"That can't be," I leaned over the table trying to read Harry's letter.
"He hasn't come back to Hogsmeade?" said Ron, who sat next to Harry.
"It looks like it, doesn't it?" said Hermione.
"I can't believe him," said Harry tensely, "if he's caught..."
"Made it so far, though, hasn't he?" said Ron. "And it's not like the place is swarming with dementors anymore."
Never had I expected Potions to be that bad. Well, not in Potions, but going to it. Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle were standing in a huddle outside the classroom door with Adelaide Ward's gang of Slytherin girls. All of them were looking at something I couldn't see and sniggering heartily. Pansy's pug-like face peered excitedly once Ward elbowed her as Harry, Ron, Hermione, and I approached.
"There they are, there they are!" Pansy Parkinson giggled, and the knot of Slytherins broke apart. I saw that Pansy had a magazine in her hands — Witch Weekly. The moving picture on the front showed a curly-haired witch who was smiling toothily and pointing at a large sponge cake with her wand.
"You might find something to interest you in there, Granger!" Pansy said loudly, and she threw the magazine at Hermione, who caught it, looking startled. At that moment, the dungeon door opened, and Snape beckoned us all inside.
Hermione, Harry, Ron, and I headed for a table at the back of the dungeon as usual. Once Snape had turned his back on us to write up the ingredients of today's potion on the blackboard, Hermione hastily rifled through the magazine under the desk. At last, in the centre pages, Hermione found what they were looking for. We leaned in closer. A colour photograph of Harry headed a short piece entitled:
Harry Potter's Secret Heartache
A boy like no other, perhaps— yet a boy suffering all the usual pangs of adolescence, writes Rita Skeeter. Deprived of love since the tragic demise of his parents, fourteen-year-old Harry Potter thought he had found solace in his steady girlfriend at Hogwarts, Muggleborn Hermione Granger. Little did he know that he would shortly be suffering yet another emotional blow in a life already littered with personal loss.
Miss Granger, a plain but ambitious girl, seems to have a taste for famous wizards that Harry alone cannot satisfy. Since the arrival at Hogwarts of Viktor Krum, Bulgarian Seeker and hero of the last World Quidditch Cup, Miss Granger has been toying with both boys' affections. Krum, who is openly smitten with the devious Miss Granger, has already invited her to visit him in Bulgaria over the summer holidays, and insists that he has "never felt this way about any other girl."
"Granger's relationship with Krum is quite weird, to be honest," Adelaide Ward, a smart and mannered fourth-year Slytherin, tells us. "[Krum] took her to the Yule Ball and then the whole second task situation [where he saved her]— I thought she was with Harry Potter."
Miss Granger's relationship with the boys is quite confusing to even her peers despite their inter-school rivalry, one would think her peers would be well aware of the kind of girl Miss Granger is. However, it might not be Miss Granger's doubtful natural charms that have captured these unfortunate boys' interest.
"She's really ugly," says Pansy Parkinson, a pretty and vivacious fourth-year student, "I don't know how she's able to catch any boys' attention."
"Well, Granger is quite brainy," adds Adelaide Ward, "so she very well could have made a Love Potion, but they're banned at Hogwarts."
As Miss Ward has stated, Love Potions are, of course, banned at Hogwarts, and no doubt Albus Dumbledore will want to investigate these claims. But love potions or not, Harry Potter seems to have moved on mighty quick. He seems to have a taste for Muggleborns.
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Poisoned Youth | ✓
Fanfiction"I didn't mean for it to happen, it just did..." "For the last few years?" "No, for the last seven..." Possibly one of the worst things that could ever happen is falling in love with your best friend. Naturally, that's exactly what happened. - *conn...
