𝗖𝗢𝗥𝗡𝗘𝗟𝗜𝗔 𝗦𝗧𝗥𝗘𝗘𝗧

ACT ONE, CHAPTER SEVEN
hexed necklaces.

IT WAS NOW halfway through October, and along with it was the first trip of the term to Hogsmeade. Venus was slightly shocked to see that these trips were still happening, considering everything that was going on, but she was glad to have an escape. She was just glad that she would be able to get out of the castle grounds for a few hours with her boyfriend and best friends.

However, that morning had started with a sort of sour note. Venus, Harry, Ron, Hermione, Charlotte, and Elijah were all sitting at the Ravenclaw table — switching it up — for breakfast. Ron was currently telling a story that had happened this morning. Apparently, using a handwritten spell that was in the Half-Blood Prince's book, Harry had dangled Ron by the ankles in the air in their dormitory.

". . . and then there was another flash of light and I landed on the bed again!" Ron exclaimed with a grin, helping himself to sausages.

Hermione was not as enthralled and turned to Harry, a disapproving expression on her face. "Was this spell, by any chance, another one from that potion book of yours?"

Harry frowned at her. "Always jump to the worst conclusion, don't you?"

"Was it?"

"Well . . . yeah, it was, but so what?"

"So you just decided to try out an unknown, handwritten incantation and see what would happen?" Hermione demanded.

"Why does it matter if it's handwritten?" Harry asked, and Venus noticed that he didn't answer the rest of the question.

"Because it's probably not Ministry of Magic approved. And also because I'm starting to think this Prince character was a bit dodgy."

Both Harry and Ron instantly shouted her down at once. Venus shared a wide-eyed look with Charlotte and Elijah. Well, okay.

"It was a laugh!" Ron insisted, upending a ketchup bottle over his sausages. "Just a laugh, Hermione, that's all!"

"Dangling people upside down by the ankle?" Hermione questioned. "Who puts their time and energy into making up spells like that?"

Ron shrugged. "Fred and George, it's their kind of thing. And, er—"

"My dad," Harry cut in.

Venus looked over at Harry. "Hmm?"

"My dad used this spell," Harry continued. "I — Lupin told me."

Venus slightly squinted her eyes at him. Something was telling her that Harry hadn't actually found out through Lupin, but she decided to let it go.

"Maybe your dad did use it, Harry, but he's not the only one," Hermione replied. "We've seen a whole bunch of people use it, in case you've forgotten. Dangling people in the air. Making them float along, asleep, helpless."

Charlotte froze. "Wait, that was the same spell the Death Eaters used at the Quidditch World Cup?" She turned to Harry, a sad expression on her face that Venus hadn't seen before. "Harry, they tried to use that on me—"

"That was different," Ron interjected quickly, his voice soft as he tried to console Charlotte. "They were abusing it. Harry and his dad were just having a laugh. You don't like the Prince, Hermione, because he's better than you at Potions—"

Hermione's face flushed. "It's got nothing to do with that! I just think it's very irresponsible to start performing spells when you don't even know what they're for, and stop talking about the Prince as if it's his title, I bet it's just a stupid nickname, and it doesn't seem as though he was a very nice person to me!"

"I don't see where you get that from," Harry voiced. "If he'd been a budding Death Eater he wouldn't have been boasting about being Half-Blood, would he?"

"The Death Eaters can't all be Pureblood, there aren't enough Pureblood wizards left," Hermione stated stubbornly. "I expect most of them are Half-Bloods pretending to be pure. It's only Muggle-Borns they hate, they'd be quite happy to let you, V, and Ron join up."

Venus rolled her eyes. "No thanks. Might be a Black, but my parents are notoriously known for running off to America during the war."

"There is no way they'd let me be a Death Eater!" Ron revealed. "My whole family are blood traitors! That's as bad as Muggle-Borns to Death Eaters!"

"And they'd love to have me," Harry agreed sarcastically. "We'd be best pals if they didn't keep trying to do me in."

Ron and Elijah both laughed at this. Charlotte merely just placed her chin in the palm of her hand, seemingly distracted as she stared at the table. Even Hermione gave a grudging smile. Venus then looked up, and she grinned at the form of Ginny in front of them.

Ginny held out a scroll of parchment to him. "Hey, Harry, I'm supposed to give you this."

