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BS - Chapter 42: More Trouble On The Horizon
🕑 Added 2025-08-01 11:39:44 +0000 UTCDisclaimer:
Harry Potter and all of its characters belong to J.K. Rowling.
I own nothing but the original characters I make.
“Dialogue”
‘Thoughts’
-Author notes-
Chapter 42: More Trouble On The Horizon
Great Hall, the next morning.
Sitting at the Slytherin table, Draco Malfoy had been paying close attention to everyone who entered the hall. He was waiting to see someone specifically.
For a moment, he shifted his attention to the nervous boy in front of him. Zabini was also doing the same thing, looking towards the entrance and waiting for someone to show up.
Despite all the noise at the other tables, the Slytherin one was mostly in silence, while an uncomfortable tension could be felt among the students.
“Draco, look!”
“Isn’t that Potter?” It was Crabbe and Goyle who first broke the silence.
“What?” Draco, as well as Zabini and Pansy, turned their attention to the boy who had just entered.
They didn’t recognize him at first because he looked quite different.
He was no longer wearing his typical old broken glasses, and his hair had become less messy, giving the impression that it was longer. And his body looked much…bigger.
“Is he taller?” Pansy asked.
“Is that really Potter?” Daphne Greengrass, who was sitting at Pansy’s side, made a comment when she followed their eyes and found the Gryffindor boy.
“He looks so much better now. I like the new look.” Tracey Davis, another Slytherin girl, decided to add.
Draco’s eyes snapped at Zabini. “What is going on?” After giving him a bag with one hundred galleons, his classmate had promised him that Mulciber was going to take care of Potter that same day.
By now, Potter should have been rotting in the infirmary, but instead, he was here, entering the hall to have breakfast, and looking better than ever.
“You owe me an explanation.” Draco leaned closer to the other boy. At this point, he didn’t care all that much if others overheard part of his conversation.
Zabini now looked much more nervous. “I…don’t know.”
“You think that is going to be enough?” Draco’s tone was one of absolute fury. He didn’t mind spending a hundred galleons to give his enemy what he deserved, but getting scammed was not something he would take lightly.
Zabini knew that part of Draco very well, but never expected for this to not work. “I really don’t know what happened. I spoke to him yesterday and he sounded very confident. He assured me that he was going to take care of it that same afternoon.”
Draco’s eyes scanned the rest of the table. There was no sign of Ignatius Mulciber anywhere. The seventh year would often skip class but always appeared for breakfast.
“I want to know what happened. Find me Mulciber.” Draco glared at
Zabini. “And I want my money back.”
Zabini raised his hands in a defensive manner. “Sure…I’ll try to find him today and get your money.” The truth was that he never gave a single coin to Mulciber, as this one never asked to get paid for the job. So Zabini had kept all one hundred coins safely secured inside his suitcase.
The Slytherins were not the only ones who had noticed the changes in Harry.
<><><><><><><><><>
At the Hufflepuff table, two girls were watching Harry with intense eyes.
“What happened to Potter?” A thin blonde girl named Hannah Abbott made a comment to her friend.
“I don’t know, but I wish he had tossed those ugly glasses much earlier.” The redhead, known to everyone as Susan Bones, responded to her friend while not keeping her eyes off Harry for one moment.
Hannah recognized the look on her friend's face and chuckled. “Don’t get any ideas, Susan. You were awful to Potter this year. He probably hates you by now.”
Susan frowned. She knew her friend was right. Although to be fair, everyone in her house had been especially awful to Potter since his name came out of that Goblet.
“It’s not my fault…everyone was doing it. And Malfoy was giving those badges away for free.”
“Hey, I’m not judging you,” Hannah said.
If anything, the students in their house hate Potter more now than ever. Since the death of Diggory, there are many seniors who have been putting the blame on Harry.
"But you know…Potter might judge you for it.”
Susan glared at her friend.
“I’m just saying.” Hannah was quick to add. “If you try to talk to him, he may not respond with a lot of politeness. Besides…” She pointed at the table.
As soon as Harry sat down next to Hermione, she greeted him with a warm smile and poured some pumpkin juice into his cup.
“It looks like he is taken,” Hannah said.
“By Granger?” Susan raised an eyebrow. “I thought she was getting sweet with Weasley, or with Viktor Krum. What happened to all those rumors about those two being seen together, leaving an empty classroom?”
“That was not a rumor. I saw them with my own eyes…I told you about it,” Hannah said. “Granger doesn’t have the best reputation either, I’ll give you that. Now it looks like she is making the moves on Potter.”
Susan smiled confidently. “I don’t mind some competition.” She adjusted her chest. “I know I can win.”
<><><><><><><>
Right outside the castle.
“I’m telling you, I have never seen Hagrid this upset,” McGonagall said as she walked next to the Headmaster through Hogwarts’ fields.
Ahead of them was the small cabin that belonged to the groundskeeper.
Albus Dumbledore had a lot on his mind already. Between the resurrection of Voldemort and the discovery of a murder inside his school, he did not exactly have a lot of time to even do his job, much less come all the way to see what Hagrid wanted to tell him.
However, he could not say no, after she had told him how urgent it seemed. His old friend Hagrid was a tough man and would never bother him unless it was truly urgent.
They arrived at the cabin, and before they could knock on the door, it opened and Hagrid walked out while his dog followed right behind.
“Albus…it is the most awful thing I have ever seen!” The giant man exclaimed with tears in his eyes.
Dumbledore had to agree with McGonagall now. He had not seen Hagrid this upset since the day he was expelled from Hogwarts.
