CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE - Harry's Temper

The next morning, Attuoria and Hermione spotted Harry and Ron across the common room on their way to breakfast. Harry didn't look too happy.

"What's the matter?" Hermione asked him, the four of them walking together. Ron gave Attuoria a quick nod, while Harry didn't even look at her. "You look really angry about something."

"Seamus reckons Harry's lying about You-Know-Who," said Ron when Harry didn't reply.

Hermione sighed. "Yes, Lavender thinks so too."

"Been having a nice little chat with her about whether or not I'm a lying, attention-seeking prat, have you?" Harry said loudly.

"No, I told her to keep her big fat mouth shut about you, actually. And it would be quite nice if you stopped jumping down our throats, Harry, because in case you haven't noticed, Ron and I are on your side. And so is Attuoria."

Harry immediately looked up and spotted Attuoria walking next to Hermione.

"When did she get here?" he asked.

"I was here the whole time," said Attuoria quietly.

"Look, I talked to Attuoria last night, and there's a lot we have to tell you two. But first, will you guys just please stop being pricks?" Hermione had her arm around Attuoria's as she looked at the boys for an answer.

"We talked about it last night, too," said Ron. "And, uh, I think you had your reasons so I'm just happy you're back…" he trailed off, glancing at Harry.

"To be completely honest, I don't take back a single thing that I said. But you might as well help me read these people's minds to see which of them have something against me right now." Harry said, clearly drowning in a bad mood today.

"Harry," Ron nudged him, "Be nice."

"Right, yeah, sorry." Harry muttered. "Yeah, I forgive you. I'm glad to have you back as a friend." He gave Attuoria a quick smile.

"Thanks guys. I'll explain everything after class today, if you want." Attuoria offered.

"Please do," said Harry. "What could you have possibly done the past three years that is more important than being with your three best friends?"

"Harry!" cried Hermione, "Drop it already!"

***

At breakfast, the Weasley twins came over for a chat when they heard Ron mention "Skiving Snackboxes".

"Friends again, I see!" said Fred, clapping his hand onto Harry and Ron's shoulder as he stared at Attuoria in front of them. "Was hoping that you guys wouldn't make up and we'd have this young lady all to ourselves."

Attuoria smiled at him, knowing he meant well. "I kind of like having friends," she said, beckoning at the trio around her.

George slid into the empty seat next to her. "You mean them three? Were the two of us not enough for you?" He glanced at Fred, and they faked a crying expression to one another.

"It was great until you whipped out that Nosebleed Nougat."

"You mean this little thing?" Fred pulled out a small, orange, triangular-shaped nougat. "Baby brother wants to skive off lessons, doesn't he? We'll give it to you cheap."

"Why's it cheap?" Ron asked suspiciously.

"Because you'll keep bleeding till you shrivel up, we haven't gotten an antidote yet," said George, biting into a heavily salted kipper. He spat it out immediately.

"So THAT'S why Lee told me not to eat it," said Attuoria.

"Don't worry dear, we wouldn't have let you eat it even if you wanted to." Fred replied with a wink, grabbing a crumpet from the table.

While Hermione warned them to stop advertising product testers on the Gryffindor notice board, the twins told them about how terrible fifth year was going to be. They were to take standardised tests called O.W.L.s this year. It stood for Ordinary Wizarding Levels. The two didn't seem to care that they only passed three, and continued the conversation about starting up their own joke shop.

Attuoria had heard them talk about this joke shop the entire ride to Hogwarts. If they did open one, it was sure to be a total hit. They had so many creative ideas and products in mind, not to mention the charisma of the two twins, everyone would want to go to their shop.

Professor McGonagall had given them their schedules that morning. They had History of Magic, double Potions, Divination and double Defence Against the Dark Arts. Attuoria and Hermione didn't mind too much, but the boys immediately turned listless at the news.

While Hermione listened attentively to Professor Binns's droning lecture, the two boys played hangman and took naps throughout the entire forty-five minutes. If Attuoria had sleeping urges, she was sure she'd be asleep too. Everything Professor Binns said had been covered in multiple history books she had read in her first year at Hogwarts. Not to mention how detached Professor Binns was the entire lesson.

