Charmolypi

Chapter 139

Madam Pomphrey had insisted that the siblings stay in the hospital wing over the weekend. Despite Thea's relentless efforts, Poppy wasn't budging. The siblings had a stream of visitors, all intent on cheering Harry up and praising Thea on conjuring a corporeal Patronus.

Hagrid sent a bunch of earwiggy flowers that look like yellow cabbages. Ginny, blushing furiously, turned up with two get-well cards that she had made herself, which sang shrilly unless they kept them shut under the bowl of fruit.

"Those were very sweet, thank you Hagrid," Thea told the half giant sincerely. Hagrid blushed at the girl's comment.

The Gryffindor team visited again on Sunday morning, this time accompanied by Oliver, who told Harry that he didn't blame him in the slightest. Ron and Hermione left Harry's bedside only at night, which was exactly what Matteo, Theo, and Helios did for Thea.

Monday morning finally came, and Madam Pomphrey finally let the siblings go, but not before giving Thea an earful about being more careful and not exhausting herself. As they left the hospital wing, Thea heard Madam Pomphrey mumbling something about being just like her father and spending more time at the hospital wing than she does in her dorm.

It was a relief to return to the noise and bustle of the main school on Monday, where he was forced to think about other things, even if he had to endure Draco Malfoy's taunting. Malfoy was almost beside himself with glee at Gryffindor's defeat. He had finally taken off his bandages and celebrated having the full use of both arms again by doing spirited imitations of Harry falling off his broom. Malfoy spent much of their next Potions class doing dementor imitations across the dungeon; Ron finally cracked and flung a large, slippery crocodile heart at Malfoy, which hit him in the face and caused Snape to take fifty points from Gryffindor.

"Oh you were such a pest," Thalia said looking at Draco, her face a mix of anger and disgust.

"Yes, yes, I know," Draco waved her off, burying his face in his hands, grumbling under his breath, causing the majority of the group to laugh at his behavior.

"If Snape's teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts again, I'm skiving off," said Ron as they headed toward Lupin's classroom after lunch. "Check who's in there, Hermione." Hermione peered around the classroom door.

"It's okay!" she told them happily when she saw the familiar figure of professor Lupin.

It certainly looked as though he had been ill. His old robes were hanging more loosely on him and there were dark shadows beneath his eyes; nevertheless, he smiled at the class as they took their seats, and they burst at once into an explosion of complaints about Snape's behavior while Lupin had been ill.

"I completely understand where they're coming from!"

"Snape you're such a git!"

"Why are you so mean?"

"It's cruel to act that way towards students."

"Why is he even a teacher?"

"We all have our faults!" Harry said loudly. His comment instantly silenced the entire hall. No one expected Harry to be the one to stand up for Severus, especially considering the way he treated him and his sister. "Just give him a break."

Regulus watched as Thea clenched her jaw, shot one glare at her brother, and quickly turned away. He watched Percy try to calm her down but it was close to impossible considering how irritated she was.

"It's not fair, he was only filling in, why should he give us homework?"

"We don't know anything about werewolves —"