Dark

Chapter 27

Harry
Days had passed since Eleanor had spoken to me. I never saw her outside of classes, even in the Great Hall. She didn’t seem to speak to anyone. I had wondered if I should approach her, but every time I considered doing so at the end of a lesson, she had already rushed out of the room.
Again, she was missing from the Great Hall at breakfast on Friday morning.
As I finished scanning the Hall in search of Eleanor, a brown owl landed in front of me with a letter tied to its leg. The moment I managed to rip the letter away, the owl took off again to escape the harsh March winds in the safety of the owlery.
The letter was short and simple:
“Be at stile at end of road out of Hogsmeade (past Dervish and Banges) at two o’clock on Saturday afternoon. Bring as much food as you can. Bring Eleanor along.”
“He hasn’t come back to Hogsmeade?” Ron said incredulously as he read the letter over my shoulder.
I handed the parchment to Hermione and after having read the short note she added, “It looks like it, doesn’t it?”
“I can’t believe him,” I said tensely, “if he’s caught…”
“Made it so far, though, hasn’t he?” Ron chipped in. “And it’s not like the place is swarming with dementors anymore.”
“We should go find Eleanor to let her know.” Hermione said, starting to stand up from the table.
“No, we can’t.” I said quickly, brining Hermione to a stop.
“What do you mean we can’t?” Hermione asked.
“I mean…I just…I need to talk to Sirius, about Eleanor…and she can’t be there.” I said. It was complicated, just like everything with Eleanor seemed to be.
“What if she sees us sneaking off though? Don’t you think Siri– I mean, Snuffles, will be upset if we don’t bring her with?” Ron said.
“He probably will be. But I really need to talk to him without Eleanor there.” I said. “As for Eleanor, we’ll just have to make sure she doesn’t find out.”

Eleanor
I hadn’t spoken to anyone in nearly a week.
I sat quietly through my classes, stayed clear of the Great Hall, and left most of my studying until late at night so I could study in silence in the common room. After everything that had happened since the second task, I couldn’t bear to be around people. I was frustrated and infuriated. I didn’t want to even look at Harry, Ron, Hermione, or Malfoy. The idea of them knowing anything about my past made me feel nauseous. I didn’t want anyone to know, but now they knew one part of the story. One part of the sad story that has been my wretched life.
My luck with avoiding everyone would have to run out at some point though. That end came when I dared to read in the common room during my break before Potions, rather than in my dormitory. More specifically that end came when the seat next to me was suddenly filled.
I didn’t have to look up to know that it was Astoria Greengrass. The smell of her perfume was enough to give her identity away. So I kept my gaze upon the book I had most recently taken from the restricted section of the library. As I continued to read the sound of nails clicking against a tabletop reached my ears.
It was barely a full minute before I couldn’t stand the noise anymore. When I looked up to meet Astoria’s eyes she was watching me intently.
“Why have you been avoiding Malfoy?” She asked quickly.
“I haven’t been avoiding Malfoy.” I answered.
“Yes you have. Ever since the second task. You were hanging out with him at the party and then you two left together but you came back alone. You’ve been avoiding him since then.” Astoria said as concern laced her features. “Why? Did something happen when you guys left the party?”
How in the world could someone who seemed so clueless be so observant? I considered Astoria for a moment, trying to decide if I should bother to answer her question. It wasn’t any of her business, and yet I felt as though I could trust her. Was Malfoy right? Had I someone managed to make actual friends? Did Astoria consider us to be friends? Would she actually trust me with personal information the same way that she wanted me to trust her?
“Not exactly.” I finally said. “At least not what you’re probably thinking…”
“What do you mean?” Astoria’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion. “What could have happened then?”
“It’s just…Malfoy just found out something about my past that I didn’t really want anyone to know about.” I answered awkwardly, trying to avoid divulging any actual information.
“So you’re just going to avoid him for the rest of your life?”
“I’m not avoiding him. I already told you that.”