"Thanks, Ginny . . . it's Dumbledore's next lesson!" Harry told them. He pulled open the parchment and quickly read its contents. "Monday evening!"

"You going to Hogsmeade, Ginny?" Elijah questioned, a bit of hope in his voice.

Ginny nodded. "I'm going with Dean — might see you there."

She waved as she left them. Elijah's mood obviously deflated just a little bit, but he masked it by nudging Charlotte, who immediately snapped out of whatever trance she had been in, probably remembering what had happened at the World Cup.

Filch was standing at the oak front doors like normal, checking off the names of people who had permission to leave Hogwarts and go into Hogsmeade. The process was taking very long, however, because Filch was triple-checking everyone with his Secrecy Sensor.

"What does it matter if we're smuggling Dark stuff OUT?" Ron inquired, eyeing the long and thing Secrecy Sensor with apprehension. "Surely you ought to be checking what we bring back IN?"

His cheek earned him a few extra jabs with the Sensor, and he was still wincing as they stepped out into the wind and sleet.

The walk to Hogsmeade was not enjoyable. Venus and Harry were pressed up onto each other's sides, their scarves pulled over their lower faces and their gloves on tight. Every exposed parts of skin felt very raw and numb. The road to the village was full of students fighting against the bitter wind. Once they got into Hogsmeade, Venus noticed that most of the shops were shut. Ron pointed with his thickly gloves hand towards Honeydukes, which was mercifully open. Their group of six staggered into the crowded shop.

"Thank God," Ron let out, shivering slightly as they entered the warm, toffee-scented air. "Let's stay here all afternoon."

"Harry, m'boy!" a familiar voice then boomed from behind them.

"Oh no," Harry muttered.

Venus smiled teasingly at him. "Oh yes."

They turned to see Professor Slughorn, who was wearing an enormous furry hat and an overcoat with a matching fur collar. He was clutching a large bag of crystalized pineapple as well.

Slughorn poked Harry in the chest, making Venus hold in her laughter. "Harry, that's three of my little suppers you've missed now! It won't do, m'boy, I'm determined to have you! Miss Granger and Miss Black loves them, don't you?"

"Yes, they're really—" Hermione began.

"So why don't you come along, Harry?"

"Well, I've had Quidditch practice, Professor," Harry answered.

Venus wanted to drop her jaw. Oh my God, Harry had been scheduling practices every time Slughorn had a party just so he could get out of it! Ugh.

"Well, I certainly expect you to win your first match after all this hard work!" Slughorn responded. "But a little recreation never hurt anybody. Now, how about Monday night, you can't possibly want to practice in this weather . . ."

"I can't, Professor, I've got — er — an appointment with Professor Dumbledore that evening," Harry said.

"Unlucky again!" Slughorn cried dramatically. "Ah, well . . . you can't evade me forever, Harry!"

With a regal wave, Slughorn waddled out of the shop.

"You're gonna have to come to at least one," Venus complained. "Slughorn just keeps asking me questions about you."

Harry smirked at her. "You don't like talking about me?"

"Shut up."

Hermione shook her head. "They're not that bad, you know . . . they're even quite fun sometimes . . ." she then caught sight of Ron's expression. "Oh, look — they've got deluxe sugar quills — those would last hours!"

They all showed a larger amount of interest in the extra-large sugar quills than they normally would, but Ron continued to look moody and merely shrugged when Charlotte asked where they wanted to go next.

"Let's go to the Three Broomsticks," Harry suggested. "It'll be warm."

They bundled back up and left the candy shop. Venus winced — the bitter wind felt like knives on her face after the sugary warmth of Honeydukes. The street wasn't very busy due to the fact that people were hurrying to get to their next destination in effort to get out of the horrible weather. However, there were two exceptions to this, and they were standing just outside the Three Broomsticks. One was very tall and thin, and Venus recognized him as the barman who worked in the other Hogsmeade pub, the Hog's Head. As their group approached, the man drew his cloak more tightly around his neck and walked away, leaving the shorter man to fumble with something in his arms.

"Mundungus!" Harry stated when they were about a foot away.

The squat, band-legged man with long, straggly, ginger hair jumped and dropped an ancient suitcase, which burst open. Venus' eyebrows knit in confusion at what was inside. It looked like the entire contents of a junk shop window.

"Oh, 'ello, 'Arry," Mundungus Fletcher replied, trying to sound airy. "Well, don't let me keep ya."

