In the Shadow of the Summer

Pursued

For the first few days after your encounter with the poachers, you desperately wanted to get out and search for Poppy, but neither Sebastian or Sirona let you out of their sight until they were sure you were better. You'd been allowed to return to Hogwarts on Sunday, under the condition that Sebastian came with you. To repay him for showing you the undercroft, you finally let him into the Room of Requirement, and the two of you managed to distract yourself from the more pressing matters when you saw all your creatures again. They seemed more excited to see you each time you visited, and it never failed to bring a smile to your face.

Deek, most likely feeling sorry for you while you were in your tender condition, had the other house elves cook you a grand meal, consisting of some of the best food you'd ever tasted. You and Sebastian hadn't said much to one another, other than the usual 'how are you feeling', 'fine thanks' every few minutes, which became very annoying very quickly. It seemed that he'd forgotten what he said that morning, but you didn't believe it was worth bringing up again, so you just suffered in silence, thinking it over in your head. He said he'd never cried over a friend leaving, so why did it hurt you so much that he didn't single you out as someone more important?

One thing that you couldn't be distracted from was the faint tug you felt in your chest that beckoned you down below the school. If you hadn't still been in too much pain to move, the pull might have been harder to resist, and it left you wondering just how hard this temptation would be to fight... or if you ought to keep fighting it at all. The magic in the repository was calling out to you, louder and more insistently than ever before, and the magic within you was fighting harder and harder to listen. Eventually, you realised you had to go down to make sure everything was still in order, and just like the week prior, nothing seemed any different than usual. It was, however, much more difficult to leave the cavern.

While you were in the castle, you and Sebastian made a point to do some exploring, searching for more secret places that you could claim for yourselves, somewhere even Ominis wouldn't know about, but after searching high and low, you found nothing, and eventually just found yourselves in the library. Madam Scribner was less than pleased to see the two of you disturbing her again.
"Not even the holidays bring any relief anymore," she'd said as you wandered in, but she'd mostly left you alone. Sebastian received an earful at one point, after accidentally transfiguring a copy of 'Perfecting Potions: The Paramount Publication for Pea-Brained Pupils' into a parakeet, but your visit was otherwise rather ordinary.

You happened across a book full of charms you'd never heard of before, including one rather fascinating extension charm, Capacious Extremis that could expand internal dimensions of an object. You pulled a piece of parchment from your bag and scribbled the name down, hoping it might come in useful at some point. The rest of your visit to Hogwarts was rather uneventful.

News of your poacher encounter spread like wildfire among your classmates, and you received a mountain of letters wishing you well or asking for details. Some even offered to come and visit you, but didn't reply to any of them. You suspected Natsai had explained to Garreth why she'd returned, and the rumours had stemmed from there. None of the letters had any mention of the ancient magic or the repository, so you at least had that to be grateful for. Your secret was still a secret, and that was all that mattered. One particular letter from Leander Prewett offered little comfort in the form of an invitation to his birthday celebration because he 'would love to have a curse survivor there'.

Sirona had told you to rest before returning to your work, but you insisted on helping out, so she had you doing the least strenuous jobs, like pouring drinks and wiping tables. By the end of the next week, you were finally beginning to feel better, physically at least, but you hadn't heard anything from Officer Singer, and your concern for Poppy's wellbeing grew tenfold with each passing day. It would soon be time to take matters into your own hands, despite everyone's protests. Fortunately, one benefit to having everything on your mind at once all the time was that you didn't have any accurate perception of time, and before you knew it, it was Sunday again, and you were feeling much better.