Harriet Potter

Ron was dumbfounded, and plunged the knife into the kale that was being peeled. "That bastard—"

"Hush!" I warned, glancing towards the kitchen door, worried that Mrs. Weasley might overhear.

"What happened next?" Ron slammed the knife and raised it in his hand. If someone came in at this moment, he might think he was going to cut me. "Tell me you didn't—"

"No." I threw the kale in my hand into the peeled pile, "I ran away."

Ron raised an eyebrow in disbelief. "You ran away."

"Right. Not my most glorious experience." I picked up the next kale.

"You said you could handle this!"

"And I haven't been 'fucked', kissed, kidnapped, or drugged." I've decided that it's not wise to discuss this with Ron, "What do you expect me to do? To be the only one in the whole world because the real me is What kind of boy would beat me up if he liked me?"

"I don't think that's going to work, since he likes the way you beat people up so much." Ron snorted, "But a lion isn't good enough for you if I say a troll or a dragon."

"Oh that's very much appreciated. Do me a favor and don't try to flatter Hermione." I rolled my eyes. "Don't just talk about me. How was your date?"

"Pretty good, uh..."

"Kissed?" I asked bluntly, and Ron blushed.

"Uh, no."

It was a big surprise to me, I thought the two of them would clung to each other like eels as soon as they were out of my sight. "What? Don't tell me you mentioned Krum or something to her again."

"I didn't! I... didn't have time to think about that at all, just stared at her." Ron scratched his neck with his hand without a knife, and a small piece of kale stuck to his hair, "We're walking chatting, and then came under a bunch of mistletoe. I... I thought about it, and I could tell she wanted to, but I was kind of nervous and, you know, I had no experience. But, um, she was so beautiful, it was— —”

"What happened next?" I interrupted a long, stammering compliment he was about to utter.

"We were getting closer and closer. I knew I was going to kiss her, but she stopped me by putting her hand on my chest. She told me I was a little scared, and I said I was too. Then she said that Muggles say third We can only kiss on a second date, and I said let's keep it. Then we continued to walk and chat, holding hands. We went back to the tower at about one o'clock, and was scolded by the fat lady. She kissed me again before going back to the dormitory. Face." Ron finished in one breath, grinning. "I'm a little bit sorry, but it's still great."

"And you can look forward to more dates." I shook my head. "I really don't understand what you are afraid of. No one understands each other better than you."

"I do think I understand. I mean, we were good friends, but now..."

"Did I hear someone say 'best friend'?" came Fred's voice, and Ron's twin brothers walked into the kitchen. "Oh, George, look, they're using knives. God bless them."

"I'm going to be seventeen in a little over two months," said Ron grumpily, "and I'll be able to use magic then!"

"But before that," said George, sitting down at the kitchen table and putting his feet up on the table, "we can enjoy watching you demonstrate how to use it properly - ouch."

"You did it!" said Ron angrily, sucking on his cut thumb. "Wait a minute, I turned seventeen—"

"I'm sure you'll charm us with magic hitherto no one has thought of," said Fred, yawning.

"Speaking of magic that no one has thought of so far, Ron," said George, "we heard from Ma that you have a problem with Hermione?"

Ron turned and peeled the kale, but he wasn't unhappy. "Don't mind your own business."

"A stinging answer," said Fred. "I don't know what you're thinking. What we want to know is . . . how?"

"What do you mean?"

"Did Hermione have a car accident or something on vacation?"

"what?"

"How could she have such a large area of ​​brain damage? Be careful!"

Mrs. Weasley came in just in time to see Ron throw his cabbage peeling knife at Fred.With a lazy flick of his wand, Fred transformed the knife into a paper airplane.

"Ron!" she flew into a rage. "Don't let me see you throwing knives again!"

"I won't," said Ron, adding in a low voice, "—for you to see."

Mrs. Weasley was still glaring at her younger son when she spoke, "Fred, George, I'm sorry, but Bill has to squeeze in with you two when Remus is here tonight. Charlie isn't coming back, so Ron happens to live in the attic , if Fleur lives with Ginny—"

"—then Ginny's Christmas is—" muttered Fred.

"—everyone should be quite comfortable, at least with a bed." Mrs. Weasley's tone was a little irritated.

"Surely Percy's ugly face won't show up?" Fred asked.

Mrs. Weasley turned away, then replied, "No, I think he's busy, at the Ministry."

"Or he's the biggest idiot in the world," said Fred as Mrs. Weasley left the kitchen. "It's either. Let's go, George."

Ron complained when the twins came out of the kitchen that they wouldn't magically relieve us of the burden of peeling kale, but soon he shut up and started giggling, knowing what he was thinking without thinking, I just hope he doesn't cut again.

We spent the next few days decorating the Burrow, preparing feasts, and occasionally playing Quidditch in the snow-free escape from Mrs. Weasley.Apart from the fact that I was not allowed to leave the area of ​​the protective spell and Mr. Weasley always had to work late into the night, this holiday was almost exactly like a peaceful day.The small living room became very crowded on Christmas Eve, and Ginny decorated the room so colorful and full of flowers that it looked like a piece of garland had exploded.Only Fred, George, me, and Ron knew that the cherub on top of the Christmas tree was actually a garden gnome.The little goblin bit Fred on the ankle while pulling carrots for Christmas dinner, so it was stunned, painted gold, stuffed into a tiny tutu, with tiny wings glued to its back, Glaring at us from the top of the tree.This is the ugliest angel I have ever seen, with a big bald potato head and hairy feet.

