A Shot At Happiness

NEW DISCOVERIES

October went by fleetingly, and soon Hogwarts was preparing itself for the annual Halloween feast. A lot had happened in that time. Ginny, Neville and Luna continued to visit Sirius in his dog form, sometimes, they hung out on the grounds and sometimes they headed into the Shrieking Shack. Sirius took this opportunity to get to know the three of them better. The same could be said for Neville and Luna, but for Ginny, she was just glad to have her friend back.

The Quidditch season had begun, which means, often they found the house teams running practice. From what Ginny heard from the twins, it was Oliver Wood’s final year and he was hell bent on winning the Quidditch Cup, which meant, rigorous practice for the Gryffindor Team.

As for the Golden trio, tempers were running high between Ron and Hermione, because of their pets. Ron seemed to believe that Crookshanks was deliberately trying to attack Scabbers. Only Ginny and Neville knew how much self control they had to instill in order to not attack Scabbers themselves or feed him to Crookshanks.

As for Harry, he was depressed as he wasn’t allowed to go to Hogsmeade but Ginny knew that her twin brothers would take care of that particular problem soon.

Ginny, Neville and Luna were also preparing themselves for the upcoming break-in attempt that evening. Neville had decided to stay back with them despite the girls’ telling him to go enjoy his day in Hogsmeade.

They spent some time with Sirius on the grounds and finally made it back to the castle when the sky began darkening. Soon it was time for what they were waiting for. As the three slowly made their way back to the common rooms after the feast, they heard the commotion outside the Gryffindor common room. The three smirked inwardly knowing Sirius had done his job well. They stayed together so as to not get separated when the students were told to shift to the Great Hall for the night.

Fortunately or unfortunately, they ended up being next to Harry, Ron and Hermione. Even in the midst of all the panic, Hermione took a moment to send an inquisitive look their way but thankfully was distracted by the commotion at hand.

As per the plan, Dumbledore had sent out search parties. The prefects were told to get the students to settle down for the night in sleeping bags. Despite everything going as planned, Ginny was worried that Sirius would be caught. From the looks on their faces, Neville and Luna had the same thought.

After a while, as though knowing their fears, Dumbledore and Snape approached where they were lying. Percy promptly went up to Dumbledore asking, “Any sign of him, Professor?”

The three let out a sigh of relief when Dumbledore replied that no, despite looking for him everywhere, he was nowhere to be found. The professors soon moved away, leaving the students around them to their speculations.
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The next day, naturally, all anyone had to talk about was the attempted break-in. Ginny, Neville and Luna were happy that their attempt to scare and put Pettigrew on alert was successful as they had just heard Ron complaining to Seamus how weathered looking Scabbers looked lately. He blamed it on Crookshanks but only a few knew that it was out of fear of getting captured after twelve long years.

As they sat down for breakfast, an owl landed before Neville carrying a large package. Thankfully, for the Trio, the Great Hall was not filled with many students other than the few early risers here and there. So they quickly finished their breakfast and headed out the Great Hall and soon found an empty classroom to open the package.

To their delight, it was the potion ingredients required to brew the animagus potion. They had already decided to do the brewing in the Chamber of Secrets. For the time being, they let Luna keep the ingredients n her dorm and left for their respective classes.

After the classes were done, the trio discreetly made their way down to the Chamber. Once there, they called Dobby who was more than happy to help them gather the required cauldron and other equipments. Soon the potion was in the making. They made their way back, after leaving Dobby in charge of keeping an eye on the potion.

It was later, after dinner, while in the common room that Hermione cornered Ginny.

“Hey Ginny,” greeted Hermione as she settled on the empty armchair opposite Ginny.

“Hermione, hi,” said Ginny in return with a smile.

“I’m sorry, I haven’t been around to talk to you much,” started Hermione hesitantly. “It’s just that, the third year classes are so hectic and I am taking all of them. So I’m always trying to juggle it all and I just couldn’t find time to talk to you.”

“That’s alright, Hermione. I understand, you have a busy year, this time around. But are you taking care of yourself? I don’t want you to neglect yourself while you focus on your classes,” said Ginny tentatively. She knew her friend was overexerting herself but also knew that Hermione can be stubborn and would not listen to her if she asks her to drop some classes.

“Yes, yes. I’ve been looking after myself too,” assured Hermione before asking, “How have you been, Ginny? How are your classes going so far? If you need any help, you can ask me.”

“Classes are going good, Hermione. And yes, I will definitely ask you if I have any doubts. Thanks for the offer,” replied Ginny with a smile. “How about you, how are your classes? I know you said you’re busy but how do find your new subjects?”

“Oh, they’re great actually. Arithmancy is just like muggle mathematics, it’s fun to do and easy to grasp. Ancient Runes is interesting, all those symbols and what they mean and what they can do. It’s fun to learn but needs a lot of effort. As for Muggle Studies, well, there’s nothing new in there, at least for me. Most of the things they teach are quite outdated, but to look at it from a wizard’s point of view is different,” rambled Hermione excitedly.