Finding the Magic (a Clexa hogwarts au)

Gryffindor Girls

Clarke sat at the Slytherin table, slouching over her plate of breakfast. She hadn't slept at all the night before, dreams of Lexa's death by a mysterious green light and a thunderous crack had woken her up several times. But it hadn't woken her soon enough, because she always had to see the blank, lifeless eyes and the slight trail of black blood at the corner of Lexa's mouth. It hadn't even been 24 hours since Echo had stormed their quidditch practice and predicted Lexa's death, and yet Clarke already had a lifetime's worth of bad thoughts from it. She took a deep breath and picked up her fork, using the tines to move her eggs around the plate. Lexa was still asleep, there was still an hour before classes started and Clarke couldn't bring herself to wake her. Her face had been so peaceful, a stark contrast to the anguished look Clarke had seen in her dreams. 

A crinkle of paper and a hush of excited whispers across the Great Hall caught Clarke's attention. She turned around to find the source of the whispers. They were coming from a group of girls at the Gryffindor table. Several people were gathered around Harper and two other girls. Clarke remembered one as Octavia Blake, the girl who began the school year hanging around her brother. By the looks of it, she had found new friends to be with. The other was sitting just a little bit too close to Harper. Zoe Monroe, but she usually just goes by Monroe, Harper's voice, clear as a bell, rang around Clarke's head. She smiled, Harper had called dibs and it seems as though her dibs had worked. Zoe was sitting at least two inches closer to Harper than Octavia, and her arm was wrapped around Harper's. 

At that moment, Harper looked up and saw Clarke staring at them. She raised her eyebrows and motioned for Clarke to come over, mouthing, come on! Clarke furrowed her own eyebrows in response. What's going on? she mouthed back. A confused look entered Harper's face. Clarke sighed and stood up, an action that made Harper's face light up.

"I asked what was going on," Clarke said when she made her way over to the Gryffindor table. 

Two girls parted to let her sit on the bench across from Harper. Most of the group dispersed as Clarke arrived, recognizing who she was. Now only Harper, Octavia, and Monroe remained. 

"Read this," Harper insisted, turning the paper for Clarke to see and shoving it across the table.

Clarke's eyes scanned the front story, "The Minister of Magic is creating another subsection of the Department of International Magical Cooperation?"

"No, this!"Harper jammed her index finger at a smaller story at the bottom right corner of the page. Clarke was greeted by a picture of a snow-covered town, a store called Honeydukes at the center.

"Phoenix to blame for murder of Honeydukes store owner, Arnold Ritkins," Clarke read aloud, looking up at Harper.

"Clarke," Harper shook her head, "Honeydukes is in Hogsmeade, which is right down the road from here."

Clarke paused as the realization struck her. "You don't think they're coming here next, do you?" 

Her eyes scanned the article.

"We don't know. The article is pretty vague. I don't think they want to alarm people-"

"Alarm people?" This was the first time the dark-haired girl, Octavia, had spoken up. Her hair was slightly wild, as if she hadn't brushed it yet that morning. She had intense eyes and her eyebrows always seemed to be furrowed in concentration-- or anger, Clarke couldn't quite tell.

"The Phoenix killed a man, and the Daily Prophet is trying not to alarm people? We should be protecting ourselves! And here they're practically covering it up! They might as well open the doors and invite them in," Octavia's voice rose as she spoke, catching the attention of the Headmaster at the front of the room.