“You are avoiding him though. Was it something in your past that you did?” Astorai asked. “Was it something bad?”
“It just…” I wasn’t sure how this had become so complicated so quickly, “yes it was bad…but no, it wasn’t something that I did…”
“Then stop avoiding Malfoy.” She said simply.
“I’m not –“
“Yes you are. Look at him, he’s been extra surly all week.” Astoria pointed toward the couches.
Malfoy was sitting with Blaise Zabini and Theodore Nott. While Zabini and Nott were talking animatedly about something, Malfoy seemed to be lost in thought. It was quite an unusual sight. His signature smirk was absent, and he was oddly slouched against the back of the couch. As much as I tried to tell Astoria that I wasn’t avoiding Malfoy, it was indeed true that I had kept my distance from him. I didn’t want to know what he thought of what I had said, and I didn’t want him trying to say that we were friends, again.
I’ve spent my entire life without friends or a family. No one has ever looked out for me or had my back in any situation. Even my own brother didn’t want me around, so how I could allow myself to think that anyone else would want to be my friend? It seemed completely impossible.
And yet here Malfoy was, clearly upset and not acting like himself. If Astoria was right, it was because I was avoiding him. Could I truly have such an effect on someone? Did that mean that Malfoy actually did want to be my friend? Could I ever really trust that him saying he wants to be friends isn’t just a sick joke with some sort of ulterior motive?
As I tried to sort through all of the muddled thoughts in my brain, Malfoy looked up. He saw Astoria and I watching him as his eyes locked onto mine. For a split second he just looked at me. Then he suddenly scrunched up his face as he jumped up from the couch and left the common room.
Maybe Astoria was right, and maybe Malfoy was right as well. I sighed, feeling somewhat defeated. “Fine, I’ll talk to him.”

Harry
Ron, Hermione, and I had only just approached the Potions classroom when we could hear snickering coming from a group of Slytherins. They were huddled around something but upon seeing us in the corridor they broke apart and Pansy Parkinson stepped forward, a wicked smile plastered over her face.
“There they are, there they are!” She laughed.
That was when I saw the magazine clutched tightly in her hand.
“You might find something to interest you in there, Granger!” Pansy said loudly, throwing the magazine at Hermione, who caught it.
Hermione’s face immediately fell and she continued to look upset as her eyes quickly scanned the page while we took our seats. As Snape began writing the list of ingredients of today’s potion on the blackboard, Hermione handed the magazine to Ron and I. The article it was opened to was titled “Harry Potter’s Secret Heartache and Sisterly Woes”. We read on, the magazine hidden under the edge of the table we were working at:
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 and separation from his sister, 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, Bulgarian Seeker and hero of the last World Quidditch 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 that have captured these unfortunate boys’ interest.
“She’s really ugly,” say Pansy Parkinson, a pretty and vivacious fourth-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 on a worthier candidate.
Unfortunately for our Golden Boy, he seems to also be experiencing a fall out with yet another girl. Harry Potter and his own sister, Eleanor Potter, were reported to have been arguing fiercely following the second task. Some sources have indicated that Eleanor turned violent and even shoved her own brother to ground. Is this a sign of the truly dark nature that resides within the troubled mind of Eleanor Potter? Only time will reveal the answers.
“I told you!” Ron hissed as he passed the magazine back to Hermione. “I told you not to annoy Rita Skeeter! She’s made you out to be some sort of – of scarlet woman!”
Hermione cracked a smile and snorted with laughter. “Scarlet woman?” she repeated.
“It’s what my mum calls them,” Ron muttered as his ears began to go red.
“If that’s the best Rita can do, she’s losing her touch,” Hermione said, placing the Witch Weekly article onto the empty chair beside her. “What a pile of old rubbish.”
As our attention turned back to the potion that we were supposed to be brewing, I noticed Eleanor sitting beside Malfoy. She seemed to be ignoring him as much as she was ignoring us. It was strange to seem him glance over at her every few seconds, with a somewhat pained expression on his face. Could he really be that bothered by Eleanor not speaking to him? What did any of it matter to Malfoy anyhow?
