As Anne and Hermione stepped out of Quill & Quirk, they spotted Fanny, Ron, and Harry walking toward them with their heads down. Fanny looked upset, Ron had a frosty expression, and Harry's face was long and grim.
"What happened to you three?" Anne and Hermione asked in unison.
Fanny and Ron exchanged a glance, then looked away quickly.
"Hmph. Let's just go back," Fanny snapped as she grabbed Anne's arm.
Anne glanced at Hermione helplessly in the face of Fanny's obvious misplaced frustration. Hermione nodded in silent understanding.
Anne tightened her scarf and looked up at the tiny snowflakes falling from the sky. "The weather's only going to get worse," she agreed. "Let's head back."
As Anne and Fanny started walking, the others, Ron, Hermione, and Harry, followed behind. Once they left the protective cover of the buildings in Hogsmeade, Anne truly felt the full force of the day's miserable weather.
A bitter wind howled through the open road, whipping snowflakes into their faces. Every exposed bit of skin was immediately met with icy water as the snow melted on contact, sending shivers down their spines. The road was slick with a thin layer of slushy snow that made every step a slip hazard.
Worst of all, they were walking directly into the wind.
"This weather is awful!" Anne exclaimed, only to get a mouthful of wind despite her scarf. Fanny had to raise an arm to shield her face from the gusts.
"Wait a sec," Anne muttered, rummaging in her bag and finally pulling out an umbrella. She popped it open and cast a silent Impervius charm on it to keep it steady.
She pulled Hermione under the umbrella with her. It helped significantly, they could finally open their eyes fully instead of squinting against the wind.
Anne glanced at the two boys walking ahead, hunched and trudging along against the gale. With a sigh, she fished out another umbrella and tossed it to them. Fanny let out a quiet huff of disapproval but said nothing.
Harry and Ron gave Anne grateful looks and opened the umbrella, only for the wind to send it flailing like a wild bird, nearly snatching it from Harry's hands.
"Hermione, could you reinforce their umbrella too?" Anne suggested.
"Not just low emotional intelligence, but apparently low IQ as well," Fanny muttered.
Anne and Hermione exchanged a look.
Before Anne could ask what Fanny meant, they approached a sharp right turn in the road, and the wind shifted. Anne quickly moved to Hermione's left side, placing her in the middle, shielding her with the umbrella.
Harry and Ron copied their formation without a word.
As they rounded the corner, Anne noticed two figures ahead of them, both wearing Gryffindor robes.
"That's Katie Bell and Leanne from seventh year," Hermione said in surprise. "They look like they're fighting."
Sure enough, as they got closer, they could hear the argument clearly.
"This has nothing to do with you, Leanne!" Katie shouted. The wind carried her voice straight to them.
Leanne suddenly lunged at Katie, trying to grab a package from her hands. Katie yanked it back, and the package flew from her grasp, falling to the ground.
In an instant, Katie was lifted into the air.
She floated upward with a strange elegance, arms outstretched as if she were about to take flight. But something about her was deeply wrong. Her hair whipped around violently in the wind, but her eyes were shut tight and her face was completely expressionless.
Anne, Fanny, Hermione, Harry, Ron, and Leanne all froze in place, staring in stunned horror.
Then Katie let out a bloodcurdling scream, six feet above the ground. Her eyes flew open, and whatever she was seeing or feeling was causing her immense pain. She screamed again. And again.
Leanne screamed too, reaching up to grab Katie's ankle, trying desperately to pull her down.
Suddenly, Katie fell, right onto Leanne. But she continued thrashing on the ground, writhing and screaming in agony.
Hermione was the first to rush forward, with Harry and Ron dropping their umbrellas and running after her.
"Hey, wait! Don't just run in, " Anne tried to stop them, but they didn't look back.
With no choice, Anne shoved her umbrella into Fanny's hands. "Hold this!" she called, then sprinted after them.
Fanny sighed, picked up the boys' dropped umbrellas, and trudged after them, holding all three.
By the time Anne reached them, Ron, Hermione, and Harry were trying to restrain Katie, who was spasming violently on the ground, her teeth chattering uncontrollably.
"Damn it," Anne swore under her breath. Her eyes fell on the paper package nearby, it had torn open, and something inside was glowing with a faint green light.
"Harry, Ron, hold her limbs, stop her from thrashing," Anne ordered, already unwrapping her scarf. "Hermione, I need you to keep her jaw open."
The three of them exchanged a brief look, then jumped into action.
Anne quickly wrapped her scarf once around Katie's neck and tied a knot, stuffing the end into Katie's mouth to keep her from biting her tongue. She flicked her wand from her sleeve and cast, "Essence of Nightshade balm, come! Cotton swab, come!"
A tiny, dark red glass bottle and a cotton swab flew out of her bag. She dabbed a small amount of the balm and applied it under Katie's nose. The moment the balm made contact, it turned gray-black.
Slowly, Katie began to calm down.
"You two take turns carrying her," Anne instructed quickly. "Get her to the infirmary now."
Ron nodded and hoisted Katie onto his back, hurrying toward the castle.
"Anne!" Hermione called. She was helping a sobbing Leanne to her feet, her arm looked twisted at an odd angle.
"Fracture," Anne assessed. "It's okay, Madam Pomfrey can fix it in an afternoon. You're Leanne, right?"
Leanne nodded through tears.
"Did this happen suddenly, or was there any warning?"
