It was an icy-cold afternoon in early February, the winter had been harsh for weeks now, and it seemed like the cold had seeped into the castle. However, the Slytherin common room was a beacon of warmth in the cold dungeons of Hogwarts, Draco Malfoy had apparently complained to his father about the 'awful freezing conditions which he had to endure', which had resulted in the school arranging for a team of house elves working around the clock to keep the Slytherin quarters warm.
It was therefore crowded in the common room, with lots of students huddled up there, working or relaxing. Since it was Friday, Daphne was busy working on her weekly report for Snape. She was not completely sure why Professor Snape was so interested in school gossip, but she would indulge him if this meant maintaining good relations with her head of house.
Weekly report by Daphne Greengrass,
After a couple of weeks of scarcity, dung bombs are again available on the Hogwarts black market. It is unclear if the Weasley twins have restarted their operations, or if other students have filled the gap they left behind.
First year Gryffindor Hermoine Granger has spent a large amount of time in the third floor girls bathroom. We strongly suspect that she has set up a private study room in one of the bathroom stalls and might even be spending her nights there.
It was disturbing for Daphne and Tracey to discover that Granger had taken up residence in this bathroom, which was usually avoided by most due to the presence of Moaning Myrtle, since this was the place where the girl had been attacked by a mountain troll in November. Only an ultimate intervention by Professor Flitwick had saved Granger from the aggressive beast. But Daphne had the impression that she was lonely in Gryffindor and the mind seems to work in strange ways, apparently the girl had started to spend more time in solitude in the very place where she had nearly lost her life.
Draco Malfoy and Pansy Parkinson have entered a boyfriend-girlfriend relationship, apparently Pansy believes this is a first step towards a betrothal negotiation, I believe Draco has plans on a shorter term.
Daphne still shuddered when she thought back to a few days ago when Draco had invited her to come and watch him and Pansy kiss. Although it was quite funny to see Draco's confused face when Tracey had asked if Dread was welcome to come and watch as well. She hoped that the Dransy relationship would cause Draco to stop his 'flirting' attempts with her, she was tired of hearing what a great and mighty wizard he was.
Seamus Finnigan has melted his final cauldron while practicing for his upcoming test and will have to find a way to purchase a new one.
Neville Longbottom has managed to cast a stinging hex during DADA practice, he is hoping this will counter the rumours that he is a squib.
Longbottom had been pleased with himself that he had managed to cast the spell with so many students present. It had been in a large classroom on the second floor that was often used for spell practicing. Daphne and Tracey had been there as well practicing this hex, even though they were both already able to cast it, it was good to repeat spells often to really get the feel for them and increase the accuracy, power and control. It was also a good training for Dread, who had been chasing the purple lights of the stinging hex and 'catching' them mid-air. He really got better and better at that.
The first year Huffelpufs are planning a party this Saturday in their common room, members of other houses have been invited as well.
The Ravenclaw beater Duncan Inglebee has caught dragon flue and will not be in top shape for his game next week.
Well, that was the report for this week done. Now she just had to drop it off at Snape's office and she could go to dinner. Daphne gathered her things and proceeded to leave the common room. When she got in the hallway, she was met by her familiar that came flying towards her. "There you are, Dread. Did you have a nice afternoon? Not too cold outside?"
Dread landed on her arm, cawing a greeting and nudging her cheek with his beak. However, when she started walking in the direction of the potion dungeon, he flapped his wings and took off in the direction of the entrance hall, only to fly back and land on her arm again. "Is something wrong Dread? Do you want me to follow? However I really want to get this report to Snape so that my work is done for today."
Again Dread took off, cawing as he did so. It was clear that he wanted Daphne to follow. "Ok, let us see what you want to show me."
When they arrived in the entrance hall, it became clear Dread wanted her to follow him outside. Daphne was really reluctant to leave the castle, even inside it was cold, the conditions outside were surely not witch proof. "No Dread, I will not go with you to play. Why don't you stay inside with me?"
Determined Daphne turned around to return to the dungeons, under loud protest from Dread. She had taken only a few steps, when suddenly she felt a sharp pain on her bum. Twisting around she shouted "Aw, who did that?", only to see her familiar flapping around. Before she could get over her confusion, Dread flew towards her again, her eyes grew wide as purple light appeared between his talons and shot towards her. The sting that she felt on her left leg made it clear who had cast the previous spell.
Daphne stared at her familiar after that, she had never heard of an animal, magical or otherwise, being able to cast a spell. Her familiar did not cease to amaze her, she guessed she could put this on the list of things that she had to research. She had however read through all the books that were available on the subject in the Hogwarts library regarding familiars and did not come across examples of this.
However, for the moment it seemed like her crow really did want her outside. She sighed, cast a heating charm on her cloak and closed it as much as possible. She pushed open the large entrance door and made her way outside together with Dread. "What is it you so desperately want to show me?" she asked the agitated bird.
They went for quite a long walk through the snow and stiff winter breeze that was blowing outside. Powdery snow was blowing up from the ground and hitting Daphne's face, she kept an arm in front of her for protection. Dread kept leading her and eventually they made it to the groundkeeper's cabin. The wooden, sturdy house near the lake was a place which others usually did not visit. She was just going to ask Dread why on earth they were here, when a roar could be heard from the cabin over the winter wind. Gathering her courage Daphne sneaked to the small window of the cabin and her eyes grew wide as she peeked inside.
When she finally got back to the castle, with Dread now snuggled under her cloak, she sighed again. She rubbed her hands together to get some feeling back in her fingers. Then she got her weekly report for snape out of her bag and scribbled one more line:
The groundskeeper is raising a dragon in his wooden cabin, it is about five feet tall and has burned most of his furniture.
