𝘋𝘈𝘕𝘊𝘐𝘕𝘎 𝘞𝘐𝘛𝘏 𝘖𝘜𝘙 𝘏𝘈𝘕𝘋𝘚 𝘛𝘐𝘌𝘋/𝘵𝘰𝘮 𝘳𝘪𝘥𝘥𝘭𝘦 (English version)

Chapter 28

A strong storm hit the school the next day, accompanying the lessons of Monday.
Everyone was in the classrooms, seated and attentive, listening carefully to Professor Babbling's words.
Ancient Runes was a complex yet fascinating subject; it required considerable knowledge not only of languages but also a passion for history and translation.
Sarah had been advised by Hermione in her third year, and together they had embarked on this path.
The professor was confident as she explained, not accepting the slightest distraction from her students.

A large, dusty book had been opened on the Gryffindor desk to be consulted and used during the translation in class. That day, Professor Babbling surprised everyone with an assignment on topics from the previous year, wanting to see how far her students had progressed.
Sarah had huffed at the news but immediately took out parchment and quill to write.
Hermione had tried to speak to her since she had seen her return to the dorm after a night of total absence, but Sarah had only recounted the last part of the story, which was that she had decided to sleep with Pansy that night.
News of Cormac McLaggen's disastrous condition began to circulate among the students, and everyone talked about nothing else for the entire day.

"I heard he fell down the stairs last night," whispered a Hufflepuff girl sitting behind Sarah during the lesson.
Sophia Ivory was undoubtedly one of the biggest gossips in the school; she loved knowing everything that happened and relaying it to her small circle of friends: Maria Glimmer, Fanny Knight, and Dorothea Thorn.
In the end, however, everything that passed through them reached all the students directly.
"Too cliché, Sop. Cormac isn't that stupid," replied Maria.
"He is stupid, but not stupid enough to hurt himself that badly from a fall," Sophia countered again.
She looked around and fixed her light eyes on Sarah's back. With the tip of her finger, she pointed her out to her friends.
"She was with him last night at the Three Broomsticks."

Sarah stopped as she was flipping through the pages of the large book.
She tried to shift her body closer to the girls to listen to them better.
"Do you really think she knows something?"
Dorothea asked, continuing to write on her yellow parchment.
Sophia nodded. "And not just that... maybe she could be the cause of all this."

After the lesson, Sarah didn't even wait for Hermione; she ran out of the classroom with her O (Outstanding) in her hands, wanting to escape the eyes of the four girls who, however, didn't let her go too quickly.
"Black!" Sophia shouted, pushing through the crowd of people now present in the hallway.
Sarah couldn't pretend she hadn't heard them; she turned around, showing a fake smile on her lips.
"Ivory, do you need something?"
The four positioned themselves in front of her, making it impossible for her to escape. They all had their arms crossed, ready to get to the bottom of the matter.
"McLaggen is in the infirmary; he's pretty bad, from what I've heard."
Sarah nodded, trying to appear sorry for the boy's condition.
"Oh yes, I heard. I'm so sorry for him; I hope he gets better soon."
"Strange though, wasn't he with you yesterday morning?" Fanny smiled at her, almost as if challenging her.
"Yes, then I left. He stayed in Hogsmeade; I don't know what he did."
She tried to seem calm as they scrutinized her carefully for any small signal they could use against her.
"Oh really? Well, I heard that they saw you leave together..."
Sarah paled; they had eyes and ears everywhere in that school.
"Y-yes! Yes! He showed me a shortcut to go back; you know, he was afraid someone might have followed me."
It almost made her feel nauseous to say those words, as the memories of the previous day flooded her mind in an instant.
The version didn't convince the girls, but they decided to let her go, at least for now.
"I'd better go now," she said, making her way through them to continue to her Defense Against the Dark Arts class taught by Snape.
She didn't know why she was lying; she would have been better off telling what Cormac had tried to do to her, but that would have meant revealing the truth about who had hurt the boy.
She hadn't seen either Tom, Mattheo, or Theo at breakfast. The rest of the boys had greeted her as they always did, raising no concerns about the three.