ALULA (VOL. 3)

35- the quibbler

the quibbler

{1996}

The Great Hall

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* 　　 *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

The truth was finally going to be printed. Luna said vaguely that she did not know how soon Rita's interview with Harry would appear in The Quibbler, that her father was expecting a lovely long article on recent sightings of Crumple-Horned Snorkacks, ' - and of course, that'll be a very important story, so Harry's might have to wait for the following issue,' said Luna.

Alula saw how Harry had not found it an easy experience to talk about the night when Voldemort had returned. Rita had pressed him for every little detail and he had given her everything he could remember, knowing that this was his one big opportunity to tell the world the truth. Alula wondered how people would react to the story. She guessed that it would confirm a lot of people in the view that Harry was completely insane, not least because his story would be appearing alongside utter rubbish about Crumple-Horned Snorkacks. But the breakout of Bellatrix Lestrange and her fellow Death Eaters had given Harry a burning desire to do something, whether or not it worked . . .

'Can't wait to see what Umbridge thinks of you going public,' said Dean, sounding awestruck at dinner on Monday night. Seamus was shovelling down large amounts of chicken and ham pie on Dean's other side, but Harry and Alula knew he was listening.

'It's the right thing to do, Harry,' said Neville, who was sitting beside Alula. He was rather pale, but went on in a low voice, 'It must have been . . . tough . . . talking about it . . . was it?'

'Yeah,' mumbled Harry from across the table, 'but people have got to know what Voldemort's capable of, haven't they?'

"That's right," said Neville, nodding, 'and his Death Eaters, too . . . people should know . . ."

Neville left his sentence hanging and returned to his baked potato. Seamus looked up, but when he caught Alula's eye he looked quickly back at his plate again. After a while, Dean, Seamus and Neville departed for the common room, leaving Harry, Alula and Hermione at the table waiting for Ron, who had not yet had dinner because of Quidditch practice.

Cho Chang walked into the Hall with her friend Marietta. Alula was no longer a fan of Cho and this was furthered by her being friends with Marietta who stood by the vile Ravenclaw boy, but she did not look over at the Gryffindor table.

'Oh, I forgot to ask you,' said Hermione brightly, glancing over at the Ravenclaw table, 'what happened on your date with Cho? How come you were back so early?'

'Er . . . well, it was . . .' said Harry, pulling a dish of rhubarb crumble towards him and helping himself to seconds. "A complete fiasco, now you mention it."

"Do you wanna talk about it?" Alula asked, half wanting to know if he was alright, half wanting to know what happened.

And he told them what had happened in Madam Puddifoot's tea shop.