Weeks passed and soon enough it was snowing outside. "How is it this cold already?" ron complained shoving his hands into his pockets. Leah, Harry, and Ron walked the path to Hogsmeade. Apparently Hermione was somewhere at the castle but they decided to go without her.
It was the first trip to Hogsmeade and there were many people walking the streets of the village even though it was freezing outside. "I should have brought gloves." Leah muttered as a couple walked by huddling close together for warmth.
"You want my gloves?" Harry asked "Are you sure?" Leah questioned "Well, I wouldn't want you to freeze our fingers off so..." Harry took off his gloves and gave them to Leah who reluctantly put them on. "Thanks." Leah said to him.
Suddenly Hermione ran up to the three of them. "Hey." she greeted. "Hi, where were you?" Ron asked "Well, I was curious about the Half-Blood Prince so I went to the..." "Library." Leah and Harry finished. Hermione raised an eyebrow, as if to say 'Am I really that predictable?'. "And well, I couldn't find a single reference to the Half-Blood Prince!" Hermione said defeated
"There we go! That settles it then." Harry said and we over heard Slughorn's conversation "Filius! I thought I'd see you at the Three Broomsticks!" Slughorn called after Flitwick. "Actually I can't, emergency choir practice I'm afraid." With that Slughorn walked into the pub.
"Anyone fancy a butter beer?" Harry asked and soon enough we were at the Three Broomsticks. We sat in a booth. Harry and Ron sat on one side and Hermione and Leah on the other.
Hermione ordered four butter beers and while waiting we saw Ginny and Dean in the corner booth snuggling against each other. "Bloody hell." Ron muttered . "Sick git." "Oh come on Ron! they're just holding hands." Hermione said. We turned back to them and this time their faces seemed to be glued together.
"And snogging." Leah said and then the butter beers came to the table. "That happens to be my sister." Ron defended "Well, you think you'd be used to it by now." Leah said taking a sip. "Well, what if she came in here and saw you snogging me? Do you think she'd just get up and leave?" Hermione asked.
Harry whispered to Leah across the table "What's Malfoy doing here?" Harry asked and looked over to where the doors to the loos were, Leah saw a platinum blond figure slide into one of the doors. She couldn't see which one from where she was sitting. They stared at each other for a moment.
"Harry my boy!" Slughorn greeted "What brings you here sir?" Harry asked, while shaking his hand. "Oh the three Broomsticks and I go way back farther than I care to admit! I can remember when it was One Broomstick!"
"Now, on the topic at hand. In my old days I used to throw a supper party with a select group of students would you be game?" he asked "I consider it an honor sir!"
"Excellent, I expect Ms. Green and Ms. Granger to come along as well." he turned to Leah and Hermione. They turned to each other and nodded "We'd be delighted." Hermione answered "Good, look for my owl! Good to see you Wollomby!" Slughorn said to Ron and left leaving Ron with a disappointed look on his face.
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After they finished in the Three Broomsticks they walked out into the freezing cold weather. Hermione put her arms around Ron and Harry as she was looking and feeling a bit tipsy. There was silence between the four of them, it seemed no one had anything to say.
Suddenly someone screamed, it turned out to be Lian who was walking with Katie who lay on the snow covered path. All of a sudden she was sliding across the ground, and lifted up as if she were a rag doll. Leah had grabbed Harry's hand out of fear, Harry squeezed it slightly to comfort her.
Finally Katie was dropped to the ground. "Back away everyone." Hagrid said as he picked Katie up. Harry let go of Leah's hand and walked over to the package that Katie was holding moments ago. "Do not touch that except for the wrappings. Do you understand." Hagrid warned.
Harry pulled off the wrappings to reveal a necklace, Leah wasn't getting a good vibe from it.
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Later that evening they had to speak to McGonagall about the scene that occurred at Hogsmeade.
Once Lian finished her side of the story she was free to leave, then McGonagall turned to the four of them. "Why is it that when something happens it always you four?" McGonagall asked "Believe me Professor I've been asking myself that for 6 years." Ron said.
McGonagall called Snape into the room who seemed to be passing by. He inspected it and confirmed the fact that Katie had been cursed. "Malfoy did it." Harry stated. Everyone turned to him "That is a serious accusation Potter." McGonagall said. "Indeed. Do you have any evidence to back up this accusation Potter." Snape said.
Harry shook his head "I just know." "You just know?" Harry nodded the next few seconds consisted of Snape and Harry glaring at each other. Finally McGonagall spoke up "It's late, I think it's best if you all head back up to your dormitories." with that the four of us left the room.
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Leah was sitting on her bed reading her book, she looked at her night stand to see Harry's gloves lying there. 'I should give them back.' Leah thought. She then closed her book and grabbed the gloves. When she opened the door she could hear someone talking in the boy's dormitory.
Leah knocked on the door and heard a muffled "Come in!". When she walked in she felt out of place. Neville, Seamus, and Dean were sitting on their beds obviously bored, Ron's head was dangling off of the side of his bed and Harry was just lying down on his bed looking at the Marauder's Map. The reason Leah felt so uncomfortable was because she was the only girl in a room full of boys and it looked as though they were having a conversation as well.
"Hey Leah!" Neville greeted. "Hi. Sorry if I was intruding or something. If this is a bad time I can wait until tomorrow." Leah said smiling nervously. "NO!" Harry exclaimed quickly sitting up. "I mean it's okay. I needed to talk to you anyways." he said getting up.
We left the room and when Harry closed the door he took out his wand and whispered "Muffliato." Leah understood that this was important and did the same for her dorm room.
"Listen about today. I understand if you deny what you saw today at the Three Broomsticks but I think Malfoy's up to something and it can't be good." Leah nodded "I agree he's been acting very shifty for the past few months and one thing I know about Malfoy is that he loves bullying people and that hasn't happened, not even once." Harry nodded
"So do you think he's a death eater?" he asked "I'm not sure about that yet, but one thing I do know is that what happened today wasn't a coincidence. Someone was planning this, it doesn't make sense why Malfoy would do something like this though." Leah explained "I'm trying to work out that part." Harry glanced down at the map.
"Look at this." Harry turned the map so Leah could see. She saw Malfoy's name on the map and he appeared to be on the seventh floor, then he just vanished. "What the.....?"
"I know he's vanished before. Do you think he's been leaving Hogwarts?" "No that's impossible. You can't leave the school magically." Harry nodded and folded the map back up. "What did you need me for?" he asked "Oh I just wanted to give you your gloves back." Leah took out the gloves and gave them to Harry, he stared at them for a while and handed them back.
"You can keep them." he said "Are you sure?" she asked, Harry nodded in response. "Fine but I don't want to hear any complaints about cold hands I'll feel guilty." Harry smiled and lifted the spell he had casted on the door. "Night Leah." Harry said "Night Harry."