sign that they were up to no good.
When Fred and George noticed her approaching, she simply raised one eyebrow and nodded in the direction of Ron and Percy's room, the underlying question clear to all.
"Yes, we've got it," Fred whispered, confirming her suspicion, "We've been improving it."
They showed the badge and Delia took a closer look. She saw that it now read 'BigHead Boy' and couldn't help but laugh.
In the background, they heard Ron roaring that he hadn't touched the badge while questioning Percy's sanity.
"How long do you think it will take him before he notices?" George wondered, with a big grin on his face.
"I don't know how long it will take, but it will always be too soon. How did you even make these changes without triggering the trace?" She couldn't help but wonder.
"Ah, that my dearest Delia," Fred started, "is a trade secret." George finished, both looking rather smug.
They barely finished their sentence, as the door opened and they saw Ron barge out from it. "For the last time, I don't have the badge! Stop blaming me for stuff YOU lost!"
Ron promptly slammed the door shut as loud as he could, making the wall shake. His face was a thundercloud, as he stomped his way through the hallway. "Thank Merlin, this is the last day I have to share a room with him! He might actually turn me insane! The sooner we get on that train, the better!" He declared agitatedly.
"I can imagine, he sounds like a nightmare to deal with at times. Maybe some breakfast will cheer you up?" Delia mentioned, hoping to distract him a bit with food - it always worked in the past.
However, the twins, who had been silent until now, decided to butt in the conversation. "Ah Ronnikins! Congratulations on infuriating Percy in such a manner, even we rarely make him scream this loud! Truly a marvellous performance!"
"I agree my dear twin, it seems like we need to up our game, can't have our little brother out stage us!"
Ron, who by now was slightly calmed down, simply rolled his eyes in response and made his way downstairs with Delia. As they arrived at the breakfast table, they spotted Hermione sitting there with the newspaper spread out in front of her. "Ah there you are, c'mon, you don't have much time anymore before the Ministry's cars arrive!"
xxx
As they were being driven to King's Cross, Delia was silently thinking over a few things. She had decided that she needed to tell some people about the Sirius Black situation. Her first instinct was to only tell Ron and Hermione everything she knew about it, but the more she thought about it, she realised Neville also had a right to know. Susan might already be aware, meaning that Hannah might also be up to date already.
"I need to talk to you in private," Delia muttered to Ron and Hermione when the twins were being particularly loud and distracting everyone.
They looked a bit confused and concerned, but Hermione instantly answered, "Sure, it should be easy enough to find a compartment once we're on the train."
xxx
They had barely climbed the steps of the train, or the whistle blew and the doors started to close. At least they were able to get on the train this year, she mused.
Finding an empty compartment seemed more difficult than they thought, as they tried to pass through the mass of students meeting up in the hallway to greet each other after the vacation.
Finally, when they neared the end of the train, they found a nearly empty compartment. There was one man occupying the compartment, but he was fast asleep with his head leaning on the window. They weren't sure how to proceed, as they stood on the compartment's threshold.
Why was there a fully grown man sleeping here? Were there even supposed to be grown adults on the train, apart from the woman selling candy and the train conductor?
It didn't look like the man took care of himself. His beard and hair were unkempt. Some scars marred his face. His clothes were in an even worse state and ripped in some places - was he not a wizard? Could he not repair them magically? But besides all of that, something just felt off about the man. Delia couldn't exactly put her finger on why she was having some bad gut feelings about this though.
As Delia was finishing up her observations, Ron hissed "Who do you reckon he is?".
They fully entered the compartment, put their luggage in the rack, and sat down. Delia decided to sit as far away from the man as possible.
"Professor R. J. Lupin," Hermione whispered in response.
"How do you know that?" Ron answered surprised. He had clearly not expected an actual answer.
"It's written on his trunk," she replied, pointing at the battered trunk on the luggage rack above her own head.
Ron's ears reddened a bit. "I wonder what he teaches?" said Ron.
"Well that's obvious, no?" Delia answered with a humourless chuckle.
"Him for DADA? Well, I hope he's up for it, it looks like a little wind could knock him over. At least it makes it easier for us if he ends up trying to harm us, a little tickling hex probably puts him right in the hospital wing."
"Hmm, we'll see I suppose," Delia said half-assuredly. Ron was right that the man looked rather sickly, but still it felt like he was more dangerous than that.
"Anyway, Delia, what did you want to tell us that the others couldn't hear?" Hermione tried to get the conversation a bit on track. Knowing Hermione, curiosity had to be killing her.
