Magic (5sos/l.h. Hogwarts AU)

Chapter 25

~A/N~ My physics teacher has been complaining about me and my friends asking questions in lessons wow I love supportive teachers who want us to understand the work
Enjoy the chapter!
Leila xx

"So it's not Malfoy," said Luke. "Are you kidding me?"

"Nope," I mumbled. "Do you really think it's safe here? Any monster could attack in the Forest, have you forgotten what Firenze said?"

"I think anywhere is safer than Hogwarts, even the Forest" said Calum gravely. "And we'll leave now, we just wanted to be in private to ask you if you had found out who the heir of Slytherin is."

"No, but I've figured something else out," I countered as we stood up and began to trek out of the Den. "I think we're coming at it from the wrong angle. Instead of worrying about the heir, let's worry about the monster."

"What do you mean?" asked Luke as I watched it dawn on Calum.

"That makes sense, it'll be easier to find out what the monster is, we've got more evidence, more clues."

"And what's the first thing we know about it?" I asked. "Come on, we've already figured out that the heir is probably a Parselmouth. That means that the monster-"

"-is a snake!" Luke realised excitedly. "That's it! Now all we need to do is find a type of snake that has the ability to petrify and turn invisible!"

"Should we go to the library then?" I suggested.

"Let's visit Hagrid first," said Calum. "That was the plan, remember?"

***
Who knew a visit with Hagrid could end in so many tears? I had been talking about Michael, about how we had all thought he was the heir of Slytherin, and then Calum had realised that maybe if we just trusted him, he wouldn't have been petrified because he wouldn't have been in the wrong place at the wrong time, he would have been with us.

It was that thought that snapped me.

I had sobbed, and Calum had cried, and Luke had pulled our hunched figures back to the school as my tears dripped onto the grass.

It was needed, though, for as I entered the school again, drying my eyes, I felt only stronger motivation to do what was needed, as though I had left all the sadness and bitter thoughts out in the grounds, sparkling like dew. There was a whole world of knowledge out there for me to explore in the form of paper and ink, and if I had to travel through every subject, trek through far off lands looking for the key piece of information to fit into the huge jigsaw that was the Chamber of Secrets, and spend hours devouring book after book, learning spell after spell and asking question after question, I would do it.

I would do it for Ashton, an innocent that had been attacked for no purpose - he was an extra, a person in the wrong place that would pay a huge price just for that. I would do it for Colin Creevey, who had been petrified all because his blood, his ancestors, didn't meet the ideal someone had set. I would do it for Nearly Headless Nick, who had seen so much trauma and had to encounter yet another.

And most importantly, I would do it for Michael.

I walked back into Hogwarts with steel in my eyes, because this was it - I would not stop until I found the answer, until there was justice for the injustice. And I had an amazing team of friends by my side.

All, bar one.

Ginny, who had seemed to be getting better, was worse once again. She retreated even further into the huge shell that hung over her every second of the day, and became all the more reclusive.

And I had noticed her diary had gone. She no longer wrote in it, and although I was wary about it at first, it had seemed to be some sort of coping mechanism for whatever it was she was struggling with. But, if she knew what was best for her then I supported it, whatever it was she would do.