"The package, Katie opened it and then this happened!" Leanne sobbed, pointing at the soaked, torn paper on the ground.
As Anne turned to look, she froze, Fanny was crouching over the package, reaching to inspect it.
"Don't touch it, Fanny!" Anne shouted.
Fanny pulled her hand back and stood. "Anne, there's a necklace inside, looks like opals. Kinda fancy."
Anne rushed over, pulled a food bag from her satchel, and used a levitation charm to float the necklace and packaging inside. She sealed it tight.
"I'm guessing this was cursed with some serious Dark magic," she said grimly. "Let's get back to the school. Hermione, go alert Professor McGonagall and tell her to head straight to the hospital wing. Fanny, fetch Professor Snape and give him this. Let him know briefly and have him come too. I'll take Leanne to the infirmary."
Just then, a sharp shiver ran down Anne's spine. She'd given her scarf to Katie. The wind sliced straight down her neck.
"Regretting it already?" a familiar voice teased as a warm scarf wrapped snugly around her. Hermione tied it gently. "From the look on your face, I bet you're thinking, 'I should have taken Ron or Harry's scarf.'"
"Heh… that obvious?" Anne grinned sheepishly. "What about you?"
"Not obvious. I guessed," Hermione replied. "I'm not as cold as you are. I'll be fine."
Anne threw an arm around Hermione. "Then let's stick close, share the warmth. I'll summon another umbrella."
Back inside the castle, warmth returned. Anne escorted the still-sobbing Leanne to the hospital wing. After a brief explanation of her emergency care, Professor McGonagall arrived with Hermione, followed by Snape and Fanny.
"What happened?" McGonagall asked sharply, glancing from Katie's unconscious form to Snape. He scowled and flicked his wand, causing the opal necklace to float midair.
"I've just received an extremely dangerous cursed artifact," Snape said coldly, scanning the room.
Leanne stammered through her tears, stopping several times to regain control. She explained how Katie had gone to the restroom at the Three Broomsticks and returned acting oddly, holding an unmarked package. They'd argued, Leanne had insisted Katie shouldn't be delivering something unknown. When the argument escalated, they both grabbed for it, and the package tore open.
At this point, Leanne completely broke down. Madam Pomfrey rushed over, gently patting her back and offering a calming draught.
"What happened after Katie touched the necklace?" McGonagall asked, her tone softening.
"She floated into the air," Harry answered quickly. "Then she started screaming. Then she dropped and hit Leanne. We ran over. Anne gave her emergency care and told us to get her to the infirmary."
"Well done, Anne," Madam Pomfrey said kindly. "Excellent response."
Snape gave Anne a brief glance before turning back to Leanne. "Did she say who she was supposed to deliver the necklace to?"
Leanne shook her head, terrified. "No… she wouldn't say. I told her she was crazy to bring something like that to school, but she wouldn't listen. I tried to take it from her and then, then…" She dissolved into sobs again.
"I've seen it before," Harry said suddenly, staring at the floating necklace. "It used to be in Borgin and Burkes. It had a curse label on it. Katie must've touched it."
He turned to McGonagall. "Professor, may I speak to Professor Dumbledore?"
"He's away until Monday, Potter," she replied, clearly surprised.
"Away?" Harry echoed, frustrated.
"Yes, away," McGonagall snapped. "But if this is serious, you can speak to me instead."
Harry hesitated. It was hard to confide in McGonagall. Dumbledore, though intimidating, never mocked even the wildest ideas. Still, this was too serious to keep quiet.
"I think Draco Malfoy gave Katie that necklace," he said.
Ron awkwardly rubbed his nose. Hermione shuffled her feet. Anne and Fanny looked at each other, then back at Harry.
"Oh?" Snape drawled mockingly. "That's a serious accusation. Do you have proof?"
"No direct proof," Harry admitted. "But I saw him in Borgin and Burkes this summer."
Snape scoffed and looked to McGonagall.
"Enough," she said. "Thank you, Potter, but we can't accuse Malfoy just because he visited a shop. Hundreds of people go there, "
"That's what I said…" Ron muttered.
"Besides, our security is much tighter this year. I don't believe the necklace could've entered unnoticed."
"But—"
"And one more thing," McGonagall added sharply. "Malfoy didn't visit Hogsmeade today."
Harry stared, deflated. "How do you know?"
"He's been serving detention with me. Twice he failed to complete his Transfiguration homework," she said. "Thank you for your input, Potter. I'll pass your suspicions to the Headmaster when he returns. You three may go now."
Snape gave Anne and Fanny a cool look. "You two as well. Straight to your dormitories."
"Yes, Professor," they both replied.
Outside the hospital wing, Anne exchanged a silent glance with Hermione.
"Anne, who do you think Katie was supposed to give the necklace to?" Fanny asked as they headed back toward the Slytherin common room.
"No idea," Anne said. "But whoever it was, they would've touched it as soon as they opened the package. Katie was lucky, she had gloves on. If not... she'd be dead."
Fanny shivered. "Who would want to kill someone at Hogwarts?"
Anne shook her head.
"Why do you think Harry suspects Malfoy?" Fanny asked again.
"You can ask him yourself later. My guess? Malfoy's dad was a Death Eater. Maybe Harry thinks the son is too."
"That's crazy," Fanny said. "Malfoy's only seventeen. What could Voldemort possibly want him to do?"
"You asked why Harry suspects him. I didn't say I agreed."
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