Slinging Mud

"You can't be serious!" Ron shouted as he stood up from his chair, almost spilling his tea. "You must be mad if you think you can crossbreed that thing without getting eaten by it first! And you'd be mad to accept Hagrid's offer, Oleandra!"

A thought occurred to Ron.

"What am I saying?" he said, stupefied. "You're the maddest one here, you've actually been wearing a Lethifold this entire time!?"

"What's a Lethifold?" asked Harry curiously. The floating creature looked a lot like a bunch of drapes; not particularly threatening.

"My mum used to tell me these stories to make me go to bed," Ron shivered. "She told me that unless I went under my covers, a Lethifold was gonna smother me. Fred and George musta heard the story, because they put a pillowcase over my head after I'd gone to sleep, when I was five. I really thought one had got me…"

Oleandra snickered.

"Well, I accept," Oleandra said to Professor Hagrid. "I'll tell Cloak not to attack you when I leave it here."

With business out of the way, the four spent the rest of their visit talking about this and that, like where had all the Flobberworms gone (overdosed on lettuce), or which team had the best odds of winning the Quidditch Cup.

Harry was a pretty introverted guy, as he mostly kept to himself and his friends Ron, Hermione and Hagrid. He spoke to his dorm mates and his fellow Gryffindors, but only when they spoke to him first. As for the other Houses, forget about it! As somewhat of a celebrity, he had quickly learned that most people had preconceived notions about him; his first two years had taught him that admirers were quite fickle.

His interactions with Malfoy had given him a bad first impression of Slytherin; it had made him see them all as callous blood supremacists. The Greengrass twins, however, were growing on him. You couldn't survive a life-and-death battle together and not come out closer, after all.

At around nine o'clock, Professor Hagrid took the three of them back to the castle. Oleandra bid the others goodbye and returned to the Slytherin common room, whereupon she found a group of third years crowding around the notice board. This could only mean one thing: there was another Hogsmeade outing this weekend!

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Ever since Oleandra had gone to a magical city in an Elseworld, Hogsmeade had kind of lost its appeal. Sure, there were neat little shops that sold joke products like Zonko's, and Honeydukes made some delicious sweets, but could it compare to the City of Gates' grand buildings, and the street shops where they sold relics like weapons of war from other worlds?

Nevertheless, appearances mattered: it was important that Oleandra be seen going to the village to avoid being perceived as untrendy. It was a bit annoying, but in Slytherin and in high society, how you presented yourself was just as important as what you actually did. Still, a new visit to the village was not welcome, so Oleandra, Daphne and Tracey accompanied the other Slytherins to the village. 

It just so happened that Daphne had been running out of lime-flavoured candy, and Oleandra had no more sweets to send to their little sister Astoria, who was all alone in Gryffindor tower. The twins hoped she was making friends; and surely having sweets to share wouldn't hurt her chances.

After visiting the shops and stopping for a Butterbeer to say hello to Stacey, Draco and the gang managed to shake off Pansy; that girl was growing increasingly annoying. 

"Shall we head to the Shrieking Shack?" he suggested. "We can talk in peace there."

And thus, Draco and his cronies, followed closely by the Slytherin Silver Trio, began climbing up the hill to the Shrieking Shack.

"I've sent word to Father about our little trip to you-know-where," Draco was saying. "I should be getting an owl from him any day now. I don't expect he'll be happy to hear how we went off into the unknown like that, but he's sure to see the potential benefits—"

Draco suddenly stopped talking. A certain Ronald Weasley had just come into view as they reached the apex of the hill.

"What are you doing here all by yourself, Weasley?" Draco sniggered. Looking at the Shrieking Shack behind him, he added, "Suppose you'd love to live here, wouldn't you, Weasley? Dreaming about having your own bedroom? I heard your family all sleep in one room — is that true?"

For a moment there, it looked as if Ron was going to jump at the little git's throat, but he ended up holding back.

"Easy there, Draco," said Oleandra. "Ginny won't let you off if she hears about this, you know?"

"What?" said Ron, startled. He stared curiously at Malfoy's uncomfortable expression. Was he… scared of his little sister?

Suddenly, a glob of mud went flying out of nowhere, hitting Draco in the back of the head. Oleandra spun on the spot, trying to find their attacker, but to no avail; nobody was there. She tapped her temples, activating her Mystic Eyes. If magic was being used to conceal their attacker's presence, then she'd see traces of its use!

"Huh?" Oleandra said in utter confusion. "I don't see anyone."

Draco, Crabbe and Goyle were spinning madly on the spot, trying to find whoever had dared sling mud at the scion of the Malfoy family.

"What was that?" Draco snarled, wiping the mud out of his hair. "Who did that?"

"Very haunted up here, isn't it?" said Ron nonchalantly. Inwardly, he was cursing Harry's timing; he wanted to hear more about how Malfoy feared his little sister! And indeed, Harry. He had sneaked out once more of Hogwarts to go to Hogsmeade, this time bringing along his Invisibility Cloak.

More mud came flying out of nowhere, this time hitting Crabbe and Goyle right in the face.

"It came from over there!" said Draco, pointing to an empty area.

Oleandra watched as Crabbe charged forwards, getting hit in the back by a stick that had once again appeared out of nowhere. How could this be? There clearly was magic at work, so why couldn't she see it?

Crabbe, annoyed at the fact he was fighting an invisible enemy, decided to fight something he could actually see: Ron. Before Oleandra could stop him from attacking Ron, Crabbe tripped over nothing at all. Suddenly, Harry's head popped into existence, floating a few feet above the ground.

"AAARGGH!" Draco yelled, pointing at Harry's head.

"GYAAH!" Tracey shrieked. "Black's finally got Potter, and he's come back to haunt us!"

Draco and Tracey immediately turned tail and ran away in terror, followed closely by Crabbe and Goyle. Oleandra herself felt a twinge of fear through the Helm of Awe's feedback, but she rapidly squashed it. Harry was her friend, why should she be scared of him?

"Are you a ghost?" Oleandra said tentatively as she reached out to poke Harry's cheek. "Speak, apparition!"

"Don't be silly, Sister," said Daphne, before turning to Harry. "An Invisibility Cloak, right?"

Before Harry could say anything, Ron shuffled over as fast as he could, not caring he had just lost one of his shoes to the suction of the mud.

"Run for it, Harry!" he said urgently. "You need to get back to the castle quick, before Malfoy tells anyone!"

"See you later," Harry responded simply before disappearing.