All had to listen to the Christmas broadcast of Mrs. Weasley's favorite singer, Celestina Warbeck, singing softly from the big wooden radio.Fleur seemed to find Celestina very boring. She was talking loudly in the corner, and Mrs. Weasley frowned and kept adjusting the volume with her wand, making Celestina sing louder and louder.Under the cover of a particularly jazzy tune, "A Pot of Hot Love," Fred, George, and Ginny played crack and bang.Ron's eyes kept sneaking at Bill and Fleur, as if trying to learn some tricks.Remus looked particularly haggard. He sat by the fireplace, staring into the depths of the fire, as if he couldn't hear Celestina's voice.

I went over to talk to Remus, an old friend of my father's and the best Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher I've ever had.His leaving is yet another reason to hate Snape, who "accidentally" revealed his werewolf identity to the whole school at the breakfast table, causing Remus to resign.

After the Sirius incident I had hoped that Remus would occasionally write me a letter, but I've given up on that after the semester, and now he's finally told me why I haven't been able to.He had been living among werewolves for several months, hoping to obtain information about Voldemort and trying to persuade some of them to fall to Dumbledore.It sounded very similar to the mission Dumbledore gave Hagrid last year. When Hagrid came back from the giant colony, his face was almost beaten to a pulp. I hope Remus won't make it so miserable.

"It's hard to gain their trust. I bear the unmistakable mark of having lived among wizards who shunned normal society, lived on the fringes, stole and ate - and sometimes killed. Most of them felt they could live under Voldemort." Better off. It's a hard thing arguing with Greyback—"

"Who's Greyback?" I asked.

"Haven't you heard of him?" Lupine's hands clenched convulsively in his lap. "Fenrir Greyback is probably the most vicious werewolf alive today. He made it his mission to bite and infect as many people as possible, and wanted to create a large number of werewolves to defeat the wizard. Voldemort promised him some prey in return. Greyback Specializing in children...he said biting them when they were young, then taking them away from their parents and raising them to hate wizards. Voldemort's threat to set Greyback out to bite other children was usually effective."

Lupine paused for a moment, then said, "Greyback bit me."

"What?" I was taken aback. "You mean when—when you were a kid?"

"Yes. My father offended him. For a long time I didn't know who the werewolf was who attacked me. I even pitied him, thinking he was out of control. I already knew what it was like to be a wolf by then. But Greyback wasn't like that. On a full moon he was close to his prey, making sure the attack was successful. He was totally premeditated. He was the one Voldemort used to summon the werewolves. Greyback insisted that we werewolves should suck blood and should be treated on normal people. Retaliation, I dare not say how much my rational argument worked on him."

I do not know what to say.Greyback's attack caused Remus to suffer from bloodlust and isolation all his life. After that, he lost all his friends in two catastrophes. Solid good guy.Remus never let his anger spread beyond his heart, which is the quality I admire most in him.

"Have you ever heard of a man called the Half-Blood Prince?" I suddenly remembered this.

"Wizards don't have princes." Lupine was taken aback, then smiled, "Do you want to use this title? I thought 'Savior of the World' was enough."

"This has nothing to do with me!" I protested. "The Half-Blood Prince is someone who used to be at Hogwarts. I took the Potions textbook he used. He wrote spells all over it, I think he invented it." spells. There was a Fuchsia--"

"Oh, that spell was very popular when I was at Hogwarts," said Lupine nostalgic, "for a few months in my fifth year, people used to be hung upside down by their ankles in the air, unable to move. "

"What about closing your ears and listening?" I pretended to be casual. "I saw this in a book too. This spell can make people unable to hear what you are doing."

"Close your ears and listen? Well, I haven't heard of it," Lupine mused. "When was that book, Harry?"

"About 50 years ago."

"That's a long way from when I was in school. Charms come in and out of fashion, maybe they've been in the past."

Celestina's last song is over.It wasn't long before Fleur decided to imitate her and sing "A Pot of Hot Love", and after seeing Mrs. Weasley's expression, everyone took it as a signal to go to bed.Ron and I climbed up to the attic, which was temporarily divided in half by planks, and I had a camp bed in one half.This arrangement makes me feel that Mrs. Weasley has not completely given up the idea of ​​bringing me and Ron together. Of course, she also likes Hermione very much, but she is more eager to hope that I can really become Weasley. part of the family.Her insistence on treating me like her own from the first time I met the family on the train platform is embarrassing now, but also touching in a way.

Ron was completely unaware of this, I heard him fall on the bed, and within a minute he was snoring.I routinely cleared my mind before bed, but I still felt like I was going through a series of vague dreams filled with ghostly shadows and the cries of bitten children.

The author has something to say: the next few chapters will mainly follow the plot of the original novel, you can see where I have made fine-tuning x