Future Nostalgia / Harry Potter Fanfic

Care of Magical Creatures and Mean Letters

By breakfast the next day, the post owls had arrived. Hermione looked up eagerly; she seemed to be expecting something.

"Percy wouldn't have answered the letter yet," said Ron. "We only sent Hedwig yesterday."

"No, it's not that," said Hermione. "I've taken out a subscription to the Daily Prophet. I'm getting sick of finding everything out from the Slytherins."

"Good thinking!" said Harry, also looking up at the owls. "Hey, Hermione, I think you're in luck-"

A gray owl was soaring down toward Hermione.

"It hasn't got a newspaper, though," she said, looking disappointed. "It's-"

But to her bewilderment, the gray owl landed in front of her plate, closely followed by four barn owls, a brown owl, and a tawny, then followed by Lun, who dropped off a letter to Estella.

"How many subscriptions did you take out?" said Harry, seizing Hermione's goblet before it was knocked over by the cluster of owls, all of whom were trying to deliver their own letter first.

"What on earth-?" Hermione said, taking the letter from the gray owl, opening it, and starting to read. "Oh really!" she sputtered, going rather red.

"What's up?" said Ron.

"It's-oh how ridiculous-"

She thrust the letter toward Harry and Estella, who saw that it was not handwritten but composed from pasted letters that seemed to have been cut out of the Daily Prophet.

You are a WiCked giRl. Harry PoTTer deserves BetteR. What did EstellA ever do to you? GO back wherE you cAMe from mUGGle.

"They're all like it!" said Hermione desperately, opening one letter after another. "'Harry Potter can do much better than the likes of you...you call yourself Estella's best friend-PLEASE. You deserve to be boiled in frog spawn' Ouch!"

She had opened the last envelope, and yellowish-green liquid smelling strongly of petrol gushed over her hands, which began to erupt in large boils.

"Undiluted bubotuber pus!" said Ron, picking up the envelope gingerly and sniffing it.

"Ow!" said Hermione, tears starting in her eyes as she tried to rub the pus off her hands with a napkin, but her fingers were so thickly covered in painful sores that it looked as though she was wearing a pair of thick, knobbly gloves.

"You'd better get up to the hospital wing," said Harry as owls around Hermione took flight. "We'll tell Professor Sprout where you've gone."

The three watched as another cluster of owls swooped down, dropping off at least seven letters in front of Estella.

Harry quickly snatched them, "You're not opening that!"

"Didn't plan to," she laughed as she tucked the letter from her dad away. It was more than likely a response about Rita Skeeter.

Hermione didn't turn up for Herbology, so Estella had gone by the hospital wing for both her free periods until Hermione forced her to go to their Care of Magical Creatures class, saying she'd meet up with them towards the end of class.

As she walked down with Harry and Ron, she saw Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle descending the stone steps of the castle. Pansy was whispering and giggling behind them with her gang of Slytherins. Catching sight of Harry, Pansy called, "Potter, you haven't split up with your girlfriend?"

Harry ignored her while Estella muttered a silent hex that would result in pus-filled pimples scattered across her face that night. No one messed with her best friend and got away with it.