He then began scrabbling on the ground to retrieve the contents of his suitcase. Mundungus looked a lot like he wanted to be gone as soon as possible.

Charlotte tilted her head. "You're acting awfully suspicious."

"Are you selling this stuff?" Harry asked, watching Mundungus scramble for his things.

"Oh, well, gotta scrape a living," Mundungus responded. "Gimme that!"

Ron had stooped down and picked up something silver. "Hang on. This looks familiar—"

Mundungus snatched the goblet out of Ron's hand and stuffed it back into the case. "Thank you! Well, I'll see you all — OUCH!"

In the span of a second, Harry had grabbed Mundungus by the throat and pinned him up against the wall of the Three Broomsticks. Holding him fast with one hand, he pulled out his wand. Venus' eyes widened — both in shock and how Harry looked ridiculously attractive while doing that, but she quickly scolded herself about the second one because it was clearly not the time.

"Harry!" Hermione squealed.

Venus took a step closer to Harry. "Hey, love, why don't we put the wand down—"

"You took that from Sirius's house," Harry interrupted, who was almost nose to nose with Mundungus. "That had the Black family creston it."

"I — no — what—?" Mundungus stammered, who was slowly turning purple.

"What did you do, go back the night he died and strip the place?"

"I — no—"

"Give it to me!"

"Harry, you mustn't!" Hermione shrieked as Mundungus started to turn blue.

Elijah blinked. "What is going on?"

There was a bang, and Harry's hands were removed from Mundungus' throat. Gasping and spluttering for air, Mundungus seized his fallen case. With a CRACK, he Disapparated.

Harry swore loudly and spun on the spot to see where Mundungus had gone. "COME BACK, YOU THIEVING—!"

"There's no point, Harry," a familiar voice announced. It was Tonks, who had seemingly appeared out of nowhere, her mousy hair west with sleet. "Mundungus will probably be in London by now. There's no point yelling."

"He's nicked Sirius's stuff! Nicked it!"

"Yes, but still. You should get out of the cold."

Venus took Harry's arm. With a clenched jaw, he interlocked their hands together and dragged her into the Three Broomsticks. Venus shared a wide-eyed glance with Charlotte as she looked back for a moment. The others followed them inside.

"He was nicking Sirius's stuff!" Harry shouted.

"I know, Harry, but please don't shout, people are staring," Hermione whispered.

Charlotte nodded her head towards the tables. "Elijah and I will get drinks. Go snog Venus or something."

"Please don't do that," Hermione pleaded to them as they went to go sit at a table.

"We're not, Hermione," Venus replied.

Harry shrugged. "Maybe later."

She looked over at him, her face feeling extremely hot. "Huh?"

His pretty green eyes met hers. "You heard me."

Harry was still extremely mad when Charlotte and Elijah returned to their table a few minutes later. They set down six bottles of butterbeer, and Venus took one, opening it and taking a sip.

"Can't the Order control Mundungus?" Harry demanded to their group in a furious whisper. "Can't they at least stop him stealing everything that's not fixed down when he's at headquarters?"

"Shh!" Hermione said desperately, looking around the room to make sure nobody was listening. There were a couple of warlocks sitting close by that were staring at Harry with great interest, and Blaise Zabini was leaning against a pillar not far away, rolling his eyes at Draco Malfoy with Penelope Lestrange. "Harry, I'd be annoyed too, I know it's your things he's stealing—"

Harry choked on his butterbeer momentarily. "Yeah, it's my stuff! No wonder he wasn't pleased to see me! Well, I'm going to tell Dumbledore what's going on, he's the only one who scares Mundungus."

"Good idea. Ron, what are you staring at?"

"Nothing," Ron replied, but literally anyone could tell that his eyes were set on Penelope across the room.

Charlotte rolled her eyes. "What is up with all this tension? Maybe take my advice as well, Ron — go snog Penelope." She then turned to Elijah. "While we're at it, just go snog Ginny, Eli."

Elijah's face burned a bright shade of red. "Lottie! No — I don't — Dean—"

"Please don't snog my sister," Ron begged, taking a sip of his drink.

"I'm not going to," Elijah responded, sending a pointed glare to Charlotte, who just shrugged. "Why don't you just go snog Neville?"

Charlotte's jaw dropped. "Do not even go there."

With that, that conversation ended. Everyone finished their drinks fairly quickly.

"Shall we call it a day and go back to school then?" Hermione questioned.

