Haunted by her second year and now with a murderer on the loose, Gwenevere Everill finds herself facing more battles that she does not think she can win.
Tormented by dementors and struggling under the impact of her new studies, will Gwen be able t...
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The next morning, Gwen and Hermione met Harry and Ron in the common room to go to breakfast. The first thing they saw as they entered the Great Hall was Draco Malfoy putting on a show for a group of Slytherins, pretending to faint dramatically, looking directly at Harry as he swooned.
'Ignore him,' said Gwen. 'He's got nothing better to do.' She was surprised and oddly hurt to see Theodore Nott laughing along with the rest of his house.
'Hey, Potter!' shrieked Pansy Parkinson. 'Hey, Potter! The dementors are coming! Wooooo!'
Gwen ushered Harry to the Gryffindor table, where they, Ron and Hermione joined Fred and George.
'Third year timetables,' said George, passing each of them slips of parchment. 'What's up with you, Harry?' He caught Gwen's eye, who nodded to the Slytherin table. He looked up just in time to see Malfoy pretending to faint in terror again.
'Little git,' he said calmly. 'He wasn't so cocky last night when the dementors were down at our end of the train. Came running into our compartment, didn't he, Fred?'
'Nearly wet himself,' said Fred, throwing Malfoy a contemptuous glance.
'I wasn't too happy myself,' said George. 'They're horrible things, those dementors...'
'Sort of freeze your insides, don't they?' said Fred.
Harry's voice was low and his face dark. 'You didn't pass out, though, did you?'
'Forget it, Harry,' siad George. 'Dad had to go out to Azkaban one time, remember, Fred? He said it was the worst place he'd ever been, he came back all weak and shaking... They suck the happiness out of a place, dementors. Most of the prisoners go mad in there.'
'Anyway, we'll see how happy Malfoy looks after our first Quidditch match,' said Fred.
'Oh, yeah,' Gwen said. 'First game of the season, Gryffindor versus Slytherin.'
She, Harry, Fred and George were all on the Gryffindor Quidditch team. The twins were beaters, Harry a seeker and Gwen a chaser. They were all desperate to win the Quidditch cup this year, if anything, for Oliver Wood, who had not won a Cup so far as he had been at Hogwarts and it was now his final year.
The last time there had been a Gryffindor versus Slytehrin match, Malfoy had definitely come off very badly. Gwen had not been playing her best due to being so preoccupied the year before. She tried not to think about it, helping herself to some food.
'Ooh, good, we're starting our new subjects today,' said Hermione, examining her new timetable.
Gwen looked at her own. The third years had all chosen their subjects at the end of last year, and Gwen had chosen Muggle Studies, Divination and Care of Magical Creatures. Her timetable was a bit full, fuller than Harry and Ron's who had both only chosen three each, but she was looking forward to it. She wondered briefly how her parents would feel about her choosing Muggle Studies, then cleared her mind of it.
