章節 205: Guess who's not Getting a Hint about the Dragons

Oleandra discreetly pointed her head towards a nearby table, where the Weasley brothers, Ron, Fred, George, as well as Lee Jordan were sitting. Ron aside, the other three had promised her a stake in their little business if she helped them create magical items.

She had been unintentionally avoiding them until now, having been busy with her practise, but since she was on break, why not take advantage of the opportunity? Oleandra started towards their table.

"There's our other champion!" exclaimed Fred upon seeing her. "Care to bet on the outcome of the first task?"

"Haven't you heard?" Oleandra joked. "I'm planning to give up immediately to let Harry win! Ow."

Daphne had just slammed an elbow into her sides.

"Right," Oleandra continued. "Regarding the business proposal from the other day…"

"The other day?" said George. "That was an entire month ago."

"Don't you have more important things to do," said Ron sullenly. "Like prepare for the first task, or snog with your boyfriend?"

"What's with Ron?" Oleandra asked Fred with a slight frown.

"Oh, don't mind him," he answered.

"He's just jealous that you and Harry get all the attention," said George. "He'll get over it."

At that moment, the door chime tinkled, and a pair of Hufflepuff students entered the pub; it was just Hannah, whom she had seen earlier at Honeydukes, and her friend Ernie. Nothing to be concerned about, so Oleandra turned back around to face the Weasleys again. She'd grown somewhat paranoid from the feeling of being constantly observed.

"Now, onto business," said Oleandra, as she accepted a steaming mug of Butterbeer from Stacey, who was also doubling as a waitress. "What exactly would you have me do?"

Fred promptly explained that they used the Alchemy classroom as their workplace to create their prank items. It had all the facilities they needed to manufacture magical artefacts, and it wasn't in use, as there weren't enough students interested in the subject to warrant hiring an extra teacher this year.

"Just show up on Saturdays at eight in the morning sharp," said George seriously. "And we can begin testing new items."

"Actually," said Oleandra slyly, "since I'm very busy with the Triwizard Tournament, do you think Daphne could replace me for the time being? I guarantee she's more than qualified for the job."

"That's not a problem at all!" said Fred.

"Just don't expect me to share the money with you," said Daphne crossly. "I'm already helping you with the Tournament."

"But I introduced you to this great job!" said Oleandra helplessly.

The door chime tinkled again; and in came Hermione, who, strangely enough, was all alone. Oleandra watched as she bought two tankards of Butterbeer at the counter for herself.

"Harry's probably somewhere around here under that Invisibility Cloak of his," Ron muttered resentfully, as he watched Oleandra follow Hermione's movements with her eyes. "Thinks he's the centre of the world— bah!"

Harry had been rather rude to her in the past few days; ignoring her when she said hello, making annoyed faces at her, and the list goes on.

"He has been a bit of prat lately," said Oleandra with an understanding nod. "Why don't we make him show himself? I have an idea—"

Oleandra stood up from her seat and waved at Hermione.

"Hermione!" she said loudly. "Over here; don't be a stranger— we're all here!"

Hermione looked around frantically, searching for something that couldn't be seen, before giving up and walking over to their table and sitting next to Ron, who gave Oleandra a grateful look.

"How've you been?" said Oleandra sweetly. "It feels like it's been ages since we last talked; Daphne's missed you."

"Busy, I suppose," said Hermione, glancing around nervously, her two tankards in hand.

"Helping Harry with the Triwizard Tournament?" said Daphne, helping her sister twist the knife in the wound. "I imagine he's still in the castle, practising— unlike my sister here, who's so confident she came here with us for a drink."

Oleandra shot her sister a sidelong glare— whose idea had it been exactly to drag her here? Well, she wasn't complaining, she was having fun. An idea suddenly struck; Oleandra discreetly tapped her temples to activate her Mystic Eyes by pretending to scratch the side of her head. Maybe this time she'd confirm her theory about Harry's cloak being superior; or at least superior compared to that of the man sitting in Crouch's seat at the World Cup.

"Why don't we have a toast in Harry's honour?" Oleandra suggested playfully, looking around discreetly. Nothing. Maybe he was hiding behind Hermione? "To Harry! The hardest worker among us— Wish you were here!"

"Cheers!" the others said loudly, clinking their tankards together over the table.

At that moment, an unfortunate accident occurred— Hermione dropped her tankard, though to Oleandra, it very much looked as if it had been slapped out of her hands. Its contents spilled all over Oleandra, covering her lap in the sticky, fizzy and sweet drink.

"I'm so sorry!" Hermione gasped.

At that moment, her second tankard tipped over to the side, Butterbeer splashing everywhere onto Ron.

"Show yourself, you stinking coward!" Ron shouted angrily, breathing heavily as he looked around in every direction. "Or are you too good to be seen together with us regular folk?"

But he was talking to nobody; Harry had already left, judging by the pub's door swinging open seemingly by itself. Oleandra had her Mystic Eyes wide open the entire time; the last time she had used her special eyes to try and see Harry's invisible form near the Shrieking Shack, she hadn't seen anything. What she saw this time, however, made her shiver.

It was as if she had seen a tear in reality, a hole in the world itself in the shape of a boy. Perhaps she had seen nothing the previous time because the backdrop had been mundane, magicless? The pub itself was full of magic, so maybe the fact that his cloak was too good at hiding had caused this strange visual phenomenon. Either that, or something was going on with her eyes.

"Ugh, I'm all sticky," Oleandra said mechanically, before putting her hands together. "Cambio Exuvia."

"Let me get that for you!" said Hermione, looking down to reach for her wand to perform a Wiping Spell. But to her surprise, when she looked up, Oleandra had already changed into a clean set of robes.