Atropos → george weasley

xxiv. ottilie is right

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twenty four

ottilie is right

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The strange diary plagued Ottilie's mind for a long time after that.

It was disturbing. Even finding Justin's Petrified body hadn't distressed her this much.

There was something very wrong with that book. It contained Dark magic—darker, more profoundly evil, than anything she'd experienced. She just couldn't understand why Harry would even have it.

She kept her concerns to herself at first. She certainly didn't mention it to the Hufflepuffs, although their suspicions seemed to be assuaged after Hermione Granger was found Petrified.

"It's not him," Ernie had said matter-of-factly. "I know how it feels to have your friend Petrified. He'd never hurt Hermione." Hannah and Susan had nodded sympathetically.

"Yeah, that's the strongest argument in his defense," Ottilie had replied dryly.

She should have been happy that people were starting to realize that the heir was not Harry, but the situation looked as grim as ever.

The day after Hermione's Petrification, the school woke to find that Dumbledore had been removed as headmaster and the Ministry of Magic had arrested Hagrid. (And, according to McGonagall, not even because they thought it was his fault. Ottilie suspected that the logic went something like: Hagrid is Hogwarts's gamekeeper, the beast is Hogwarts's game, and Hagrid failed to keep the game.)

And while Ottilie respected McGonagall a great deal, she knew they were doomed now that Dumbledore was no longer the headmaster. The cloud of fear hanging over the school told her she was not the only one thinking it either.

The only people who seemed happy about Dumbledore being gone were the Slytherins. Not everyone, but there was certainly some gloating throughout the day.

"Maybe we'll get a decent headmaster now. Someone who won't want the Chamber of Secrets closed. McGonagall won't last long, she's only filling in..." Draco said to Gregory during Potions. "Sir." He looked up at Snape. "Sir, why don't you apply for the headmaster's job?"

"Now, now, Malfoy, Professor Dumbledore has only been suspended by the governors. I daresay he'll be back with us soon enough."

Ottilie hated herself for it, but she agreed with Draco. Snape was the only other person at that school who she knew understood magic as Dumbledore did. She recalled that night he'd brought her to speak with Dumbledore—the look of surprise he'd given her when she described the feeling of Dark magic. He'd understood her. He knew what it felt like to be so closely connected to magic you could reach out and feel it hanging in the air like a heavy fog.

Her mind wandered back to the diary. She wondered if he could feel what she had felt if he held it. She wondered if he could explain what was wrong with it. What was wrong with her.

"I'm quite surprised the Mudbloods haven't all packed their bags by now. Bet you five Galleons the next one dies. Pity it wasn't Granger." The bell rang to signal the end of class, and Draco looked at Ottilie. Gregory did too, grinning maliciously. Vincent, however, kept his head down and collected his things. "It'll probably be you, van der Hoeven. I reckon the Heir is frantic to get rid of the filth we have in Slytherin."

Ottilie was so distracted she didn't even respond. She was looking over at Harry. With the help of Dean Thomas, he was holding Ron back from tackling Draco.