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BOOK FOUR: CHAPTER FOUR

Veronica had been completely distracted by her thoughts. If she had been paying attention, she would have heard them coming before she turned the corner, and she wouldn't be scrambling to find a way out of this sticky situation. If she heard them sooner, she would have just turned around and ran back the way she came, but now, she knew if she made any sudden movements, they would see her out of the corner of their eyes, and she was too far down the hall to turn back now.

It was honestly a miracle they hadn't noticed her already. Luckily, Charlie had his head in the clouds as he complained animatedly about Veronica distancing herself from him. Veronica could only smirk at the look on Tonks' face as the Hufflepuff rolled her eyes. Charlie was too distracted to notice.

Veronica knew if she didn't find somewhere to hide soon, it would be too late. They were getting dangerously close. Veronica scanned the hallway and quickly noticed a door leading to an empty classroom on the right; it was the only door that she could get to in time. However, she was torn. This was the classroom where she had spent many Saturdays in her third year trying to teach Tonks how to perform non-verbal wandless magic. This classroom once held happy memories, but now, it only brought her pain. She had told Tonks about her feelings for Charlie in this classroom. Little did she know that her "friend" would backstab her and betray her with no remorse less than a year later.

The last thing Veronica wanted was to go into that room, but she didn't have a choice. She could not let them see her. So, after quickly stealing herself and sucking it up, she slowly made her way over to the door and tried to push it open. Of course the door is locked. It's never locked except for the one time I need it to be open. Silently and without bothering to take out her wand, she used Alohomora to unlock it and scurried inside, gently shutting the door behind her. Seconds later, she heard the couple walk past the door and caught Charlie's final words before they were out of earshot: "I just miss her."

Veronica's heart broke for the millionth time that year, and she sighed softly as she lay both her hands flat on the door and leaned her forehead against the old wood, letting a few tears roll down her cheeks. As she stood with her back to the dark, empty room, Veronica's ears perked up suddenly. The sound was faint, but it didn't seem to be coming from the hallway outside. It had to be something in the room. As she focused on the sound, her hands flew to her mouth and her eyes widened as realization dawned on her. Oh! Dear! Merlin! There are people snogging in here! Veronica was in disbelief. Hadn't they heard me come in??? Was I really that quiet? But did they not see the sliver of light when the door opened? Of course not; they were too distracted by all that snogging. Veronica's mind raced, but there was one thing she knew for sure: she had to get out of there. Now! She would be absolutely mortified if she got caught. As slowly and quietly as possible, she felt around in the dark for the door handle, finding it with relative ease.

Veronica began to slowly pull the door open, readying herself to slip out through as tiny a crack as possible, when she stopped suddenly. Veronica cringed and scrunched up her face. She was horrified! The door had creaked so loud that she was certain the centaurs in the forest heard it. She dared not move as she held her breath, praying that the snogging couple somehow managed not to hear it. However, her dreams were crushed as the snogging sounds ceased, and she heard hushed whispers coming from the back right corner of the room.

"Petrificus Totalus!"

Veronica was caught off guard, and before she had time to react, she felt her back hit the ground as her whole body went rigid. Her shoulder had shut the door on the way down, eliminating whatever little light there had been, and as she lay in total darkness, her mind raced and panic began to sink in. Veronica hated being in such a vulnerable position, especially in a room where there were at least two people she didn't know the identities of. For all she knew, one of them could be Archie, and after what she had done to him last year, he would have a field day seeing her like this.

Out of the corner of her eye, Veronica could see a small light approaching her from the back of the room. As it got closer, she could tell whoever was in the room with her was using Lumos rather than turning on the lights. She knew this was strategic; due to the sheer darkness surrounding them, she would be unable to see who was behind the light. They, however, would be able to see her perfectly. The thought alone made her skin crawl.

The light stopped moving abruptly. "Shit! Veronica? Bloody hell, I'm so sorry!" If she could move her face at all, her eyebrows would be raised in realization. She knew that voice. "Finite Incantatem!" The lights in the room came on at the same time as she felt her limbs relax. She lay there for a few minutes enjoying her freedom before standing up and leaning her back on the door. Stretching her arms and legs with a groan, she glared at the two boys standing in front of her.

"What the hell, Art!?! That was not cool!"

Artemis cringed as he rubbed the back of his neck. "I'm sorry, Veronica! But come on! You snuck up on us... and I didn't know it was you! I couldn't let anyone find us. Besides, the door was locked!"

"Oh yeah!?! Well, it might have been... but then it wasn't! You're in a school full of witches and wizards, you should know that locking doors means nothing! I opened that shit in seconds. And I appreciate you wanting to keep your secret, but seriously, I could have been a teacher! You would have been in serious trouble if I was a teacher, Art! Can you imagine if you had done this to Snape? You would be dead by now!"

"I know, I know! That would have been bad, but you have to understand the situation. We're not ready for anyone to know yet, so I didn't have time to really think my plan through... I'm really bloody glad it's just you though."

"Yeah, I bet you are. You're lucky it was just me too. I was in here for a few minutes before I heard you two snogging it up. But I didn't know it was you two obviously, so once I realized what was happening, I wondered how you didn't hear me coming in. But then I had to remind myself you were too busy EATING EACH OTHER'S FACES OFF!" Artemis chuckled and rolled his eyes at her dramatics, while Felix hid his flushed face behind his hands in embarrassment. "I was trying to leave the room unnoticed before the damn door decided it wanted to scream and announce my presence to the whole of Europe. Then before I could even think, I was fucking ambushed!"

"I'm sorry! How many times do I have to say I'm sorry? Anyway, what were you doing in here? I thought you hated this classroom after Tonks. And why didn't you turn the lights on when you came in? Why were you standing in the dark?"

Veronica shook her head and sighed. "I didn't have much of a choice. I... I had to find somewhere to hide."

Artemis's eyebrows furrowed. "Hide? Why? From who?" Veronica avoided his gaze as she shrugged, and Artemis rolled his eyes in realization. "You were hiding from Charlie." When she didn't respond, Artemis turned to his boyfriend. "Little bird, will you give us a minute please? I'll catch up with you in the Great Hall."

Felix nodded shyly as he blushed at Artemis' use of the pet name in front of Veronica. Artemis pulled him in for a quick kiss, and Veronica smirked at him as she moved away from the door to let him leave, only making his blush worsen. Felix let out a squeak as Artemis patted his butt on the way out and scurried away quickly without looking back. The two Ravenclaws chuckled knowing he would be as red as a tomato.

"You two are adorable together, y'know that? It's absolutely sickening."

Art glared at her, making her smile drop instantly. "Don't try to change the subject, Veronica. And don't try to butter me up either. Tell me what happened out there."

Veronica's head fell back against the wall as she sighed heavily. She was hoping to get out of this, but Artemis was going to get it out of her no matter what. She knew that, so she decided not to fight him. Instead, she began her story.