Autophobia | H. POTTER [1]

6 | vengeful godfather

"Are you coming this time?" Hermione asked as they sat in their room. There was another Hogsmaede weekend this week and Hermione had been trying to convince Abigail to come this time around. "It's so much fun, it'll be worth it."

Abigail sighed, "I don't know. I have a lot of work to do." Which wasn't a lie, per se, but it wasn't the truth either. She was honestly exhausted and had barely been sleeping. And when she was sleeping it was plagued with dreams.

"Oh, come on!" she tried. "If you come, I can help you with whatever you have left."

"I'll think about it," she replied, hoping it would placate the girl. Abigail didn't have anything against Hogsmaede she just thought it was a pointless trip. What good does spending money you don't have do when you could just stay in a huge castle that had free food?

"Fine," she huffed. "We're supposed to leave in a few hours though," she reminded her. "Ron and I could use the company."

"Take Harry then"

"He can't come, remember?" Hermione inquired. "His guardians never signed his permission slip."

"Not even sure you could call them guardians," Abigail scoffed. She ran a hand through her hair as she shook her head, "Did you know they made him sleep in a closet under the stairs?"

"Well, yes," she nodded solemnly, "But he doesn't anymore."

Her nose wrinkled slightly, "You guys say that like it makes it okay."

"It doesn't," she replied. "But they're trying."

"Are they?" she inquired. "Because it seems to me that they're just terrified of magic so they do the bare minimum to take care of him. I mean, why take him in to begin with if they weren't going to actually take care of him as they should?"

"I don't know," Hermione answered. "I don't know much, you'd have to ask Harry."

"About his neglectful and abusive guardians?" Abigail asked. "Yes, that ought to be easy to bring up."

"I have to get ready to go," she explained with a slight frown, "Are you coming?"

Abigail nodded reluctantly, "Alright, fine. But not for too long."

They both got changed and were ready to go in no time, dressed for snow. "Let's go before I change my mind," Abigail suggested, ushering the girl out.

"It's meant to be the most haunted building in Britain," Hermione explained as they stood behind the gate that surrounded the Shrieking Shack. "Did I mention that?"

"Twice," Ron confirmed.

She looked over at him, "Do you want to move a bit closer?"

"To the Shrieking Shack?" he gulped. He glanced back at Abigail, clearly hoping she would decline the offer for him. "I'm fine here."

"There's not much we can do closer that we can't do here," Abigail pointed out. "You guys want to head to the Three Broomsticks? It's getting cold."

"Well, well," Draco Malfoy spoke up from behind them and Abigail rolled her eyes. "Look who's here." The three of them turned around to see an overly amused boy observing them. "Shopping for your new dream home?" he inquired, gesturing toward the Shrieking Shack before addressing Ron, "Bit grand for you, isn't it, Weasel-Bee? Doesn't your family sleep in, uh, one room?"

Ron's fists were clenched at his sides, "Shut your mouth, Malfoy."

"Not very friendly," he tutted with a raised eyebrow. He glanced back at the two who had tagged along with him. "Boys, I think it's time we teach Weasel-Bee how to respect his superiors."

Abigail stepped forward, a scowl clear on her face, "The fact that you deem yourself as superior tells us everything we need to know about your standards, Malfoy." She crossed her arms over her chest as she continued, "You're not even half as grand as you'd like to make others think."