After the lesson, Hermione scolded the boys for not paying attention. She threatened not to lend them her notes, and Ron tried guilt tripping her, but it clearly didn't work.

"Even Attuoria listened -"

"Not really. I was just staring at the blackboard." Attuoria admitted. "Mentally asleep, you could say."

The two boys snickered at Hermione's annoyed expression. They had potions next, but it wasn't going to start until ten minutes later. The four of them got under the cover of a balcony in the courtyard, watching the morning mist drip down the ledge.

It was a chilly September day, so they all turned up the collar of their robes, clutching themselves to stop from shivering.

"Aren't you cold?" Ron chattered, glancing at Attuoria, who stared at the blurry courtyard, completely unaffected by the weather.

"Not really," said Attuoria, who had experienced temperatures much lower when she visited the dementors daily. "It's kind of nice."

"You're actually mad."

"Well it's not snowing yet, is it?" Attuoria held her hand out, letting the water drip onto her palms.

"Hello, Harry!" A voice rang out. A Ravenclaw girl with shiny black hair walked towards them, her eyes only on Harry.

Attuoria glanced at him. He didn't show any visible signs, but she could sense how flustered he was. There was the smallest tinge of fear hidden within his emotions, but Attuoria couldn't understand why. It was just a girl talking to him.

The two were having a nice (if not rather dry) conversation before Ron ruined it by loudly commenting on her choice of Quidditch team, implying that she was a clout chaser. The girl, Cho Chang, angrily left, once again only acknowledging Harry's presence.

Hermione and Ron broke out into an argument right after, with Hermione chastising his inconsiderate behaviour. Harry seemed annoyed at the two, so Attuoria approached him to ask the question that was on her mind.

"That girl, Cho Chang, when she came over, you were scared. But not much, just a little bit. Why would you be scared of her?" Attuoria asked.

Harry looked like he was about to flip if anyone mentioned his interaction with Cho again, but then he glanced at Attuoria and sighed.

"Fred and George did say you didn't quite understand this kind of stuff."

"What kind of stuff?"

"Nevermind," he said quickly. "I was just scared to do something wrong or say something wrong in front of her, that's all."

"But you're not scared around us -"

"That's the bell!" Harry interrupted, stopping Attuoria from asking any further questions. With Hermione and Ron still bickering, they headed down to the dungeons for their double lesson with Snape.

After a quick (threatening) speech from Snape about O.W.L.s and N.E.W.T.s (Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Test, terrible name), he set them to brew the Draught of Peace. It was a potion that required students to be very meticulous with the quantity of each ingredient, and they had to pay close attention to the order of each instruction.

Luckily for Attuoria, she was wired to follow complicated procedures (creating nightmares was not so different from potions). With ten minute left, Snape announced to the class that everyone's potion should be emitting a light silver vapour.

While Attuoria and Hermione's looked exactly like it should be, Harry's potion was puffing out dark grey smoke, and Ron's potion was spitting bright green sparks. Seamus, to no surprise, had set his cauldron on fire, and Neville's potion was completely dormant. Which was a good sign, because no one ever knew what was going to happen if Neville's potion was acting up.

As Snape patrolled around the dungeon looking at each potion, he gave Hermione no comment, which meant she had done everything right. He didn't spare a single glance towards Attuoria, whom she suspected was still paranoid about his mind being infiltrated. Especially now that they had a secret (both were affiliated with Voldemort), he was more likely to avoid her.

Although the Dark Lord did tell him to guide her when she needed help. Attuoria supposed if she didn't need help, he was just going to ignore her. Fair enough.

Snape stopped at Harry's cauldron, making an effort to point out his mistake and embarrass him in front of the class for being careless. With a wave of his wand, he vanished Harry's potion, leaving him standing next to an empty cauldron. Clearly Snape's grudge against Harry hadn't diminished since their first year, rather, it grew much stronger.

What the grudge was, Attuoria had no idea, but she remembered faintly that Snape had mentioned something about disliking Harry's dad.

As everyone except Harry filled their flagons with their potion, she noticed that he was in an even worse mood than he was this morning. With Harry's temper, she knew the rest of the day wasn't going to be good.