Delia waited a little bit before answering, to assure herself that the man was truly asleep, before telling them everything she knew about Sirius Black. How the minister and Madame Bones were waiting on her in the middle of the night, how Black was a death eater, how there was a high chance of Black coming after her and so on.
As she finished her story, both Ron and Hermione looked a lot paler.
Delia gave them a while to gather their thoughts. Eventually, Hermione said with a trembling voice "Sirius Black escaped and is probably coming after you? Oh, Delia, you'll have to be really, really careful. don't go looking for trouble, - "
"I don't go looking for trouble," Delia interrupted, "it usually finds me. Besides, do you really think I would purposefully go looking after a homicidal maniac?"
That rebuttal only made them flinch a bit. They were taking the news worse than she had expected. Both Ron and Hermione seemed to be much more frightened of Black than she was. Maybe this was a mistake?
"No one knows how he got out of Azkaban," said Ron uncomfortably. "No one's ever done it before, and he was a top-security prisoner too."
"But they'll catch him, won't they?" said Hermione earnestly, as if trying to not only comfort Delia, but also herself. "I mean, they've got all the muggles looking out for him too, he's on the news constantly..."
"What's that noise?" said Ron suddenly.
As Ron mentioned the noise, Delia heard it too. It was a faint whistle. They looked all around the compartment until Delia was able to pinpoint it, as the sound was coming from her own trunk.
She stood up and took her trunk down from the rack. A moment later she found the source, as she picked it up. It was her sneakoscope. The thing was spinning very fast in her hand while shining like a beacon. Who needs a flashlight or lumos, when you have this anyway?
"Is that a Sneakoscope?" said Hermione interestedly, standing up for a better look, "I've read about those before!". As she came over, Delia's eyes once again fell on the stranger in the compartment, how was he sleeping through all of this? Or was he faking his sleep?
"Yeah, mind you, it's a very cheap one," Ron answered when Delia was distracted, "It went haywire for no reason just as I was tying it to Errol's leg to send it to Delia for her birthday."
"For no reason?" Hermione questioned while raising one eyebrow.
"Well… it might have been possible that I wasn't supposed to use Errol for long-distance flights…" Ron answered.
The sneakoscope kept making a piercing sound, so for their own sanity, Delia decided to put it in the middle of her clothes to minimise the noise coming out of it, before putting her trunk back on the rack. Delia couldn't help but wonder what had actually set off the sneakoscope. She grew even more suspicious of Lupin.
"Anyways, we could get it checked in Hogsmeade," Ron continued, as they all sat back down, "There is bound to be a store for that kind of stuff. Fred and George will know where to look, we could ask them."
The topic change seemed to be settling the tense situation, as both Ron and Hermione started to get a dreamy look.
"Won't it be nice to get out of school for a bit and explore Hogsmeade?" Hermione smiled.
"I suppose it would be," said Delia in a defeated tone "You'll have to tell me once you've found out."
"What do you mean?" asked Ron.
"I can't go. The Dursleys didn't sign my permission form."
Ron looked horrified. "You're not allowed to come? No way! McGonagall or someone will give you permission, I'm sure of it!"
"I don't know Ron, that doesn't seem like something McGonagall would do. The only possibility I see for now is drugging the Dursleys next summer so they don't know what they're signing." Delia mused half-jokingly, which made Hermione look horrified in turn.
"I wonder what the new classes will be like." Delia continued, in an attempt to distract Hermione from the lecture she was about to give.
"Well, easy of course, at least for Delia and me. Heaven knows why anyone would bother with arithmancy or runes!" Ron instantly answered.
"Probably because some people actually care about their education and want to learn things, Ron! Besides, I'm looking forward to those two classes in particular." Hermione said in a defensive tone.
"I'm looking forward to Runes too," Delia interjected. This surprised both of them, especially Ron.
"Huh? What do you mean you're looking forward to Runes? I thought you picked the same electives as I did!" Ron burst out. Hermione was clearly wondering the same, even if she didn't voice it.
"I originally was, but I changed my mind later in the summer. I'm taking care of magical creatures and runes now."
"But… but why?" Ron asked, flabbergasted.
"I looked more into it, and runes class is actually very useful. Think of all the items you can make or modify with it!" She didn't mention yet how she was planning on focusing way more on school than before. That's something for him to complain about later, if he noticed.
