𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗸𝗲𝗿𝗯𝗲𝗹𝗹, draco malfoy

˗ˋ 35

CHAPTER THIRTY FIVE
✧
-: third year :-

── IN WHICH IT COMES TO AN END

. . .

Nobody other than the Potter twins, Ron, Hermione and Dumbledore truly knew what happened on that fateful night that led to the escape of a Hippogriff and a convicted murderer. As the end of term approached, the twins had heard many different theories about what had really happened,but none of them came close to the truth.

Malfoy was furious about Buckbeak. He was convinced that Hagrid had found a way of smuggling Buckbeak to safety, and seemed outraged that he and his father had been outwitted by a gamekeeper. And it was safe to say that Marlie reveled in his upset, claiming that his reaction made Buckbeak's escape even better.

Though the weather was perfect, though the atmosphere was so cheerful, though they knew theyhad achieved the near impossible in helping Sirius to freedom, Harry and Marlie had never approached the end of a school year in worse spirits. 

 They certainly wasn't the only one who was sorry to see Professor Lupin go. The whole of their Defense Against the Dark Arts class was miserable about his resignation. "Wonder what they'll give us next year?" Seamus asked gloomily, .

 "Maybe a vampire," suggested Dean Thomas hopefully.

"I wish." Sat beside him, Marlie nudged his side, a smile on her face as hair fell from being tucked behind her ear and Dean moved to place it back. On the table beside them, Harry and Ron was glaring at him.

 It wasn't only Lupin's departure that was weighing on Marlie's mind. She couldn't help thinking a lot about Trelawney's prediction. She kept wondering where Pettigrew was now, whether he had sought sanctuary with Voldemort yet. But the thing that was lowering her and Harry's spirits most of all was the prospect of returning to the Dursleys. 

For maybe half an hour, a glorious half hour, they had believed they would be living with Sirius from now on, his parents' best friend. It would have been the next best thing to having their own father back. And while no news of Sirius was definitely good news, because it meant he had successfully gone into hiding, Marlie couldn't help feeling miserable when she thought of the home they might have had, and the fact that it was now impossible. 

The exam results came out on the last day of term. Marlie, Harry, Ron, and Hermione had passed every subject. Maerlie was considerably surprised that the both of them had gotten through potions - although Harry had a shrewd suspicion that Dumbledore might have stepped in to stop Snape failing them on purpose. But even if that was the case, Snape's behaviour towards Marlie and Harry over the past week had been quite alarming. The twins wouldn't have thought it to be possible that Snape's dislike for them could increase, but it certainly had. A muscle twitched unpleasantly at the corner of Snape's thin mouth every time he looked at either of them, and he was constantly flexing his fingers, as though itching to place them around their throats. 

 Percy had got his top-grade N.E.W.T.s; Fred and George had scraped a handful of O.W.L.s each. Gryffindor House, meanwhile, largely thanks to their spectacular performance in the Quidditch Cup, had won the House championship for the third year running. This meant that the end of term feast took place amid decorations of scarlet and gold, and that the Gryffindor table was the noisiest of the lot, as everybody celebrated. Even Harry and Marlie managed to forget about the journey back to the Dursleys the next day as they ate, drank, talked, and laughed with the rest.