Harry rushed out of the dungeon the moment the bell rang, leaving Attuoria, Ron and Hermione in the dungeon packing up their things.

"I feel really bad for Harry," said Hermione, swinging her book bag onto her shoulder.

"His day just keeps getting worse." Ron grunted, his expression looking glum.

"I don't get it. Ron, your potion was so much worse than his." Attuoria said bluntly.

"Gee thanks a lot Attuoria." Ron exclaimed sarcastically as they walked out of the dungeon classroom. "Really appreciate you and Hermione constantly rubbing it in that you're smarter than me!"

"I didn't say I was smarter than you. I said Harry was smarter -"

"Knight!" A voice interrupted. All three of them knew exactly who it was.

"What do you want, Malfoy?" said Ron, looking irritated as he turned around.

"Mind your own business, Weasley. I wasn't talking to you." Draco sneered before moving his attention back to Attuoria. She hadn't turned around.

"Knight. I'm talking to you. Turn around." His tone was aggressive.

"What do you want." Attuoria said quietly, not moving.

Draco glanced at Ron and Hermione, who were glaring viciously at him.

"Can't believe you still hang around a blood traitor and a mudblood." He spat, and Attuoria could hear the malice in his voice.

She turned around, her expression cold and unmoving. "Draco, you can insult me, and I'll let it slide. Your family has been nothing less than kind to me, and I am grateful. But don't insult my friends again."

Draco seemed taken aback, but glared back at her with passion. She knew it triggered him, and that's exactly what she wanted to do. A few days back, Attuoria thought Draco was her friend. But friends, as she learned from Harry, Ron and Hermione, stood up for one another. Draco didn't do that for her. So clearly, they weren't friends.

"You'll talk to me, Knight. I know you will." He said in an almost threatening tone before striding down the hallway with as much swagger as he could muster.

"What's the deal with you and the ferret?" asked Ron as they watched him walk away.

"The ferret?"

"Our Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher turned him into a ferret last year. Best moment of my life." Ron grinned, the three of them walking to the dining hall for lunch. "But seriously, what's up between you two?"

"It's a long story," said Attuoria, glancing at Hermione.

"We'll get to it after classes today. That is, if Harry's even in the mood for it."

They saw Harry sitting alone in the Great Hall, already starting to eat his lunch. The three sat down to join him, but he didn't seem in the mood to talk. In fact, the moment Hermione and Ron started bickering about Snape's behaviour (which was less than three minutes into the conversation), he made a rude remark and angrily left.

"How long has he been like this?" Attuoria asked the two, who looked dumbfounded.

"Since we saw him this Summer," said Ron, shaking his head slightly and returning to his shepherd's pie. "It was kind of our fault though, because we didn't write to him."

"But Dumbledore was the one who told us not to contact him, and we told him that, so he has no reason to keep taking his anger out on us!" Hermione complained, stabbing the potato on her plate with a fork.

"Why did Dumbledore tell you not to contact him?"

Ron and Hermione stopped eating and glanced warily at each other.

"We… it's complicated," said Hermione, lowering her head.

"Honestly, we might as well tell her, because otherwise she's gonna take it straight from our heads." Ron pointed out.

"Right."

Both Ron and Hermione immediately averted their gazes from Attuoria the moment the sentence left his mouth.

Attuoria stifled a smile, knowing eye contact wasn't necessary for infiltrating someone's mind. It was easier, but not a mandatory step. "Hey! You're underestimating my decency. I respect your privacy," she replied honestly.

"We're not supposed to tell outsiders," said Hermione. "We'd have to consult with, you know," she gave Ron a look. "If we're going to let someone else in on this."

"I suppose it's fair. I've hid a lot of things from you guys, too, so it's understandable."

"You have?!" Ron exclaimed, surprised.

"You can't even begin to imagine the amount of things she didn't tell us." Hermione grinned at Attuoria, who let out a small laugh.

"Oh! There's my first laugh," said Attuoria, trying to figure out why she even laughed in the first place. "I can't even figure out the reason for it."

"What do you mean your first laugh? You've laughed before." Ron looked absolutely confunded.

Hermione giggled. "Good luck explaining things to him tonight."

