Lovingly, not yours.

Chapter 14

"The things you keep hidden may remain forever hidden, unless there's someone who holds a key to you like I do, Odele Nicholas Burton."

Chapter 13: "Halloween, pt2."

Fever makes one's mind weave delusions through blurry tears or was it actually a Draco Malfoy who Professor McGonagall shared a quick nod at. Nevermind who did what, Odele had someone to search for.

"Professor I-"

"Silence dear. Had it not been for Mr. Malfoy, or your father Mr. Burton, I'd have not known the state you were in at all! Do you have so little thoughts, Ms. Burton?"

Professor McGonagall's firm yet worried voice made the girl look sharply at the boy who simply took a one once over at her and walked away. Then again, her father seemed to have stepped in and wrote her a letter as well.

Odele's eyes darted to Professor Snape's before she quietly hung her head low in resignation, erupting a sigh from the elder lady. Her loud sigh was enough to make everyone there understand that she needed another tea to go by the rest of the morning.

"Severus, could you take Ms. Burton to the Hospital Wing. I have a class with the Hufflepuffs soon."

Sharp glances were exchanged before the younger professor tsked and tilted his head for the girl to follow him by, "Off to the Medical Wing, Ms. Burton."

The girl was stubborn but knew she stood no chance against two professors and quietly followed Professor Snape.

Even when the girl was delirious with fever, she still liked the swishy elegant flow of Snape's robes, he looked cool and oddly graceful even while walking... if only he didn't frown so much.

"5 points from Gryffindor, Ms. Burton. What do you suppose I should do, smile like a joker whilst looking at the horrid faces of you miscreants?"

If she didn't know better, Odele would've chuckled at his dry humour, or the lack thereof. 

The bed in the hospital wing was cold and with such a reliving contrast, her eyes automatically shut the moment her head rested on the pillow, over the bed was Professor Snape talking to Madam Pompfrey probably snitching on how he was forced to drag her here. The world, for Odele however, closed for the entire day.

A weird chill overtook the little girl's body after a certain hour, behind her closed eyes a hauntingly tragic scenario. A teen boy, perhaps 17, going into a rather scary cave. Outside the cave, on the seashore, the winds and the waves were heavy with warning. Odele stood at the seashore, her eyes confusedly looking at the cave, before following the boy with black hair and green eyes.

She extended her hand to ask for help, but it went right past him. He didn't seem to know she was there. Was she lucid dreaming? But she didn't know the boy. However, his emotions of determination and rebellion were shining clearly in his eyes and his demeanour. Odele's voice was like a siren's whisper in the dream, "You don't have to do this alone..." Her words as though she knows him.

He looked back over his shoulder, bewildered. And just as she thought he saw her, Madam Pompfrey's voice made her eyes fly open.

It was only dinner time when Madam Pomfrey woke her up and the fever reduced considerably into only a blaring headache which she thought she could manage. Quietly thanking the Matron, she made her way to the grand hall where dinner would be perhaps going on, thinking nothing of the dream she had.

A faint blush remained to her cheeks as she walked in, luckily she was saved of the embarrassment of walking down the hall alone as there were students still rushing in. The eager eyes on her house's table met hers and she gave them all a cute sheepish smile almost and went to sit down beside Neville and Seamus, across Parvati.

"I heard that you were in the hospital wing, Odele... are you alright now?"

The big and warmly worried eyes of Neville made the girl smile even softer and she nodded, "I am better now, thank you Neville. Where's 'Mione?"

Awkward glances and silences was what answered her query that she hasn't still returned.

With a disappointed sigh at Ron and Harry who looked nothing remotely guilty while the latter was busy helping himself to a potato, she got up to go search for her friend before Professor Quirrell came in frantic and panicked.

"Troll -- in the dungeons -- thought you ought to know." Professor Quirrell's voice was airy than usual for a moment before he fell flat on the floor face front, exhausted.

"Hermione!" Odele and Harry said out loud in sync.

The curse of Halloween followed the girl like a shadow, and with the way things went today, she can only feel the horror yet to come. Hermione doesn't know of the troll, and while she may be a brilliant witch there's a limit to what she can do to save herself. Where should she even begin to find the girl, in this huge castle?

For the first time, Hogwarts felt more like a haunted house than a home to almost every student in the Grand Hall, though the teachers looked otherwise.

Hi, thank you so much for reading this. And I know it must feel like a drag. I am so very sorry for that. I shall try and update as frequently as I can to catch up to the part that you'd all like to read instead. Once again, thank you so much for reading this, it really means a lot to me. ❤️ 

<And if anything, do you think I should discontinue it?>