PHANTOM FIGURES | harry potter

22. tea leaves

     The first thing Aspen saw when she walked into the Great Hall the next morning was Draco Malfoy, who seemed to be entertaining a large group of Slytherins with a very funny story. As she passed, Malfoy made a grande impression of a swooning fit and there was a roar of laughter. Aspen spotted Leo watching from his seat with an unimpressed look.

     Harry, Hermione, and Ron were a few steps ahead of her and when the Slytherins noticed The Boy Who Lived they decided to mess with him, as they usually do.

     "Hey, Potter! Potter!" Pansy Parkinson shrieked, a Slytherin girl who had a face like a pug. "The dementors are coming! Whooooo!"

     Harry dropped into a seat at the Gryffindor table and Aspen sat down next to him.

     "New third year course schedules. McGonagall gave me yours, too, Aspen." said George Weasley, passing them. "What's up with you, Harry?"

     Aspen looked at the miserable boy beside her. He had changed over the summer, his face had no more baby fat left and he styled his hair differently - she liked it. He had put on more muscle, she could see it through his white school shirt, probably from the mass of chores the Dursleys gave him. She had more of a view of his scar since his hair wasn't flat on his forehead.

     "Malfoy," she heard Ron faintly answer as she observed Harry.

     George looked up in time to see Malfoy fainting in terror again at the Slytherin table.

     "That little git," he said calmly. "He wasn't so cocky last night when the dementors were down at our end of the train. Came running into our compartment, didn't he, Fred?"

     "Nearly wet himself," said Fred, with a contemptuous glance at Malfoy.

     "I wasn't too happy myself," admitted George. "They're horrible things, those dementors..."

     "Sort of freeze your insides, don't they?"

     "You didn't pass out though, did you?" asked Harry in a low voice.

     Aspen turned to him, shocked. "You passed out?" she whispered.

     The boy avoided her eyes.

     "Forget it, Harry," George said bracingly, "Dad had to go out to Azkaban one time, remember, Fred? And he said it was the worst place he'd ever been, he came back all weak and shaking... They suck the happiness out of a place, dementors. Most of the prisoners go mad in there."

     "Anyway, we'll see how happy Malfoy looks after our first Quidditch match," smirked Fred. "Gryffindor versus Slytherin, first game of the season, remember?"

     That must have cheered Harry up because he helped himself to sausages and fried tomatoes.

     Aspen spread the jam on her piece of toast. She missed Hogwarts jam.

     Hermione was examining her new schedule.

     "Ooh, good, we're starting some new subjects today," she said happily.

     "Hermione," said Ron, frowning as he looked over her shoulder, "they've messed up your schedule. Look - they've got you down for about ten subjects a day. There isn't enough time."

     "I'll manage. I've fixed it all with Professor McGonagall."

     "But look," said Ron, laughing, "see this morning? Nine o'clock, Divination. And underneath, nine o'clock, Muggle Studies. And-" Ron leaned closer to the schedule, disbelieving "-look, underneath that, Arithmancy, nine o'clock. I mean, I know you're good, Hermione, but no one's that good. How're you supposed to be in three classes at once?"