LIKE LIGHTNING | Harry Potter x Reader Fanfiction

⁕ hospital wing ⁕

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Harry's POV

A couple of hours later, Ron, Hermione, and I made our way to the Owlery together to send a letter to Sirius. We were all puffy-eyed from staying up late with Y/N but I was glad to know she was ok.

"Just go through it again Harry?" Hermione asked, "What did Mr. Crouch actually say?" 

"I've told you, he wasn't actually making much sense, Y/N said he wanted to warn Dumbledore about something. He was out of his mind." 

"And... remind me of what he said about You-Know-Who." asked Ron tentatively. 

"He said he was getting stronger." I said back to him dully. 

There was a pause before Ron said in a false confidence voice, "But he was out of his mind like you said, so had of it was probably just raving..." 

I turned my head towards one of the Owlery windows and stared up into the rafters. There were half-empty perches and every now and then another owl would swoop in and return with a mouse or small animal in its beak. 

"If Snape hadn't held me up, we might've gotten there in time. I could've stopped Y/N from getting stunned. Why couldn't he have just got out of the way!" 

"Maybe he didn't want you to get there." Ron said quickly. "Maybe- hang on - how fast d'you reckon he could've gotten down to the forest? D'you reckon he could've beaten you and Dumbledore down there?" 

"Not unless he can turn himself into a bat or something." I said. 

"Wouldn't put it past him." Ron muttered. 

"Shh!" said Hermione suddenly. I turned around and heard that somebody was climbing the steps up to the Owlery. I could hear two voices arguing. 

"-that's blackmail, that is, we could get into a lot of trouble for that-" 

"-we've tried being polite; it's time to play dirty, like him. He wouldn't like the Ministry of Magic knowing what he did-" 

"I'm telling you, if you put that in the writing, it's blackmail!" 

"Yeah, and you won't be complaining if we get a nice fat payoff, will you?" 

The Owlery door banged open and Fred and George came over the threshold before freezing at the sight of us three. 

"What're you doing here?" asked Ron and Fred at the same time. 

"Sending a letter." George and I said in unison. 

"What, at this time?" said Hermione and Fred. 

Fred grinned before saying, "Fine - we won't ask you what you're doing, if you don't ask us."

I glanced at the sealed envelope in his hands and Fred shifted it in his hands. 

"Well don't let us hold you up." said George, making a mock bow and pointing at the door. 

Ron hadn't moved from where he was standing and asked, "Who're you blackmailing?"

"Don't be stupid, I was only joking around." said Fred easily, the smile vanishing from his face. 

"It's my business if you're blackmailing someone, you could end up in big trouble for that." 

George walked over to Fred and pulled the letter out of his hands, and began attaching it to the leg of the nearest barn owl. 

"You're starting to sound like our dear older brother, you are, Ron. Carry on like this and you'll be made a prefect." 

Ron's face got red before he said, "No, I won't!" 

George carried the barn owl to the window and it took off, soaring somewhere west. 

"Well, stop telling people what to do then." George said before leaving the Owlery along with Fred. 

"You don't think they know anything about this, do you?" Questioned Hermione. 

"No. If it was something that serious they'd tell someone." I said to her. 

Ron was still looking uncomfortable and Hermione turned to him, "What's the matter? 

"Well... I dunno if they would. They're obsessed with making money lately, I noticed it when I was hanging around with them.

"But blackmail..." I started. 

"It's this joke ship idea they've got, I thought they were only saying it to annoy Mum but they really mean it, they want to start one. They've only got a year left at Hogwarts, they keep going on about how it's time to think about their future, and Dad can't help them, and they need to get gold to get started." 

Now it was Hermione's turn to look uncomfortable, "Yes but they wouldn't do anything against the law to get gold." 

"Wouldn't they?" said Ron skeptically, "I dunno... they don't mind breaking rules do they?" 

"Yes, but this is the law... This isn't some silly school rule, they'll get into a lot more than detention for blackmail! Ron.. maybe you better tell Percy?" 

"Are you mad!" He almost shouted, "Tell Percy? He'd probably do a Crouch and turn them in." He started at the empty window where the twins had released the towel and then said, "Come on, let's get some breakfast." 

And so we departed from the Owlery, thinking of our bigger problem. Whether Mr. Crouch had been found yet. 

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Word Count: 1444

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