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The following week at Hogwarts, Y/N noticed tighter security around the castle. They had even trained a pair of club-carrying Trolls to guard the entrance to Gryffindor Tower. Sir Cadogan had been sacked, and the portrait of the Fat Lady was restored. Y/N was grateful for this; she was getting sick of Sir Cadogan's boastful personality and his passwords changing every day.
Meanwhile, Hermione was to be seen hanging around in the library far more than usual. One day, as Y/N was returning a book on Animagi to the library, she found her friend sitting at a table surrounded by three piles of books, taking notes and searching them frantically.
'What are you doing?' said Y/N, looking over Hermione's shoulder at the book she was reading.
'Reading up on cases of marauding Hippogriffs,' said Hermione, flipping the pages.
'Hippogriffs... why?' asked Y/N, confused.
'Because Hagrid still needs help with Buckbeak's case!' shrilled Hermione.
'Oh, no! I completely forgot,' gasped Y/N. And she had indeed. She was so busy learning everything she could on Animagi and Metamorphmagi, not to mention her increasing pile of schoolwork, that Buckbeak's case was driven completely out of her mind.
She sat down next to Hermione and opened one of the books from the pile resolutely.
'You don't have to do this alone, Hermione,' said Y/N, grabbing a self-inking quill and parchment. 'You should've asked me for help!'
'Yes, well, you seemed busy yourself,' said Hermione, grabbing another book.
That was true, but Y/N wasn't sure she would tell Hermione, or anyone for that matter, that she was trying to become an Animagus. It felt like something she had to do alone, and it would be highly embarrassing if she ended up being unsuccessful in her attempt.
And so they went through the many books Hermione had borrowed, taking notes of any useful cases that could be used to help Hagrid. As Y/N's arm ached from the amount she wrote, she thought about hexing Malfoy as soon as she crossed paths with him.
'Git,' she mumbled.
'Sorry?' said Hermione, looking slightly offended.
'Not you! That bloody spoiled blondie-'
Hermione smiled for the first time in days. Y/N grinned back and returned to her book.
They worked for a while, and the sun was setting quickly. Y/N was scribbling something down when she felt a pair of eyes on the back of her head. She looked up slowly and craned her neck around to find a tall, handsome, and charming brunette boy looking at her from behind a row of books.
He got up and walked over to Y/N and Hermione's table, and Y/N couldn't help the small, nervous butterflies that started fluttering around in her stomach.
'Hey, Y/L/N,' said Cedric Diggory, towering over her. Hermione whipped her head around so suddenly that her neck cricked. Her eyes widened when she saw Cedric and gave Y/N a look.
'Hi, Diggory,' Y/N replied with a smile. 'Er- did you want anything?'
'Yeah, I was wondering if I could borrow Cases of Marauding Beasts Across Europe?' Cedric asked kindly, flashing Y/N a smile. 'I was looking for it and noticed you had it-'
'Oh, yeah, of course!' said Y/N, slightly over-enthusiastic. She handed over the heavy tome to the Hufflepuff and he grinned at her.
'Thank you, I'll return it tomorrow, promise,' said Cedric. He gave Hermione a polite nod of acknowledgment and walked back to his table.
Hermione looked at Y/N and leaned her head closer to her friend's.
'Cedric Diggory? ' she whispered, her mouth slightly agape. 'Since when-?'
'Since when what?' Y/N frowned, tearing her eyes away from the Hufflepuff and looking at the bushy-haired girl next to her.
'You're on speaking terms-'
'He only asked to borrow a book, Mione-'
'Still-! '
Y/N rolled her eyes and shook her head, returning to her note-taking.
When they returned to the common room that evening, carrying heavy books with them, it was to find people surrounding the bulletin board, discussing the next Hogsmeade trip. Hermione and Y/N set down their numerous books on a table so that they created a wall around them, and continued their studying.
'What d'you reckon?' said a voice nearby. Y/N looked up at Ron, who was taking a seat right in front of them, followed by Harry.
'Well, Filch hasn't done anything about the passage into Honeydukes...' whispered Harry.
'Harry!' said Hermione, pushing some books aside to get a good look at him. 'If you go into Hogsmeade again, I'll tell Professor McGonagall about the map!'
'Can you hear someone talking, Harry?' growled Ron, avoiding Hermione's eyes.
'Oh, shut up, Ron,' snapped Y/N.
'Ron, how can you let him go after what Sirius Black nearly did to you!' said Hermione. 'I mean it, I'll tell-'
'Oh, so now you're trying to get Harry expelled, are you?' said Ron furiously.
Hermione opened her mouth to respond, but Crookshanks had leapt onto the table with a hiss, glaring at Ron. Hermione took one terrified look at Ron, who was scowling at Crookshanks' sudden appearance, gathered her cat up, and hurried away to her dormitory.
