another love; harry potter

thirty-six

"Fourth year ended on a good note between us, Ron," said Harry miserably, meeting my gaze, "me and Pheobe, I mean. I had a chance with her. And now...I've messed it all up. I've got to fix it before the school year starts. I've got to win her back."

"SHE DOESN'T WANT TO HEAR YOUR BULLSHIT!" yelled a muffled voice from inside the bedroom.

"DAMN IT!" yelled a voice as loud screeching began downstairs. "PHEOBE!" called the voice. "GRANDMA BLACK'S AT IT AGAIN!"

"TELL HER TO SHUT UP!"

"HEY, MOM, SHUT UP!" the screeching resumed. "SHE ISN'T SHUTTING UP!" a groan was heard from inside the room and Pheobe stormed out of her room, not even looking Harry's way as the two of us swapped glances and followed the girl downstairs with Hermione to the portrait of her grandmother, who continued to let out a blood-curdling scream.

"What's going on?" Harry whispered to me.

"That's Sirius' Mum," I murmured back, "horrible woman, all she does is scream if you're the slightest bit too loud down here."

"Why's Pheobe-?"

"She's the only one who can stop her," I explained quietly. "Since she doesn't know Pheobe well, we've gotten her to believe Pheobe's a Pureblood supremacist, so she's pretty much the only way to shut up that old hag."

"Hello, Grandmother," said Pheobe in a falsely sweet voice, standing up straight as she faced her grandmother who stopped her screaming almost abruptly.

"Hello, dear," said the woman in the portrait, "have you seen the wretched people that your father is bringing into the house?!"

"I have," said Pheobe, clearly struggling to keep her temper in check. "It's terrible, all these...people."

"Filthy half-breeds and alike," said the woman as she huffed, pointing her nose up haughtily. "Tell them to get out of my house, will you?"

"Of course, anything for you, Grandmother," Pheobe said sweetly just as Sirius and Remus managed to shut the curtains.

"Thanks, Pheeb," Sirius sighed. Pheobe gagged. 

"Blech. I don't know how much longer I can keep pretending to hate you all," she said, before turning to Harry coldly. "Well, not all of you." with that, she stalked back upstairs, Hermione following, and the echo of her slamming the door was so loud we all heard it from two floors down.

"What's going on?" asked Remus and Sirius suspiciously.

"Nothing."

"That didn't sound like nothing, Harry."

"What's that sound?" asked Tonks with a raised eyebrow, pointing to the ceiling. "It's coming from upstairs. Some kind of song..." all of us frowned and listened carefully, before Sirius widened his eyes.

"HEY! THIS ONE HAS SO MANY SWEAR WORDS! TURN IT UP- DOWN!" he corrected after a stern look from Mrs. Weasley.

"We've been listening for five seconds, how do you know-?" I questioned.

"I used to listen to this all the- er- I mean, I've...heard it...once." 

"ALRIGHT, I'LL TURN IT UP," responded Pheobe's voice.