Playing with Fire

Chapter fourteen ~ Chatting with the Devil

The first three weeks went by in a flash. The rest of detention with Umbridge was awful, the scar on the back of my hand nowhere near healed. At least there was an upside with this – Harry's detentions were now done and he had gotten back to Quidditch. As for me, I had spent the last two weeks studying and keeping away from Draco.

Draco had been acting odd ever since I had yelled at him during class, he had been avoiding talking to me. The only time we had seen each other in the eyes had been when we had bumped into each other during class or in the hallways, when we would nod and say 'hi'. It was rather pathetic. At least I had Blaise, who I would sit with during Divination. Blaise was great to talk to, as he would tell me all the new scoop going on around the school and update me on what Draco had going on. Though lately it hadn't been too much, Blaise had said Draco kept to himself most of the time outside Quidditch and classes. Except of course when he loudly stated how Dumbledore was an old git and Harry a liar. It made my blood boil, but I had made a promise to keep calm and that was what I was trying to do.

The third weekend allowed us to visit the near town called Hogsmeade, a visit which I had been looking forward to a lot. Harry, Ron and Hermione had told me a bunch about it, about its shops and there was supposed to be a haunted house close by (though Harry had said it was only a lie and that Remus Lupin – a former teacher – had spend nights there as a werewolf).

"It's perfect!" said Hermione as we had been signed off by Filch (the caretaker). Hermione strolled a couple of steps ahead of the three of us, a great smile playing on her lips. "We'll have the meeting with the others at noon at the Hog's Head, no one will suspect anything."

"But the Hog's Head?" complained Ron. "It's the most shabby place in the village! Then again, they probably won't ask age, perhaps I can finally taste some Firewhiskey..."

Hermione sighed. "Don't be stupid Ron, we need to get as little attention as possible."

"Speaking of it," said Harry, "how many people did you tell to meet us there, Hermione?"

"Well..." Hermione stalled, "there's Fred, George and Lee Jordan. Ginny and Dean and Neville. The Creevey brothers, Katie Bell, Alicia and Angelina... um... Who did you ask, Arille? I forgot."

"I told Parvati and Padma. Ginny told me she had asked some students from Hufflepuff and then I talked to Luna Lovegood and Cho Chang from Ravenclaw," I said. I looked over at Harry when mentioning Cho, as I knew he had a soft spot for her. "Cho said she would be delightful to come."

Harry's cheeks turned red. "Eh – what?"

We finally reached Hogsmead, consisting small, cosy cottages and shops forming around a broad walkway. It was like taken out from a picture, the cottages sloping roofs with tiny windows on the walls, bells which rang when one entered a shop and the lovely smell of fresh baked bread and muffins.

"Where do we go first?" asked Ron, looking around all excited. "Zonko's Joke Shop? Honeydukes? Three Broomsticks?"

"Why, can't resist the smile of Madam Rosmerta, Ron?" Harry sniggered.

Ron's ears turned bright red. "What? No? Are you-? No!"

I chuckled and turned to Hermione.

"How much time do we have?"

"About half an hour, I think we need to go there before the rest of them arrives, to check it out and all. I told them to come in smaller groups so we wouldn't raise much attention," she said. She kept on glancing around herself nervously.

"Relax," I said. "It will be great."

"Let's go to Honeydukes, I want some Pumpkin Pasties and Sugar Quills," said Ron. So the four of us made our way forward toward the colourful shop with all kinds of sweets exposed in the shops' window. When we went inside, we got pulled into the great group of students from Hogwarts who had already made it there. We walked by shelves with all kinds of different sweets, neat rows of any kind of chocolate one would only dream for, a huge barrel with Every Flavour Beans and Creamy chunks of nougat and shimmering pink squares of coconut ice. On another row of shelves there were sweets with even weirder things which would cause special effects to happen – such as tiny black Pepper Imps which could make the inhaler breathe fire; and Ice Mice to hear ones teeth chatter and squeak! It was magical.