“There’s something funny, though,” Hermione spoke up again ten minutes later. “How could Rita Skeeter have known…?”
“Known what?” said Ron quickly. “You haven’t been mixing up Love Potions, have you?”
“Don’t be stupid,” Hermione snapped. “No, it’s just…how did she know Viktor asked me to visit him over the summer?”
Hermione began to blush and seemed to be suddenly very interested in her potion again.
“What?” Ron asked as he dropped his pestle with a loud clunk against the table.
“He asked me right after he’d pulled me out of the lake.” Hermione muttered. “After he’d got rid of his shark’s head. Madam Pomfrey gave us both blankets and then he sort of pulled me away from the judges so they wouldn’t hear, and he said, if I wasn’t doing anything over the summer, would I like to –“
“And what did you say?” said Ron.
“And he did say he’s never felt the same way about anyone else,” Hermione went on, “but how could Rita Skeeter have heard him? She wasn’t there…or was she? Maybe she has got an Invisibility Cloak; maybe she sneaked onto the grounds to watch the second task…”
“And what did you say?” Ron repeated, having picked his pestle back up and pounding it down against the desk rather than in its bowl.
“Well I was too busy seeing whether you and Harry were okay to –“
“Fascinating though your social life undoubtedly is, Miss Granger,” an icy voice said from behind us, “I must ask you not to discuss it in my class. Ten points from Gryffindor.”
I turned to find Snape standing directly behind us, his gaze shifting from each of us and then to the magazine Hermione had abandoned on the empty chair next to her. His eyes practically flashed as he reached for the article.
“Ah…reading magazines under the table as well?” Snape added. “A further ten points from Gryffindor…oh but of course…Potter has to keep up with his press cuttings…”
Laughter rang out from the Slytherins as an unpleasant smile curled Snape’s thin mouth. The only Slytherin that seemed unamused was Eleanor, who was now watching us all intently.
“’Harry Potter’s Secret Heartache’…dear, dear, Potter, what’s ailing you now?” Snape remarked, conveniently ignoring the mention of Eleanor in the article’s title. “’A boy like no other, perhaps…’”
As Snape continued to read the article aloud, I could feel my face going red. Hermione was visible reddening as well. While I could feel the anger welling up inside of me, I was surprised when I looked up to find Eleanor looking even more livid than I felt. Her eyes were fixed on Snape, a furious glare present.
“’…However, it might not be Miss Granger’s doubtful natural charms that have captured these unfortunate boys’ interest.’”
“That’s enough!” Eleanor said loudly across the room.
The snickering suddenly stopped and everyone turned towards Eleanor. She was still glaring up at Snape, refusing to break eye contact with him now that she had his attention. The atmosphere was thick with tension as we all waiting to see who would pounce first. It was like watching wild animals size each other up, deciding if going on the attack would benefit them or not. And for a moment Eleanor and Snape simply stared down each other, both visibly furious with the other.
“That will be quite enough, Miss Potter.” Snape snapped.
“I don’t think so. Maybe you should just throw that trash of a publication away and be done with it.” Eleanor countered.
“This is my classroom, and I will do as I please. Do not presume that you can tell me –“
“I’m not presuming anything. But I do find it strange that you should be so upset with students for not paying attention to their potions work, but then you proceed to distract the entire class by reading that garbage article aloud. Is it not bad enough that you consistently insult not only Hermione, but the entirety of Gryffindor house on a near daily basis? Are you truly so pathetic that you –“
“I said that is ENOUGH!” Snape shouted, losing control.
“What will it be then, detention? Points from Slytherin?” Eleanor asked. “Or will it be nothing again, because you obviously employ extreme favoritism to Slytherin students?”
I watched on, unsure if I was horror struck or awe struck as Eleanor verbally attacked Snape. I had never heard anyone speak to him in that way and yet there Eleanor was, still glaring at him and refusing to back down. Ron was visibly shaking with silent laughter as he looked between Eleanor and Snape. Hermione, meanwhile, seemed torn between admiration for Eleanor having stood up for her, and horror that she had spoken to a teacher in such a disrespectful way.

