He Who Walks Between Worlds

Plans Go Awry (Don't Worry, No One is Injured Too Badly)

Beginning Notes

Warnings: I don't think so? Please tell me if I should add some.

All characters are owned by J. K. Rowling and Rick Riordan.

Ginny

Ginny had had such great plans for the day, and none of them were going to happen. She had planned to go to Honeydukes and buy an inordinate amount of candy. She had planned to show Nico the shrieking shack, which she thought he would like, and after she had planned to go to the Three Broomsticks' and get a butterbeer. 

But then Hermione had come and explained that she had persuaded Harry to start a club to practice Defense Against the Dark Arts spells, and asked them to please come, she knew that Harry had been a bit of a git lately, but he was going through a lot and would love the support. And Ginny had wanted to say no, but then, it was Harry, so she didn't. But Nico did, and she couldn't really blame him.

"Sorry, Hermione," Nico had said, "But I don't really have time to join any clubs. I'm still adjusting to my workload."

"Are you sure?" Hermione had pressed. "You can practice the spells, and maybe help teach because you, uh, mentioned that you know a lot about DADA. And I'll talk to Harry. He won't bother you."

Nico had sighed. "Fine, but the first time he's a jerk, I'm leaving."

"Deal," Hermione had said.

So instead of going to Honeydukes or the Shrieking Shrack or the Three Broomsticks', they were going to a shady pub called the Hog's Head in the dirty, run-down part of town.

"Why aren't we going to the Three Broomsticks?" Michael asked. Ginny noticed that he was walking a bit closer to Luna than anyone else, and their arms kept bumping into each other.

"It's always packed and really noisy," Hermione replied. "I've told the others to meetus in the Hog's Head, that other pub, you know the one, it's not on the main road. I think it's a bit . . . you know . . . dodgy . . . but students don't normally go in there, so I don't think we'll be overheard.""

They reached the in. A battered wooden sign hung from a rusty bracket over the door, with a picture upon it of a wild boar's severed head leaking blood onto the white cloth around it. The sign creaked in the wind as they approached. They all of them hesitated outside the door except for Luna, who didn't seem to notice or care. She marched inside, and everyone else followed. 

It was not at all like the Three Broomsticks, whose large bar gave an impression of gleaming warmth and cleanliness. The Hog's Head bar comprised one small, dingy, and very dirty room that smelled strongly of something that might have been goats. The bay windows were so encrusted with grime that very little daylight could permeate the room, which was lit instead with the stubs of candles sitting on rough wooden tables. The floor seemed at first glance to be earthy, though as Ginny stepped onto it she realized that there was stone beneath what seemed to be the accumulated filth of centuries.

There was a man at the bar whose whole head was wrapped in dirty gray bandages, though he was still managing to gulp endless glasses of some smoking, fiery substance through a slit over his mouth. Two figures shrouded in hoods sat at a table in one of the windows; Ginny might have thought them dementors if they had not been talking in strong Yorkshire accents; in a shadowy corner beside the fireplace sat a witch with a thick, black veil that fell to her toes. They could just see the tip of her nose because it caused the veil to protrude slightly.

Harry and Ron came in just then. Harry's expression darkened as he saw Nico, but before he could say anything, Hermione intercepted him. They talked in low voices for a minute, before Harry turned away with a disgruntled expression.