Operation: Potential Breakup

Slowly, but surely, dinnertime arrived. The Gryffindor Common Room was nearly empty by the time Hermione and Abigail reached the bottom step of the girls’ dormitory.

Without exchanging any words between one another, Hermione and Abigail went their separate ways. The bushy-haired brunette strode across the vacant common room as Abigail weaved herself around the entire room, stalling in case any stragglers happened to walk by her.

Upon hearing a familiar giggle, Abigail quickly slipped past one of the end tables and plopped herself onto the armchair. She held her breath for a moment and closed her eyes tightly, praying that she would not fall prey to the she-devil. She balled her hands into fists, turning her pale knuckles whiter.

“Please do not notice me,” she begged in a soft whisper. “Please, please, please…”

As the giggles faded, the sound of footsteps drew nearer and nearer to the lone Gryffindor. By the sound of it, Abigail could tell that Caitlyn was not alone.

“You see, I originally told Harry that we should go to the ball wearing a bright reddish color,” Caitlyn explained to her flock of minions. She tossed her long, brown hair behind her left shoulder as she scanned the Gryffindor Common Room. Perhaps she was looking for her boyfriend, Abigail thought to herself as she glanced back at the gaggle of girls. “But then I remembered that Harry has this exquisite dress robe in an emerald greenish color and I have a dress to match it!”

“Oooooh!” gushed Lavender Brown while the rest of the girls squealed in unison. “You two are going to be the center of attention at that ball!”

Abigail rolled her eyes as she sunk into the armchair, still unnoticed. “What’s new?” she silently complained to herself.

“It’s a marvelous idea, isn’t it?” Caitlyn cooed. “I cannot wait for the masquerade!”

“Caitlyn,” Parvati Patil asked, scratching the back of her head, “is there any particular reason we’re all just standing around in the common room?”

Abigial smirked as she watched the fire in Caitlyn’s eyes glow for a moment. She knew the question had ticked her off just a smidgen; from what Abigail remembered, Caitlyn was not used to having others challenge her actions. Abigail continued to watch as Caitlyn replied ten seconds after.

“Oh,” remarked the brunette, quasi-sweetly. “I was just checking to see if Harry was down here already… but then I remembered he’s out holding Quidditch try-outs right now with Ronald. Let’s go meet them in the Great Hall; I’m sure they’re there by now.”

With that, the trio of girls disappeared one by one through the portrait hole. Abigail let out a sigh of relief the moment the last of the girls was gone. She could not believe that none of the girls noticed her; she was sitting in plain sight!

“Phew,” sighed Abigail happily, pushing herself off the armchair.

She slowly made her way over to the entryway of the boys’ dormitories. Exhaling nervously, Abigail told herself that this little mission she had planned was nothing to worry about. She reminded herself that she offered to do this for Hermione and Ron. But why was she so agitated about a plan that she hadn’t even come up with? Maybe because it might’ve led to a disastrous falling out amongst the Golden Trio if she was caught, she thought to herself.

As she drowned herself in her thoughts, Abigail bumped into the lanky redhead she had only formally met a couple of hours ago.

“Ron,” she exclaimed as she and Ron fell to the ground, “I’m so sorry!”

“No, it’s my own fault!” he replied, jumping up from the common room floor.

Abigail smiled up as Ron extended his hand to her. Taking it politely, she pulled herself off the ground. She frowned slightly as a thought crossed her mind once more.

“Wait a sec,” she paused to think for another moment. Abigail stared at the redhead before her, perplexed beyond all reason. “Moore said you and Potter were holding Quidditch tryouts… she even told her duo of dummies that you two would meet with them in the Great Hall!”

Ron laughed and shook his head. “We’re pretty set with our team members as of right now; we held tryouts at the beginning of the season,” explained the tall, skinny red-haired boy. “Moore was probably trying to cover up the fact that she and Harry are still fighting.”

Still? Abigail was shocked to hear that. The Potter-Moore bouts usually had a specific regimen that started with Caitlyn picking fights with Harry (primarily out of boredom) and end with Harry apologizing for doing whatever he was accused of doing… even if he was totally innocent. Had Harry not apologized this time? Or had Caitlyn just not accepted his apology?

“Well… then,” Abigail stuttered out. “I assumed that when Hermione and I came down from your dorm, the happy couple was in the Room of Requirement together… doing sinful things to each other…”

Gagging slightly, Ron rolled his eyes playfully at Abigail. “I’d honestly rather have them doing that there than in the bed next to me!”

“Understandable,” Abigail replied, disgusted at the thought that Harry and Caitlyn actually might have done unspeakable things to each other in the bed directly adjacent to poor Ron’s. “Thank Merlin that Potter can’t get up to our dorm!”

Ron nodded and pointed nonchalantly at the portrait hole. “Well, I’m gonna head to the Great Hall for dinner,” he said. “I’ll leave now, so you still have time for dinner yourself, Abs. Remember, the map will be in his trunk. You’ll know it when you see it; it’s entirely blank.”

Though she still was not entirely sure of how the map worked, Abigail nodded. She glanced back at the portrait hole and smiled slightly; she was finally confident that this task would be easy to complete and that she would come back from the boys’ dormitory without getting caught.

“I won’t disappoint you,” she murmured as Ron made his way out of the common room.

Without wasting another moment, Abigail raced up the stairs to the sixth year boys’ dorm. Slowly, she pushed the door ajar as she peeked her head into the room, checking if the coast was actually clear; not a single person in sight – perfect!

