Dark Pasts { A Harry Potter Story }

Chapter 81 - The Astronomy Tower

I was sitting beside Ron and Harry in the common room, my legs stretched over Harry's as I went over his Herbology homework, when Hermione came rushing toward us.

"I want to talk to you, Harry," she said as she sat down in front of us

"What about?" Harry asked suspiciously.

"The so-called Half-Blood Prince."

"Oh, not again," he groaned. "Will you please drop it?"

"I'm not dropping it," Hermione said firmly, "until you've heard me out. Now, I've been trying to find out a bit about who might make a hobby of inventing Dark spells —"

"He didn't make a hobby of it —"

"He, he — who says it's a he?"

"We've been through this," Harry said crossly. "Prince, Hermione, Prince!"

"Right!" Hermione said as pulled a very old piece of newspaper out of her pocket and slammed it down on the table in front of Harry. "Look at that! Look at the picture!"

I leaned in to take a look. The picture on the paper showed a skinny girl with heavy brows and a long, pallid face. Underneath the photograph was the caption: Eileen Prince, Captain of the Hogwarts Gobstones Team. I looked up to Hermione, gaping, but Harry and Ron seemed confused.

"So?" Harry said.

"Her name was Eileen Prince. Prince, Harry," Hermione said impatiently.

They looked at each other for a moment before he burst out laughing. Hermione and I shared a confused look.

"No way," he said.

"What?"

"You think she was the Half-Blood . . . ? Oh, come on."

"Well, why not?" Hermione said. "Harry, there aren't any real princes in the Wizarding world! It's either a nickname, a made-up title somebody's given themselves, or it could be their actual name, couldn't it? No, listen! If, say, her father was a wizard whose surname was Prince, and her mother was a Muggle, then that would make her a 'Half-blood Prince'!"

"Listen, Hermione, I can tell it's not a girl. I can just tell," he said.

She raised her eyebrows at him. "Why? You don't think a girl would have been clever enough?" she said.

"How can I have hung out with you two for fives years and not think girls are clever?" Harry retorted angrily, making me smile. "It's the way he writes, I just know the Prince was a bloke, I can tell. This girl hasn't got anything to do with it. Where did you get this anyway?" He asked Hermione.

"The library," she said predictably. "There's a whole collection of old Prophets up there. Well, I'm going to find out more about Eileen Prince if I can."

"Enjoy yourself," Harry said irritably.

"I will," she said as she stood and walked toward the portrait hole. "And the first place I'll look is records of old Potions awards!

There was a moment of silence before Harry leaned in toward me. "How bad is it?" he asked.

"You're doing fine, Harry," I said as I handed him back his corrected essay. "Really, it's just your syntax at times that needs reworking. I've added some comments here and there. It won't take you long to go over it."

"You're the best," he said as he left a trail of kisses on my face before claiming my lips with his. Smiling through the kiss, I wrapped my arms around his neck.

Ron cleared his throat loudly, causing us to pull apart.

"Don't mind me," Ron said.

I shook my head, frowning as Harry moved my legs and stood up.