They all nodded. It hadn't exactly been the most fun trip and the weather was getting worse the longer they stayed. They all bundled back up and followed Katie Bell and her friend out of the pub and back up the High Street. Venus squinted against the swirling sleet and trudged on, wishing nothing more than to be back by the fire in the Gryffindor common room.

It was a little while before Venus started to notice that the voices of Katie and her friend, which were being carried back by the wind, had become shriller and louder. The two of them seemed to be having an argument about something Katie was holding.

"It's nothing to do with you, Leanne!" Katie insisted.

They rounded a corner in the lane, the sleet coming thick and fast. Leanne went to go take the package Katie was holding, but Katie tugged it back and the package fell onto the ground. At once, Katie rose into the air gracefully like she was about to fly. But there was something wrong. It seemed almost . . . eerie. Katie's hair was whipped around by the fierce wind, but her eyes were closed and her face was empty of expression. Venus, Harry, Ron, Hermione, Charlotte, Elijah, and Leanne all halted in their tracks, just watching.

Then, six feet above the ground, Katie let out of the most terrible scream Venus had ever heard. Her eyes flew open, but whatever she was seeing or feeling was clearly causing terrible anguish. She continued to scream — Leanne started to scream too and seized Katie's ankles, trying to tug her back to the ground. Their group of six rushed forwards to help, but even as they grabbed Katie's legs, she fell on top of them. Harry, Ron, and Elijah managed to catch her, but she was writhing so much they could hardly hold her down. Instead they lowered her to the ground where she thrashed and screamed, apparently unable to recognize any of them.

"Stay there!" Harry shouted over the howling wind. "I'm going for help!" He then tightened his grip on Venus' hand, who was standing there frozen. "Come on, Star!"

The two of them then started to spring towards the school. Venus had never seen anyone act like that at all, and she didn't know what caused it. They rounded a bend in the lane and collided with something large and solid. Harry took Venus in his arms and stabilized the two of them.

"Hagrid!" Harry exclaimed.

"Harry!" Hagrid responded, who had sleet trapped in his eyebrows and beard and was wearing his great, shaggy beaverskin coat. "Venus! Jus' bin visitin' Grawp, he's comin' on so well yeh wouldn'—"

"Hagrid, you have to hurry," Venus let out quickly. "Someone's been hurt, or cursed, or something back there—"

"Wha?" Hagrid continued, bending lower to hear what they were saying over the raging wind.

"Someone's been cursed!" Harry bellowed.

"Cursed? Who's bin cursed — not Ron? Hermione? Charlie? Elijah?"

"No, it's not them, it's Katie Bell — this way . . ."

Together they ran back along the lane. It took them no time to find the small group of people around Katie. Katie was still writhing and screaming on the ground while Ron, Hermione, Charlotte, and Elijah all tried to quiet her.

"Get back!" Hagrid ordered. "Lemme see her!"

"Something's happened to her!" Leanne cried. "I don't know what—"

Hagrid stared at Katie for a moment. Then, without saying a word, he bent down, picked her up, and ran off towards the castle with her. Within seconds, Katie's piercing screams had died away and the only sound left was the roar of the wind.

Hermione rushed over to Katie's wailing friend and put an arm around her. "It's Leanne, isn't it?" The girl nodded. "Did it just happen all of a sudden, or—?"

"It was when that package tore," Leanne sobbed, pointing at the now wet brown-paper package on the ground, which had split open to reveal a greenish glitter.

Ron bent down with his hand outstretched, but Harry took his arm and pulled it back.

"Don't touch it!" Harry told him. He crouched down and inspected the ornate opal necklace that was peeking out of the paper. "I've seen that before. It was on display in Borgin and Burkes ages ago. The label said it was cursed. Katie must have touched it." He looked up at Leanne, who was shaking uncontrollably. "How did Katie get hold of this?"

"Well, that's why we were arguing," Leanne explained. "She came back from the bathroom in the Three Broomsticks holding it, said it was a surprise for somebody at Hogwarts and she had to deliver it. She looked all funny when she said it . . . oh no, oh no, I bet she'd been Imperiused and I didn't realize!"

Leanne shook with renewed sobs. Hermione patted her shoulder gently.

"She didn't say who'd given it to her, Leanne?" Harry went on.

