TWO FATES || hp

Chapter 15

The anti-dementor classes with Remus surely brought Harry and Avalon closer. He disclosed the fact to her that he heard his parents voices when the dementors got too close with him, and she also told him about the screaming she heard inside her head. Maybe it was because they were twins, that they become close really quickly. But that wasn't the case with Melora. Avalon had a feeling that Melora didn't like Harry very much. 

Learning the patronus spell was harder than she thought it would be. Maybe it was because she of her lack of magical education, but producing a patronus was proving to be quite difficult. And not to say that the anti-dementor classes were extremely draining. Even so, nobody looked more tired and drained than Hermione, whose immense workload finally seemed to be getting to her. Every night, without fail, Hermione was to be seen in a corner of the common room, several tables spread with books, Arithmancy charts, rune dictionaries, diagrams of Muggles lifting heavy objects, and file upon file of extensive notes; she barely spoke to anybody and snapped when she was interrupted.

"How's she doing it?" Ron muttered to Harry and Avalon one evening as they sat finishing a nasty essay on Undetectable Poisons for Snape. Melora wasn't in the common room. She was in library with Daphne who was helping her keep up with the homework and other things. 

Avalon looked up. Hermione was barely visible behind a tottering pile of books.

"Doing what?" asked Harry.

"Getting to all her classes!" Ron said. "I heard her talking to Professor Vector, that Arithmancy witch, this morning. They were going on about yesterday's lesson, but Hermione can't've been there, because she was with us in Care of Magical Creatures! And Ernie McMillan told me she's never missed a Muggle Studies class, but half of them are at the same time as Divination, and she's never missed one of them either!"

Avalon wanted to tease Ron by dropping hints that maybe she knew the mystery behind Hermione's impossible schedule, but she really needed to get on with Snape's essay. Even being a die-hard fan of Harry Potter didn't mean that she enjoyed completing the homework and learning the magical textbooks. 

Two seconds later, however, Harry and Avalon were interrupted again, this time by Wood.

"Bad news, Harry. I've just been to see Professor McGonagall about the Firebolt. She — er — got a bit shirty with me. Told me I'd got my priorities wrong. Seemed to think I cared more about winning the Cup than I do about you staying alive. Just because I told her I didn't care if it threw you off, as long as you caught the Snitch first." Wood shook his head in disbelief. 

"Honestly, the way she was yelling at me... you'd think I'd said something terrible. Then I asked her how much longer she was going to keep it..." He screwed up his face and imitated Professor McGonagall's severe voice. "As long as necessary, Wood ... I reckon it's time you ordered a new broom, Harry. There's an order form at the back of Which Broomstick... you could get a Nimbus Two Thousand and One, like Malfoy's got."

"I'm not buying anything Malfoy thinks is good," said Harry flatly.

Avalon, on the hand, continued to write her essay without letting her mind wander off to other things. 

-

January faded imperceptibly into February, with no change in the bitterly cold weather. Avalon's anti-dementor lessons weren't going well. Several sessions on, she was able to produce an indistinct, silvery shadow every time the Boggart-Dementor approached her, but her Patronus was too feeble to drive the Dementor away. All it did was hover, like a semi-transparent cloud, draining Avalon of energy as she fought to keep it there. She even found herself desiring to hear her godmother's voice, wanting to figure out who exactly was torturing her. But then she felt angry and guilty.