Harry Potter: 19 Years Later

Chapter 34: Chaos in The Great Hall

It was official. Rose was freaking out. School usually never overwhelmed her, but the amount of extra work she's having to make up was ridiculous. At the moment, she was eating her dinner at the Great Hall and writing up her Potions essay at the same time. It was multitasking at its finest.

"Uh, Rose?" Scorpius said, sitting beside Rose. "Look what you're doing."

Rose stopped scribbling words on the parchment and eating. Then she realized she was trying to eat her pen and she was trying to write with her fork. Maybe multitasking isn't the best approach sometimes, she thought.

"Oh dear," Rose sighed in frustration, dropping her fork and pen on the table and burying her face in her hands.

Scorpius rubbed Rose's shoulder comfortingly. "You need to relax, Rose. We have two months to get all of our make-up work done. You're putting way too much pressure on yourself."

Rose knew he was right. But then again, time went by so fast. They had less than two months to get all that work done!

"Scor, how is your make-up work coming along?" Rose questioned Scorpius, cocking an eyebrow.

Scorpius laughed nervously. "What are you talking about? I'm working on it just as hard as you are." Then he stood up and added, "I've gotta go do something. See you after dinner?"

Rose smirked. "Where are you going?"

Without turning around to face her, Scorpius muttered, barely audible, "I've got an essay to work on."

Rose laughed. Scorpius was really smart and made nearly the same grades that Rose made, (Though hers were slightly better) but Scorpius also tended to slack off and procrastinate. Maybe it was because of all the time he spent with Albus.

"Hi, Rose," Holly greeted as she took a seat across the table. Her face was unusually pale, and she looked like something was bothering her.

"Hi, Holly," Rose replied, then noticed her best friend's pained expression. "Are you alright?"

Holly nodded, though it was obvious she really wasn't. Finally, she sighed and ended up shaking her head. "No, not really. I've just had this splitting headache for the past few hours and I don't know why."

Rose saw the pained expression on Holly's face and felt bad for her. She hoped nothing serious was wrong with her. "Maybe you should go see the nurse."

Holly shrugged. "I probably just caught whatever Albus is sick with. Really, I think I can deal with it." Then Holly started scooping helpings of vegetables and other meat-free items on her plate. Rose almost forgot Holly was a vegetarian.

The whole time, Rose watched as Holly winced in pain while she ate. What the heck was wrong with her?

"Holly, I think I should take you to the nurse. Come on," Rose said, grabbing Holly's arm and started leading her out of the Great Hall. Holly wobbled as she walked, so Rose had to keep holding on to her arm.

"Rose, I-I don't feel so great," Holly muttered, clutching her head.

"Don't worry, we'll be at the hospital wing soon, Holly," Rose reassured her, continuing to tug her arm and leading her out into the doorway of the Great Hall. Holly keep bumping into the walls and pillars.

Then, everything went wrong.

"Ahh!" Holly yelped, falling to her knees and clutching her head. Rose froze, but not because of Holly falling down.

The Great Hall began rumbling, bits of dust and debris falling from the stone ceiling. Screams echoed throughout the dining hall, and students were on full-out panic mode. What was going on? Then Rose remembered Holly.

"Holly!" Rose watched as Holly was still on her knees, gasping with pain. She reached down to help her up.

"No!" Holly screamed, swatting her hand to keep Rose from touching her. "I'm fine!"

But she was not fine. Because at the same time Holly swatted her hand outwards, there was an explosion over at the far side of the Great Hall, over towards the kitchens. Then Rose smelled smoke.

"Fire!" screamed a person in the room. Instantly, students began herding out of the Great Hall, taking Rose with them. She lost sight of Holly.

"Holly!" Rose called out, trying to fight back against the students pushing her.

The room was still rumbling, and students had to dodge bits of stone falling from the ceiling. Rose winced as a small bit of stone clipped her arm, creating a minor cut. Eventually, the students made it out the front doors of the castle. Rose pushed her way to the front of the crowd to get a view of what was going on inside the castle. She gasped.

Holly was still in the same spot at the archway of the Great Hall, on her knees and crying out in pain because of her headache. It seemed with every painful surge that hit Holly, the higher the flames went over by the kitchens. But then Rose realized that not only were the kitchens on fire, but so was the entryway to the Hufflepuff common room. Why were those the only places in flames? And what was causing it?

Suddenly, the rumbling and the flames by the kitchen area stopped. Everything was still. Right as all this stopped, Holly collapsed on her side, and seemed to be unconscious. Rose ran inside, ignoring the protests from the teachers, over to her best friend's side. Holly was out cold.

Then a realization hit Rose.

The chaos started right as Holly's head began hurting. And when she swatted her hand, the area near the kitchens and the Hufflepuff common room burst into flames. It was a wild idea, but Rose was afraid it was true.

Somehow, Holly had started the fire magically.

~ ~ ~

Woah, more chaos! I hoped this didn't suck too bad haha :p

I typed this chapter on my phone, so excuse any typos you may see!

Thanks for reading, guys! Please vote and comment what you thought! :)