it all ends with us: ruins

030

Chapter Thirty:

"I am in love with the impossibility of us."

"Can you imagine how different life would be without Hogwarts?" Ren wonders aloud.

"What do you mean?" Blaise prompts.

"Like I doubt any of us would be friends. We would have never met." Ren explains.

"Well I can imagine life without you guys." Pansy adds.

"Exactly, that's my point. It feels normal to me to see you every day, and meet up in the holidays. But what happens when we leave? Do you think we'll still be friends?" Ren worries.

"Of course we will." Lorenzo assures her.

The group sat in Rowena Ravenclaw's study. They were scattered around the room. Atlas sat in a single sofa chair covered in a blanket with a book laying open in her lap. She listened to Ren's question's but her mind raced with images from her newest nightmare. The face of her father burned into her head and she couldn't shake the fear of the nightmare away. She stayed distanced from the group not wanting to burden them with her problems.

The bottles of fire whiskey were now abandoned and empty except the last one which Atlas had hogged. She took small sips of it, the liquid burning the back of her throat. Blaise gently takes the bottle out of her hands and passes it to Lorenzo who chugs the rest of it down. They all laugh at him as he chokes on the drink and struggles to stop his face from turning red.

"You okay there Sinclair?" Atlas teases.

"I'm alright sugar." Lorenzo chokes out.

The study had soon become the favourite hang out spot after Atlas found it. She had shown the girls first and then the guys but it was a place besides the dorm where they could hang out without any other students crawling around. It was also sound proof which meant they could be as loud as they wanted without the worry of getting caught. However, it was a struggle sneaking ten students past a tapestry that shouldn't lead anywhere without raising suspicion.

"We should probably head to bed." Kiera announces.

"Come on Renny." Pansy prods Ren and she begrudgingly stands up.

The rest of the group follow shortly after. Atlas groans while Theo drags her up, not wanting to leave the comfort of the study.

"Why don't we just sleep here?" She tries to convince him.

"No chance." He chuckles pulling her along.

She walks behind the group slowly as they make their way up to their respective dorms. Theo catches up with Lorenzo and tries to trip him up which causes everyone to laugh. They continued to giggle at their play fight until a voice called out from behind them.

"Students out of bed." Filch's voice echoed through the hall.

Everyone broke out into a sprint away from the caretaker so that they didn't get in trouble. Lorenzo and Theo were the fastest with Apollo shortly after them. Pansy had dragged Ren and Kiera into a hiding place away from the old man. Blaise and Eli had managed to find a supply closet to hide out in. Atlas looks around to find a place but an arm dragged her away.

She looked up to see Draco pull her into an empty classroom and then gesture for her to be quiet. He looks through the glass for the caretaker who stood in the centre of the hall waiting to catch students out of their hiding place.

"Come out come out wherever you are." He shrieks.

"We'll just stay here until he leaves." Draco announces.