my riddle to solve (re-written version)

six

As autumn air glided onto the grounds and swept away the remnants of the summer season, it brought great change to the lives of the student body. To the surprise of everyone, Raymond had decided Adelaide was qualified enough to play as a Chaser for his team. The two of them now spent the majority of their free time discussing broomstick velocity and trying to flirt secret information out of members of the other House teams. This was a much welcomed change from their usual bickering.

An even greater astonishment was that Raymond had begun to date Cindy Shacklebolt. She was a gorgeous girl who I thought was quite friendly, but her temperament differed so greatly from Raymond's. Adelaide had made things official with Alcott Lestrange, which was a pairing that I had quite a few reservations about. I kept these to myself and occasionally Abraxas, seeing as ruining Adelaide's happiness was the last thing I wanted to do. Besides, I had enough troubles of my own to occupy my time.

The coursework of 6th year seemed to practically double as the weeks went on, leaving all of us with little to no free time. Midnight Astronomy lessons happened three times a week now, which meant even less sleep that I was accustomed to. On top of that, mysterious nightmares left me in cold sweats nearly every night. It was impossible to recall the theme of them once I had awoken, which made it entirely more frustrating.

Both Sage and Aspen had taken it upon themselves to send me weekly letters, which were always a delight. The two of them had begun upgrading a fort near the edge of the forest, one that I vividly remembered playing in when I was a child. Our parents had hired a new piano tutor, an old witch who backhanded her students if they made any mistakes during a piece. My darling siblings had found delight in slipping bits of Sleeping Potion into her tea, earning them two peaceful hours of rummaging through her purse and avoiding anything musical. Neither my mother or father had bothered to write, although I was informed by Aspen that our mother had been furious about the Witch Weekly Article:

She started yelling as soon as she read it, and then Floo'd to about a dozen separate fireplaces. Raymond's mother came over for tea but Sage and I were locked in our rooms the entire time. They probably talked about the magazine.

My closest friends had all canceled their subscriptions, but I made sure to snag one from a younger student every week, just to ensure that my name was nowhere to be found amongst the pages of endless gossip.

On a gloomy Tuesday morning, the Ravenclaw common room was abuzz with the news that Dippet had approved a trip to Hogsmeade for the upcoming Saturday. I passed a group of second years sulking about it to find Raymond and Cindy.

"Oh, but he could have chosen a better day! It's supposed to pour all day Friday; Saturday will be muddy and wet," Cindy was complaining as Raymond stared off into the distance. "Ophelia, you'll come with us won't you? I need a new pair of shoes, and you have much better taste than he does," she said with a laugh. She was inviting me out of politeness, knowing that I wouldn't have anyone to go with. But third-wheeling wasn't high on the list of things I enjoyed doing.

"As fun as that sounds, I have a ton of homework to catch up on. Dumbledore will have my head if I don't finish his essay before Monday," I lied. Raymond, who knew that I had written the entirety of the essay the day before, flashed me a look of sympathy.

"Oh, alright. Would you like me to pick up any Honeydukes sweets for you?" Cindy offered. I told her that I wouldn't mind a bag of Pepper Imps of Licorice Wands.

In Transfiguration the next day, Malfoy was loudly conversing with Lestrange before the lesson started.

"Listen mate, I haven't got a problem with either of you. It's just that when the two of you are together, you can't keep your hands off one another. It can honestly be a bit nauseating," he explained. With that, Adelaide scooted forward so that she was practically on his lap before pressing a long and giggly kiss to his lips. I turned to Abraxas with a rather strained eye roll.