His further protest seemed to die on the tip of his tongue, as he mulled over the last argument. It was a useful skill to know, he was aware of that, but it also took a lot of effort, effort he wasn't willing to put into for school. Hermione looked like the cat who ate the canary. It probably took all her self-control to not blurt out "I told you so!".
"Besides, like I said, I'm still taking care of magical creatures with you!" Delia reassured him. Any further comments to be made about the electives got interrupted, however, as the compartment's door was pulled open.
"Well well well, look who we have here," Malfoy said in his trademark lazy drawl, "if it isn't Potty, Muddy and Weaselly!" His henchmen, Crabbe and Goyle, chuckled like trolls would. Delia simply rolled her eyes, honestly, even her dimwitted cousin came up with better insults.
"Hey Weasel, I heard your father finally got his hands on some gold this summer;" Malfoy continued, "Did your mother die of shock?"
Ron, fully red in the face, stood up so fast some snacks were catapulted from his lap in all directions. Some of the 'Bertie Bott's every flavour beans' hit Lupin, after which he snorted; drawing attention to himself.
"Who's that?" asked Malfoy, automatically taking a step backward as he noticed Lupin.
"New teacher," Delia answered, as she positioned herself more between Malfoy and Ron. "Now, what were you saying, Malfoy?"
Malfoy narrowed his eyes at her, but didn't dare continue his taunting. He wasn't foolish enough to pick a fight right under the nose of a teacher.
"C'mon," he muttered resentfully to Crabbe and Goyle, and they disappeared.
They sat back down and Ron started massaging his knuckles, like he was regretting not using them. Delia glanced at Lupin, she could hardly believe he didn't wake up during the confrontation. No way someone can stay asleep so deeply for so long, right?
"I'm not going to take any crap from Malfoy this year," she heard Ron hiss to himself. "I mean it. If he makes one more crack about my family, I'm going to get hold of his head and -" Ron made a violent gesture in midair.
"That… or, you could try to find a way to inform the twins about it, I'm sure they have more subtle ways to deal with it, so less chance of detention or worse," Delia added.
"Delia! Don't encourage him!" Hermione whisper-shouted.
Ron looked thoughtful for a while, before saying, "No, I rather deal with him on my own terms, you know? Can't hide behind Fred and George for stuff like that, besides, they would never let me forget it if I came to them for this kind of help."
After a few minutes of silence, they noticed that the train started to slow down. "We must be nearly there," said Ron, as he leaned further forward to get a better look through the window. "I can't wait for the feast, I'm starving!"
"When aren't you starving?" Delia sniped back.
"We can't possibly be there yet, it's only 7 PM, we're way too early!" Hermione said after checking her watch.
"Well, why do you think we stop then?" Ron asked, confused.
Outside, it started to rain heavily as the wind was howling around the train. Suddenly the train fell completely still and the lamps went out. It was completely dark inside the train. Did they have a technical problem? Was that even possible with magic?
"I don't know, something must be wrong, the train probably broke down or something," Hermione answered, but she didn't sound sure of herself.
Delia decided to check outside of the compartment, and almost walked right into Neville as she exited the door. He was in the company of Susan and Hannah. She noticed Neville was looking very pale and shuddering lightly. Further in the hallway, she could hear more anxious chattering of people wondering what was going on.
"Hey," she greeted them, "do you guys know what's happening?"
"N-no, but I think I saw something move outside. It looked like someone wearing a black cloak was staring at us through the window before he disappeared." Neville answered, slightly stuttering.
As soon as he said this, they could hear a squeaking sound. Ron has started to clear the fog forming on the window so he could look outside. "Guys, there are people out there! Look! You can see two people floating right there!"
Everyone, including the three newcomers, rushed to the window to peer in the direction Ron was pointing at.
"Yes, I can see them too," Delia confirmed.
"Maybe they are just Aurors as extra security against Black?" Hermione tried to reason.
"No, there were no Aurors appointed to guard the train as far as I heard," Susan was quick to deny. No one had an answer to that.
Delia suddenly started to feel cold and very tired. She decided to sit back down. The others soon followed suit and started sitting down as well. There was a soft crackling noise as a thin layer of ice started to form on the windows.
Without anyone having knocked, the compartment's door slowly slid open. When the door was about halfway opened, they could see a tall, cloaked figure standing near the threshold. The person's face was completely hidden behind his hood. No, this can't be a human she realised.
Her suspicions were proven correctly, as her gaze fell upon the creature's hand resting on the door. The creature's hand looked grey and decayed. As if sensing her gaze upon his hand, the being took his hand off the door, withdrawing it back into the fold of its cloak.
