SMILE » n. longbottom

lxix

"AFTER ALL"

Turns out, Alana missed a lot of events that had happened between her separation from the rest of the DA and now. First of all, they fought some Death Eaters, then Sirius, Harry's godfather, had died during the quarrel, and then the Ministry finally admitted to Voldemort's present existence after the direct discovery of him at the Department of Mysteries.

And now, the year was coming to a close, and now all of the students of Hogwarts would be leaving the castle grounds for summer break. It was seemingly the first clear day in days, as if all of the darkness and gloom had left the sky.

Alana had received a letter by her parents stating that they very much expect her to return to the house, or else. She was fairly certain that even they did not know what they meant by that. She had already begun to pack up her things prior to receiving the letter.

As soon as Alana had returned to her room, the day before, she had explained everything that happened last night — or rather, what she found out.

"So," Erise begun talking. It was only them two in the room, and she was sitting on her bed watching Alana pack on her side of the room. She continued, "can I come with you to your home this summer? I'm sure my parents wouldn't mind."

"It's a mansion. And, no, you can't come. Your parents would mind. And besides," she paused after looking at Erise for a second. "... my parents might not appreciate me bringing home an uninvited guest."

"Then invite me?"

"No, I mean, they would have to invite you ..."

"Oh."

Alana continued packing, and set her bags neatly together to be transferred to the train out. She looked back to Erise, "Is it because of Brooks?" Erise became shocked and her face turned pink. Alana continued on, "Don't worry, there's always next year. I have a feeling that he'll be around again to protect me."

The two Hufflepuffs headed out into the common room, then out of there, too. Immediately, when the front doors opened, there was a familiar face on the other end: Neville.

Alana and Erise turned to look at each other. They both stepped out into the hallway, and Erise walked past him to exit the room. Neville just stood there, looking obviously nervous.

"What do you want to say?"

Neville got flustered, "I wanted to say that I was sorry."

"For...?"

"Not telling you earlier," Neville spat out. "I should have—"

"Why didn't you?"

Neville grabbed at his face, "I—I did not want to ruin anything between us by even mentioning it." Alana was silent for a minute, until he began speaking again, "Are we over?"

Alana's heart broke at the sight of Neville's face that was twisted in a way that she could only feel this way. Of course, she didn't want them to be over. She calmed herself before asking him, "Are you seriously thinking that?"

"Yes?" he responded, letting his head hang, out of her view. "I don't know what to think right now. It's like the world as we know it, is breaking apart."

Alana shook her head, and she did agree with him on that: recently the events at Hogwarts and surrounding it were becoming odd. But she knew that she didn't want to try and solve this problem even though it was never her fault to begin with. And besides, the summer at her parents' would be the last place for her to try and fix it. Especially by mail. She walked away from him, and left him there in the hallway before simply saying a farewell, "I'll see you next year, Neville."

She didn't have the heart to look back to see Neville's face. She knew that immediately that he would be crushed. But she had to leave Hogwarts' grounds today anyways, so she made her way towards the train that would be stationed just on the outer rim of the grounds by now.

"I know your little secret, Brooks," Erise called out.

"Oh do you? And what would that be?"

Erise laughed, and gave him a coy smile, "You're ridiculously enamored with ... Mr. Filch." She turned smiling towards the old man that was carrying bags rather pathetically, and walking through the train's doors.

"Oh no! You've found me out. Guilty, " he sighed and covered his mouth with a hand. He smirked, pausing a bit before continuing, "Unfortunately for you, I know yours as well."

Erise squeaked, and ran away from him towards the train. She could hear him chuckle loudly in the distance. On the train, Erise found her way to the separated rooms, and stopped when she saw someone familiar.

Her roommate, Alana. She opened the door, "Alana! Did you tell?"

"Huh?"

"Tell! Did you tell Brooks I liked him?"

"...no? Why?"

"Nevermind," Erise concluded, and sat next to Alana. She then turned, "So, how'd it go with Neville...?"

"It went okay. Let's not talk about that," Alana responded. Erise nodded in response to her firm suggestion.

The two sat quietly until the train started. A couple people passed by the window by then. But after the students settled in their seats for the ride, the door to the compartment opened, to reveal Brooks standing on the other side. He asked them two, "May I sit?"

"Yes," Erise chirped.

"No," Alana responded.

"Oh dear me," Brooks sighed. "I'm not welcome here, am I?" Brooks wore an expression of defeat, but Alana just rolled her eyes at his act of sarcasm. Brooks shrugged his shoulders after a second, and sat in a seat opposite of them two.