"No . . . she wouldn't tell me . . . and I said she was being stupid and not to take it up to school, but she just wouldn't listen and . . . and then I tried to grab it from her . . . and — and—" Leanne said before letting out a wail of despair.

"We'd better get up to school," Hermione announced, her arm still around Leanne. "We'll be able to find out how she is. Come on . . ."

Harry hesitated for a moment before letting go of Venus, pulling the scarf from around his face, carefully covering the necklace in it, and picking it up. "We'll need to show this to Madam Pomfrey." They started to follow Hermione and Leanne up the road when Harry spoke up again. "Malfoy knows about this necklace. It was in a case at Borgin and Burkes four years ago, I saw him having a good look at it while I was hiding from him and his dad. This is what he was buying that day when we followed him! He remembered it and he went back for it!"

"Is this tying into your whole Draco Malfoy is a Death Eater theory?" Charlotte cut in. "I dunno, Harry. If you ask me, Malfoy's a coward."

Ron nodded in agreement. "Loads of people go to Borgin and Burkes . . . and didn't that girl say Katie got it in the girls' bathroom?"

"She said she came back from the bathroom with it, she didn't necessarily get it in the bathroom itself—" Harry insisted.

"McGonagall!" Elijah warned.

Venus looked up. Sure enough, McGonagall was hurrying down the steps through swirling sleet to meet them.

"Hagrid says you seven saw what happened to Katie Bell — upstairs to my office at once, please!" McGonagall ordered. "What's that you're holding, Potter?"

"It's the thing she touched," Harry answered.

"Good lord." McGonagall looked alarmed as she took the necklace from Harry, who immediately took Venus' hand again. "No, no, Filch, they're with me!" she added hastily since Filch came shuffling eagerly across the entrance hall, holding his Secrecy Sensor aloft. "Take this necklace to Professor Snape at once, but be sure not to touch it, keep it wrapped in the scarf!"

Their group of seven followed McGonagall upstairs and into her office. The sleet-spattered windows were rattling in their frames and the room was chilly despite the fire crackling. McGonagall closed the door and swept around her desk to face Venus, Harry, Ron, Hermione, Charlotte, Elijah, and the still sobbing Leanne.

"Well?" McGonagall began sharply. "What happened?"

Haltingly, and with many pauses as she attempted to control her crying, Leanne told McGonagall everything. How Katie had gone into the Three Broomsticks and returned holding the unmarked package, how Katie had seemed a little odd, how they had argued about the advisability of agreeing to deliver the unknown objects, and how the argument culminated in the tussle over the package which had torn open. At this point, Leanne was so overcome that there was no getting another word out of her.

"All right, go up to the hospital wing, please, Leanne, and get Madam Pomfrey to give you something for shock," McGonagall told her kindly. Once Leanne had left the room, McGonagall turned back to Venus, Harry, Ron, Hermione, Charlotte, and Elijah. "What happened when Katie touched the necklace?"

"She rose up in the air, and then began to scream, and collapsed," Harry replied before anyone else could speak. "Professor, can I see Professor Dumbledore, please?"

McGonagall looked surprised. "The headmaster is away until Monday, Potter."

"Away?" Harry repeated angrily, his grip on Venus' hand tightening just slightly.

"Yes, Potter, away! But anything you have to say about this horrible business can be said to me, I'm sure!"

Harry hesitated for a moment. "I think Draco Malfoy gave Katie that necklace, Professor."

Venus resisted the urge to sigh. Oh, here he goes. Ron rubbed his nose in apparent embarrassment, Hermione shuffled her feet, Charlotte rolled her eyes, and Elijah seemed to be looking everywhere but Harry and McGonagall.

"That is a very serious accusation, Potter," McGonagall stated after a shocked pause. "Do you have any proof?"

"No, but . . ." Harry began.

He then told her about following Malfoy to Borgin and Burkes and the conversation that they had overheard between him and Mr. Borgin.

McGonagall looked slightly confused when Harry had finished speaking. "Malfoy took something to Borgin and Burkes for repair?"

"No, Professor, he just wanted Borgin to tell him how to mend something, he didn't have it with him," Harry responded. "But that's not the point, the thing is that he bought something at the same time, and I think it was that necklace—"

"You saw Malfoy leaving the shop with a similar package?"

"No, Professor, he told Borgin to keep it in the shop for him—"

"But Harry, Borgin asked him if he wanted to take it with him, and Malfoy said no—" Hermione interjected.

