Troubles
ON SATURDAY MORNING, Harry packed his Invisibility Cloak in his bag, slipped the Marauder's Map into his pocket, and went down to breakfast with everyone else. Will kept shooting glances down the table at him, but he avoided his eye, feeling slightly guilty, and was careful to let him see him walking back up the marble staircase in the entrance hall as everybody else proceeded to the front doors.
"Bye!" Harry called to Freya as she went. "See you when you get back?"
Freya grinned, rolling her eyes: laying it on a bit thick, aren't we?
Laughing, Harry turned and hurried up to the third floor, slipping the Marauder's Map out of his pocket as he went. Crouching behind the one-eyed witch, he smoothed it out. A tiny dot was moving in his direction. Harry squinted at it. The minuscule writing next to it read Neville Longbottom.
Harry quickly pulled out his wand, muttered, "Dissendium!" and shoved his bag into the statue, but before he could climb in himself, Neville came around the corner.
"Harry! I forgot you weren't going to Hogsmeade either!"
"Hi, Neville," said Harry, moving swiftly away from the statue and pushing the map back into his pocket and keeping his face neutral. All he had to do was lean back against the wall with his arms crossed to really show he was trying not to show he was hiding something. "What are you up to?"
A lot of fibs, an interruption by Snape, and a hurried excuse to Neville later, Harry was able to leave. Harry, completely hidden beneath the Invisibility Cloak, emerged into the sunlight outside Honeydukes and prodded Freya in the back.
"It's me," he muttered.
"I assumed as much," Freya grinned. "What took you so long?"
"Snape was hanging around."
"How does he cause problems even on a weekend?" mused Freya as they set off up the High Street. "Well, despite your reasonable excuse, don't you know it's not polite to keep a lady waiting?"
"Oh, I know." Harry grinned under the cloak, "But what does that have to do with anything? The only person waiting for me was you."
Freya elbowed him in the ribs and when he grunted in pain she laughed. "Ha, you thought you could get away with that because you're under that cloak."
"Yeah, I did." Harry said with a small laugh as he rubbed his side. "That was a lucky hit."
"No luck about it," said Freya happily. "I can just feel you close, you know?"
Harry was glad that he had the invisibility cloak because he wasn't sure what face he made at that.
"Speaking of close, there's the post office! Tally ho!"
They went to the post office; Freya pretended to be checking the price of an owl to Bill in Egypt so that Harry could have a good look around. The owls sat hooting softly down at him, at least three hundred of them; from Great Grays right down to tiny owls ("Local Deliveries Only"), which were so small they could have sat in the palm of Harry's hand.
Then they visited Zonko's, which was so packed with students Harry had to exercise great care not to tread on anyone and cause a panic. There were jokes and tricks to fulfill even Fred's and George's wildest dreams; Harry gave Freya whispered orders and passed him some gold from under the cloak. They left Zonko's with their money bags considerably lighter than they had been on entering, but their pockets bulging with Dungbombs, Hiccup Sweets, Frog Spawn Soap, and a Nose-Biting Teacup apiece.
The day was fine and breezy, and neither of them felt like staying indoors, so they walked past the Three Broomsticks and climbed a slope to visit the Shrieking Shack, the most haunted dwelling in Britain. It stood a little way above the rest of the village, and even in daylight was slightly creepy, with its boarded windows and dank overgrown garden.
"Even the Hogwarts ghosts avoid it," said Freya as they leaned on the fence, looking up at it curiously. "I asked Nearly Headless Nick...he says he's heard a very rough crowd lives here. No one can get in. Fred and George tried, obviously, but all the entrances are sealed shut...Spookily interesting is it not?"
Harry, feeling hot from their climb, was just considering taking off the cloak for a few minutes when they heard voices nearby. Someone was climbing toward the house from the other side of the hill; moments later, Malfoy had appeared, followed closely by Crabbe and Goyle.
Malfoy was speaking.
"...should have an owl from Father any time now. He had to go to the hearing to tell them about my arm...about how I couldn't use it for three months..."
Crabbe and Goyle sniggered.
"I really wish I could hear that great hairy moron trying to defend himself...'There's no 'arm in 'im, 'onest --'...That Hippogriff's as good as dead --"
Malfoy suddenly caught sight of Freya. For a moment his features contorted into something strange before he was recognizable again donning on his usual smirk.
"What are you doing here, Weasle-pup?"
"Right now? I'm looking at a pale-haired smarmy git getting angrier and more disgusted by the second." said Freya coolly.
Malfoy raised his thin brows and looked past her at the crumbling house.
"Ah, I see. You're embarrassed." said Malfoy in a mockingly sympathetic tone, "Let me guess, you're here checking out if that shack is stable enough for your family to live in? Must be the only house you can afford with it barley being a house and all. If you succeed in your purchase it can change from the Shrieking Shack to the Laughing stockhouse!"
Harry seized the back of Freya's robes to stop him from leaping on Malfoy.
"Leave him to me," he hissed in Freya's ear.
The opportunity was too perfect to miss. Harry crept silently around behind Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle, bent down, and scooped a large handful of mud out of the path.
"We were just discussing your friend Hagrid," Malfoy said to Freya. "Just trying to imagine what he's saying to the Committee for the Disposal of Dangerous Creatures. D'you think he'll cry when they cut off his Hippogriff's --"
SPLAT!
Malfoy's head jerked forward as the mud hit him; his silver-blond hair was suddenly dripping in muck. "What the --?"
Freya had to hold onto the fence to keep herself standing, she was laughing so hard. Crabbe and Goyle spun stupidly on the spot, staring wildly around. Malfoy trying to wipe his hair clean, looked around with narrowed eyes.
"What was that? Who did that?" Malfoy looked at Freya, "I know it wasn't you. You're not possibly smart enough to do a non-verbal spell."
"Well, as much as it annoys me when you say it, you're at least right about that. It wasn't me. Very haunted up here, isn't it?" asked Freya, with the air of one commenting on the weather. "Maybe they didn't like you being so gleeful about the possible death of a fantastic beast."
Crabbe and Goyle were looking scared. Their bulging muscles were no use against ghosts.
Malfoy was staring around at the deserted landscape, his gaze searching for something to focus on.
Harry sneaked along the path, where a particularly sloppy puddle yielded some foul-smelling, green sludge.
SPLATTER!
Crabbe and Goyle caught some this time. Goyle hopped furiously on the spot, trying to rub it out of his small, dull eyes.
"It came from over there!" screamed Goyle, wiping his face, and staring at a spot some six feet to the left of Harry.
Crabbe blundered forward; his long arms outstretched like a zombie. Harry dodged around him, picked up a stick, and lobbed it at Crabbe's back. Harry doubled up with silent laughter as Crabbe did a kind of pirouette in midair, trying to see who had thrown it. As Freya was the only person Crabbe could see, it was Freya he started toward, but Harry stuck out his leg. Crabbe stumbled -- and his huge, flat foot caught the hem of Harry's cloak. Harry felt a great tug, then the cloak slid off his face.
For a split second, Malfoy stared at him.
"Tch," Malfoy shook his head and spun around beginning to walk away. "Come on, boys. We're going back to the castle, there's something I think Professor Snape would be delighted to hear."
Crabbe and Goyle who didn't need to be told twice ran hurriedly past Malfoy up the hill as Malfoy walked, glancing over his shoulder.
Even though Harry knew Malfoy couldn't see him now, somehow, their eyes met, and once again Malfoy smirked tossing a small wave over his shoulder.
"Freya." said Harry.
"Run, Harry!" hissed Freya as she looked to where Malfoy had walked off. "Run."