enchanted • draco malfoy

Year 3: "He was their friend."

Felicity's POV

"He looks a bit... peaky, doesn't he?" Ron asked anxiously, glancing down at Harry in the infirmary bed. "Peaky?" I said, incredulous, "He fell off his broom from over 100 feet in the air; he's not going to be looking completely chipper." Then, of course, the twins had to chime in with their weird, talking-at-the-same-time thing.

"Yeah, Ron-" "-what do you expect?" "Let's walk you off the Astronomy Tower-" "-and see what you look like." Harry let out a faint groan. "Probably a right sight better than he normally does," he joked weakly. He managed to sit up and his eyes skimmed over all of us gathered: the entire Gryffindor Quidditch team, Dean, Seamus, Nev, Hermione, Ron, and I.

"How are you feeling?" Hermione questioned, her brow furrowed in concern. "Oh, brilliant," Harry responded. "You gave us a right good scare there, mate," George said. "What happened?" Harry inquired, fumbling for his glasses on the table by the bed. "Well, you fell off your broom," Ron stated. "Really?" Harry asked sarcastically, "I hadn't noticed. I meant the match. Who won?"

There was an awkward silence before Hermione broke it. "No one blames you, Harry," she started, "Dementors aren't supposed to be on school grounds. Dumbledore was furious. After he saved you, he sent them off." Harry didn't look as if he really cared what happened to the Dementors, only the match.

"There's something else you should know, too," I said quietly, "When you fell, your broom sort of... blew into the Whomping Willow, and... well..."

Ron emptied the blanket full of the remaining pieces of Harry's broom onto the bed.

~*~

A week after the Dementor incident was the next Hogsmeade trip, which Harry still wasn't allowed to go on. Ron, Hermione, and I had bid him goodbye and rode down to the village with Dean, Neville, and Seamus again.

Ron insisted that we go to The Shrieking Shack first, so here we are, shivering in the snow as said redhead babbles on about the house. "It's meant to be the most haunted building in Britain," he informed Hermione and me, "Did I mention that?" I sighed and Hermione patiently answered, "Twice." "Do you want to move a bit closer?" I asked, bored. "To the Shrieking Shack?" Ron questioned, gulping, "Actually, I'm fine here."

"Well, well," a familiar arrogant voice said, "Look who's here. You and the Mudblood shopping for your new home, Weaselbee?" Malfoy and his cronies sneered. I felt personally offended. Not only did he insult my best friends, but the prick left me out of it. Not that I enjoy being made fun of, but still.

"Bit grand for you, isn't it, Weaselbee?" Malfoy continued, "Don't your family sleep in one room?" I took a step forward, glaring at the Slytherins. "Shut up, Malfoy," I said coldly, pulling out my wand. Malfoy seemed unconcerned. "Not very friendly," he commented, "Boys, I think it's time to teach these blood traitors how to respect their superiors."

"I hope you don't mean yourself," Hermione spat, glowering at Malfoy. Malfoy looked disgusted. "How dare you talk to me, you filthy little Mudblood!"

Two things happened at once. The first? Malfoy and his minions were all hit by snowballs, directly in the face, one in quick succession after the other. The second? I fired a spell at Malfoy, the same one Ron attempted in our second year when Malfoy had said the same foul words.

"Slugulus Eructo!"

Unfortunately, the blonde haired bastard ducked to avoid another snowball, and the jinx hit Theodore Nott squarely in the face. He fell to the ground and instantly began puking up slugs. Malfoy and Crabbe, however, were still being pelted with chunks of snow and ice. Then Crabbe's trousers were pulled down.

Hermione, having reached the same conclusion as me, was doubled over laughing, whereas Ron looked pale as snow and scared to death. I joined in with Hermione as Crabbe struggled with his pants, Nott burped out another slug, and Malfoy was shoved to the ground.