Abigail slipped through the slightly opened door, closing it behind her. She scanned her surroundings as she tried locating Harry’s bed once more. The blonde quickly crept over to Harry trunk, pulling out her wand in the process.

“Alohomora!” she pointed her wand toward the locked truck. The bright blue light that spewed from Abigail’s wand directly hit the lock on Harry’s trunk. Abigail’s heart raced happily as she watched the lock drop to the floor. “That was easy enough…”

Carefully, Abigail knelt down beside the trunk, grabbing the lock and placing it in her pocket. She lifted the lid delicately, trying to avoid moving anything out of place. She poked her head above the trunk, only using her eyes to search for the blank piece of parchment.

“Bingo!” she exclaimed when she found something sticking out of one of Harry’s pants pockets. Upon pulling out the tattered and torn piece of parchment, Abigail examined it, thinking about all the wonders that simple piece of paper held. Unfolding it gently, the light in her eyes dulled out. “’To my dearest Caitlyn…’ Yuck!”

That was no map, Abigail thought in realization; that was a love letter to Caitlyn from Harry! Refolding it hurriedly, Abigail groaned as she shoved the letter back into the pants pocket. The Gryffindor girl rolled her eyes and bit her bottom lip as she grew more and more impatient with her task. How hard was it supposed to be to find this stupid map?

Abigail thought for a moment. Was there something she was missing? Hermione said that Harry had not used the map since he and Caitlyn started dating. Assuming that he had used it heavily before, it was safe to also assume that he had gotten rid of it altogether. Maybe, Abigail contemplated, Harry had given up his lifetime of sneakiness and mischief for the sake of Caitlyn Moore.

Laughing to herself, Abigail shook her head. The idea was completely bogus! Harry Potter could not have possibly given up his old ways just for the sake of his new girlfriend, right? Maybe Abigail wasn’t even looking in the right place; perhaps Harry had removed the map from his trunk to prevent theft.

Or maybe, Harry had forgotten about the map entirely…?

Whatever the reason, Abigail did not stop herself from reaching back into the trunk to feel around for the map. She was only skimming the surface of the trunk after all; it was possible that the map could have been buried beneath Harry’s folded stacks of clothes.

After ten minutes of struggling to find the blank map, Abigail withdrew her hand from Harry’s now untidy trunk. Nothing. There was absolutely nothing of value to her in the trunk. The map was nowhere to be found! As a matter of fact, the only parchment Abigail was able to find was the love letter for Caitlyn.

Bringing her wand out once more, Abigail pointed the hand-me-down toward the messy trunk and muttered a spell that would restore the contents of the trunk back to their original state. She watched as the clothes folded themselves before shutting the trunk tightly. Removing the lock from her pocket, Abigail slapped it back on the trunk.

“Colloportus!”

With a flick of her wand, the lock locked itself and it was as though Abigail was never there. She smiled smugly to herself as she turned to exit the dorm. Although she would return to Hermione and Ron empty-handed, Abigail was still very satisfied with herself for being able to cover her tracks.

“It’s like I wasn’t even here,” she laughed to herself, slowly making her way to the door.

Just then, the wooden door was flung open. Abigail’s heart dropped as panic began to fill her mind. How was she supposed to explain herself to whoever threw the door open? She couldn’t lie and say she was looking for someone; it was common knowledge that everyone would probably be at dinner. She obviously could not say that she was waiting for someone; then it would probably be pointed out that she could wait in the common room. Abigail quickly ran a nervous hand through her hair. What was she going to do?

As the mystery person walked through the doorway, Abigail’s heart stopped. Her knees buckled as she looked into the unmistakably emerald green eyes of the Boy Who Lived. She inhaled sharply, scolding herself for not trying to hide in the first place.

Abigail continued to stare as Harry’s eyes widened in surprise. He probably was not expecting to find anyone – much less Abigail Crenshaw, the Hogwarts nobody– in his dorm. The blonde shot the raven-haired boy a weak smile.

“Hey, Harry Potter,” she managed to muster up, her hand now scratching the back of her head nervously.

Harry raised an eyebrow suspiciously at the girl before him. He shut the dormitory door behind him as he made his way slowly over to Abigail. His green eyes looked up and down at the other Gryffindor as if trying to decide if she was friend or foe.

“Hi…?” he replied equally apprehensive as Abigail. “Have we met?”

The smile on Abigail’s face disappeared quickly at the sound of Harry’s words. She could feel her heart breaking slowly as she nodded nonchalantly, still scratching the back of her head. She let out a short sigh of frustration before she continued to nod.

“We have?” he asked her, shocked and worried.

Mentally slapping herself in the face, Abigail shook her head, snapping herself out of the trance she had been in. She wasn’t allowed to be feeling that way, she reminded herself. After all, it was understood why she would know his name; he was the Boy Who Lived, for Merlin’s sake! She and Harry had never had an extensive conversation outside of the classroom; they didn’t even have extensive conversation in the classroom. She really couldn’t expect him to know her name, right?

“Oh, no… I’m sorry,” she muttered with a small smile. Abigail finally brought her hand away from the back of her head as she shoved her sweaty palms into her pants pockets. She looked at the floor below her as let her eyes wander from her feet to Harry’s. “I’ll be going now…”

Abigail made a beeline for the exit, but Harry was faster. He gently reached for her left wrist, stopping her for getting any further.

“Hold on a sec,” said Harry warily. “What are you doing in here all by yourself?”

Abigail’s eyes widened as she scanned the room, looking for an excuse to give Harry. She was doomed at this point; Abigail knew she was at a loss for an alibi!

“That is an excellent question…” she mumbled nervously.