Miranda Black and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Sirius Black's Daughter SEQUEL!)

Chapter 10 : The Fat Lady

Every student at Hogwarts knew their favorite class by now, and I'm pretty sure mostly everyone enjoyed Defense Against The Dark Arts the most. Apart from the Slytherins, of course. They all hated the class and the two Professors who taught it.

In DADA, the second and third years (both years were doing the same thing) studied Red Caps after we finished up with Boggarts. Red Caps are nasty-goblin-things who lurk anywhere blood has been spilled. We then began learning about Kappas - water-dwelling, creepy-monkey creatures who would strangle and kill any unlucky person who happened to come across where the Kappa was living.

Other classes were good too, excluding Potions. Professor Snape was acting even more unkind than he usually was.  My guess was that it had something to do with the fact that Neville's Boggart had - according to the Gryffindor third years - taken the shape of Snape, and then, to make it funnier, Neville made Boggart-Snape wear his Grandmother's clothes. The people who saw it said that it was hilarious.

In early October, a few students started receiving warm, woolly, winter clothes from their parents and grandparents. Quidditch practice had begun and from what I could see, all 4 teams were practicing hard-out. At this moment, I was walking back from dinner with Daniel.  We noticed a dozen students chatting and laughing excitedly, occasionally pointing or glancing at the notice board.

Daniel dragged me over to see what was happening. He recognized his good friend Seamus Finnigan in the crowd and went over to him, still dragging me.

"What's going on?" he asked, dropping my arm.

"Oh, Professor McGonagall put a notice up about the first Hogsmeade visit. But you guys don't need to worry about it, because it only really applies to those who are third year and up." Seamus explained.  We both nodded and Daniel said thanks.  He then dragged me once more, this time towards the actual notice board. We both scanned the board, and easily found the Hogsmeade notice that everyone was so excited about.

It was pretty plain. It just said : A reminder to all students in their third year and any year above, that the first Hogsmeade visit will be on Halloween Day, the 31st of October. If you would like to go, please present a signed permission slip, the one that was given out at the end of last year, to either Argus Filch or Professor McGonagall, on the day of the trip. No slip, no trip.  Thank you! 

Now it was my turn to drag Daniel away. I gave the password to the Fat Lady and we entered our common room. Like the group outside, everyone (particularly the third years) were very cheerful, and there was an excited buzz around the room. Because of the Hogsmeade visit, I assumed.

I spotted Ginny sitting alone on the chair by the stairs that lead to the girls' dormitories. She didn't seem to be doing anything, just staring around the room. I raised my eyebrows at her, but she didn't notice. I looked around the room to see where Star was. 

I spotted her sitting on one of the couches with two girls who I recognized as Felicity and Ella - the inseparable best friends from my dormitory. They were chatting away like they'd known each other for years and giggling non stop, occasionally pointing or glancing at a few people, including Ginny.  I got confused, so turned to Daniel for information, but he'd already disappeared. Boys! Sighing, I headed in Ginny's direction.

As I came closer to her, the tears threatening to roll down her cheeks became more evident, as did the redness in her cheeks and ears. 

"Ginny?" I said softly, glancing at my best friend.

"What do you want now?" she said almost angrily, turning to face me. "Oh, it's you." 

"What's up Gin?" I asked her, putting on my concerned face.