Hogwarts: The Missing Relative - BOOK 3 (A Harry Potter Fanfic)

7: The Curse

Christmas was a very depressing time. Buckbeak had been sentenced to death for attacking Malfoy and Harry wasn't speaking to me ever since he learned about Sirius. For presents, I had got mainly books and sweets and from Sirius, a Firebolt, the fastest broomstick in the world! I wondered how he got it when I heard that Harry got one too but it had been confiscated. I made sure that I told McGonagall mine was from some family members.

'He's just confused!' said Nico during one Divination lesson when Harry had shot me a dirty look from the other side of the classroom.

'No, he's not! He hates me now, just because of all the lies about my dad,' I said, staring angrily at the crystal ball sat in front of me.

'Ooh! What is this?' said Professor Trelawney, looking into my crystal ball, 'The moon, and... and a curse! The guilty man will walk free and you will be cursed forever!'

I looked at Nico with my eyebrows raised, suppressing a laugh. Trust Trelawney to always lighten my mood with her ridiculous prophecies. Someone was always predicted to die, but a curse seemed to be a new one.

'You... You are in grave danger! Beware of the moon!' she said and walked off, still looking at me with fear in her eyes.

'Well, it's a change from her predicting death!' said Nico.

'A curse... You are joking...' I said shaking my head in exasperation.

'You don't possess the Sight, I'm afraid, dear,' said Trelawney, after Hermione had told her she saw the Grim in her crystal ball.

Hermione stood up and knocked the ball to the ground. She ran out of the classroom and whispered to me as she passed, 'Fraud!'

We played a match against Ravenclaw and Harry, who had his Firebolt back, caught the Snitch in the first ten minutes! We celebrated until late that night and then we finally went to bed. Harry still didn't talk to me and, despite the fact I scored sixty points for Gryffindor in that ten minutes, nobody came near me to congratulate me. Hermione and Nico sat with me most of the night, trying to cheer me up. Harry and Ron had both decided they weren't speaking to me, but Hermione was the sensible one. She was the only person who didn't decide to judge me by my last name and I was thankful for that.

We were all woken up by Ron screaming. I ran downstairs with Hermione and into the common room where students were gathered. Everyone was talking loudly and I couldn't work out what had happened. Why did Ron scream?

'What is going on?' asked McGonagall, running through the portrait hole. She looked frantic and was definitely fast asleep before being awoken by the yelling.

'Sirius Black was here! He slashed Ron's curtains with a knife and then ran!' said Seamus and I froze. How could he be so stupid? Did he want to get caught again? There were better ways to get to Pettigrew, he didn't need to act as though he was trying to stab Ron.

'What?!' said McGonagall, 'That's not possible. How could he have gotten in?'

'Ask him!' Ron signalled towards the portrait hole.

'Sir Cadogan,' McGonagall went to speak with him and we waited with bated breath, 'Did you let a man in here just now?'

'Yes,' he said in a cheerful voice.

'What? Why?' McGonagall was astounded.

'He had the password! The whole weeks, in fact!' Cadogan said and there was an eerie silence. Everyone was staring at me in annoyance as though I told him, but I noticed Neville looking sheepish.

'Go back to bed, all of you,' McGonagall said, 'We'll search the castle for Black.'

With that, she left us alone. I grimaced as I turned to the crowd that surrounded me.