Shifted: Book Two

Chapter Thirty - Danger is Approaching

The next day, discussions in the Great Hall was everywhere!

"Did you read the papers?", one Slytherin boy asked.

"I did, it's suspicious, right?", a Hufflepuff girl answered.

"I don't believe any of it, I bet this is Jones' or Potter's doing", one Ravenclaw girl sneered as her and her friends walked past them.

"Did you hear? Apparently Sirius Black broke Bellatrix Lestrange out!", another Slytherin boy added.

Neville put the newspaper down on the table before it being swiped away by Harry. He held the paper in front of him, reading it in his head and showing Hazel, Ron and Hermione who were sat right beside him. In a report, Fudge said, and quoted:

"We have confirmed that 10 high-security prisoners in the early hours of yesterday evening did escape. And of course, the Muggle prime minister has been alerted to the danger".

"We strongly suspect that the breakout was engineered by a man with personal experience in escaping from Azkaban notorious mass murderer Sirius Black cousin of escapee Bellatrix Lestrange".

Harry slammed the paper on the table and clasped his hands together, leaning them on his head.

"They can't keep framing Sirius- he's innocent, he always has been!", he yelled whilst being comforted by Hazel, as she softly patted his back.

"Fudge is delusional, the entire Ministry are, in fact", Hazel added, looking glum as she stared at the bold, black and lively letters printed on the yellow-ish front page.

Seamus interrupted.

"Hazel, Harry", he spoke calmly, causing the two to look up at him.

"I wanted to apologize. Now even me mum says the Prophet's version of things don't add up", he continued, rubbing his hands together awkwardly and clearing his throat.

"What I'm really trying to say is that I believe you both, and I'm sorry", he finished, pressing his lips together, waiting for some sort of reaction.

Harry, though he was agitated with the rumours spiralling around that Sirius was, once again, a suspect of illegal behaviour, he respected Seamus' apology and nodded his head, whilst Hazel smiled, reassuring him that they were all on good terms again. It felt good for Hazel to finally make up with Seamus, he was always like an annoying brother she never had, and though at times he was very distractive, he certainly was a very caring friend, and at that moment, they needed all the care and friends in the world.

She stood out of her seat and approached Seamus subtly.

"Follow me after Transfiguration with McGonagall", she spoke quietly, giving Seamus a reassuring smile and patting him on the shoulder.

He nodded intriguingly, and walked out the hall with Dean.

"This is great-", Harry said, rising out of his seat and facing Hazel.

Unfortunately, Harry's smile quickly dropped as he heard a snide voice approach him from behind.

"What's so great, Potter? You got another twisted story to put on the front pages?", Draco asked cockily as he walked up to Harry, followed by Goyle, Crabbe, Pansy and another unknown, yet familiar, Slytherin girl.

"Shove off, Draco, surely you can't be dumb enough to believe the Prophet's story?", Hazel intervened, standing beside Harry with her arms crossed.

Draco, quite suddenly, launched himself in front of her face; Harry pressed his hands on Draco's shoulders and firmly pushed him back, whilst Goyle took ahold of Draco before Draco shoving him off. He chuckled and glared at Hazel.

"You think you have the audacity to speak to me like that?", he sneered, though he wiped his top teeth with his tongue, slightly impressively.

Hazel rolled her eyes and scoffed; she chuckled at his ego, for it was bigger than the school grounds.

"Perhaps if you started showing a little more respect around this place, I wouldn't have to speak to you like that", Hazel spoke with chest.

She leaned a little closer, though not to close to Draco as Harry's shoulder was shielding half of her body behind.

"Everyone else may be afraid of you, but not me. I know that underneath this 'bad boy' facade, there's a scared little boy inside-", Hazel added, causing Draco to sneer his lips and storm off without allowing Hazel to finish her sentence.

It felt good to put Draco in his place, he needed to stop walking the grounds as though he owned the place. But, Hazel did notice that, for a moment or two, when she was digging into him and calling him scared, his eyes shifted, and his brows ever so slightly dropped, as though he felt exposed. He very quickly covered that up by walking away, but a small part of Hazel felt bad. Perhaps it was her connection with Voldemort that caused her to rip into him, but then again, Hazel had a feeling that what she said was, in fact, true; that he really was afraid on the inside, and concealed his fear by acting as though he had complete control.

"That was bloody brilliant, Hazel", Ron chuckled, trying to lighten the mood by encouraging Hazel.

She shared a little smile before sitting back down at the table again in front of her breakfast, though the anger made her lose her appetite, so she didn't finish her red apple.