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The rest of the summer, Harry hadn't left what they'd seen alone, coming up with multiple different ideas over why Malfoy was there, all of them leading to the conclusion that he'd been made a Death Eater. He ignored all scepticism the others had and believed his idea to be true.
Combining that with what Veronica had seen in her dream, she herself was curious and suspicious over the Malfoy heir, but chose not to voice her feelings just yet after seeing the reaction Harry had received, not only from their friends but from the adults and other members of the Order that visited the Burrow.
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It was finally time to return to Hogwarts and everyone was ready and packed. That morning the ministry had surprised them by sending official company cars and Aurors to escort them to the station.
After a comfortable journey to the station, Veronica was in a pleasant mood when she settled into a compartment with Harry, Neville, Luna and Ginny after Ron and Hermione took off to the prefects' compartment, just like the previous year. Also like last year, Harry was getting a lot of attention from other students but this time for many different reasons.
Veronica originally didn't know how she felt about the girls both older and younger than her stopping to stare at Harry when they walked past, but after a Gryffindor had actually asked Harry to join her in another compartment, she realised she definitely wasn't okay with it.
It was shocking to everyone, including herself, as she rarely got angry, but the glares that she gave towards the admirers gave them the clear message that the 'Chosen One' was taken.
Her behaviour was amusing Harry greatly, and the boy couldn't help himself but give her a peck on the cheek as even though the Hufflepuff was trying to scare people away, she looked nothing but adorable to him.
"You guys are the cutest!!", girly screeching filled the compartment and Veronica glanced over from where she was looking at Harry and noticed Hannah standing there squealing, Ernie hovering in the corridor. It was attracting even more unwanted attention and so with a quick goodbye to the others, she dragged Hannah into another compartment.
She greeted both Hannah and Ernie with warm hugs and asked about their summers, but the conversation soon went back to the Boy Who Lived when she told them she spent her summer with him at the Weasley's house.
Hannah asked her so many questions and Veronica could barely keep up with them. She took this opportunity to ask her friends about something that had been on her mind all summer.
"I don't even know if Harry and I are official, we never spoke about it" she stressed, looking at them desperately as if they had all the answers.
Ernie spoke up then, using his brains and logic as always, "Well, do you want to be official?" he asks. The answer was an obvious yes and once she'd told him that he shrugged his hands in the air, "then there's your answer".
She was still staring at them with confused eyes, and so Hannah decided to spell it out to her "just tell him, it's not like he's going to reject you or anything, you two are already being quite public about it". Yet Veronica was still nervous, having never felt this way about a boy before she wasn't good at talking about her feelings.
They changed the subject after that, and she spent quite a lot of the trip catching up with her housemates forgetting how relaxing and easy their conversations could be, guilt filling her as she realised she'd neglected them over the summer, too caught up with the others.
Eventually, she had to return to her compartment to change into her uniform, only to realise that Luna was the only one still sitting there. The girl told her that the others had been invited to some sort of meeting with the new professor and had yet to return, so she sat with her and waited for them to come back.
Neville and Ginny walked in, followed by Ron and Hermione, but Harry was not following them. Apparently, he told Neville he had something else to do before returning and had left without any other explanation, making the girl fairly suspicious.
The group told her that Slughorn seemed to be asking for the students that have important connections with the Wizarding World, or had the potential to be important later. She was weirded out by this man's need to 'collect' people, which Harry had told her about after the night he met the professor.
This reminded her that Harry still wasn't back from doing whatever it was he said he was doing and she was starting to get worried, but barely had the time to consider looking for him before they arrived at Hogsmeade. So, with small persuasion from the others, she followed her friends to a carriage and noticed grimly that she could now see the boney Thestrals pulling them, leaving a sour taste in her mouth as they pulled away from the station.
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It was almost midway through the feast before she saw Harry, by that point, she was so jittery that she was moments away from leaving to search for the boy.
She wasn't comforted with the sight of him as she thought she would, however, as he walked into the Great Hall with a rag held up to his nose, blood covering half his face and dripped down his Gryffindor robes.
He made eye contact with her across the room once he was sat next to Ron and seeing her questioning glance, gave her a nod to let her know he was alright and gave a dismissive wave, making Veronica roll her eyes in annoyance at the boy's nonchalance.
Waiting impatiently through Dumbledore's speech, only slightly shocked when the announcement came that Snape was the new DADA teacher and Slughorn was to teach Potions, she tried to chase after the Golden Trio as soon as they were dismissed to get answers.
Harry informed her and Ron of the conversation he overheard in the Slytherin compartment, and she admits to the boys that it does sound suspicious that Draco believed he wouldn't be returning next year, but Ron still truck down Harry's ideas.
After saying goodnight, which she decided to make as short as possible and refusing Harry when he leant in to kiss her due to the eyes of the surrounding students on them, she made her way to bed.
For the first time that day Veronica only felt truly comfortable once she was under the covers and the lights were dimmed because, even when she wasn't next to Harry, she got stared at from numerous people throughout the day, some of the girls giving her dirty looks despite her not knowing what she'd done wrong.
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YOU ARE READING
Undistinguished (H.P.)
Fanfiction[adjective] lacking distinction; unexceptional. Veronica Green is a simple and average half-blood. Hidden in plain sight and blending into the background are what she does best. Until her fourth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, wh...
