Flames Of Destiny // HJP [1]

Chapter Seventeen : Snuffles ┈➤

「 ✦ 17✦ 」

‎‧₊˚✩ 🪐┈➤✩˚₊‧

⋆˚࿔ (Y/N) 𝜗𝜚˚⋆

𝕬s they entered March, the weather turned drier, but cruel winds continued to nip at their hands and faces whenever they stepped outside. (Y/n) was grateful for magic this time, as she used a warming charm to protect herself from the biting cold. The winds were so strong that the post owls kept getting blown off course. On Friday morning, the brown owl Harry had sent to Sirius with the dates for the Hogsmeade weekend finally returned at breakfast, looking ruffled, with half its feathers sticking out at odd angles. Harry barely had time to tear open Sirius's reply before the owl quickly flew off again, eager to escape another round of stormy winds.

Sirius's letter was as brief as the last one:

Be at stile at the end of the road out of Hogsmeade (past Dervish and Banges) at two o'clock on Saturday afternoon. Bring as much food as you can.

"He hasn't come back to Hogsmeade, has he?" Ron asked incredulously.

"It looks like it," Hermione replied.

"I can't believe him," Harry said, his voice tense. "If he's caught..."

"He's made it this far, though, hasn't he?" (Y/n) chimed in.

"Yeah, and there aren't dementors swarming the place anymore," Ron added in agreement.

Harry folded the letter carefully, but (Y/n) could see the mixture of concern and anticipation in his eyes.

"It's not like you don't really want to see Sirius again, is it?" (Y/n) pointed out softly.

"I do," Harry admitted with a small, worried smile.

As they made their way to their next class, Potions, they descended into the dungeon, still talking. Outside the classroom door, they spotted Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle huddled together with Pansy Parkinson and her gang of Slytherin girls. All of them were sniggering at something they were passing around.

"What are those ugly lot so pleased about?" (Y/n) muttered under her breath. She wasn't one to be rude normally, but when it came to bullies like them, she didn't mind going low.

Pansy's pug-like face peered eagerly from behind Goyle as she spotted (Y/n), Harry, Ron, and Hermione approaching.

"There they are!" Pansy giggled, and the Slytherins broke apart. Pansy held a copy of Witch Weekly in her hand, the front cover showing a curly-haired witch grinning broadly as she pointed her wand at a large sponge cake.

A sinking feeling hit (Y/n)'s stomach. Being friends with the trio meant more than a few irritating encounters like this.

"You might find something to interest you in there, Granger!" Pansy said loudly, throwing the magazine at Hermione. She caught it, startled.

"What now?" (Y/n) grumbled, but before she could say more, the dungeon door opened, and Snape beckoned them inside.

Once they settled at their usual spot at the back of the dungeon, Hermione quickly rifled through the magazine under the table. She found the article they were dreading in the center pages, and (Y/n), Harry, and Ron leaned in to read along.

"Oh no, not this rubbish again," (Y/n) whispered in frustration.

A color photograph of Harry headed the article, which read:

Harry Potter's Secret Heartache

Perhaps a boy like no other, yet still a boy grappling with the familiar pangs of adolescence," writes Rita Skeeter. After the tragic loss of his parents, fourteen-year-old Harry Potter thought he had found solace with his steady Hogwarts girlfriend, the Muggle-born Hermione Granger. However, it seems his heartache is far from over, as Miss Granger, rather than choosing the pure-blood witch (Y/n) Weasley, appears to be playing with the affections of both Harry Potter and the famous Bulgarian Seeker, Viktor Krum.