Muggle | 𝐹𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑊𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑙𝑒𝑦

Chapter 114

***

The next day, I had to return to the trophy room early to finish up our dusting before Filch arrived.

When he came and observed the trophies, he gave me a nasty look before handing over my wand and Draco's.

Taking them away from him, I walked back up to hospital wing. When I entered the ward, I found Draco sound asleep on one of the beds.

Tiptoeing toward him so I wouldn't wake him, I placed his wand on the nightstand next to the bed and turned on my heels to leave, but stopped in my tracks as I heard a soft voice say behind me,

"Thanks."

Glancing over my shoulders, I saw Draco looking at me through tired and half-open eyes, the edge of his lips curled up into a grin.

So I just smiled back at him and nodded, making my way out of the hospital wing and back to the Gryffindor common room.

***

As October arrived, so did our first Hogsmeade trip of the term. It felt weird to me that I wasn't going to spend it with Lee, Fred, and George, but I was glad that Harry, Ron, and Hermione had invited me to join them.

The weather was insanely cold that it didn't make the walk through the village too enjoyable as we had to lower our hats and wear our scarves tightly around our necks.

So to get away from the freezing cold, we walked into Honeydukes sweet shop, where we were welcomed by warmth and a delicious scent.

"Thank God," said Ron with a shiver as we were enveloped by warm, toffee-scented air. "Let's stay here all afternoon."

"Harry, m'boy!" said a booming voice from behind us, causing us to turn around.

"Oh no," Harry muttered as we saw Slughorn approaching us.

"Harry, that's three of my little suppers you've missed now!" said Slughorn as he reached us. "It won't do, m'boy, I'm determined to have you! Miss Granger and Miss Hooper love them, don't you?"

"Yes," said Hermione helplessly, "they're really —"

"So why don't you come along, Harry?" Slughorn went on.

"Well, I've had Quidditch practice, Professor," Harry explained.

"Well, I certainly expect you to win your first match after all this hard work!" said Slughorn. "But a little recreation never hurt anybody. Now, how about Monday night, you can't possibly want to practice in this weather..."

"I can't, Professor, I've got — er — an appointment with Professor Dumbledore that evening," Harry reasoned, but I could tell that he was secretly glad that he wasn't going to attend this one either.

"Unlucky again!" Slughorn sighed dramatically. "Ah, well... you can't evade me forever, Harry!" And with that, he walked away.

"I can't believe you've wriggled out of another one," said Hermione, shaking her head after Slughorn had gone. "They're not that bad, you know... They're even quite fun sometimes..."

"Yeah, right," I said sarcastically, scoffing. "Very fun. Specially when McLaggen opens his mouth; that's when the real party starts." They chuckled at that.

     "Let's go to the Three Broomsticks," said Harry after some while of walking around the shop and buying the things we wanted. "It'll be warm."

     So we bundled our scarves back over our faces and left the sweetshop, the bitter wind immediately hitting us like knives.

     The streets of the village which were always busy, were now completely empty of people other than the Hogwarts students.

      Although as we got closer to the Three Broomsticks, we saw two men standing nearby, with their cloaks drawn up closely to their faces.

       "That's Hog's Head's barman," said Harry, pointing at the taller one of the two men, who looked like they were exchanging something. "I recognize him from last year, for the first DA meeting we had there."

       Hog's Head's barman... I repeated those words in my head with high amusement, realizing that man was Aberfoth Dumbledore.

     As Harry, Ron, Hermione, and I walked closer, the barman drew his cloak more tightly around his neck and walked away, leaving the shorter man to fumble with something in his arms.

      "Mundungus!" Harry suddenly called out the short man, recognizing him.

      "Oh, 'ello, 'Arry," said Mundungus Fletcher, his eyes widening in horror at his sight for some reason. "Well, don't let me keep ya."

        Abruptly, he bent down on the ground, grabbing his supplies and forcing them quickly in his old suitcase.

      "Are you selling this stuff?" asked Harry, watching Mundungus move the objects in a hurry.

      "Oh, well, gotta scrape a living," said Mundungus. "Gimme that!" He yelled as Ron had stooped down and picked up something silver.

       "Hang on," Ron said thoughtfully. "This looks familiar —"

     "Thank you!" said Mundungus, snatching the goblet out of Ron's hand and stuffing it back into the case. "Well, I'll see you all — AARGH!"

       "Harry!" Hermione and I squealed together as Harry had pointed his wand at Mundungus furiously.

      "You took that from Sirius's house, didn't you!?" said Harry angrily. "That had the Black family crest on it!"

      "I — what — ?"

       "What did you do, go back the night he left the house and strip the place?" snarled Harry.

      "I — no —"

       "Give it to me!"

       But before he could do anything else, Mundungus had taken his suitcase and Disapparated with a cracking sound, disappearing out of sight.

      I remembered this happening in the books, although Harry had gotten much angrier back then, pinning Mundungus to the wall by his throat.

       But perhaps that was because Sirius had died in that scenario, which had caused Harry's anger to be triggered more than now.

      I knew as a Black and the true heir to that house, I should've been mad at Mundugus for stealing what belonged to my father and uncle. But I only smiled.

       This meant that he had stolen Slytherin's locket and had just sold Sirius's two-way mirror to Aberforth.

      Things were going just as planned.