Then the thing under the hood drew a deep, rattling breath. An intense cold filled the compartment. Delia felt her own breath catch in her chest. The cold seemed to seep through her skin, deep into her bones and heart, as if she would never properly feel warm again.
Everything felt so heavy, so cold. In a last-ditch effort, Delia was able to stand up. She transformed one of her knives and slashed at the creature.
The creature, who never had been wounded before, cried out in surprise and pain, as it backed away from their compartment.
The joint screams from the dementor and students seemed to have finally woken up Lupin. The man jumped up and sent some weird bright silvery light towards the creature. Delia had no idea what the spell was, but it seemed to drive the monster away.
As she felt like the situation was under control, she slowly slid back down on her seat and let herself relax as unconsciousness claimed her. She vaguely heard someone scream in the background.
xxx
"Delia? Delia! DELIA!"
Delia felt as if she just woke up from a very deep slumber. She shook her head a few times to get rid of the cobwebs in her head. She slowly opened her eyes, and saw everyone in the compartment, including Lupin, looking at her with great concern. The lamps were back on and the train seemed to be shaking, meaning they were back on track towards Hogwarts.
"Are you alright?" Hannah asked her.
"Feeling just peachy, thanks," Delia answered. She however felt sick, the cold sweat clinging to her. Hannah seemed to have caught on though, seeing the slight look of pity crossing her face. She moved back to sit down next to Susan.
"What was that thing?" Hermione asked. She still looked quite anxious. Everyone still looked way paler than they usually did. Ron's sunburn was barely visible.
A loud sudden snap made everyone jump up in surprise. She turned around and saw Lupin breaking a chocolate bar into pieces.
"Here," he said as he gave Delia a particularly large piece of chocolate, "Eat. It will help against the dementor's lingering effects."
"That was a dementor?" she asked surprised, "One of the guards from Azkaban?"
"Yes," he answered, distaste clear on his face.
He crumpled up the chocolate bar's wrapper, before saying, "Now eat up, it will help. Excuse me, I have to speak to the driver." He squeezed past the group and left the compartment, disappearing into the corridor.
The atmosphere in the compartment still felt heavy.
"Are you sure you're fine, Delia?" Hermione questioned.
Delia wiped more sweat off her face before answering, "Yes, I'm fine," not truly convincing anyone.
"Did you punch that dementor, or what happened?" Susan inquired.
Delia, not willing to admit she had a knife on her, decided to lie. "I shoved it, I tried to get it out of the compartment to shut the door. I suppose the creature - the dementor, didn't expect that kind of reaction."
"That was brave and incredibly stupid Delia, do you even know what those things are capable of?" Hermione admonished her.
"It was a bit badass though," Ron added, "and you should have seen Lupin! -"
"Professor Lupin!"
"- He jumped up," he continued ignoring Hermione, "pulled out his wand and did this silvery-looking spell that chased off the dementor! He then chased it till it left the train!" The chocolate seemed to do its job, as Ron clearly seemed to become more energetic. All his previous doubts about the professor seemed to have faded.
"It was horrible," Neville said with a voice a pitch higher than usual, "I've never been that cold before."
"Yes," Hannah agreed, "it felt like, like -"
"Like you never would feel happy again," Susan finished. Now that Delia took a closer look at Susan, she noticed Susan was looking quite ill too.
Delia didn't understand why some of her friends seemed to be nearly completely fine, while others looked as bad as she felt. Then there is the fact that she seemingly was the only one who passed out. She felt a slight pang of shame at that. She should be stronger than this.
If these dementors would be stationed at Hogwarts, and she potentially could walk into them again, then she needed to find a way to deal with them, or to become more resistant to their effects.
As she was shortly lost in her thoughts, professor Lupin had come back into the compartment and spoke, "I assure you that I haven't poisoned that chocolate," with a small smile on his face.
Delia quickly took a bite of the chocolate and was pleasantly surprised by the instant effects of it. A warmth seemed to spread from the tip of her tongue all the way to the tips of her fingers and toes. She instantly felt better, as if a fever had been broken.
Professor Lupin must have caught the look of surprise on her face, "Chocolate, the darker the better, is commonly used to treat the effects of dementors, everyone becomes happy from chocolate after all." Delia made a note to herself to try and buy some chocolate, which could definitely come in handy this year. Maybe she should even buy some extra stock for her emergency kit.
xxx
Not much had been said during the remainder of the journey to Hogsmeade station. As soon as they arrived, there was a collective rush to get out of the train as fast as possible.
