𝐎𝐑𝐂𝐇𝐈𝐃𝐄𝐎𝐔𝐒 || Harry J. Potter [DISCONTINUED]

Chapter 6 ✎

"HANDS ON?!"
_______________________

Third Person POV

The next day, however, Harry barely grinned once. Things started to go downhill from breakfast in the Great Hall.

The four long house tables were laden with tureens of porridge, plates of kippers, mountains of toast, and dishes of eggs and bacon, beneath the enchanted ceiling, which today, was a dull, cloudy gray.

Harry and Ron sat down at the Gryffindor table next to Hermione and Jilly.

Jilly was having a conversation with Dean about soccer, and Hermione had her copy of Voyages with Vampires propped open against a milk jug. There was a slight stiffness in the way she said "Morning," which told Harry that she was still disapproving of the way he and Ron had arrived.

Neville Longbottom, on the other hand, greeted them cheerfully. Neville was a round-faced and accident-prone boy with the worst memory of anyone Harry had ever met.

"Mail's due any minute- I think Gran's sending a few things I forgot."

Jilly snickered quietly, covering her mouth with her hand.

Harry had only just started his porridge when, sure enough, there was a rushing sound overhead and a hundred or so owls streamed in, circling the hall and dropping letters and packages into the chattering crowd.

A big, lumpy package bounced off Neville's head and, a second later, something large and gray fell into Hermione's jug, spraying them all with milk and feathers.

"Errol!" Ron groaned, pulling the bedraggled owl out by the feet. Errol slumped, unconscious, onto the table, his legs in the air and a damp red envelope in his beak.

"Oh, no-" Ron gasped.

"It's all right, he's still alive," said Hermione, prodding Errol gently with the tip of her finger. Jilly scooped up the owl and started fixing it.

"It's not that- it's that."

Ron was pointing at the red envelope. It looked quite ordinary to Harry, but Ron, Neville and Jilly were both looking at it as though they expected it to explode.

"What's the matter?" said Harry.

"She's- she's- sent me a Howler." Ron looked like he was going to faint, which he probably would.

"You'd better open it, Ron," said Neville in a timid whisper. "It'll be worse if you don't. My gran sent me one once, and I ignored it and-" he gulped, "-it was horrible."

"Blimey, Ron. Best of luck." Jilly first pat his arm, then backed away.

Harry looked from their petrified faces to the red envelope.

"What's a Howler?" He asked.

But Ron's whole attention was fixed on the letter, which had begun to smoke at the corners.

"Open it," Neville urged. "It'll all be over in a few minutes-"

Ron stretched out his shaky hand and slit it open.

Neville stuffed his fingers in his ears, and Jilly backed away with Errol even further.

A split second later, Harry knew why. He thought, for a moment it had exploded, a roar of sound filled the hall, shaking the dust from the ceiling.

"-STEALING THE CAR, I WOULDN'T HAVE BEEN SURPRISED IF THEY'D EXPELLED YOU, YOU WAIT TILL I GET HOLD OF YOU, I DON'T SUPPOSE YOU STOPPED TO THINK WHAT YOUR FATHER AND I WENT THROUGH WHEN WE SAW IT WAS GONE-"