'Can you be normal for two seconds?' Y/N glared at Ron.
Ron ignored her and turned to Harry. 'So, how about it?'
Harry looked at Y/N and didn't say anything. She raised her eyebrows at him.
'You know I wouldn't snitch on you, right?' she said. 'Nor would Hermione. But if you get caught...'
'He won't,' said Ron. 'Come on, Harry, you haven't even been into Zonko's yet!'
'Yeah, okay,' nodded Harry, looking back at Ron. 'But I'm taking the Invisibility Cloak this time.'
Y/N shook her head at them and returned to the books.
'Are you going, too?' Harry suddenly asked, twisting around in his seat to get a good look at Y/N.
'Yes,' she said without looking up. 'Why?'
'No reason,' said Harry, smiling to himself.
'We get it, Harry, you fanc-' Harry kicked Ron before he could finish his sentence.
'Ow!'
Y/N looked up at them, raising an eyebrow. 'You what, Harry?'
'Nothing!' Harry said quickly, looking away from his two friends to hide the pink tinge that had appeared on his face.
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Y/N and Ron were waiting outside Honeydukes, where they were going to meet Harry. Suddenly, Y/N felt something prod her back and she looked around to see - nothing.
'Harry, is that you?' she whispered.
'It's me,' he hissed back.
'What kept you?' said Ron.
'Snape was lurking around.'
They set off up the High Street, walked right past the Three Broomsticks, and stopped outside Zonko's joke shop.
'Are you still here?' muttered Ron out of the corner of his mouth, attempting to locate the invisible Harry.
'Yes,' Harry whispered back.
They entered Zonko's, which was so packed with students that Y/N was afraid someone would step on Harry's Cloak and reveal him. Y/N and Ron pretended to have a look around while Harry had a look at the various prank items in the shop.
'Can you get some of those Hiccough Sweets?' whispered Harry's voice in Y/N's ear.
Harry kept whispering orders of items he wanted, and when he attempted to pass Y/N some gold under the Cloak, she pushed his hand back and hissed, 'It's on me.'
'No, I insist-'
'I said no,' Y/N objected, and she walked up to the till, paying for everything they had bought.
'I- Thanks,' he whispered as she passed him the bag of items under the cloak.
'Lucky you, Harry,' grinned Ron as they walked out of the shop.
'Where to next?' asked Y/N, peering at the various shops around them.
'How about the Shrieking Shack?' suggested Ron. 'It's just beyond the village.'
They climbed up a slope to get closer to Shrieking Shack. All its windows and doorways were boarded up, and even in the bright daylight, it looked ominous and creepy.
'It's supposed to be the most haunted dwelling in Britain, isn't it?' said Y/N, leaning against the fence and peering up at the building.
'Yeah, even the Hogwarts ghosts avoid it,' said Ron. 'And you can't get in either. Fred and George tried to, but all the entrances are sealed shut.'
Harry was about to pull off his Invisibility Cloak when Y/N stopped him. She heard voices approaching, and sure enough, the figures of Malfoy flanked by his cronies Crabbe and Goyle had climbed up the hill and stopped at the sight of Ron and Y/N.
'You two shopping for your new dream home?' smirked Malfoy. 'Bit grand for you, isn't it, Weaselbee? Don't your family sleep in uh- one room?'
Y/N whipped her wand out and pointed it at Malfoy's sneering face, and as she was about to fire a jinx, she felt something grasp her hand.
'Leave it to me,' Harry hissed in her ear.
'What're you going to do, mudbloo-?'
SPLAT.
A ball of mud had flown straight at Malfoy's head, covering his blond hair in the muck. He whipped his head around, trying to see who was the perpetrator.
'What the-'
Y/N roared with laughter, and Ron had to lean against the fence to keep his balance, laughing his head off. The Slytherin trio spun around on the spot stupidly, looking for the source of the ball, when another sludgy, green one hit Goyle right in the face.
'Really haunted up her, isn't it?' said Y/N, her eyes tearing up as she laughed, a stitch forming in her side.
Crabbe started toward Y/N, as she was the only one around the area where the second ball was thrown. He tripped on nothing (Y/N suspected Harry had stuck out his foot) and fell into the mud face-first with a loud splat. But as Crabbe fell, Harry's Cloak was tugged down and his face was revealed.
'AAAARGH!!' Malfoy yelled, pointing at Harry's head floating in midair. He turned around and ran back down the hill, Crabbe and Goyle sprinting behind him, slipping and tripping.
'Harry!' exclaimed Ron, as Harry hid his head again with the Cloak. 'You'd better run for it before Malfoy tells anyone - get back to the castle, quick -'
'See you later,' said Harry, and Y/N heard his footsteps running back to the castle.
'Come on, we'll probably need to back him up,' said Y/N, running down the hill and into the village with Ron. 'I bet you anything Snape will be the one catching him first.'
