Jupiter | Harry James Potter

vii ; tea

"Hey! Potter! Lestrange!" Pansy Parkinson barked at us as we walked through the Great Hall the next morning. "Potter! The dementors are coming! Lestrange! Ooooooo!"

I kept my eyes forward and ignored her, but I saw Harry have a difficult time doing the same. His green eyes kept batting over to Draco, who was telling a story then imitating fainting to all of his friends, then down to the floor.

"Just ignore them, guys. They're not worth it." Hermione sighed from behind Harry.

I knew that. How could I not? I knew for a fact that my cousin wasn't worth a moment of my thoughts, so neither was his sad little girlfriend. One other thing I knew was that Harry would have a hard time realizing that as well.

We dropped into the empty seats on the bench next to George Weasley at the Gryffindor table.

"New third-year course schedules." He said, passing down papers. "What's up with you, Harry?"

"Malfoy." Ron said as he sat on the other side of his brother. George looked up in time to see Draco pretending to faint again.

"That 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?"

I also knew that that made Harry feel ten times better.

"Nearly wet himself." Fred agreed with a glance at my cousin.

"I wasn't too happy myself." George shuddered. "They're horrible things, those dementors."

"Sort of freeze your insides, don't they?" Fred sighed.

"You didn't pass out, though, did you?" Harry mumbled snarkily. I elbowed him in the side.

"Forget it, Harry." George said as he patted him on the shoulder. "Dad had to go out to Azkaban one time, remember, Fred? And 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." Fred said. "Gryffindor versus Slytherin, first game of the season, remember?"

A small smile spread across Harry's sullen face.

I wanted to squish the butterflies in my stomach.

"Speaking of which, are you trying out for the team this year, Jove?" George asked, batting his eyelashes at me.

"Absolutely not." I said, using my hand to put his face away from mine. "You know I'm terrified of heights."

"Which will definitely help you in Astronomy." Fred smiled, passing me my schedule.

"You've got to be kidding me." I groaned as I laid my head on the table. Don't get me wrong, I love Astronomy, it would be my favorite lesson if it weren't on the tallest tower in Hogwarts.

Heights have never been my thing. Every quidditch match, I make Harry pay me just to come watch. Not because I don't want to watch him (because trust me I want to watch him...), but I nearly have a panic attack everytime I get on those stands.

"Hermione." Ron frowned as he looked over her shoulder. "They've messed up your schedule. Look, they've got you down for about ten subjects a day. There isn't enough time."

"I'll manage. I've fixed it all with Professor McGonagall."

"But look," Ron laughed. "See this morning? Nine o'clock, Divination. And underneath, nine o'clock, Muggle Studies. And..."

I picked my head up. That didn't make any sense. There's only one way Hermione would be able to make it to both of those classes. But there's no way... how would she get one?