Suddenly, Malfoy's legs were lifted up from under him and he was being dragged towards the abandoned Shrieking Shack. He let out a terrified yell, struggling and kicking with his legs, before they were dropped. He instantly stood up, his eyes wide and face slack with horror, and began running the way he'd came.

"Move!" he shouted, pushing Crabbe (who had finally managed to fix his pants and stand up) down to the ground again. He ran past Nott, bumping into the still-puking-slugs boy and sending him sprawling.

They had all finally fled back into the village before the strings on Ron's hat were pulled, along with a strand of Mione's hair. "Harry," I giggled, rolling my eyes. Harry flung off the Invisibility Cloak and exploded into laughter, while Ron just muttered, "Bloody hell, Harry. That was not funny."

"On the contrary," I chuckled, "That was very funny."

~*~

"Those weasels," Ron grumbled, "They never told me about any Marauder's Map." Hermione glanced sharply at him, "He won't keep it. He'll turn it over to Professor McGonagall." Neither Harry nor Ron answered. "Aren't you?" Hermione pressed.

"Sure," Ron snorted, "Along with his Invisibility Cloak." Hermione just sighed before speaking again, this time in a teasing voice. "Look who it is," she said, gesturing with her head, "Madame Rosmerta. Ron fancies her." I laughed, pinching Ron's cheeks. "Awww," I cooed. "That's not true!" he protested.

"Guys," Hermione suddenly said in a hushed voice, "It's the Minister of Magic." Sure enough, Cornelius Fudge was greeting Professor McGonagall and Madame Rosmerta amicably. "Rosmerta, my dear," he said fondly, "I hope business is good."

Madame Rosmerta, however, did not seem as fond of him. "It'd be a lot better if the Ministry wasn't sending dementors into my pub every other night!" she said angrily, glaring at Fudge. "We have a killer on the loose," he informed her meekly. "What, Sirius Black in Hogsmeade?" she questioned incredulously, "And what would bring him here?"

Fudge looked around to see if anyone was watching and we all quickly diverted our eyes.
He muttered something too quiet for us to hear, followed by a shocked "Harry Potter?" from Rosmerta. Fudge and McGonagall instantly shushed her, gazing at people warily. "Come," McGonagall said, ushering the Minister and Madame Rosmerta inside.

I glanced over at Ron, Harry, and Hermione, only to see a surprising lack of Harry's. Hermione grabbed my arm and pointed to footprints in the snow, footprints without anyone creating them. Anyone visible, at least. "Harry!" she shouted, following him.

The door to the pub opened, then closed right in our faces. "He could have at least held the door for us," I grumbled. Ron pulled the door open and we were instantly greeted by a dozen shrunken bodiless heads.

"No underage wizards allowed in today!" one of the bigger heads yelled, "Now shut the damn door!" Hermione looked taken aback, then indignant. "So rude," she snapped. "Thick heads," Ron insulted under his breath. "Thick heads?!" they shrieked, "How dare they!"

I rolled my eyes and slammed the door shut.

The door was finally pushed open by an invisible Harry. "Guys," I nudged them both, pointing to more footprints. We sprang to our feet and followed the tracks, which happened to go right through a group of caroling dwarves. Mione, Ron, and I pushed through them, apologizing profusely.

We followed the prints all the way into the woods, where they abruptly ended at a rock. I started forward, but Hermione held my sleeve and shook her head. Ignoring her, I continued forward. "Harry?" I asked tentatively. Hermione and Ron came up behind me cautiously.

I crouched down next to the rock and reached into the air slowly, before I felt the soft fabric of the Invisibility Cloak. I pulled it off to reveal a crying Harry. "Harry," I asked gently, "What happened?"

"He was their friend," Harry managed to say, "and he betrayed them." I assumed he was talking about Sirius Black and laid a hand on his shoulder. "He was their friend!"

After a minute of choked sobbing, Harry spoke again, and this time his voice was much different. Angry, hollow. "I hope he finds me," he said, and I could tell he was sincere, "because when he does, I'm gonna be ready."

"When he does, I'm gonna kill him."