As they reached the castle, they ran down the stairs to the school's dungeons, where Snape's office was. Y/N stumbled into the room, holding a stitch in her chest. She saw that Lupin was there too, holding the Marauder's Map in his hands, and Snape a bag of products from Zonko's.
'I - gave - Harry - that - stuff,' she gasped, leaning on the doorway, with Ron nodding behind her.
'We - we got it - for him- from Zonko's... ages ago...' Ron choked out.
'Well!' said Lupin, clapping his hands together and looking around cheerfully. 'That settles it then! Severus, I'll take this back, shall I?' He added, folding the map and tucking it into his robes. 'You three, come with me, I need a word about my vampire essay.'
They followed Lupin out of Snape's office and he walked them all the way to the Entrance Hall.
'Professor, I-' Harry began.
'I don't want to hear an explanation,' said Lupin shortly. He lowered his voice 'I don't have the faintest idea how this map came into your possession - Yes, I know it's a map -' he added as the trio gaped at him. 'Quite frankly, I am astounded you didn't hand it in. Particularly after what happened the last time a student left information about the castle lying about.'
'Why did Snape think I'd got it from the manufacturers?' asked Harry.
'Because...' Lupin hesitated, 'because these mapmakers would've wanted to lure you out of the school, they'd think it very entertaining.'
'You know them?' said Y/N, surprised.
Lupin looked at her for a moment. 'We've... met.'
That's odd.
'Don't expect me to cover up again for you,' Lupin said, addressing Harry. 'Your parents sacrificed their lives to protect you. A very poor way to repay them, gambling their sacrifice for a bag of magic tricks. And I can't let you have the map back.
At these words, Lupin walked away, leaving Ron and Harry feeling ashamed. They walked back up the marble staircase to Gryffindor Tower.
'I did warn you...' mumbled Y/N, looking at her friends.
'It's my fault,' said Ron abruptly. 'I persuaded Harry to go. Lupin's right, it was stupid, we shouldn't have done it.'
As they turned to the corridor where the security trolls were standing guard and saw Hermione walking toward them, looking grave.
'Come to have a good gloat?' Ron began savagely. Y/N stepped on his foot. 'Ow!'
'No,' said Hermione, her voice trembling. 'I just thought you ought to know - Hagrid lost his case... Buckbeak's going to be executed.'
'What? No!' gasped Y/N.
'He just sent me this,' said Hermione, handing Y/N a letter she was holding.
Y/N saw that the parchment was damped, blotches that looked like teardrops had smudged the ink so that it was hard to read in some places.
'We lost. I'm allowed to bring him back to Hogwarts. Execution date to be fixed. Beaky enjoyed London. I won't forget all the help you and Y/N gave us. Hagrid,' she read out.
'They can't do this,' said Harry furiously. 'Buckbeak isn't dangerous.'
'Malfoy's dad frightened them the Committee into it,' said Hermione, wiping her eyes. 'You know what he's like. There'll be an appeal though, only I can't see any hope... Nothing will have changed.'
'Yeah, it will,' said Ron fiercely. 'You won't have to work alone this time, Hermione, I'll help.'
'Oh, Ron!'
Hermione flung her arms around Ron, hugging him tightly, and broke down completely. Ron's face became as red as his hair, and he patted Hermione on the head awkwardly.
'Ron, I'm really, really sorry about Scabbers,' she sobbed, pulling away from Ron.
'Ah - well - he was a bit useless,' said Ron. 'You never know, Mum and Dad might get me an owl now.'
Y/N and Harry exchanged glances, relieved that their friends finally made up.
They were walking back up to the castle after a particularly depressing Care of Magical Creatures lesson with the rest of the class.
'S'no good, Ron,' said Hagrid as they reached the castle steps. Ron had just told him they were working on finding something for the appeal. 'The Committee is in Lucius Malfoy's pocket. I'm jus' gonna make sure Beaky's las' moments are the happiest he's ever had... I owe him that...'
Hagrid hurried back down to his hut, his face in a handkerchief.
'Look at him blubber, he's pathetic.'
The quartet turned around toward the mini-Stonehenge to see Malfoy laughing at Hagrid's retreating figure. Harry, Y/N and Ron stepped towards him, but before they could even act, Hermione had strode past them, reaching Malfoy before them.
SMACK!
Hermione punched Draco Malfoy in the face with all the force she could muster. He staggered backward, his head hitting the rock, looking flabbergasted, his nose leaking blood. Hermione raised her hand to strike again.
'Don't you dare call Hagrid pathetic, you foul, loathsome, evil little cockroach-!'
'Hermione!' said Ron weakly, grabbing her hand before she could swing it back.
'Get off, Ron!'