It seemed to be freezing on the platform, as rain hailed down on them. This temperature was way too cold for a September evening.
"Firs' years this way!" she heard a familiar voice call out a bit in front of her. They quickly greeted him before moving on.
The six of them followed the rest of the student body towards what must have been over a hundred stagecoaches. So this is how the others got to Hogwarts last year?
The coaches must have been charmed to drive on their own, because as soon as Neville closed the door behind him, the stagecoach started to move on its own.
In the distance, she noticed a big iron fence, flanked by pillars with statues of winged boars on top. In front of the gate, however, she saw two tall cloaked figures. Dementors. They slowly moved to the side to let the stagecoaches at the front of the column pass by, yet still stood very close.
Delia was glad she sat in the middle seat, and leaned further back into it, closing her eyes. The carriage seemed to pick up speed as they passed by the creatures.
As they eventually got out of the carriage, she saw some Slytherins in front of them. Malfoy was one of them, looking quite pale himself - more so than usual. As Delia caught his eye, a smirk seemed to appear on his face. "Is it true? Did you actually faint, Potter?" The malice was clear in pale grey eyes.
She was surprised that he knew of that. How even? No one could have told him, right? Or did someone peer into the compartment when she was out? "I don't know what you're talking about, Malfoy," she denied with as much conviction as she could muster.
As soon as she said that, Malfoy's eyes seemed to have gone blank. "Well, you might not have fainted, but you're still clearly afraid of them!" He sounded a lot more robotic than usual. What was going on? And yes, of course she was scared of them, who in their right mind wouldn't be? The Slytherins in his group looked weirdly at Malfoy, sensing something off about him. During this interaction, Delia has missed Susan's startled look.
Right after Malfoy finished his response, he seemed confused for a second and shook his head. Professor Lupin chose that moment to appear, "Is there a problem here?" he questioned.
A sneer made its way back onto Malfoy's face, "Oh no, euhm, professor," he answered while clearly eyeing one of the bigger tears in the professor's robes. He made a gesture with his head to the group of Slytherins with him, and led them up the stairs into Hogwarts.
Delia took a deep breath before following the masses up the stairs and through the massive oak doors of the castle. They were making their way towards the great hall, when a voice called out, "Potter! Granger! I want to see you both!"
Surprised, the entire group of six turned around. It was Professor McGonagall who was calling for them. With a slight feeling of foreboding, she walked towards the professor. She didn't think she had done anything wrong, yet the professor had perfected the skill of making people think that they had done something wrong.
As if reading her thoughts, Professor McGonagall told them, "There is no need to look so worried. I would just like a word with the two of you in my office. The rest of you can move along." Ron and the others started to reluctantly enter the great hall while glancing back.
Professor McGonagall started to usher Delia and Hermione away from the crowd up the stairs towards her office. Once they entered her office, the professor motioned them both to sit down. She herself went to sit down behind her desk.
She seemed to look over Delia, before saying "Professor Lupin sent me an owl about the incident on the train, Miss Potter." She was about to say more, but a short knock on the door interrupted her. Madam Pomfrey entered the office.
Delia felt like she could die in embarrassment. Why were they making such a big deal out of it? She felt fine, which she also told them, once again, "I'm fine, really I am."
Pomfrey fixed her gaze on Delia, "Oh, it's you again. What did you do this time?"
"It was a dementor, Poppy," Professor McGonagall said darkly. Both of them shared a look.
"Stationing dementors around a school," she muttered disapprovingly, "What were they even thinking? Well probably weren't thinking at all now, were they? I doubt you will be the last who collapses."
She pushed some of Delia's hair to the side so she could feel her forehead. "Hmm, you're all clammy. Terrible things, those guards, and the effect they have on people who are already delicate…"
"I'm not delicate!" Delia interjected a bit fiery. She actually did feel a bit offended by it.
"Of course you're not;" Pomfrey said absentmindedly, as she took Delia's wrist to take her pulse. "Potter seems to be mainly okay, some chocolate and a good night's rest should fix her right up," she concluded her examination.
"I've already had some chocolate, Professor Lupin gave all of us some back on the train."
"Did he now?" the nurse said approvingly, "So we finally have a seemingly competent Defence teacher again? I hadn't expected to see that during my tenure."
"Well, Miss Potter, considering you're fine, would you mind waiting outside while I have a quick word with Miss Granger?" Professor McGonagall requested of her.