Eleanor
“Everyone back to work.” Snape called out, finally looking away from me.
How Snape could think that it was all right for him to attack Harry and Hermione like that in class was beyond me. I was infuriated. But I was also confused. Why had he left out the part of the title that mentioned me? Would he have read the last paragraph of that article if I had let him continue? Or would he have ignored that as well? Was that because I was one of his Slytherin students, or was it something else that made him treat me differently from Harry? Whatever it was, didn’t matter in the long run. What mattered to me in that moment was that it was completely unreasonable for him to have read that article aloud to the class.
I continued to work on my potion, adding my freshly grounded ingredients and giving it a few counter-clockwise stirs. I had hoped to ignore Snape for the remainder of the lesson, but two things brought my attention back to him. The first was when he moved Harry to the front of the classroom, separating him from Ron and Hermione.
“So I give you fair warning, Potter,” Snape was hissing quietly, “pint-sized celebrity or not – if I catch you breaking into my office one more time –“
“I haven’t been anywhere near your office!” Harry said angrily.
“Don’t lie to me,” Snape said, “Boomslang skin. Gillyweed. Both come from my private stores, and I know who stole them.”
That wasn’t true. Snape had no idea who had stolen that Gillyweed if he thought Harry had done it. I was the one who had broken into his store cupboard to take the Gillyweed for Harry. As the exchange between Harry and Snape came to an end, Harry looked up at me.
I mouthed “sorry,” to him, feeling guilty that he was being blamed for me having broken into the store cupboard. To my surprise, Harry gave me a small smile before going back to work on his potion. So much for ignoring him I supposed.
Did that mean he wasn’t mad at me for Snape thinking it had been him who had stolen the Gillyweed? I wasn’t sure, but it didn’t matter. Harry and I weren’t close, we’d never be close. So, mad at me or not, it didn’t really seem as though it would change our relationship. A relationship that essentially didn’t exist to begin with.
As the lesson came closer to an end there was a knock on the dungeon door, bringing my attention back to Snape for the second time.
“Enter,” Snape called out.
I looked around with the rest of the class as the door opened to reveal Karkaroff. We all watched as he moved through the room toward Snape, a single finger twisting the hair of his goatee. He seemed agitated.
When he reached Snape’s desk at the front of the room he spoke it a quiet voice, barely loud enough for me to make out what was being said, “We need to talk.”
“I’ll talk to you after my lesson, Karkaroff,” Snape muttered, just as quietly.
“I want to talk now, while you can’t slip off, Severus. You’ve been avoiding me.”
“After the lesson,” Snape hissed harshly.
Whatever it was that Karkaroff needed from Snape, I didn’t find out. I had something else that I needed to do before I returned to the Slytherin common room. I made my way out of the room and into the corridor. As other students passed me I hung back, waiting for Malfoy.
When he finally walked out of the room he seemed surprised to see me standing outside the door.
“I had a question for you, Malfoy.” I told him as I grabbed his hand and pulled him down the corridor away from the other students.
“What is it?” He asked, looking utterly confused.
“Are you going to Hogsmeade tomorrow?” I asked him simply.
“Er…yeah, I suppose.” He answered.
“Will you go with me? I think we need to talk.” I told him.
“Really?” He asked, raising an eyebrow. “You’ve been avoiding me for the past week and now you want to just go into Hogsmeade and talk?”
“Yeah, I’ve thought about you said. And I’m done avoiding you. I just don’t want to talk where other students can hear us, you know?” I wasn’t really sure what I was going to say to him in Hogsmeade, but I felt like something had to be said. I didn’t think I could let the fact that Malfoy knew one of my darkest secrets just hang around unresolved if I was going to make an effort to be his friend.
“All right.” He answered simply.
“I’ll see you tomorrow then.” I told him before making my way back to the Slytherin common room.