Ortum Infernum [d.m]

Chapter Fourteen

If there was anything—anything at all—that Odette found to be displeasing about Hogwarts, it would be the fact that everyone in the entire school always had their noses up in everybody else's business. Word travels fast through the old halls of the castle and they tended to get twisted along the way.

Somehow, word had gotten out about her misfortune in the Forbidden Forest last week. But that was quite possibly the only part of the story they got right.

Apparently there was an on-going rumour that Odette had ran off into the forest because she was distraught from a broken heart and therefore suicidal. There were so many things flawed in that rumour. Whoever came up with it had clearly not thought things through logically.

Like the fact that Odette would have chosen an easier route to end her life rather than contend with the dark creatures of the forest. She could name forty-eight different potions right at the top of her head which would have been more effective should she really had the need to.

"Don't say that to anyone," Alistair had chided her as he rubbed his eyes tiredly. "Don't acknowledge the rumours at all."

"Just wait till father hears about this," Icarus had huffed, throwing a non-enchanted bludger at the ceiling as he lounged on Alistair's bed in his private prefect dorm. The incessant thump—catch, thump—catch was getting on their nerves.

Alistair shot him a stern look. "Father will not hear about this. Am I clear?"

"Crystal," Icarus drawled before he rolled his eyes with a bark of laughter. "Except the fact that the rumours are already spreading like wildfire. There's a new one each day."

"What do you mean?" Alistair asked in a dangerous tone.

"There's a new version where people are saying Odette was chased into the forest because Malfoy couldn't accept that she'd broken up with him. Very Bloody Baron-esque if you ask me."

Odette's face paled in horror while Alistair groaned, running a hand down his face. "No, not that. Where else are the rumours circulating?"

Icarus caught his bludger just as Alistair was about to raise his wand to shoot it out of the air.

He shot an angry glare at their older brother before rolling his hazel eyes. "What do you mean 'where else'? Even our cousins have heard about it and they're in Beauxbaton."

Odette could feel the room spin as her breathing stuttered in her chest. All her life, she had tried her best to live under the radar, keep it safe and keep her head down. Her brothers were the ones that attracted gossips and often be in the center of most conversations—never her. But now there were rumours about her circulating far and wide, getting more ridiculous by the second.

Forget about her father hearing this. If it reached her grandfather's ears, he'll no doubt try to close down Hogwarts and her dreams of being a Potions Mistress would be over. Hogwarts was still her favourite place on earth despite recent events.

Most of the students didn't even know she existed up until now. After the rumour broke out, people were all of a sudden digging around for information about her. They knew what classes she was taking, what her past year scores were and which aisle she liked to study at in the library. They even knew which lavatory she preferred to go to.

Just the other day at lunch, Odette had overheard people talking about how Draco was only dating her because his father had told him to.

"I swear, it's true. Lord Coventry hosts those grand parties for elite Pure-bloods every season, right? My family attended every single one. His parents used to corner Coventry and make Malfoy try to ask her to dance when we were younger. I bet you anything, Malfoy's dad is probably trying to use her to get on her grandfather's good side."