Puppet Strings (Hogwarts x Reader)

Chapter 4

Y/n and the others descended Professor Trelawney's ladder and the winding stair in silence.

"Well," Y/n finally said. "At least we know bad luck runs in the family now."

"Aren't you adopted?" Val pointed out.

"Semantics."

Val chuckled. The tone seemed generally lighter now as the group made their way to double Potions with Gryffindor. About halfway through the lesson Malfoy returned.

He swaggered into the dungeon, his right arm covered in bandages and bound up in a sling, acting, in Y/n's opinion, as though he were the heroic survivor of some dreadful battle.

"How is it, Draco?" simpered Pansy Parkinson. "Does it hurt much?"

"Yeah," said Malfoy, putting on a brave sort of grimace. But Y/n saw him wink at Crabbe and Goyle when Pansy had looked away.

"Settle down, settle down," said Professor Snape idly.

They were making a new potion today, a Shrinking Solution. Malfoy set up his cauldron right next to Harry and Ron, so that they were preparing their ingredients on the same table.

"Sir," Malfoy called, loud enough that Y/n heard, "sir, I'll need help cutting up these daisy roots, because of my arm —"

"Weasley, cut up Malfoy's roots for him," said Snape without looking up.

Ron went brick red. He hissed something at Malfoy, but Y/n couldn't hear.

A few cauldrons away, Neville was in trouble. Neville regularly went to pieces in Potions lessons; it was his worst subject, and his great fear of Professor Snape made things ten times worse. His potion, which was supposed to be a bright, acid green, had turned —

"Orange, Longbottom," said Snape, ladling some up and allowing it to splash back into the cauldron, so that everyone could see. "Orange. Tell me, boy, does anything penetrate that thick skull of yours? Didn't you hear me say, quite clearly, that only one rat spleen was needed? Didn't I state plainly that a dash of leech juice would suffice? What do I have to do to make you understand, Longbottom?"

Neville was pink and trembling. He looked as though he was on the verge of tears.

"Please, sir," said Hermione, "please, I could help Neville put it right —"

"I don't remember asking you to show off, Miss Granger," said Snape coldly, and Hermione went as pink as Neville.

"Longbottom, at the end of this lesson we will feed a few drops of this potion to your toad and see what happens. Perhaps that will encourage you to do it properly." Snape moved away, leaving Neville breathless with fear.

"Help me!" he moaned to Hermione.

Val and Y/n returned to their potions. "What a prick," Y/n muttered.

"He's always like that," Val said.

"Can't believe he's our head of house."

"I know," Val said. "But....well he's not so bad to us. Still a jerk, though."

Y/n sighed and stirred her potion.

"....Sirius Black..."

At hearing that name, Y/n turned to see Seamus Finnigan talking to Harry.

"Where's he been sighted?" said Harry and Ron quickly. On the other side of the table, Malfoy looked up, listening closely.

"Not too far from here," said Seamus, who looked excited. "It was a Muggle who saw him. 'Course, she didn't really understand. The Muggles think he's just an ordinary criminal, don't they? So she phoned the telephone hot line. By the time the Ministry of Magic got there, he was gone."