The Girl Who Saw Tomorrow II » Harry Potter

2.26 | A Friend Indeed

The morning dawned, the whole day passed and the sun set, yet Margaret wasn't anywhere to be seen the whole day. Hermione had tried knocking on the door of Margaret's private dorm room but had received no answer. It was only later that evening that she made her way out of hiding.

"How were tryouts?" she asks as she took a seat next to Hermione for dinner.

"Great!" replies Ron. "I'm Keeper again! You should've seen McLaggen, he shot completely off the wrong direction. The fifth catch I took had a bit of a spin to it. A trick shot, I reckon."

"Well done, Ron. Always knew you could do it," she shoots him a thumbs up, watching as he perks up slightly. "What about Ginny?"

"She's Chaser. She did pretty well, but there was no doubt she would," Harry answers.

"Thanks, Harry!" Ginny pipes in. "Where were you anyway, Margie?"

"Slept in. It's the weekend. But we've got detention with Snape later, so, unfortunately, I had to come alive again."

"We missed you. We visited Hagrid too," says Hermione. "He said he was glad to have you in his class at least; since none of us could fit Care of Magical Creatures in our schedules," she adds guiltily.

"Look on the bright side, you're all on speaking terms again," says Margaret.

"By the way, Slughorn invited Hermione, you and me to a supper party," says Harry. Then he caught a look at Ron's salty expression. "But neither of us want to go," he adds.

"Nor do I," sighs Margaret. "I think clubs are okay, but I don't like it when teachers pick favourites. Do you suppose he'd forget about me if I keep declining his invitations?"

"At least you have that hope," says Harry. "He seems to be very attached to the whole 'Chosen One' thing."

"You're his crowning jewel," comments Margaret, sipping her soup. "I'm sure you can use that to your advantage at some point."

"Right," scoffs Ron. "Old Sluggy would sure come in handy when we need to find the next most famous person at Hogwarts."

"Don't underestimate knowledge, Ron," Margaret tells him kindly. "Having allies never harmed anyone."

Her words had no effect on Ron, who continued to skulk over his plateful of food. While it was easy to presume that he was jealous of the recognition his friends and his sister were getting from Slughorn, Margaret knew better.

Ron felt left out because both Harry and Hermione were invited to these parties, making him feel less worthy than Harry to receive Hermione's affection. It was sad, really, because Hermione didn't have eyes for anyone other than Ron.

Margaret sighed to herself. Romance was such a difficult topic. She had recently experienced the chaos of it herself.

After dinner, they made their way back to Gryffindor Tower. The common room was very crowded as most people had finished dinner by now, but they managed to find a free table to sit at, and Hermione reached for a copy of the Evening Prophet that was laying abandoned on it.

"Anything new?" asks Harry.

"Not really..." Hermione says. "Oh, look, your dad's in here, Ron — he's all right!" she adds quickly, as Ron had looked around in alarm. "It just says he's been on a visit to the Malfoys' house. 'This second search of the Death Eater's residence does not seem to have yielded any results. Arthur Weasley of the Office for the Detection and Confiscation of Counterfeit Defensive Spells and Protective Objects said that his team had been acting upon a confidential tipoff.'"

Margaret rolled her eyes. The last thing she wanted to talk about was about any of the Malfoys.

"Yeah, my tipoff!" says Harry. "I told him at King's Cross about that thing Malfoy was trying to get Borgin to fix! Well, if it's not at their house, he must have brought whatever it is to Hogwarts with him-"