Certain that both Bella and Narcissa were still asleep, she crept out of the dorm and shut the door behind her. It was 5:00 in the morning, the earliest she had woken up at a weekend. She made her way down the stairs and was just about to leave when someone called after her.
"Holly?"
She turned around to find Nathaniel standing in the middle of the common room; his hair disheveled. He looked weaker, his bones on his face more pronounced. There were light bags under his eyes- he hadn't slept.
"What are you doing awake so early?"
"Um I-" She couldn't help staring at his face, trying to read it. She could tell something was wrong.
"You should be getting some sleep"
"So should you" she stepped forward, "Why aren't you in bed?"
He sighed, "I can't sleep"
He looked away and took a seat back on the couch. The fire wasn't lit allowing the cold to take over the room. He patted the space next to where he sat, gesturing for her to come and sit. Slowly, she made her way across the room and sat next to him. Automatically, her arms wrapped around him and she buried her head into his side. They sat in silence, staring into the empty fireplace.
"I want you to know," Nathaniel started, "that I'm here for you no matter what. Whatever happens"
She moved back slightly, now having full view of his face, "What's bought all this on?"
"Oh nothing. Just thought I'd let you know" He took a sharp breath in.
"Nate, you know I'm here for you too right?"
He chuckled, "Of course you are"
She lightly shoved him, "I'm being serious!"
"I know you are"
****
"Sorry I'm late guys" After escaping from the common room, she went to the Library where they all agreed to meet.
"What took you so long?" Sirius was pacing up and down the small area between the shelf and the table, anxious.
"I got caught up with stuff"
"What stuff?" James asked.
"Just stuff.. Look can we just focus please?" She looked around the table and her eyes stopped at an empty chair, "Hold on, where's Remus?"
"Oh he's not feeling well" Sirius exclaimed, making his way around to sit on the table.
"What's wrong?"
He shrugged, "He never said"
"Right.."
"'Look can we just focus please?'" James mimicked, causing the three boys to burst out laughing.
****
"So James and Peter will try and distract Professor McGonagall and me and Sirius will make our way inside Dumbledore's office and talk to the sorting hat. Any questions?"
"Yeah I have one," James raised his hand, "what have we got to eat? Because I'm starving"
"Of course you're starving. You're like a walking stomach" claimed Sirius
"And I've still got the looks" he smirked.
Sirius scoffed, "Keep dreaming Potter"
"Guys now is not the time, we have to go now" Holly found working with the boys a bit of a challenge. They seemed to have a shorter attention span meaning they wondered off topic sometimes; Holly spending most of the time explaining things three or four times. She wanted to get this sorted as soon as possible, she didn't want her friend to suffer anymore.
"Right behind you Holls" Sirius jumped off the table and followed her out of the Library; Peter and James right behind him.
They had left the Library and split up, Peter and James going one way and Holly and Sirius going the other. They spent the journey to Dumbledore's office in silence, neither of them sure if speaking was going to be a good idea at this point. A few moments of walking down half empty corridors, they had reached the entrance to his office. A griffin statue stood inside a stairwell, wings expanded and curved.
"Well Dumbledore's not at all biased then" Sirius exclaimed.
Holly turned back to look at him, confused.
"It's a Griffin" he pointed out.
"So?"
"And it's a door. Griffin-door? Get it?"
She rolled her eyes and together they stepped forward.
****
A brown wooden desk sat near the middle of the room, a weird pattern engraved on the front running from the bottom to the top. A throne like chair was placed behind it quite a distance from the desk suggesting he got up in a hurry and didn't bother tucking it in. Two staircases climbed from the sides of the room and joined at the top in the middle.
"No wonder he stays in here all the time.." Sirius half-whispered.
They looked around the room in awe of all the relics and items scattered around the place. Holly ran her hand across the bookshelf, taking it away to find a grey powder falling from her finger-tips. Dust had gathered on the bookshelves and Holly came under the impression that Dumbledore was just a lazy man; all he needed to do was flick a wrist and all that dust would disappear, so why didn't he?
"Whoa" Sirius had picked up a globe which sat on Dumbledore's office. White powder floated around inside surrounding a white glow. He shook it and the white powder started spiraling ferociously around, the white light growing brighter and brighter. Just as he was about to shake it again, it slipped out of his fingers and slammed to the ground, rolling towards the door.
"Whoops"
"Sirius!" Holly quickly grabbed just before it slammed against the closed wooden door.
"Just relax Holls.." He sat down on the desks chair and extended his legs on top of the desk. He picked up a piece of blank parchment and started mimicking Professor Dumbledore, "100 points to Gryffindor! 50 deducted points for Slytherin!"
"Hey!" Holly placed the globe back in it's holder, "That's not fair!"
"I'm the Headmaster and I say it's completely fair"
"But you don't have a reason"
"Don't question the Headmaster.. Another 50 points off Slytherin"
Holly rolled her eyes and continued inspecting the book shelf. She was about to pull a book out before someone or something screeched in the corner.
"You really think you should be doing that Miss?"
She yelped and stumbled backwards. Thousands of beady eyes were watching her from the walls; each pair trapped in their own frame.
"Sirius?"
"Mhm?"
"I don't like this..."
Sirius stopped rummaging around in the draws and looked up, "What? You mean the paintings?" He got up from the chair and joined Holly. "You've never seen a person in a painting before?"
"I have but this is..."
"Creepy?"
She nodded.
"They won't do you any harm"
"I know but all those eyes.."
He put an arm around her shoulder, "Come on.. Let's go find the sorting hat then we can get out of here"
Just as they were about to go up the stairs, the wooden door creaked open..
****
YOU ARE READING
Yes, My Lord
Fanfiction---- EDITING IN PROGRESS ----- 'And before I knew it, my back had slammed against the damp wall, Regulus' hands on either side of me; his breath uneven, "Tell me what the fuck you did!" he screamed. I looked into his cold, dark eyes; tears coating m...
