Raised By Wolfstar: Slytherin Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix

Chapter Twenty-Eight: Seen and Unforeseen

Luna said vaguely that she did not know how soon Rita's interview with Harry would appear in The Quibbler, that her father was expecting a lovely long article on recent sightings of Crumple-Horned Snorkacks. 'And, of course, that'll be a very important story, so Harry's might have to wait for the following issue,' said Luna.

Harry had not found it an easy experience to talk about the night when Voldemort had returned. Rita had pressed him for every little detail, and he had given her everything he could remember, knowing that this was his one big opportunity to tell the world the truth. He wondered how people would react to the story. He guessed that it would confirm a lot of people in the view that he was completely insane, not least because his story would be appearing alongside utter rubbish about Crumple-Horned Snorkacks. But the breakout of Bellatrix Lestrange and her fellow Death Eaters had given Harry a burning desire to do something, whether it worked or not...

'I can not wait to see Umbridges reaction to the article,' said Tracey, sounding awestruck at dinner that night. 'Since you didn't break any of her rules she can't punish you. This feels like a small victory.'

'You did the right thing, Harry,' said Terence, who was sitting opposite him. He was smiling brightly, but went on in a low voice, 'Though it must have been tough having to relive those memories, are you alright?'

'Yeah, I am,' mumbled Harry, 'but people have got to know what Voldemort's capable of, haven't they?'

'Yes, they should,' said Theodore nervously, who had been on edge since that morning, 'and they need to know who is still a loyal Death Eater and what they are capable of...'

Theodore might have been worried about what people would think, but all Harry could think was how brave he was for allowing Harry to put something so personal to him into the magazine for the wizarding world to see in hopes that it'll keep people safe.

Cho Chang walked into the hall with her friend Marietta. Harry's stomach gave an unpleasant lurch, but she did not look over at the Gryffindor table and sat down with her back to him.

'So, Harry,' said Tracey sounding much calmer than she had a minute ago, she was glancing over at the Ravenclaw table, 'Alli mentioned you had left your date early. What happened between you and Cho?'

'Er...well, it was...' said Harry, pulling a dish of rhubarb crumble toward him and helping himself to seconds, 'it was going well then turned into a complete fiasco, now you mention it.'

And he told her, Theodore, and Terence what had happened in Madam Puddifoot's Tea Shop.

'...so then,' he finished several minutes later, as the final bit of crumble disappeared, 'she got up, right, and says 'You have to get to your meeting. Go!' and wouldn't take no for an answer, so I left!' He put down his spoon and looked at Tracey. 'I mean, what was all that about? What was going on?'

Tracey glanced over at the back of Cho's head, then towards the entrance hall, and sighed. 'Goodness, Harry, you really messed up.'

'I messed up?' said Harry, outraged. 'One minute we were getting on fine, next minute she was telling me that Roger Davies asked her out, and how she used to go and snog Cedric in that stupid tea shop—how was I supposed to feel about that?'

'That part is on her, though you probably should have shown some more empathy about Cedric,' said Tracey, trying to be both encouraging and criticizing at the same time, 'but you shouldn't have said you wanted to meet Alli later during your date.'

'But, but,' spluttered Harry, 'but—Allison had told me to meet her at twelve and that it was ok to bring Cho along, how was I supposed to do that without telling her—?'