The Mudblood

Chapter 49 : Year 3

The last few days of February trickled by, and finally it was March. Snow on the school grounds slowly began to melt, though at a much slower rate than my brain seemed to be melting. Since my vision of Voldemort, I'd had a small ache in my head, and by Friday, March 5th, it had accumulated into a pain so intense that I had to skip all of my classes. I should have gone to the hospital wing, though I had a feeling this was no physical ailment; this disease ran deeper than the physical—even deeper than my own mind. Most of the pain was concentrated in one area: behind my right ear. It was itchy, too—I'd scratched it so much that it had turned into this puffy, bleeding mass that I had to cover with my hair as not to raise suspicion.

On March 6th, I felt mildly better, so I decided I would still attend the Hogsmeade visit. Lupin had replied to my letter, and we agreed to meet at the Hog's Head in the afternoon, so I spent the morning with Melody, Harper, and Anderson in Honeyduke's. Ashley and Astoria wanted to go to Gladrags, of course, though we met up with them for lunch at the Three Broomsticks. 

"Well would you look at that," Harper mused as the two girls approached us in the road. "The Slytherin Six reunites after a smashing shopping session."

"Slytherin Six!" Anderson exclaimed gleefully. "Genius, Harper—"

"Smashing for us," Astoria interjected, glaring at our bags of candy in disgust. "You all are just going to get fat."

"Can I have some of your candy, Lainey?" Ashley asked, peering into my bag of sweets.

"Of course—"

"No, no!" Astoria shrilled, swatting Ashley's hand away from my bag. "Ashley and I are on a diet—we are going to lose weight. I even bought this dress in a size too small in order to force the weight off of me."

She pulled a little pink dress out of her bag to show to me, and I snorted.

"You are fourteen—you're not going to lose any weight! If anything you're going to gain weight because we're still growing—"

"Do not talk to me, Lainey! I will be petite!" she insisted, stuffing the dress back into her bag. "It's the only way I'll be able to keep Evy-poo."

"Evan is not that shallow—"

"I won't dump you if you're fat," Anderson injected, looking to her hopefully.

"You wouldn't have to, because we're never going to date, Vince," Astoria retorted haughtily.

"Make way, make way!" Harper proclaimed as he rammed through the front door of the Three Broomsticks. "The Slytherin Six is coming through!"

Melody eyed him with repulsion as he held the door open for her. She didn't even say thank you before looking back down at her book.

"Thanks, Harper," I began to say as I walked through the doorway, though he let the door swing back and hit me before I could enter the pub.

"That's what you get for ruining my life!" he sang maliciously as I gingerly pushed the door back open.

"Oh no," Astoria groaned as we took our seats at the same table as last time. "We're going to have to eat? How will I ever lose weight if I eat?"

"Eat healthy, maybe?" I suggested dryly as I glanced down at the menu.

"Oh—waitress, can we have six butterbeers? On me, of course, because I'm rich," Anderson drawled as a waitress walked by. She scrunched her nose at him, but then walked off toward the bar.