Delia simply nodded and headed outside back into the corridor. Madam Pomfrey also left, heading towards the feast. It took about three minutes before the office door opened again, and both Hermione and Professor McGonagall came into the corridor. Delia instantly noticed that Hermione seemed quite happy about something, nearly to the extent of being smug. What was that all about?
They followed Professor McGonagall's lead, as the three of them made their way back towards the great hall. Once they entered, it became clear they had entirely missed the sorting ceremony, as Professor Flitwick was carrying the ancient hat and three-legged stool out of the hall. She didn't fail to notice how Professor Flitwick took a double take at her when he was about to pass them. Interesting.
Professor McGonagall quickly strode off towards her empty seat at the staff table, while Delia and Hermione set off towards the Gryffindor table.
"Oh," Hermione complained softly, "I can't believe we missed the sorting!"
"I really wonder what the sorting looks like from the other side," Delia mused out loud. People from the other tables looked up and were pointing at the two of them. She could already imagine what kind of rumours would spring up by their lateness. Wonderful.
They sat down at the table across from Ron and Neville. They both looked curious. "What was that about?" Ron instantly asked.
Delia just whispered "Later", as the headmaster had chosen that moment to stand up for his annual welcome speech.
"Welcome all to another year at Hogwarts!" He said, fully beaming, he cleared his throat and continued in a more serious tone, "I have a few things to say to you all, before we dig into this wonderful feast. You all are aware by now that Hogwarts is hosting some of Azkaban's dementors. They are here as guards sent by the Ministry of Magic. They have been stationed at every entrance to the grounds. While normally you need permission to leave the school grounds, that counts doubly so now. Dementors are not fooled by disguises or invisibility cloaks. They are unforgiving creatures, not deterred by pleading or excuses. I therefore warn each and every single one of you, do not give them an excuse to harm you, because they will."
He took a brief pause and let his gaze sweep over all the students, as if looking them all in the eyes. Nobody moved a muscle or made a sound. Dumbledore really knew how to make everyone cheery for the feast. Delia felt a bit targeted by the invisibility cloak remark, but appreciated the warning. It was one of her plans as to how to get into Hogsmeade without the signed permission slip after all.
"Now, on a happier note," he said back to his smiling self, "I am pleased to introduce two new teachers to our school! Please welcome Professor Lupin, who will join us as our Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher!" Some moderate applause followed, Ron being one of the students who clapped the loudest. The professor himself just had a small smile on his face. His shabby clothes make him stick out between all the well-dressed professors.
"Look at Snape!" Neville suddenly said. Snape was throwing a death stare towards Lupin. It was an open secret that Snape wanted the DADA post, but the amount of loathing in his stare spoke of something more. It was eerily similar to the way Snape looked at her during her. There had to be some kind of history between the two then, Delia concluded.
As the applause started to dwindle, Dumbledore continued, "And as our second new appointment, well, I am sorry to tell you Professor Kettleburn has decided to retire. So please welcome our new Care of Magical Creatures teacher, Rubeus Hagrid!"
Delia, Ron and Hermione looked stunned for a second, before joining in with the thunderous applause. Hagrid's face was flushed red, with a wide grin clearly visible behind his wild beard.
"We should've known!" Ron joked, "Who else would have assigned us a biting book!"
Once the applause finally died down, Dumbledore finished his speech, "Now that all important announcements have been made, let the feast begin!"
The plates, bowls and goblets in front of them suddenly filled with all sorts of food and drinks. The smell of it all reminded Delia's stomach that she was hungry, and with a rumbling stomach she started to fill up her plate with everything that was in reach.
The hall instantly was filled with laughter and conversations. The food was as delicious as usual. It was good to be back.
AN: So yea, the obligatory post on Percy's (and mine lol) birthday :)
I was toying with the idea of letting her do another time jump here, but figured it would be weird how one second she looked very sick and passed out, and the next she would be completely fine haha.
Yea, the Malfoy thingy is Delia slightly discovering one of her powers - and no it's not charm speak, just a bit similar.
Once again shoutout to Sunset from the Emerald Library Discord for beta reading this chapter!
Sankarea396 : Idk if I didn't make it clear enough or wrote in a confusing way before, but it's not an Artemis/Apollo/Delia pairing. I was thinking about that at first, but decided to stick with Delia/Artemis after all. As for the Yule Ball… ;)
ShankZZ : Thank you! However, I can't make any promises on that front, just gotta wait and see :)
Nicogo707070 : I'm glad you like it, thank you for the positive feedback!