Chapter 188

Feeling a tad bit curious, he turned it over and started reading what it was about. Harry's eyes widened with shock as he read further and further into the letter, and by the time he finished it, he was filled with an odd mixture of hurt, and betrayal.

"Hedwig!" he snapped at his Phoenix, who quickly flew over to him, and flamed him right back to the Ravenclaw dorm rooms. Harry stormed down into the common room from there, where Terry and Hermione were sitting on one of the desks. Harry slid into a chair at the table and fixed a flat stare at Terry.

"Did you find my book, Harry?" Hermione asked, clearly unnerved by Harry's sudden coldness.

"I did," he said, calmly handing over the book to Hermione.

"You know what else I found," Harry further added, holding up the letter, "This."

Looking like a deer caught in the headlight, Terry's eyes widened and his hand snapped to his back pocket. Feeling nothing other than plain cloth, he slumped into his chair, looking defeated.

Hermione was still looking back and forth between the two of them, even more unnerved at Terry's reaction.

"Do you want to tell her or should I?" Harry flatly asked, trying to keep his Bloodlust skill out of his voice.

Terry looked at Harry, defeated, before he turned to Hermione and said, "Do you remember that letter I got Hermione? The one that I got a couple of weeks back and went to see the Professors about?"

"Yes," Hermione tentatively replied.

"It was…you have to understand!" Terry pleaded, glancing at Harry, "My mum works in the ministry and she has been hearing all these rumours going around about the Aurors offices for months now. She's been scared for me all this time. So when she saw those adverts from those other schools, she did it."

"Terry," Hermione asked dreadingly, "What is in that letter?"

"This letter is the final acceptance letter from Beauxbatons," Harry answered that question, "Terry is no longer a student of Hogwarts. Hasn't been for over two weeks. He is now a proud student of Beauxbatons, and will be joining there for his third-year education in the next year."

"What!" Hermione said in shock.

Terry looked more flustered and desperate than ever before, "You have to understand Harry! Hermione! I didn't know about it! She did it all behind my back. Removed my name from Hogwarts and enrolled me into the other school. I only found out about it the day I got the acceptance letter. I even had Professor McGonagall Floo her so that I could try and convince her to reverse it."

Hermione seemed lost for words as she rested her head in her hands. Silence reigned in the common room, and for once, the pleasant warm fire seemed a tad bit too hot.

"You could have told us earlier Terry. We would have found something or the other to help." Harry gently said, breaking them out of their silence, his voice devoid of any coldness or anger that had been present earlier.

Terry shook his head and Harry idly noticed that there were tears in his eyes, "There was nothing to be found. You should have seen Professor McGonagall trying to find some loophole or bylaw that would've let me stay. She looked through dozens of books. Nothing. And how could I even bring myself to tell you?"

"Ron and Dean are going to be crushed," Hermione muttered into her hands.

"I know," Terry miserably said, and they lapsed back into another heavy silence.

"So is this goodbye then?" Harry ask

"You could get Hedwig to pop over with letters. And you can always come visit during the summer,"

"But it won't be the same"

"No it won't."

And it was at that moment, sitting safely in the warmth of his common room, away from any Beast of Slytherin that could cause him harm, that it sunk into Harry that the Heir had managed to hurt him in a more permanent way than any sort of petrifaction or physical attack could.

He had lost him a best friend.

Dean and Ron had not taken well to the news next morning. That particular meeting had been louder, and distinctly more hostile than last night's meeting, and had ended in Ron storming right out of the room.

By the time the noon rolled around, Ron and Terry were gone, Hermione had shacked herself up in her dorms and Harry and Dean found themselves sitting in the Project Room, desperately wanting to do something to distract themselves from everything else going on around them, and yet not being able to do anything at all.

"It's all happening too fast," Harry muttered, sighing deep into his hands.

"What's that?" Dean quietly asked from across the room.

"It's…It's nothing. Don't worry."

Dean frowned, and walked over to sit beside Harry on the sofa, "Are you alright Harry?"

"I don't know Dean," Harry muttered, "I had this whole utopian world that I had imagined when I climbed aboard that train a year ago. And for a while, it seemed to be exactly that. I learned awesome magic here at a school that's become my home. I made some great friends. It wasn't perfect, but it was the best thing that's ever happened to me."

Harry took a deep breath.

"And now…now it's all just happening too fast. My friends are leaving. The school is closing down, people are getting petrified…feels like everything I built around me is crumbling down." A miserable sounding chuckle escaped him, "Probably sounds like a mighty exaggeration to you doesn't it?"

It was all quiet for a few seconds, and Harry didn't dare look at Dean's face.

"No…No. I think I understand" Dean finally said quietly before pausing, almost as if debating something with himself. It was another few seconds before he spoke, "Not the first time my world's turned upside down you know."

Harry frowned, and turned to look at Dean, "What do you mean?"

"Remember that flying class we had last year? The one in which Neville got injured? Sometime after that, I got a letter…from my dad. Dunno where it came from or how it got delivered, but I woke up the next morning to find it beside my bed."

A stone seemed to suddenly fall into Harry's stomach "Your dad?"

Dean nodded, before he dipped his hand into his trouser pocket and pulled out a familiar looking yellowing envelope which he hesitantly handed to Harry, who tried to keep his expression even as he opened it.

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