FINITE | Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire [4]

𝘅𝗹𝘃 | 𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗮 𝘀𝗸𝗲𝗲𝘁𝗲𝗿'𝘀 𝘀𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿

Since the end of second task, everyone had been asking Gwen, Hermione, and Harry all about it; Gwen ducked away from telling the story, but Ron took on telling it for her, starting off by talking about how Gwen and Hermione had been put intoa bewitched sleep, then, as time went on, he would tell elaborate stories about how they had their wands up their sleeves the whole time. Gwen let him complicate the story; it was nice seeing him being able to bask in the attention they received as well. She had actually started directing people to ask Ron instead.

As they entered March, the weather became drier, but there were harsh gales that seemed to skin them alive every time they went onto the grounds. There was a delay in post as owls kept being blown off course. Sirius' reply to Harry came from the same brown owl, which had half its feather sticking up the wrong way; it took flight as soon as Harry had detached the letter from its leg, afraid it would be sent outside again.

Sirius' letter was very short:

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.

'He's not seriously come to Hogsmeade?' Gwen murmured when Harry read it aloud.

'Looks like it, doesn't it,' said Hermione.

'I can't believe him,' said Harry tensely, 'if he's caught...'

'Made it so far, though, hasn't he?' said Ron. 'And it's not like the place is swarming with dementors anymore.'

Harry folded the letter into his robes as they left for Potions. It was their final lesson of the afternoon, double, and, as they descended the staircase to the dungeons, they were met with Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle standing in a huddle with Pansy Parkinson and her gang of Slytherin girls.

As Gwen, Harry, Ron, and Hermione approached, Pansy turned her delighted pug like face toward them, and shrieked, 'There they are, there they are!'

The knot of Slytherins broke apart, and Gwen could see, clutched in Pansy's hand, a copy of the Witch Weekly magazine.

'You might find something to interest you in there!' Pansy said loudly, and she threw the magazine at Hermione, who caught it, looking startled. At that moment, Snape opened the dungeon door and beckoned them all inside.

Gwen took her usual seat by Theo, Harry and Ron sat at the back, while Hermione sat alone at the desk behind Gwen. It was as Snape was writing the ingredients for today's potion on the blackboard that Hermione caught Gwen's attention.

'Look at this,' she said, looking amused, and she handed Gwen the copy of Witch Weekly.

Gwen took it from her, checked that Snape's back was still turned, then looked down at the photo of Harry on the page, and read the article below:

Harry Potter's Secret Heartache

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, fourteen-year-old Harry Potter thought he had found solace in his steady girlfriend, Pure Blood Gwenevere Everill. Little did he know that he would shortly be suffering yet another emotional blow in a life already littered in personal loss.