THE TRUTH UNTOLD | Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

𝘅𝘅 | 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝗲𝗯𝗼𝗹𝘁

  'Do you remember last Christmas?' Hermione said suddenly.

  Gwen looked at her. 'When we were brewing the illegal Polyjuice Potion?'

  Hermione laughed. 'And I turned into a cat?'

  The two laughed together. At that time, of course, Hermione hadn't known what Gwen had been doing. At least this year there was no Chamber of Secrets.

  Gwen and Hermione sat back in their beds. Crookshanks jumped up onto Gwen's, purring loudly when she stroked him. She leaned across the bed, grabbing hold of a spare piece of tinsel that had fallen from her bed posts. With a quick look at Hermione, who was eating some Muggle chocolates her parents had sent her, Gwen tied the tinsel into a bow around Crookshanks' neck, who had now stopped purring and was looking up at her grumpily.

  'That's so cute!' Hermione gasped, realising what Gwen had done. 'Awh, Crookshanks, you look gorgeous!'

  The cat looked at Hermione, his squashed face very clearly not impressed.

  Eventually, the girls went down to the Common Room, expecting to see Ron and Harry there, but it was empty.

  Gwen checked her watch. 'They can't still be in bed. It's almost ten o'clock.'

  'You know them,' Hermione sighed, and so the two of them turned back up to the dorms, but instead of going up the staircase to the girls' rooms, they went up to the boys'.

  As they approached the third year boys' dorms, they could hear Harry and Ron speaking animatedly. They opened the door, and immediately, Gwen spotted the glossy broomstick on Harry's bed.

  'What are you two laughing about?' Hermione asked, picking Crookshanks up. He had followed them up to the dorm.

  'Don't bring him in here!' said Ron hurriedly, spotting the cat. He snatched Scabbers from the depths of his bed and dropped him into his pyjama pocket. Hermione, however, like Gwen, was not listening. They were both fixated on the broomstick.

  'Is that a Firebolt?' Gwen said, moving toward Harry's bed. Hermione followed, dropping Crookshanks on one of the empty beds. Gwen ran her fingers down the handle of the broom. It was smooth and magnificent and she so desperately wanted to ride it.

  'Oh, Harry!' Hermione said, ogling the broom. 'Who sent you that?'

  'No idea,' said Harry, looking immensely grateful. 'There wasn't a card or anything with it.'

  Gwen paused, glancing at Hermione. Judging from the expression on her face, she too had the same thought as Gwen.

  'What's the matter?' said Ron.

  'I don't know,' Hermione said, biting her lip. 'It's a bit odd, isn't it? I mean this is supposed to be quite a good broom, isn't it?'

  Ron sighed. 'The best broom there is.'

  'And it's extremely expensive,' Gwen said. She and Hermione shared a look.

  'Probably cost more than all the Slytherins' brooms put together,' said Ron happily.

  'Well... who'd send Harry something as expensive as that, and not even tell him they'd sent it?' said Hermione.