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HP Chapter 50: Hogsmeade Village
🕑 Added 2025-08-22 14:01:26 +0000 UTCThe rest of September passed peacefully. Defense Against the Dark Arts quickly became one of the most beloved subjects among the students. Professor Lupin had a gift for teaching, making every class engaging and fun.
Even though Anne's first class hadn’t gone well, she didn't dislike Professor Lupin or his lessons. He genuinely taught them a great deal.
Madam Pomfrey gave Anne a generous supply of Calming Draughts, and every night she slept soundly, dreamless until dawn.
With restful sleep, a packed class schedule, and piles of homework, Anne did what she had done many times before, she dug a hole in her heart and buried everything inside.
She would get through it. After a long enough recovery, she always did.
Whenever fragments of memories from her past life surfaced, especially from that painful time, she would silently recite passages from A History of Medieval Magic. It worked well enough.
In Potions class, Snape continued his campaign against Gryffindor for weeks. Neville had already been reduced to tears twice in class. Sometimes, when they couldn’t bear to watch anymore, Fanny and Hermione would whisper reminders to Neville. Otherwise, as Harry and Ron saw it, Neville might as well invest in a few more toads. Every time a lesson ended, Snape would use Neville's poorly made potion to feed his toad.
Care of Magical Creatures, after an action-packed first lesson, quickly turned dull. Hagrid seemed to have lost his confidence. Now, every class involved feeding lettuce to Flobberworms.
One rainy morning, Fanny and the trio, Harry, Ron, and Hermione, had arranged to check Anne’s parchment after breakfast.
When they saw the words "Rain Today" written on the parchment, Hermione was the first to catch on. Fanny and Harry followed almost immediately. Ron, holding the parchment up, exclaimed how accurate Anne's prediction was, drawing laughter from the others. After they explained the trick to him, he laughed too, already planning to prank Percy, Fred, and George with the game. He made them all promise not to tell.
When Fanny told Anne what Ron had said, she replied coolly, "Fred and George definitely won’t follow the rules, and Percy probably wouldn’t even bother playing with Ron."
At the end of September, the Slytherin common room buzzed with excitement as third-year students crowded around the notice board. The first Hogsmeade weekend was scheduled for the end of October, Halloween Eve. It meant a day to explore the village and still return in time for the feast.
On Halloween morning, Filch stood just inside the castle doors, checking names off a long list, eyeing each student suspiciously, ready to catch anyone without permission.
"Ah, Anne! We get the whole day in Hogsmeade. I want to visit every shop!" Fanny exclaimed, pulling Anne toward the doors.
"Alright… Hey, slow down!" Anne was nearly dragged along.
Slytherin was the first house to get through Filch's inspection. Anne and Fanny were near the front, but the Hufflepuffs soon caught up as excitement made everyone eager.
After Anne gently reminded her to maintain a lady-like demeanor, Fanny stopped running and instead walked briskly. Soon after, Ron and Hermione caught up from behind.
"Where's Harry?" Fanny asked.
"His uncle wouldn’t sign the permission form," Ron muttered.
"That's a shame," Fanny said sympathetically. "But we’ll bring him back some sweets, right, Anne?"
Before Anne could respond, they noticed she was already surrounded by Fred and George.
"Anne, about that chemical reaction you mentioned, you know, quicklime and water…" Fred started.
"And what's the specific heat capacity again?" George cut in.
Ron rolled his eyes. "They never get this excited in class. But talk about Muggle science and suddenly they're all ears."
Fanny laughed. "Still upset they caught onto your rain trick so quickly?"
"I am not! They just didn’t follow the rules, that’s all," Ron protested.
"You’ve lived with them for how long now? You should know better," Fanny said. "Anne knew they’d figure it out."
Hermione stood next to Anne, clearly interested in the Muggle science book the twins had. Anne thought the twins would probably make great inventors in the Muggle world, they weren’t just curious; they were fearless.
After answering their questions, the twins dashed off, still arguing over some magical-physics hybrid prank.
"Next time, we’ll show you what we come up with! But first, we need some supplies from Zonko’s!" George shouted, snatching Hermione’s book as he ran.
