Wolves Without Teeth ── theodore nott ¹ ( UNDER EDITING )

chapter twenty six

         The word of Harry's interview in the Quibbler trailed around the school faster than the rumour that Susan Bones had snogged Blaise Zabini. ( whether that was true or not ) Everyone knew about the events that taken place in the Graveyard, Cedric Diggory ( whom had gotten his crutches taken off the week prior ) had approached Harry just after Umbridge trotted away with a copy of the Quibbler in her hand which she stole from Harry. The ebony haired boy had apologized almost admittedly to the older boy who simply clapped him on the shoulder and told him the word needed to get out.

Winnie almost missed the look of pure relief that flashed over Harry's face as she climbed up from the table.

Despite Umbridge signing a new degree that banned the Quibbler from all, everyone had read the interview. Winnie read it several times in fact, mostly to pie off Umbridge who seemed to go as red as a buffoon anytime she saw the title. It was only after the third time she had been caught from the pudgy women when Hermione had yelled at her to disguise the cover with a different text book, everyone else seemed to do the same, so reading the Quibbler seemed to become a secret upon the hallways of the school.

Granted, all Professors didn't seem to mind the interview, Winnie had noticed several times of professors giving the Gryffindors more points for small actions or Harry receiving secret treatment beyond the eyes of other students.

The only true downside of the Quibbler interview was the outing of certain pureblood families for their Death Eater parents. Her father had been absent from the Graveyard, which was a sure sign that would surely come back to hit the Bulstrodes at one point or another, but it was one person in particular she had grown worried for. It wasn't until after she had seen Theo huddled in a library corner with both Malfoy and his goons that she realized that his dad had been outed. That left many students passing by him with an air of caution, while before nobody paid attention to the brunet boy and his smirking lips, now, everyone seemed to be afraid that he would snap like Malfoy seemed to be doing.

They had spoken only during Herbology classes, where she had called his baking quite horrendous, decking to ignore the fact that he had called them friends. Really, after waking up the day after her birthday with a dry mouth and a slight booming headache, she had decided she was giving herself far too much to stress out about. With O.W.Ls just right around the corner, she figured sticking her nose into her school notes was probably the best solution for her to do, despite the fact that thinking of Theo as a friend still reminded her of that evening in his dorm.

He seemed particularly unaffected for the most part, but the memory of his clouded eyes left her feeling dull and bland. The more she focused on his disarray of emotions, the less she focused on her own, which was becoming an increasingly big problem considering copper tainted her mouth again that morning. She felt her body grow weak and unstable as the day worn on, making her stomach ache and burn as her hands trembled slightly.

Her feet clicked against the concrete hallways, a leather bag loaded down with books as she made her way down towards the library. She had homework on discussing the placements of Jupiter and Uranus, and needed a book on the stars and space in order to complete it. Just as her foot hovered over the steps to head upstairs, a scream filtered through the castle like a bunch of screaming bats. Winnie's shoulders jumped, her hair that was placed into wide, fluffy beach waves due to the shower she had quickly had that morning flew behind her shoulders in a wave. Students haltered around her, all eyes wide and staring towards the entrance to the courtyard. Quickly, her feet moved towards it, hand wrapped around the leather strap and eyes wide as she pushed through the crowd of people. Finally, she stumbled to one of the pillars.