Scratches (Fred Weasley)

(76) Not So Normal Day

The students of Hogwarts were thrown back in to their academics. Since the third task was months away, they busied themselves in getting their work done. Many afternoons were spent at the library for Florence, mostly with Nicolai and Alexander, and usually with Fred and George when they actually felt like getting their work done. She'd constantly pester the twins about their homework, claiming that they should atleast be a tad bit more responsible now that they were a few months away from being official N.E.W.T.s students.

Their apparation classes, that met a total of twenty days in the school year so far, was coming to an end. Their meetings turned regular as the days grew by, Professor Moody calling students up one by one everyday to perform their apparation. Once they succeeded, they were given their license in an instant. Nicolai was the first to have gotten their license among the three, and had so enthusiastically told her friends about it over breakfast one morning.

"Did you get splinched?" Xander asked, "Adrianna always splinches herself... It's usually her fingernails, like, the whole chunk of em'"

Nicolai grimaced, "No. And thank Rowena I didn't. The horror stories you hear about people getting splinched, you know? I heard someone's relative got their head splinched off once."

It took Florence much effort to not throw up her baked beans at the mental image of a decapitated head, in full color and detail. She swallowed her beans, before giving out a small shudder. "Wow," Xander coughed, clearly equally as disturbed, "Try not bringing that up while we're eating, yeah?"

"Sorry," Nicolai said sheepishly.

The mail owls began flying into the great hall seconds after, parcels and letters being dropped onto the table and in front of their designated receivers. Florence caught hers in mid-air, which appeared to be a letter, and also her Daily Prophet paper. As much as her mum hated the editors of the paper, she paid for subscription, nonetheless. It was a good way to keep up with the lies that were fed to the public.

"Hey, Flo, look at this here," Nicolai said, handing her a copy of her Witch Weekly magazine. Florence gave Nicolai a questioning look, before taking the magazine from her hand.

This particular article had caught Florence's eyes. Another article about Harry, but the headlines seemed to be more intriguing this time. Harry Potter's Secret Heartache. Great. Sounds like a sappy novel gone wrong.

"What sort of waffle is Rita writing about this time?" she scoffed, finishing the last few sentences of the article, "Harry and Hermione? This is pathetic. Why in the world is Witch Weekly still hiring her?"

"You know them, a little scandal sprinkled here and there is exactly the type of material they want," Alexander said, "Although seeking the commentary of a fourth year student is just borderline ridiculous. Why are you still even reading these magazines, Nic? These are nothing but petty articles for prepubescent, giggly children."

"I know, I'm going to cancel my subscription." muttered Nicolai, "Don't even know why I had one in the first place". Florence rolled up her newspaper hastily, tearing open the letter she had received. The familiar scrawl on the folded letter made her shove it back in to the envelope. She knew better than to open Sirius' letter in a very public place. Instead, she tucked it safely in one of her robe pockets, before finishing the remainder of her breakfast.

Fred and George, too, were talking about this morning's newspaper as the three of them headed up to History of Magic. Hermione was amused upon reading about herself being linked to one of her best friends, and also being accused of brewing love potion inside the premises, according to Fred, who explained it with appropriate hand gestures.