Puppet Strings (Hogwarts x Reader)

Chapter 8

Y/n spent the next few days practically living at the hospital wing, Hermione and Ron doing the same. They only left Harry's bedside at night when they had to sleep—or work on that dreadful essay Snape had assigned.

Each day the stack of gifts by Harry's bed grew. Hagrid had sent him a bunch of earwiggy flowers that looked like yellow cabbages, and Ginny Weasley, blushing furiously, turned up with a get-well card she had made herself, which sang shrilly unless Harry kept it shut under his bowl of fruit. The Gryffindor team visited again one morning, this time accompanied by Wood, who told Harry (in a hollow, dead sort of voice) that he didn't blame him in the slightest.

And Ron....well, Ron was actually being friendly, sort of. There was at least a general acceptance now of Y/n. He didn't act cold anymore, and while Y/n wasn't letting him off for his behavior (what he did was still incredibly stupid and wrong), she was glad that they had reached a sort of understanding now.

That night, as Y/n, Ron, and Hermione were leaving, Harry spoke up.

"Y/n, can I talk to you?"

Puzzled, Y/n bid the other two goodnight before sitting back at Harry's bedside. "Everything okay?" she asked as Hermione and Ron left.

"Yeah. Sort of...um." He paused. "So you remember the tea leaves lesson at the start of term? In Divination?"

Y/n chuckled dryly. "How could I forget?"

"Yeah. Well....I saw the Grim."

Y/n frowned. "Yeah I know, that was the whole thing. We saw the Grim in our tea leaves—"

"No," Harry said forcefully. "I mean in real life."

Y/n's stomach sank. "When?"

"The night I left Privet Drive," he said. "And at the Quidditch game, right before—"

"Right before you fell off your broom," Y/n finished, eyes wide. "But you're not....I mean, you must have just...imagined it, right?"

"I wish."

Y/n's brow creased. "So...well, what does that mean, then?"

Harry didn't answer. The obvious answer hung in the air.

Y/n shook her head. "No, I don't believe it. You're not...you're not going to die just because you're seeing some dog. Maybe Fang got loose, or—"

"And what, Hagrid's dog just casually found its way to Privet Drive a week before school started?" Harry said.

Y/n went quiet.

"So what do we do?" she finally asked.

"I dunno," Harry said. "But you had it in your tea leaves too, that's why I'm telling you this. Have you seen it anywhere?"

Y/n shook her head. "No, I haven't."

Harry nodded, looking troubled.

Y/n put her hand on his knee. "Hey. Nothing is going to happen to you, okay? Not while I'm around."

Harry shrugged. "I mean, you did brave the dementors for me—no big deal or anything."

"And, y'know, broke Malfoy's nose."

At that, Harry let out another laugh. "I still can't believe I missed that!"

"Well you were a bit preoccupied with almost dying."

"Dumbledore should have slowed me down more so I could have watched."

"He was sort of dealing with a hundred dementors at the time."