hollow // credence barebone

24. the farewell

———

hogwarts didn't change a bit since the last time she stood within its walls. the tall silhouette of the castle towered above them as they crossed the stone bridge. it brought back the memories of her teenage days, when she'd visit every crook and corner of this place. she spent countless nights wandering through the long corridors, empty classrooms and vast grasslands. hogwarts was the closest she had to home back then.

it still made her feel the same kind of a amazement and peace. it's like a shred of her soul was long buried in the stones that made up these walls.

her hand stroke against the sculpture of salazar slytherin as she sighed. the slytherin's common room was completely empty. emerald light poured through the windows and spare candles. even the fire twinkling weakly in the fireplace had a shade of deep green. she sat down on one of the leather chairs and put her knees under her chin. if she closed her eyes, she could almost imagine nothing has changed.

in a few hours she's go down to the great hall, where she'd grab a toast and listen to fiona zabini complaining about divination homework. abraxas malfoy would be flaunting his pure blood in front of some oblivious fifth year ravenclaws who were unlucky enough to get charmed by his sickly white hair. after breakfast, she'd go down the staircase and enter the potions classroom where she'd sleep through the lecture and concoct something last minute. later on, she'd get a detention in charms for not handing her homework in time. she would roll her eyes as thomas avery attempted to coax her into a run to hogsmead. then, she'd sneak into the library's forbidden aisles and try to find the book she left the day before. after her detention, she'd walk towards the great lake and sigh as she counted stars.

the memories were beautiful as long as they lasted. then, albus dumbledore sat on the chair next to her and elise came back to her senses.

it's only been a few days. the initial shock had dissipated, leaving nothing but numbness. she had yet to understand the weight of what had happened. leta lestrange's sacrifice. queenie goldstein crossing onto the enemy's side. credence barebone's existence coming to an end...

"i'm sorry you had to wait," albus dumbledore said. "the ministry of magic had once more visited me in the office."

"and i assume you still refuse to help them?"

"no, not really."

elise looked at his face. he wasn't that old, but he had the kind of tiredness on his face only very old people can have. his blue eyes never failed to scan right into her soul. she didn't like the way he could make people think as if he knew everything all along. now she knew that he probably did.

dumbledore was looking around the slytherin common room with a distant expression, "you know, all this time in the school and i haven't been to this place more than twice before. it is so different from other common rooms."

"you were a gryffindor, weren't you? your kind generally isn't welcome here."

he smiled, "even in my years everybody knew that the best parties happened at the dead of the night in the slytherin common room."

"professor," elise sighed. "your attempts at avoiding the topic do not work on me. will you finally explain anything at all? because i don't have a whole life for that bullcrap."

dumbledore shook his head, "at this point, you may stop calling me that."

"thank god, albus, because i have a couple of other titles ready for you."

"i'll let you use them all."

"later," she sighed. "go on now. i'm waiting."

he massaged his temples before looking at her again, "where do you want me to start?"