Another Evil Curse

Hermione's eyes lit up as words appeared on the notebook page.

They read: "Yes, you can come meet me outside the Hufflepuff common room. I'm handling something there with some classmates today. It won't take long."

She read the sentence carefully twice, then looked up at her friends. "How about we call it here for today and head back to school?"

Harry and Ron nodded.

After all, there had been nothing enjoyable about this trip, and if they stayed any longer, the weather would only get worse.

So they wrapped their cloaks tightly around themselves again, covered their faces with scarves, put on gloves, and followed Katie Bell and one of her friends out of the pub, heading back along the main road.

They trudged over the frozen slush beneath their feet toward Hogwarts, and Harry thought of Ginny for no reason at all.

They hadn't run into her today. Harry thought she was probably sitting comfortably with Dean in Madam Puddifoot's tea shop, the favorite place of happy couples.

Harry frowned, lowered his head against the rain and snow whipping through the wind, and struggled onward step by step.

But it was only after a while that they realized the two girls walking ahead of them were arguing, because the wind had begun carrying their voices to Harry's ears.

It seemed to be over something Katie was holding.

"This has nothing to do with you, Lini!"

They turned onto a narrow path, where the rain and snow fell even harder. Hermione tried to use magic to put up a barrier, but it backfired. The instant the barrier appeared, a great deal of rain splashed onto Harry's glasses, blurring the lenses completely.

Hermione had no choice but to withdraw the barrier. She had used that spell too rarely and had