Echo | Harry Potter - George Weasley

Chapter 41: Not-So-Anonymous

The news of Professor Lupin resigning from Hogwarts had spread like wildfire, and in less than twenty-four hours, the entire school had heard about it. Once again, another Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher had come and gone. And once again, in true Hogwarts fashion, only a fraction of the student body and staff knew the real reason why.

Not to say that people hadn't found out about Lupin being a werewolf, because that information had spread nearly twice as fast as the fact that he was leaving. The real mystery, however, that only a select few were privy to involved Peter Pettigrew, the Time-Turner, and the inner workings of You-Know-Who. 

As a sort of thank you to Harry before his departure, Lupin had returned the Marauder's Map. Paired with the invisibility cloak, Shaye could only imagine the sort of trouble the four friends would get up to in the coming years.

Sitting in the Great Hall, finally stress-free enough to eat a proper meal, Shaye was enjoying her breakfast with her friends by her side. Ron, who had been let out of the hospital wing the day before, continued to ask questions about what Shaye, Harry, and Hermione had been up to and why they wouldn't tell him what was going on. While the ongoing joke was funny, they did decide to finally let him in on the truth.

While Harry and Hermione explained the Time-Turner to Ron, Shaye was distracted with something else. Sitting farther down the Gryffindor table, George was laughing away with Fred and Lee as usual. He hadn't noticed Shaye looking at him, or if he had, he didn't acknowledge her.

Shaye had been trying to figure out what had gone wrong with her and George's odd friendship but for the life of her, she couldn't come up with anything. There must have been something she was missing. Why else would he have completely stopped talking to her out of the  blue?

"Hey, look!" Ron suddenly exclaimed, pulling Shaye from her thoughts.

Swooping down from the ceiling, a small gray owl was carrying a rather large package. The little bird seemed to struggle a bit but eventually, it dropped the long, wrapped item onto the table in front of Harry. 

Everyone at the Gryffindor table looked over, eager to see what Harry had received. While Harry got to work at unwrapping the brown paper around his mail, Shaye grabbed a roll of parchment that had been tied to the owl's leg. Shaye skimmed the letter before sharing the news out loud. "Whoever sent this says they hope you like the gift," she told Harry. "It also says, 'sorry for the loss of your rat, Ron. I hope this owl will make a fine replacement."

Ron looked down at the little gray owl. "For me?"

By then, Harry had opened the present and the group had let out a collective gasp. Sitting on the table was the shiniest, most beautiful broom that Shaye had ever seen. "It's a Firebolt," Fred said as he and George moved closer.

George nodded. "It's the fastest broom in the world."

Harry smiled down at his new possession. "But who sent it?"

Shaye just shrugged, indicating that there was no name on the letter. 

"This came with it." Hermione held up a large, gray hippogriff feather. Instantly, it was obvious who had sent the gift.

It was then that Shaye noticed there was another page behind the letter she had unrolled. Upon first glance, she knew exactly what it was and handed it over to Harry. Harry took the parchment in his hand and grinned wide. With a messy signature at the bottom from Sirius Black himself, Harry was holding a Hogsmeade permission form. Carefully, he folded it and tucked it into his robes.

Seconds later, everyone was begging Harry to have a turn on his broom after he had gotten a chance to try it out himself. With Firebolt in hand and a gaggle of Gryffindors eagerly following him, Harry headed out to the courtyard and mounted the broom.