Which Witch? Harry Potter

004.

FOUR.
Youth

You might be wondering how this chapter ends up with Riley Jane in the hospital wing with Harry Potter.

Well, you probably weren't wondering. You wouldn't have known that information if it hadn't been given to you. But now you might be wondering. So.

Riley Jane would tell you.

Not that this was part of how she got there, but she was proud to say that Defense Against the Dark Arts had become most people's favorite class. Only Draco Malfoy and his gang of Slytherins had anything bad to say about her father.

"Look at the state of his robes," Malfoy would say in a loud whisper as Remus passed. "He dresses like our old house-elf."

"Keep talking, Malfoy," Riley Jane snarled. "I'll give you a real injury."

But no one else cared that Remus's robes were patched and frayed. His next few lessons were just as interesting as the first, and Riley Jane revoked her questioning that her father would be a good teacher (Sorry, Dad).

Potions was horrible. Snape was in a particularly vindictive mood these days, because the story of the boggart assuming Snape's shape (and the way that Neville had dressed it in his grandmother's clothes) had traveled through the school like a wildfire. Snape's eyes flashed menacingly at the very mention of anyone with the name Lupin. He was bullying Neville worse than ever and continued to take his anger out on Riley Jane. She knew that he had hated her before, but this was a new kind of loathing.

Divination was also dreadful. She was getting plain annoyed with the way Professor Trelawney's enormous eyes filled with tears every time she looked at her. Her dormmates—Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil—were making everything worse with how they soaked up everything that came out of Professor Trelawney's mouth. Their blind support didn't falter when the sixteenth of October rolled around and Lavender found out her pet bunny died (apparently that was the day Lavender was dreading; Hermione had suspicions).

Nobody really liked Care of Magical Creatures. After the action-packed first class, it had become extremely dull. Hagrid seemed to have lost his confidence. They were now spending lesson after lesson learning how to look after flobberworms, which had to be some of the most boring creatures in existence.

Now: the important stuff. We're getting to the hospital wing part. Just trust her. Be patient.

Riley Jane would like to say that it started on the day of Halloween.

The thirty-first of October happened to be their first Hogsmeade trip. Which—yeah, Hogsmeade was a blast and all. But that wasn't the point.

Riley Jane was just returning from the trip as she made her way up to the Gryffindor Tower. She was stopped though, when noticed the corridor that ended with the portrait of the Fat Lady was jammed with students.

"Why isn't anyone going in?" asked Dean Thomas curiously.

Riley Jane peered over the heads in front of her. The portrait seemed to be closed.