Ron continued to glance at her, confused, before his eyes suddenly narrowed. "Was that another jab at my intelligence?"

"I just hope you'll believe me, and that Harry won't be too angry." Attuoria said quickly before Hermione could start bickering with Ron again.

During Divination, Harry was still being passive aggressive, even after Ron confronted him about it. That lesson, they studied dream interpretations, which Attuoria was more than familiar with. Unfortunately Hermione didn't take Divination, so Attuoria had to pair up with someone else when Professor Trelawney told them to interpret one another's most recent dreams.

She stared at the empty seat in front of her. The divination classroom was split so that two people sat per table, but since there was an odd number of Gryffindors in this class, she sat alone.

Attuoria glanced at the other side of the room where the Slytherins sat. There was one other guy who was also sitting alone.

"Oh dear, you don't have a partner," said Trelawney, her voice as dreamy and dissociated as ever. She stood next to Attuoria and pointed across the room. "Why don't you go sit over there with that young man from Slytherin?"

She glanced at the lean, black boy who sat there quietly. Blaise Zabini. One of Draco's friends. Attuoria picked up her belongings and marched across the room to where Blaise sat. She could feel Ron and Harry's gaze on her as she sat down in the chair across from him.

"Trelawney told me to sit here." Attuoria explained, noticing his confused expression. The guy nodded, but didn't say anything else. She stared at him blankly, unsure if she should ask him to tell her his most recent dream. He didn't seem like he wanted to do any work.

Seeing that there was nothing better to do, she decided to go into his mind just to see what he was thinking about.

"This is the girl Malfoy was with on the train. Man, if he had any intentions with her, then he really messed up. But I see why. She's hella pretty. She's a Gryffindor though, not to mention her family's not a part of the Sacred Twenty-Eight. I would never go for anyone associated with muggles."

Was this what humans did on the regular? Make assumptions about others without any basis? Attuoria frowned. She didn't think that was very fair.

"I heard from Malfoy that she's pretty powerful. But that's coming from Malfoy. So I'd be surprised if her skills were even slightly above average."

She bit back a smile. Draco called her powerful. Does that mean he was scared of her? Attuoria grew excited at the thought. Having the upper hand fueled her energy. She liked being in control. But Zabini was underestimating her. Should she prove him wrong by going deeper into his mind and bringing up his most recent dream? That would show him how "above average" her skill was.

But she decided not to. There was no point. He wasn't even talking to her, so she wasn't gonna bother wasting her time on him.

The bell rang soon after. Attuoria picked up her bag and immediately went to Harry and Ron, who seemed to be on better terms after suffering through a nonsense dream interpretation session.

Defense Against the Dark Arts with the new Professor Umbridge only made the day worse.

For one, she only taught theoretical knowledge. No practical work. She claimed that students won't need to have their wands out if they aren't in the risk of being attacked in class.

Attuoria could sense the tension rising as class went on. It started when Hermione questioned Umbridge's methods of teaching. Soon, everyone in the class had their hands up, ready to interrogate the teacher. But Professor Umbridge wouldn't stand the nonsense. She insisted that there was no need for performing spells in class, saying that books were enough for students to pass their O.W.L.s.

And it all went downhill the moment Harry mentioned Voldemort and stood up from his desk. He had already lost ten house points and earned himself detention, but he still refused to back down.

Hermione clearly thought him stupid for persisting, but Attuoria kind of admired his spirit. Not many people were like Harry. He always rose up to the challenge, standing up for what was right. Authoritative figures didn't faze him.

Umbridge, after being yelled at by Harry over Cedric Diggory's death being related to Voldemort's return, sent him out of a classroom with a note to Professor McGonagall. He angrily stomped out without looking back, looking almost relieved to be out of the classroom.

Attuoria stared at Umbridge, trying to figure out what went through this woman's mind. How come Umbridge thought that Voldemort's return was a lie? Even Attuoria knew Voldemort was alive, and she had only arrived back in the mortal realm for three months. Was this woman just… in denial?

She felt someone roughly nudge her arm.

"Attuoria!" Hermione said in a whisper. "You're staring again."

"Oh." Attuoria quickly moved her eyes back down to the page of her book, trying to ignore the questioning looks Umbridge was sending her way.