ROSIER

14

Confessions
...

By the time morning broke in to end their state between work and brief naps, the moving room had changed its location into a dimly lit corner far in the lake. Something that forced them to walk up endless staircases until they weren't swallowed by the dark anymore. Garg was like an alarm clock, waking up right on time. He was covered in ashes before shaking them off and covering the carpet in grey.

The Gargoyle hung himself around Gwen's shoulder, his tail wrapped around her waist, and his mouth a fountain of an unstoppable stream of words. He spoke fast to make up for the next hours in which he would have to let them attend their classes.

"Can I have a cat?" Garg requested, copying a pleading expression he saw on a student's face. Although his version looked rather frightening than cute. "It's my Christmas wish."

"Absolutely not,"

"But Gwen, it's my biggest wish in the whole wide world!"

"Wasn't your biggest wish a chocolate fountain just two minutes ago?" The blonde questioned.

"That's my birthday wish,"

"Do you even have a birthday?" Remus asked, receiving a long explanation of Garg's existence and the age of five hundred he would reach soon. "Come on, Gwenny, it's his biggest wish." The boy began to support the Gargoyle. "You don't turn fourhundredandninetyeight every year, and it's his first Christmas as well,"

"Listen to my second friend," Garg insisted. "I don't even care what cat it is. Even a naked one would be okay, although a ginger one would be my favourite."

"I'm not buying you a cat," Gwen sighed. She turned to look at Remus. "And you stop encouraging him. Where is he supposed to take care of a cat? Now, leave, both of you, or I'll let the guard lose on you," She pointed to the large stone snake guarding the entrance of her common room.

"You wouldn't dare." The Gryffindor boy laughed, although his eyes did glance in reverence at the massive guard.

"Try me,"

"Gwen." A voice sounded from the stairs accompanied by rushed steps. Garg disappeared into the wall just before Dorcas could see him. She was dressed in her Quidditch clothes, and her braids were dazzled in raindrops. "I thought I heard you." The brunette let out just as her gaze landed on Remus. Her eyes widened before a smirk began to spread across her face. "Did they move Gryffindor Tower underground?"

"Yeah, all the windows and fresh air get annoying after a thousand years," Remus replied. He let the file swiftly disappear behind his back. A glance was sent to Gwen, one to tell her he could see the similarities between Red and Dorcas, too. "I'll see you later," He smiled before leaving the two girls behind.

"Any comments to give me on that, Ms. Gwendolyn Rosier?" Dorcas questioned as she whispered the password to reveal their common room. The room was in quite the haste as students prepared themselves for breakfast and the first classes of the day.

"We studied together," Gwen replied carefully. She didn't want to lie, not to Dorcas. Especially not about what she had to hide. But her tongue twisted at the sight of the truth. "We did study together." The blonde thought. "We studied the file we had to compete against Red for."

"Outside the library? All night long?" The brunette nudged her arm, causing Gwen to feel strange at the most usual gesture of her friend. The skin Red bruised in the pension was now playfully touched by Dorcas.

"We have to take the OWL's this year in case you forgot." The blonde muttered as they slouched over to the bookshelves. She pulled on a copy of "The old masters" that mentioned Salazar Slytherin as one of the great and revealed the spiral staircases leading to the dorm rooms. "How come you aren't at practice?" She questioned, cursing the five sets of stairs they had to climb until reaching their room. She already dreaded the day they would reach the room furthest up (the only comfort was that every year, the rooms become much bigger and fancier).