A Badgers Love

Chapter 3

Susan sat stunned on her bed after Hannah had just told her pretty much everything that she had learned from her father.

"Whoa," Susan said. "So you really are going to marry Harry Potter."

"Yeah," said Hannah ash she laid in her bed, holding the stuffed teddy bear she had had since she was little.

"I'd hate to be in your shoes when everyone finds out," said Susan.

"What is that supposed to mean?" asked Hannah.

"He's Harry Potter," said Susan. "The freaking Boy-Who-Lived. Granted, there's a small bit of controversy surrounding him right now, but still. How many young witches out there grew up with bedtime stories about him and dreamed of one day marrying him? Hell, even I'm guilty of once or twice writing in my diary that I would one day be Mrs. Harry Potter."

"You did not?" asked a surprised Hannah.

"Before coming to Hogwarts, yes. I did," said Susan. "A part of me even hoped he and I would be sorted into the same house so we could spend time together, then one day fall in love and live happily ever after... I'm kind of envious of you right now because you get to live the dream so many have wished for."

"I know," said Hannah. "You're right. It's just... I'm nervous about all of this. What if I tell him and he doesn't like me? What if he hates me and blames me for it? Then there's the whole thing with all the rumors about the things that happen to him each year. If any of them are even half of being true, that means that I might end up being a part of it all."

"True," said Susan. "But at least you know that being with Harry won't be boring."

"I guess," said Hannah. She then looked at her watch and sighed. "I have to go and do my rounds as Prefect and make sure no one is snogging in any broom cupboards."

"Have fun," said Susan with a grin. "Maybe if you're lucky, you'll bump into Harry. Then you two can get caught snogging."

Hannah tried to give her best friend a dirty look, but couldn't help but smile a little as she blushed with thoughts of kissing Harry running through her mind.

OoOoOoOoOoO

"Damn stupid bitch of a toad," Harry grumbled as he made his way back towards Gryffindor tower after his second night of detention while rubbing the back of his hand.

Once again, she had forced him to use that quill that used his blood to write with and causing the words to scratch into the back of his hand. Tonight, it felt worse that it had the previous night, and Harry could swear he could faintly see the words still written there.

Hermione was already suspicious about the red markings on the back of his hand that morning. If this kept up and the words did remain carved into his hand, he was sure she would flip her lid about it and demand that he tell Dumbledore or McGonagall about it. And that was the last thing he wanted to do, as he felt that if he complained about what Umbridge was doing, she would somehow win this war of wills between the two of them, and he refused to give her that satisfaction.

Harry was so lost in his thoughts, that he barely heard someone telling him to stop.

"Huh?" he said as he turned around and saw someone walking towards him. As they got closer, he recognized the girl as Hannah Abbott from Hufflepuff. He was wondering what she was doing out this late, until he noticed she had a Prefect badge pinned to her robes.

"A bit late for a walk, isn't it Potter?" she asked.

"I just finished detention with Umbridge," Harry said. "I'm going back to my common room right now."