Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes and Whatnot

Over the next few weeks, we saw less and less of Dumbledore. However, Hermione and I saw more and more of Slughorn. He kept inviting us to his little parties, as well as Harry, who usually found an excuse to not go. The three of us were the best in his class, which was why he kept wanting us to come despite the first dinner where I jinxed McLaggen’s chair and put a live frog in Zabini’s soup. Not that they could prove it was me.

Anyways, it was now the middle of October, and also our first school trip to Hogsmeade.

Hermione and I were down at breakfast fairly early, carrying with us bundles of scarves, cloaks, and gloves for our walk to Hogsmeade. When Ron and Harry came down, they seemed to be in a cheerful mood, and Ron took no time in telling us of the amusing new spell Harry had tried on him this morning. It apparently hung a person in the air by their ankle. Ron had still been asleep when this happened, making it all the more amusing to them. It seemed harmless enough, however, the fact that Harry hadn’t known what it did beforehand bothered me. It also bothered Hermione, except she was even more prejudiced because she hated that the ‘Half-Blood Prince’ was better in Potions than she was.

“So you just decided to try out an unknown, handwritten incantation and see what would happen?” Hermione asked Harry icily.

“Why does it matter if it’s handwritten?” he said.

“Because it’s probably not Ministry of Magic-approved,” she said, then added. “And also, because I’m starting to think this Prince character was a bit dodgy.”

“It was a laugh!” said Ron. “Just a laugh, Hermione, that’s all!”

“I agree with Herms on this. You know I’m not one to pass up a good prank, but you shouldn’t try these spells on people if you don’t even know what they do.” I said.

“They’ve all been harmless, and mostly funny” said Harry.

“Dangling people upside down by the ankle?” said Hermione. “Who puts their time and energy into making up spells like that?”

“Fred and George,” Ron shrugged, “it’s kind of their thing. You know” he nodded to me.

“Yes, they do have that tendency,” I muttered. “But the spells they make up are always harmless, they make sure they are. Harry didn’t know what this spell would do.”

“My dad used this spell,” said Harry. “I – Lupin told me.”

“Maybe your dad did use it, Harry, but he’s not the only one,” said Hermione. “We’ve seen a whole bunch of people use it, in case you’ve forgotten. Dangling people in the air. Making them float along, asleep, helpless.”

I knew we were all thinking of the same thing, back in fourth year, the Death Eaters at the Quidditch World Cup.

Eventually we left the table and walked to the front doors. Filch was standing there, checking everyone’s permission slips as well as checking everyone with his Secrecy Sensor.

“What does it matter if we’re smuggling Dark stuff OUT?” demanded Ron.

“Surely you ought to be checking what we bring back IN?” I added.

These comments earned us some extra jabs with the Sensor, although Filch seemed to go lighter on me. Ron was limping as we made our way into the sleet. The walk into Hogsmeade was not enjoyable, and when we got there to see that Zonko’s had been boarded up, I knew it wouldn’t be a fun trip. I wondered whether Fred and George still wanted to buy it. It probably wasn’t the best investment at the moment.

We went into Honeydukes first, where we had the misfortunate pleasure of running into Professor Slughorn. He once again tried to rope Harry into coming to one of his suppers, and was once again thwarted. Afterwards, we went to the Three Broomsticks where we were sure it would be warm and we could sit down for a while. We weren’t even in there very long before deciding to head back to the castle.

On our way, however, we noticed Katie Bell and her friend Leanne having some sort of argument in front of us. Suddenly, Katie dropped the package she had been holding and rose into the air gracefully, her arms outstretched and her face empty of emotion. Then, she let out a terrible scream and her eyes flew open. Leanne screamed too and tried to get her down. We rushed forward to help, but as we did, Katie fell and began writhing on the ground, still screaming.

Harry ran to get help and came back with Hagrid, who carried the still writhing Katie back to the school. Her friend was still wailing, and Hermione and I went over to her.

Putting an arm around her shoulders, Hermione asked, “It’s Leanne isn’t it?”

She nodded.

“Did it just happen all of a sudden, or - ?” I asked.

“It was when that package tore,” the girl sobbed, pointing to the brown paper on the ground.

Something green was glittering from inside it. Ron bent down with his arm outstretched.

“Don’t touch it!” Harry bellowed.

He bent down as well.

“I’ve seen that before. It was on display at Borgin and Burkes ages ago. The label said it was cursed. Kaite must have touched it.”

Leanne didn’t know how Katie had gotten the necklace or who had given it to her. All Katie had said was that she had to deliver it to someone in Hogwarts. She wouldn’t say who. We steered the still sobbing Leanne towards the school and met up with Professor
McGonnagall on the way. She ushered us into her office to question us on what happened. Leanne told her story again, and we told what we saw. Then, Harry gave his suspicion that it was Malfoy who’d given the necklace to Katie. The rest of us weren’t sure, so we said nothing, and McGonagall disproved his theory by saying Malfoy was never in Hogsmeade today, he’d been serving detention.

As we left her office, we tried thinking of who the necklace was meant for. Dumbledore seemed a likely target, or Slughorn, or even possibly Harry.

“It wasn’t a very slick attack, really, when you stop and think about it,” said Ron. “The curse didn’t even make it into the castle. Not what you’d call foolproof.”

“It wouldn’t have anyways, not with Filch hanging around.” I said.

“You’re right,” said Hermione. “It wasn’t very well thought-out at all.”

“But since when has Malfoy been one of the world’s greatest thinkers?” asked Harry.

None of us answered.