Malfoy stepped backward. Y/N walked toward him, and before anyone could react, she smacked Malfoy across the face.
'Y/N!' Harry gasped, looking utterly bewildered.
'That's what you get for being a piece of shit!' she said, now pulling out her wand.
Harry hooked his arms under Y/N's from behind and pulled her away so that she couldn't reach Malfoy.
'Let- me- go-' she struggled against his grasp to no avail.
Malfoy disappeared into the passageway to the dungeons without another word.
Ron was gaping at Hermione and Y/N, looking stunned but impressed.
'Harry, you just have to beat Slytherin in the Quidditch final!' Hermione said shrilly. 'Because I can't stand it if they win!'
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The Easter holidays would have been a welcome break if it hadn't been for the immense pile of schoolwork the third-years had to do. Neville Longbottom seemed close to a nervous collapse and Y/N had considered dropping Divination as Hermione had done a few days before.
'Call this a holiday!' roared Seamus Finnigan one afternoon in the common room. 'The exams are ages away, what're they playing at?'
But no one had as much to do as Hermione. She was taking more subjects than anybody else, including the years above third. She always woke up at the break of dawn, to Y/N's malcontent (her alarm was quite loud), and arrived at the library first thing in the morning, and was last to leave it, having to be shooed away by Madam Pince, the Hogwarts librarian.
Ron and Y/N had taken over responsibility for Buckbeak's appeal. When they weren't doing homework, they were poring over any book that might be useful for Hagrid. He was so absorbed that one day, Crookshanks had leapt on the couch beside him and Ron did not even bother to be horrible to him.
Harry, however, could not help his two friends. He was constantly seen every day on the Quidditch pitch along with the rest of the Gryffindor team. By the time the holidays ended, tension between Gryffindor and Slytherin was at an all-time high. Slytherins could be seen attempting to trip up Harry in the corridors, hoping he would be too injured to play on Saturday.
The fourth time this happened, Y/N, who had been walking beside Harry to Transfiguration, caused a Slytherin to break out in hives without even having to use her wand. Snape, who was walking down the same corridor at that moment, had turned to Y/N, his eyes gleaming. His mouth was about open to take points off Gryffindor, but at that precise second, the same Slytherin's bag had caught on fire (Y/N's red streaks of hair had brightened once more), causing a great commotion around them, which gave Y/N the time to grab Harry's hand and run as far away from Snape as possible.
The Gryffindor common room was positively buzzing with excitement the night before the match.
'I can't concentrate!' said Hermione nervously, putting down her book.
Y/N, too, had abandoned any attempt on finishing up her Potions essay. There was a great deal of noise all around them. Fred and George, the Gryffindor Beaters, could be seen telling jokes loudly to a very enthusiastic audience to deal with the pressure. Oliver Wood was sitting in a corner poring on a model of the Quidditch field, replaying Gryffindor's strategy over and over and muttering to himself.
Harry was sitting with Y/N, Ron and Hermione at their usual spot beside the fireplace, looking very nervous.
'You're going to be fine,' Hermione told him, though looking positively terrified herself.
'You've got a Firebolt!' said Ron enthusiastically.
'Yeah...' said Harry, staring into the fire.
'Harry,' Y/N said, turning around to face him, sitting cross-legged. 'You're the best Seeker Gryffindor has probably ever had! Actually, I think you're objectively the best Seeker at this school,' she affirmed encouragingly.
'What about Cedric?' Hermione suddenly asked, cocking an eyebrow at Y/N.
'What about him?' Y/N frowned, turning to her friend, who had a sly smirk on her face.
'Don't think I didn't see you two in the library yesterday...' Hermione said slowly. 'He's Hufflepuff's Seeker-'
Harry's heart dropped slightly and his smile drooped as he looked at Y/N. Her and Cedric Diggory? Since when? But Harry had no right to feel jealous about this, he thought to himself, Y/N wasn't his, after all...
'So?' Y/N huffed. 'He was only giving me a few pointers in History of Magic.'
'Not Diggory again-' Ron began.
'And if you think that I think Cedric is a better Seeker than Harry, you'd be wrong,' Y/N cut him off, flashing Harry a smile. 'Don't even worry about the match, Harry. I know you'll be brilliant, as per usual.'
This pronouncement had the effect of making Harry feel much better, and his worries about Cedric vanished instantly. His heart fluttered as he looked into his friend's E/C eyes.
'Thanks, Y/N,' he smiled at her. She certainly had her ways of cheering him up.
'She's right,' said Ron, nodding. 'Just play like you usually do and you'll win the Cup!'
Y/N ruffled Harry's hair, and butterflies erupted in his stomach that had nothing to do with tomorrow's match.
Oliver Wood stood up and yelled, 'Team! Bed!'
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AN - Cedric trope strikes again. Hope you enjoyed this chapter!
- HJPsQuill