The Past Meets the Future at Hogwarts: Part 3

Chapter 11: Tristan

Malfoy made his great return in the middle of double potions. I had been sitting alone near Harry and Ron so of course Draco decided to take that seat. I tried to ignore his complaining and focus on my shrinking potion. Maybe I could use it to shrink Draco's ego.

Not that that was possible. It would still be incredibly large.

Snape of course stroked that ego for the entire class. It wasn't like he ever said anything negative to me, but that didn't make me think the way he taught was right. On top of that, Snape spent a portion of the class bullying Neville again.

I honestly felt horrible for the kid. After all, it seemed as though Snape was his biggest fear. Seamus leaned over to Harry and said, ""Hey, Harry, have you heard? Daily Prophet this morning -- they reckon Sirius Black's been sighted."

I straightened at that. Not only was Black super important for the quest, but he was also hunting Victoria which definitely put him on quite a few demigods hit lists. I prayed that the dude was no where near here.

"Not too far from here," Seamus said, looking excited. I didn't understand what was so exciting about a mass murder being near where you were. Wizards were weird. "It was a Muggle who saw him. 'Course, she didn't really understand. The Muggles think he's just an ordinary criminal, don't they? So she phoned the telephone hot line. By the time the Ministry of Magic got there, he was gone."

My breath hitched. He was coming for Hogwarts. I had to tell Bianca so she could tell Victoria. Or maybe I should tell Zagan. Both would freak out, but maybe that was needed right now.

"Not too far from here... " Ron repeated before turning and looking at Malfoy. "What, Malfoy? Need something else skinned?"

Malfoy just grinned at Harry. "Thinking of trying to catch Black single-handed, Potter?"

"Yeah, that's right," Harry said offhandedly. I raised an eyebrow at him.

"Of course, if it was me," he said quietly, "I'd have done something before now. I wouldn't be staying in school like a good boy, I'd be out there looking for him."

"What are you talking about, Malfoy?" Ron said.

"Don't you know, Potter?" Malfoy asked, his pale eyes narrowed.

"Know what?"

Malfoy let out a low, sneering laugh. "Maybe you'd rather not risk your neck," he said. "Want to leave it to the dementors, do you? But if it was me, I'd want revenge. I'd hunt him down myself."

"What are you talking about?" Harry said angrily.

Instead of getting an answer, Snape called, "You should have finished adding your ingredients by now; this potion needs to stew before it can be drunk, so clear away while it simmers and then we'll test Longbottom's... "

We all walked away to clean up. I wondered what Draco had meant. He was probably just trying to get under Harry's skin. Get him in trouble, but I couldn't help but feel that we didn't know all of Black's backstory, and my instinct usually wasn't wrong.