Chapter Two: Tears
After the battle, I hadn’t really had much patience to notice the little things about the castle. Who would after the realization that all of the people they love are dead? But as I look around now, the differences are startling.
I was aware that the Great Hall’s ceiling was gone, as well as the wall behind the professors’ table. However, I had not noticed how the floor had indents from the giants footsteps, or how there was a whole on the floor by where the house point should have been.
“Pass the potatoes?” a timid looking boy asks me.
My first night here, I met a few other students, who are boarding here for the summer. Kingsley Shacklebot, the Acting Minister of Magic until a proper election can occur, made an agreement with McGonagall so that we could stay here for the summer if no one comes to get us. It’s mostly an easy out so that he doesn’t have to worry about our lodgings for now. But, I cannot say that being amongst people in the same situation hasn’t given us all a bit of comfort.
There are eleven of us in all boarding here. The majority are boys, with seven of them all together. Of the four girls, Lizzy and Elaine are twelve year old twins. They’re sharing a room in Hufflepuff despite the fact that they could each have a room to themselves. The other girl is actually my roommate, Alex Russe.
My relationship with Alex before this point was that of cordial roommates. She had her friends, and I had Nina. We’d never talked more than banging of bathroom doors in the morning yelling “Hurry up!” However, now that we have this… unfortunateness in common with each other, we’ve come to find each other in front of the fire often. Not really talking, but a comfort for each other at the very least.
Before too long the food disappears, and McGonnagal shoos us off to our chosen dormitories. The majority of us are staying in the Hufflepuff dormitories, which have a homely feeling compared to the Slytherin dormitories, which are just plain creepy. And they wonder why so many Slytherins go bad.
I take my favorite armchair by the fire and lie across it, legs over one armrest, head on the other. I close my eyes and listen to the noises of my peers: chatter, and laughter, and squeals. I remember it wasn’t like this my first night here. Whispers, and sobs, and sniffles had filled the air. It was reminiscent of my first day last year in some ways, and in others it was completely different.
“How are we supposed to get through this year with the Carrows?” Nina whispered frenzied as we walked up to Ravenclaw tower.
I thought of how there had been a group of students in our third year who had banded together against Umbridge, “Rebellion?”
“In our O.W.L. year? You’ve gone mad Abby! We’ll have enough to deal with for studying let alone a rebellion.”
“But wasn’t Harry Potter a fifth year as well?” I argued, “And there are more important things than studying you know. The world isn’t sunshine and daisies anymore. There’s no point to our O.W.L.s if we’re in a world run by Voldemort.”
“But they’re our O.W.L.s!” She argued, as if that was enough. Sometimes it was hard not to realize that I wasn’t really Ravenclaw material. I didn’t believe that academics were the purpose of life. I believed they were important of course, but my world did not revolve around them like so many others’ did.
When we made it to the common room we took seats by the window. Not really talking, just looking at the view. That’s when we heard her cry.
“What do you mean dead?” Samantha Boot cried out. “She just, she –“ And then
Samantha burst into sobs. I saw a blonde girl, who looked slightly older than me walk over and hug her, petting her hair, and leading her off to a corner. Conversation restarted hastily, but all the meanwhile Samantha’s sobs could be heard.
“That’s just sad isn’t it?” I heard a voice behind me. It was Alan.
“Alan!” I jumped up and hugged him, “We missed you on the train and at the feast. I know that we aren’t your closest friends, but one might have thought you’d have popped in for a chat.” I scolded him.
“I’ll remember that next year,” he whispered in my ear.
“Oi! Lovebirds! Still here.” Nina interrupted our moment.
“Ah, Nina, Lovely as ever. How was your summer?” he asked cordially.
“Well enough what with this war.” She bit back.
“Alright then, well I’ll see you ladies in the morning.” He hugged Nina, and pecked me on the cheek – causing me to blush furiously - before going up the stairs to his dormitory.
“Tell me again why you two aren’t going out.” Nina enquired.
“Well, it’s, well, it’s very complicated.” I stuttered at her.
“Sure it is.” She rolled her eyes, “Well I think I’m done for the night as well, see you in the morning Abby.”
And Nina left, leaving me to daydream about Alan for a bit, before I followed her up the stairs.
The memory makes me suddenly miss Alan very dearly, and my hands subconsciously make their way to my abdomen. At least I still have a little bit of him…
“Abby?” I hear Alex behind me.
“Yeah?” I croak.
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah I’m fine.”
“Alright, but if you’re not aware of it you should know you’re crying.”
My hands immediately spring up to my face, and what do you know, I have been crying.
“Oh,” I mumble, wiping away my tears, “thanks.”
“No problem,” she smiles sadly.
I turn my head back to the fire, hearing her sit down in the chair next to me. My mind wanders to nothing in particular.
“Abby, are we friends?” Alex asks suddenly, pulling me out of my reverie.
I consider her question. She’s the only person I talk to, even if it’s never more than a few words, but then that’s just because we always find ourselves in front of the fire. But then friendship has its odd quirks. And I suppose that friendships can be silent, even if it’s not anything like what I’m used to. And then without Nina or Alan, I find myself in desperate want of someone to truly call my friend. And I shouldn’t knock an opportunity, should I?
“Yes, I think we are.”
Neither of us say anything for a while, until a sudden wave of drowsiness falls over me.
“I’m going to go to bed. Night Alex.” I turn towards the stairs.
“Good night.”
AN: Hullo readers! I'm sorry that this was more of a filler chapter. But the ending is very important, although I can't say I'm all to happy with it. I must of written five different endings or so xD. But this was the one that worked best, and did what it needed to.
I'm considering changing the title to Looking to Yesterday. I'm not going to do so until I have a new banner, so heads up, because I've already changed the summary. Please review to earn some fresh baked cookies! :)
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