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“Where’s Harry going?” Hermione asked Ron.
“I don’t know.” He shrugged. “He’s been all smiley ever since my mum sent him that basket.” Ron explained.
“What basket?” She questioned.
“Um, just an old Wicca one with some holes in it.” Ron explained. “I have no idea why he acting’ like it’s a million galleons.”
“Hmmm.” Hermione hummed. ‘What is he doing?’ She thought, curiously.
“I think Sirius Black escaping has driven him mad.” Ron whispered.
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The next day Harry was still acting suspicious. In the middle of lunch he disappeared.
“Ah, sorry guys I’ve gotta go.” Harry apologised. Ron tilted his head, his mouth still full of mashed potatoes, as he spoke. “Where’ you going mate?”
Harry walked himself backwards, to answer the question. “Ah, I’m just… catching up with homework.”
Ron nearly spat his food across the table in disbelief.
Hermione on the other hand was perplexed. Harry Potter would never willingly take time out of his lunch, to go do some homework. So what was he doing? Why did he need to hide it?
Instead of asking any one of those questions, she instead went for a simpler reply. “Alright, see you later Harry. I’m proud that you're finally getting work done.” She waved him off.
Ron was staring at the two of them, eyes wide, like he’d seen the end of the world.
As Harry walked away, Ron began to talk. “What was that! Harry never does homework!” Ron knew his friend, and leaving lunch to do homework was not something his best friend would do.
“He either has been replaced, or he’s lying to us…” Ron was leaning towards Harry being replaced.
“He hasn’t been replaced. He’s obviously lying” Hermione somehow read his mind.
“I know that…” Ron muttered.
“I wonder what he’s up to?” Hermione hummed.
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For the next couple of days Harry would disappear during lunch, using the excuse of doing his homework.
However, Hermione had checked through his work afterwards, and it wasn’t done. She was sure now that he was hiding something.
But what?
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It was roughly a week later when curiosity got the better of them, and Ron and Hermione decided to follow Harry.
“I’m going to go do my homework again.” Harry told them.
“Alright, bye mate.” Ron said.
“Bye Harry.” Hermione waved.
They waited until he exited the hall, before following him. But when they turned the corner he was gone.
“He couldn’t have gotten that far.” Hermione said hopefully.
He had. He had gotten far. Harry was nowhere in sight. The castle was too big, it had many hallways and nooks to get lost in. They wandered around for about ten minutes.
Ron sighed, “Well, we tried.” He shrugged his shoulders and turned towards the great hall.
At that moment Hermione spotted a familiar face. She tugged Ron by his collar, to hide behind a wall.
She peeked out, checking if Harry had spotted them. He hadn’t. Ron also peeked around the corner.
“That’s the basket!” He pointed towards the shabby basket that Harry was currently holding.
They waited For Harry to move further away.
She then motioned for Ron to follow her. The boy let out a huff of complaint, however he followed willingly.
They followed Harry until he reached one of the many exits in the school.
“Where is he going?” Ron whispered. Hermione did not know.
As he exited, they followed him through the door, making sure to keep their distance from Harry.
They watched Harry make his way further from the school.
“I’m not following him there!” Ron let out a whispered yell. “Don’t you want to know what he’s hiding?” Hermione responded.
“There’s giant spiders in there! Big, huge, giant, man eating, spiders!” Hermione did not want to know how he knew that, but she persisted.
“Come on, we’re going to lose him” she motioned towards Harry’s distant figure going into the forest.
“No.” Ron stated bluntly.
“Alright then I’ll go without you.” Ron sighed, while also letting out a terrified shriek, while also shaking his body to build up some sort of courage.
“Fine.” Hermione smiled.
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Ron was swatting at his arms every five seconds as they trailed Harry, through the forbidden forest.
While Hermione rolled her eyes, and continued trailing Harry.
They came to an abrupt halt as the trees thinned, and Harry entered a clearing. The clearing was much less ominous than the rest of the forbidden forest. The sunlight seemingly shining down on the little spot.
They watched from the bushes as Harry laid out a worn blanket. It fluttered in the air for a moment before it settled on the grass.
Harry then placed the basket on the blanket before he unpacked its contents.
Inside the basket was a small range of food, sandwiches, tarts, fruits, pastries, and a couple of other items.
“Is… he having a picnic, in the forbidden forest?” Hermione whispered in disbelief.
As Harry finished setting up the picnic, a black dog made its way out of the bushes opposite to them.
“It's a grim!” Ron yelled in a whisper. They inched forward, in an attempt to save Harry. However, they were caught off guard by Harry speaking.
“I hope you like the tarts, me and Dobby baked them.” Harry said to the dog.
Meanwhile Ron and Hermione in the bushes were thinking, ‘Harry bakes? And with Dobby? How much had he been hiding from them?’
However, that didn’t matter, as they watched, horrified, as the dog transformed into a human. And not just any human, no, Sirius Black!
The man walked closer to Harry, cheekily grabbing the tart from his hand. He smelt the tart before taking a bite. “Mmmm, you and Dobby really outdid yourselves, pup.” He ruffled his hair.
Meanwhile Hermione and Ron were looking at the pair horrified.
“Now let’s get started.” Sirius rubbed his hands greedily. Harry swatted Sirius’s hands away from the basket. Sirius Black! The murder of his parents, Harry had just swatted away his hand!
“We still have to wait for…” they couldn’t hear what Harry had said.
“Waiting for someone else?” Hermione looked towards Ron.
“Oh, looks like we’ve got some eavesdroppers here.” They both froze as a voice rang from behind them.
“Professor Lupin!?” They both shouted, standing up from the bushes.
“Ron?! Hermione!?” Harry turned towards them, stunned. “What are you doing here!” While everyone was distracted, Sirius went for another tart, however somehow Harry knew and turned towards him and swatted his hand again.
The forest was full of shouting and arguing, that was until Lupin held his arms up.
“Okay, now everyone let’s calm down, why don’t we all chat over lunch?” Lupin proposed.