The Girl Who Vanished

Chapter 14: The Storm

"So you're saying he's not a total ass?" Alex gapped at her friend after Ana explained to the group just how helpful Aeron had become for her.

No one was incredibly sold on the idea given how sneaky the boy had been in the past, but even Ana had to admit that he was becoming easier to be around. It was a stark difference to the boy that they had met earlier in the year. At least that's what Ana insisted was true.

The girls were situated on the soft fluffy carpet that sat in front of their fireplace in their dorm. It was late April, Calista's birthday, and the sun was just beginning to set at eight o'clock as the three of them continued their birthday tradition of gorging on desserts and sweets. Since the sun began setting later in the day, it gave the girls a bit more time to stay awake without being drowned by darkness. Instead of feeling tired midafternoon, the three found themselves celebrating amidst the murky lake as it glowed shades of magenta and gold.

All three of them had retired their winter wear, and Alex wore her Holyhead Harpies shirt to bed, Calista had some sort of muggle rock band shirt; it had to do with the queen. Although Ana found it strange that the shirt had four very hairy men on it. Either way, she was excited to wear the fancy pajamas her mother insisted on buying and the silk felt slick and comfortable as the weather got warmer.

"No, I promise," Ana gushed happily as she recounted her study sessions. "He is actually pretty easygoing when he's focused on something."

Alex began munching loudly on a crackling candy that was bursting in her mouth. Calista looked woefully at her friend's poor manner but let it slide and chuckled instead.

"You think you'll be prepared for the final exam? It's coming up in a few weeks," Calista reminded as she started eating a chocolate frog.

It had been a long time since she had even considered finals; tutoring had become such a normal part of her routine that she forgot why she evne started in the first place. But after the months of incessant studying and revising and quizzing, Ana started to feel more comfortable with the class and her grades had been improving.

"I think I will be, Cal. We've made flash cards for the things I've been struggling with and we're gonna cover that last. So it's fresh in my mind before the exams."

"You're serious. Aeron has been that helpful?" Alex couldn't believe what she was hearing, but she didn't doubt Ana's honesty. Just Aeron's kindness. Ana was smiling widely as she reached into the trunk that sat at the foot of her bed and pulled out a stack of cards that was almost too big to hold. The girl waved them excitedly at her friends who were sharing a box of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans.

"He really has been! Look, we took three weeks to write all of these out," Ana began to sift through all the papers, looking at all the hard work she and Aeron put in to writing them. They began sitting together in history class and used the time to scribble down all the hardest chapters instead of actually listening to the lesson. Both of them knew Ana wasn't going to pay attention to the professor anyways.

"That's great, Ana," Calista beamed as she played with her stuffed rabbit on her lap. It was her time with the toy as all three girls began rotating it between them. "I'm sure you'll do perfectly fine by the time the final rolls around."

"Yeah and then you can ditch Aeron," Alex chuckled as she tipped the box of beans into her mouth, which was a bad idea since she got a combination of orange, earwax, and toothpaste. The girl spat it back out dramatically and Calista yelled for her to clean up her mess which just made Ana reel in laughter.