The Mudblood

Chapter 114 : Year 6

The lovely art of Melody was made by https://www.quotev.com/Hexxie :)

Before falling asleep that night, I took Snape's potion as instructed and thought blissfully of myself stabbing Voldemort to death. Hopefully the Dark Lord would pry into my "dream" and get the hint.

My actual dream was much more pleasant and much less violent, having nothing to do with death or Voldemort at all. It was a vision of the past, of the time that Lyle, Evan, and I had brought Astoria to the lake behind our old house. I wished I could stay there, suspended in that moment, repeatedly watching as Lyle threw a fish at Evan's back, soaking in the normalcy.

The next morning, Tuesday, I walked from the Slytherin dungeons to the Great Hall in a daze. Ashley was still scribbling Quidditch plays endlessly, and Astoria, after traditionally ridiculing my hair, proceeded to gab quietly about her "Astoria's Awesome" products. The Slytherins, as a whole, weren't acting much different than usual, but when we joined the other Houses in the entrance hall, they were all weary and tired, probably from whatever individual torments the Carrows had put them through the previous day. Nothing seemed to be able to brighten the mood—until I, along with everyone else, noticed the words that had been written on the entrance hall's wall in inky black: DUMBLEDORE'S ARMY: STILL RECRUITING.

Murmurs trailed through the Great Hall as everyone entered, a new sense of anticipation among the crowd. Snape, at the head of the room, attempted to silence everyone immediately, but there were still faint whispers as people took their seats. I'd known that Neville and Ginny were restarting Dumbledore's Army since Snape had mentioned it to Dumbledore's painting, but I wasn't aware that they were going to be quite so obvious about it.

"I don't care that you don't approve of their relationship," Astoria was saying to Anderson as we took our seats among the other sixth years. Despite the dullness throughout Hogwarts, Astoria still wore sparkles in her hair and had applied her makeup perfectly, as though nothing had changed. "I need you to get Travis to sneak his little girlfriend into the Slytherin common room. I think that blue highlights will look good with her complexion, her eyes, and her Ravenclaw attire, and I need to practice applying highlights. Do you love me or do you hate me, Vince?"

"I think I'm erring on the side of hate these days," Anderson muttered to me, and I hid my smirk by shoving a biscuit in my mouth. His words were lost on Astoria, who was now being berated by Harper.

"We're not sneaking my sister into the Slytherin common room just because you want to practice hair dyeing. It would be too dangerous—and I don't want her getting anywhere near Travis ever again."

"Agreed, that kid's a prat," Anderson said as though "that kid" wasn't his brother.

"Why don't you just sneak into Ravenclaw tower?" I suggested to Astoria, and she scoffed.

"That would mean I'd have to answer a riddle, Lainey. Do you think I'm capable of such a thing?"

Harper, Anderson, and I all exchanged looks, unsure of how to answer, but luckily none of us had to because Carl Vaisey had just walked up behind me and slapped the Daily Prophet onto the table in front of me.

"Look, Potter. Your brother's been sighted."

Blinking, I glanced down at the newspaper in front of me to see that the headline read: No. 1 Desirable Spotted in London: How the Murderous Harry Potter Plots to Overthrow the Ministry.

"Murderous?" I said, laughing spitefully as I scanned over the article. "Does anyone actually believe this rubbish?"

"It's not rubbish," Vaisey snapped defensively. "My father writes for the Prophet. Your brother's just a murdering psychopath."