Harry grumbled under his breath as he watched Malfoy flee. His "nemesis" as Malfoy often insisted that they were, did not usually bother him. Harry had a lot of things that required his attention and he knew he shouldn't waste the energy on someone as insignificant as a school rival. But his blood pounded in his ears as stared at the abandoned newspaper.
The strong urge to wring Malfoy's neck was truly tempting. There were a lot of things he had to worry about. This was one thing that would be easy to fix. No one would miss the annoying little shit. He wouldn't curse him. Maybe he'd throw Malfoy in the lake. Or toss him over the edge of the Astronomy tower… Maybe he was starting to lose it again, hurtling into another bout of stress-induced desire to murder.
Harry ran through one of the occlumency exercises Sirius had shown him. Breathe, count to five. Breathe, name three things in the room. Clear his mind. Hermione was probably right. It was like Malfoy to be jealous of Harry getting the spotlight. He had enough to worry about.
Like the stupid article.
Skeeter's article painted him in a baffling light - a quiet boy, deeply traumatized by his parent's loss. He was so very, very lucky to be taken under the wing of the Prophet's favorite person, Sirius Black. Oh, and rumor had it that he cries himself to sleep every night.
How anyone who knew Harry even a little believed an ounce of this nonsense was beyond him. Nonetheless, it sent another round of students sticking their noses in his business, this time out of pity rather than anger. It was not an improvement.
"I don't understand it!" Harry complained. The kids had sequestered themselves in Alabasandria's office for a quiet spot to do their homework, as working in the library meant that Harry was interrogated at every opportunity by a curious classmate. Well, the others were trying to finish up their homework. Harry was pacing up a storm across the small space. There was no way he would be able to focus with the way his thoughts were racing.
He'd never returned Hermione's ballpoint pen and he clicked it furiously as he wore a hole in the flooring. It was probably really annoying for everyone else but Harry did not care.
"What's bothering you, Harry?" Alabasandria asked as she slashed red Xs across some poor students' subpar quiz answers.
"Everything! What isn't happening to bother me!" He shouted. "Everything's gone to shit and now I have to deal with the press making up lies about how I'm a crybaby, sad, pitiful little orphan!"
Alabasandria hummed and spoke in her measured deadpan tone.
"It is unfortunate, dear, but I'm not sure what can be done about it. I've taken the liberty to subscribe to a collection of international papers and magazines and all the others were solely interested in the scandal you've caused Fudge's administration. It's quite the unfortunate luck he's had now three scandals in six months. The Prophet, for all they've started to notice Fudge's incompetence, is still under intense pressure from the government, and with what you announcing Voldemort's return - news absolutely no British citizen wants to hear, well…
Try to ignore it. Anyone with an ounce of media literacy will ignore the blatant propaganda spewed by that gossip rag. If Sirius can spare a moment, I'm sure he'll let Skeeter know his feelings on the article."
"Where is Sirius anyway?" Harry asked. Usually, his mama's calm rational thoughts helped soothe Harry's anger, but at the moment, all it served to do was ignite him further. How easy it was for the others to ignore it, when they were not the ones dealing with the weight of everything dragging them down, an Atlas burden on their shoulders.
"Following a lead. There's another horcrux at Hogwarts, there must be. Quite likely an item of significance from one of the Founders. That reminds me - I wanted to ask you, you'd mentioned a graveyard which housed the Founder's bones, back in your second year, where would that be exactly?"
Harry frowned. That was great news, obviously. That would bring them one step closer to defeating Voldemort. And killing him before he could do whatever he had planned with Harry was very good and important. But Harry remembered Sirius' words from when his name had been drawn, that he would still make time for Harry. Harry wanted, although he would never admit this even under threat of torture, that all he really wanted at the moment was a hug from his parental figures. Some more reassurance.
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