"Because he didn't want to touch it, obviously!" Harry voiced angrily.

"What he actually said was, How would I look carrying that down the street?"

"Well, he would look a bit of a prat carrying a necklace," Ron stated

"Oh, Ron, it would be all wrapped up, so he wouldn't have to touch it, and quite easy to hide inside a cloak, so nobody would see it!" Hermione continued. "I think whatever he reserved at Borgin and Burkes was noisy or bulky, something he knew would draw attention to him if he carried it down the street."

"And Penelope asked Borgin about the necklace, remember?" Venus cut in before Harry could interrupt. "When she went inside, Borgin just told her the price and didn't say it was sold her anything. And she wasn't being obvious, she was trying to act like Bellatrix."

"Which she hates," Ron added.

Charlotte shook her head. "I have absolutely no idea what's going on."

"That's enough!" McGonagall exclaimed as Hermione opened her mouth again, looking furious. "Potter, I appreciate you telling me this, but we cannot point the finger of blame at Mr. Malfoy purely because he visited the shop where this necklace might have been purchased. The same is probably true of hundreds of people—"

"—that's what I said—" Ron muttered.

"—and in any case, we have put stringent security measures in place this year. I do not believe that necklace can possibly have entered this school without our knowledge—"

"But—" Harry tried to say.

"—and what is more, Mr. Malfoy was not in Hogsmeade today," McGonagall revealed.

Harry gaped at her, and Venus could tell everything inside him deflated. "How do you know, Professor?"

"Because he was doing detention with me. He has now failed to complete his Transfiguration homework twice in a row. So, thank you for telling me your suspicions, Potter—" McGonagall marched past them "—but I need to go up to the hospital wing now to check on Katie Bell. Good day to you all."

She held open her officer door. They had no choice but to file past her without another word. Venus could tell that Harry was angry, so she kept her distance from him while still holding onto his hand, since for some reason, he wouldn't let her go.

"So who do you reckon Katie was supposed to give the necklace to?" Ron inquired as they climbed the steps to the common room, Charlotte and Elijah following them as well.

"Goodness only knows," Hermione replied. "But whoever it was has had a narrow escape. No one could have opened that package without touching the necklace."

"It could've been meant for loads of people," Harry voiced. "Dumbledore — the Death Eaters would love to get rid of him, he must be one of their top targets. Or Slughorn — Dumbledore reckons Voldemort really wanted him and they can't be pleased that he's sided with Dumbledore. Or—"

Elijah looked at Harry, a troubled expression on his face. "Do you think it could've been for you?"

"Couldn't have been, or Katie would've just turned around in the lane and given it to me, wouldn't she? I was behind her all the way out of the Three Broomsticks. It would have made much more sense to deliver the parcel outside Hogwarts, what with Filch searching everyone who goes in and out. I wonder why Malfoy told her to take it into the castle?"

"But McGonagall said that Malfoy wasn't in Hogsmeade," Charlotte cut in.

"He must have used an accomplice, then," Harry suggested. "Crabbe or Goyle — or, come to think of it, another Death Eater, he'll have loads better cronies than Crabbe and Goyle now he's joined up—"

The rest of them exchanged looks. There was really no point in arguing with Harry at all.

"You coming inside?" Venus asked to Charlotte and Elijah as they reached the portrait of the Fat Lady.

Elijah shook his head. "I've got some homework to do, but I'll see you guys tomorrow."

Charlotte nodded. "Daphne Greengrass said she has some old clothes that she thinks I might want, so I'll probably go get those."

"Dilligrout," Hermione recited to the portrait of the Fat Lady as Charlotte and Elijah walked away towards their respective common rooms.

The portrait swung open to admit them into the common room. It was quite full and smelled of damp clothing — many people seemed to have returned from Hogsmeade early because of the bad weather. However, there was no buzz of fear or speculation. It was clear that the news of what happened to Katie hadn't spread yet.

"It wasn't a very slick attack, really, when you stop and think about it," Ron admitted, casually tugging a first year out of the one good armchairs by the fire so that he could sit down. "The curse didn't even make it into the castle. Not what you'd call foolproof."

"You're right," Hermione agreed, prodding Ron out of the chair with her foot and offering it to the first year again. "It wasn't very well thought-out at all."

"But since when has Malfoy been one of the world's great thinkers?" Harry questioned.

None of them answered him.

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literally all of them just need to take charlotte's advice smh