The Girl Who Saw Tomorrow » Harry Potter

1.13 | House Spirit

The weekend was finally here. The first week of the start of the term at Hogwarts had stretched out.

From Harry getting his detentions to Margaret trying to explain to a furious McGonagall that it wasn't her fault that she had lost a hundred points on her second day; the week was quite stressful.

Thankfully, she had managed to get some good nights' sleep in the past two days, reading some reference books that were thoroughly captivating and writing in her journal so that it was the last thing on her mind before she went to bed.

On top of that, she had spent hours and hours after classes in the library, even skipping dinner once - although she had regretted doing so. She loved reading and there were so many books, it almost made her cry out of happiness. However, there was also the same amount of homework, which almost made her cry too.

The sky, for the first time since she had arrived at the castle, was a clear blue. The birds were chirping sweetly around the courtyard as Margaret made her way towards the Great Hall for breakfast. She smiled to herself, feeling the gentle breeze blowing her slightly damp hair that had twisted into bouncy curls at the ends.

On weekends, the students were allowed to wear their casual clothes instead of the uniform, and Margaret was glad to be wearing a black tank top under a denim jacket, a pair of black joggers and white converse. An outfit so out of place in the ancient castle but she was comfortable since it reminded her of home.

Before taking the turn towards the corridor that led to the Great Hall, Margaret caught the sight of Harry who was making his way through the viaduct courtyard, his greeneyes lit up and a skip in his step. He didn't seem to have noticed her yet.

"Oi, Harry!"

Harry looked up as she started walking beside him.

"Oh, hey. Sorry, didn't see you there."

Margaret waved her hand dismissively. "No worries. You're in good spirits today. That's nice to see."

"Oh. Thanks. Yeah, I guess I am," he nods before lowering his voice and leaning in as they neared the Great Hall, "Listen, I wrote to Sirius. It'll be okay, right?"

Even though Harry had addressed the letter to Snuffles and wrote it in a way that no one except Sirius would understand, he still had to make sure. He let out a breath of relief when Margaret nodded.

"Yeah, sure. It'll be alright," she says, looking around casually before muttering under her breath, "Keep an eye out on the fire after curfew tomorrow."

With that, she strutted to where Hermione and Ron were sat in front of each other. Margaret perched on the bench beside Hermione and Harry took a seat beside Ron.

"Morning," he greets brightly to the other two.

Ron turned to him with a weird look. "What are you looking so pleased about?"

"Uh... nothing. Just for quidditch after," Harry replies, pulling a large platter of eggs and bacon towards him.

"Oh, yeah..." mutters Ron. He put down the bit of toast he was eating and took a large swig of pumpkin juice. Then he continues, "Listen... you don't fancy going out a bit earlier with me, do you? Just to - er - give me some practise before training? So I can, you know, I can get hold of it..."

"Yeah, okay," Harry replies.

"Look, I don't think you should," Hermione objects seriously, "you're both really behind on homework as it-"

Loud screeches and hoots interrupted Hermione, the morning posts had arrived. Margaret watched the owls that burst in from the high arch of the ceiling above the doors. As usual, The Daily Prophet soared toward them in the beak of a barn owl, which landed awfully close to the flagon of pumpkin juice and held out a leg; Hermione pushed a Knut into its leather pouch, took the newspaper, and scanned the front page critically as the owl took off again.