NIGHTMARE ₁, Harry Potter °

xxi. 𝘰𝘤𝘤𝘭𝘶𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘺

OCCLUMENCY

— ( chapter twenty-one. ) —

As predicted, Aurora had had one hell of a hangover. Sirius had, for some strange reason, found this to be the funniest thing to grace the earth and brought her a cup of tea at regular intervals throughout the day. Aurora noticed he was also unusually chipper which annoyed Aurora very much, because a chipper Sirius meant a loud and boisterous Sirius. Something her pounding headache had despised more than anything. But there was one thing she did notice; she could remember every second of the night of her birthday, and she wasn't proud of it, especially for what she said to Remus. Harry had also been rather amused, and had taken up looking after Aurora all day, mentioning to Sirius later on that Aurora was grateful for him trying to help.

As the date of their departure back to Hogwarts drew nearer, Sirius became more and more prone to what Mrs. Weasley called 'fits of the sullens', in which he would become taciturn and grumpy, often withdrawing to Buckbeak's room for hours at a time. His gloom seeped through the house, oozing under doorways like some noxious gas, so that all of them became infected by it.

Going back to school would mean placing herself once again under the tyranny of Dolores Umbridge, who had no doubt managed to force through another dozen decrees in their absence; there was only Quidditch to look forward to now, there was every likelihood that their burden of homework would increase as the exams drew even nearer; and Dumbledore remained as remote as ever.

Then, on the very last day of the holidays, something happened that made Harry positively dread his return to school.

"Harry, dear," said Mrs. Weasley poking her head into his and Ron's bedroom, where the pair of them were playing wizard chess watched by Hermione, Aurora, Ginny and Crookshanks, "could you come down to the kitchen? Professor Snape would like a word with you."

Harry did not immediately register what she had said; one of his castles was engaged in a violent tussle with a pawn of Ron's and he was egging it on enthusiastically.

"Squash him — squash him, he's only a pawn, you idiot. Sorry, Mrs. Weasley, what did you say?"

"Professor Snape, dear. In the kitchen. He'd like a word."

Harry's mouth fell open in horror. He looked around at Ron, Aurora, Hermione and Ginny, all of whom were gaping back at him. Crookshanks, whom Hermione had been restraining with difficulty for the past quarter of an hour, leapt gleefully on to the board and set the pieces running for cover, squealing at the top of their voices. Aurora dove after the cat, securing it around the middle and pulling him away. Okay

"Snape?" said Harry blankly.

"Professor Snape, dear," said Mrs. Weasley reprovingly. "Now come on, quickly, he says he can't stay long."