Hermione, inspired, began quizzing Anne on Ancient Runes and Arithmancy. Anne answered simply and directly, never more than necessary.
Meanwhile, Fanny and Ron swapped Hogsmeade stories they’d heard from older relatives. Eventually, Fanny roped Anne into the conversation too. Since Aaron had been sending Anne dozens of letters about his school days, especially after hearing about her encounter with the Boggart, Anne had absorbed a lot of Hogsmeade legends and tales.
Fanny and Hermione already knew Anne could spin a great story, they’d learned that in Paris. So the walk to Hogsmeade turned into Anne’s storytelling time.
By the time they reached the village, they had unintentionally picked up quite a crowd, including Pansy, two more Slytherin girls, and a handful of Gryffindors.
"…It’s said Hogsmeade was founded around the same time as Hogwarts, by a wizard named Hengist. He settled here to escape Muggle persecution. According to Magical Relics of History, the village also served as the headquarters during the Goblin Rebellion of 1612. A place full of history and magic, it’s certainly worth exploring. That’s the end of the story. Off you go now, everyone, go shop!"
Anne ignored the applause and quietly glanced at Fanny and Hermione, saying nothing.
Once the crowd dispersed, Ron turned to Anne, still awestruck. "Wow, Anne! That was amazing. Same subject as Binns, but a hundred times more exciting! That bit about both sides fighting for... what was it? Oh yeah, narrative power! I might actually reread A History of Magic now. If classes were taught like that, I’d get full marks!"
Fanny tugged Ron’s sleeve to stop him. Hermione leaned in toward Anne. Her expression had gone cold.
Hermione apologized softly, "Sorry, Anne. Fanny and I just thought your stories were too good not to share."
Ron whispered to Fanny, "What did you two do earlier?"
Fanny whispered back, "Anne stopped twice, but we kind of... nudged her to keep going."
"Wait… that time you two started cheering, you made her keep going?! What did you do the first time?"
Fanny looked awkward. Before she could answer, Anne cut in, voice cold. "Nothing much. Just another little threat from a certain young lady when I said I was done. Clearly, she didn’t take my words seriously."
Fanny blushed. Hermione grabbed Anne’s hand. "She didn’t mean it like that. It was my idea."
Just then, fireworks burst from the village streets behind them, followed by laughter.
Anne sighed, looked at Hermione holding her hand, then at Fanny. She knew she hadn’t treated them the same since her recovery began, and they were only trying to lift her spirits.
They didn’t deserve the weight of her pain. So she let it go.
"Alright then. Fanny, you’re treating me to all the candy I want. And Hermione, you owe me a butterbeer. Deal?"
"Of course!" Hermione smiled.
Fanny nearly jumped with excitement. "Anything you want! Let’s go explore Hogsmeade, then!"
"Didn’t someone say we’re not skipping a single shop?"
Outside Honeydukes, Mr. Flume stood holding a tray full of candy samples. "Try our new milk toffees! Free samples today!"
The four rushed over. Mr. Flume handed each of them several pieces. Fanny and Ron immediately unwrapped theirs and popped them in their mouths, Fanny with dainty grace, Ron more like a wild beast.
Anne and Hermione read the wrappers first before eating. Anne thought the milk toffee tasted just like White Rabbit candies. She popped two into her mouth, one on each side.
Her cheeks puffed adorably, and Hermione couldn’t resist poking one with her finger. Anne gave her a mock-annoyed glare, but didn’t protest. Hermione beamed.
Inside, jars of colorful candies lined the shelves. Mrs. Flume worked tirelessly at the counter, ringing up purchases.
"Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans, milk toffees, pear drops, chocolate balls, Fizzing Whizzbees, butter toffee, jelly slugs, exploding bonbons..."
Fanny and Ron read names aloud as they walked. Hermione and Anne followed behind, occasionally pausing to examine the sweets.
"Pepper Imps? George gave me one once, made my mouth smoke! I’ll get more for Harry."
"Fuzzy Mint Toothdrops? My parents are dentists, but they love mint candy..."
"Ron, come here, what is this one?"
By the time they left Honeydukes, their pockets were stuffed with sweets, and they strolled off toward the next shop, laughing all the way.
