Chapter 52 - Invitation to the National team (1/2)
Hearing Tracey's question, Daphne was taken aback in a surprise. At first, she wanted to shout at her and scold her but then thought of losing her best friend removed that option but the thought of her with Neal is also unbearable for her.
As Daphne just stayed like a statue lost in her thoughts, Tracey laughed out loud, ”hahaha, I'm just kidding. He's like a sibling to me, don't worry about it”. Only then, Daphne returned to her senses, ”eh? What did you say?”.
Tracey pouted, ”Ah, dammit. You are no fun. I'm going”. After changing back her clothes, she slowly put the dress back. Daphne asked Pansy in a confusion, ”what did she say?”. While Pansy is explaining to her, Tracey exited the shop in a hurry.
Too bad that no one saw Tracey's expression while she's putting back the dress, which contained sadness. While Tracey is walking towards Honeyduke shop, she saw Neal waiting for her with a big fluffy candy.
As he waved his hand with a smile, she too smiled, ”can't do anything about it. I'm just a half-blood after all. Well, this is enough for me”. She quickly walked towards him and took the candy from his hand. While he was confused, she started eating it, ”hmm, it's good”. ”Hey, that's mine”. She started running playfully while laughing, ”try to catch me if you want it then”.
The students made it back by the evening before Halloween feast starts. The feast was delicious. Even Malfoy who was full to bursting with sweets from Honeydukes managed second helpings of everything.
The feast finished with entertainment provided by the ghosts. They popped out of the walls and tables to do a bit of formation gliding. As for Harry who just recovered from his bad mood with food, his mood was once again destroyed by Malfoy who taunted him, ”scaredy-cat, Potter. Didn't want to leave the castle with dementors and Black lurking, right?”.
As the feast was over, everyone returned to their dormitories. When Harry and the rest went towards their dormitory, they saw it was crowded. When Percy said that he was the Head Boy, the crowd gave him the way only for him to find out the fat lady on the Portrait is gone.
He shouted, ”Somebody, get Prof. Dumbledore here. Quick”. As Dumbledore and Filch arrived, they saw the portrait was slashed and was torn into pieces. Dumbledore then ordered Filch, ”send the ghosts a word to search for her”.
After hearing from Peeves, the poltergeist that the fat lady was screaming Sirius Black name while running away earlier, Dumbledore looked at the students, ”gather at the Great Hall”. As everyone from the Gryffindor gathered at the Great Hall, he removed all the tables away with a flick of his wand.
Dumbledore then said, ”The teachers and I need to conduct a thorough search of the castle for Sirius Black and as well as for the guardian”. As Prof. McGonagall and Prof. Flitwick closed down the doors, He continued, ”I'm afraid for your own safety, you will have to spend the rest of the night here.
I want the Prefects to stand as guards and the Head Boy and Head Girl in charge”. Then, with his wand, he conjured lots of sleeping bags and ordered everyone to sleep in there.
The next day morning during breakfast, Malfoy mocked Harry and others, ”I heard that you slept here because Sirius Black made the fat lady run away?”. Harry replied angrily, ”do you want me to help you spending on one arm for the rest of the year?”.
Malfoy looked at his bandaged arm and then said, ”hmpf, speaking of the injury, I forgot to mention you that your dear Hagrid is going to lose his job by the end of the term. Send him my condolences”. While the trio began to worry about Hagrid, Malfoy thoroughly enjoyed his breakfast.
As the weekend came, it began to rain heavily. Just when Prof. Snape was thinking of getting the match canceled or changing Gryffindor's opponent because of Malfoy's injury, Flint looked at Neal and asked, ”this is your first test. If you were the Captain, what would you do?”.