I made my way to the Astronomy tower, which was weird. It was past curfew and I was never one to break the rules- B usually wasn't either. Which was a sign that something was up.
By the time I got there, it looked like he'd been there for a while. I could tell by how developed the rhythm of his pacing was, how evidently his stress bounced off all of the walls. "Hey." I said, walking into the room as his back faced me.
He jumped, turning around with his wand drawn, "Oh, Gabs. You had me all freaked out for a second." He smiled, shaking his head. His smile looked different than normal, it looked almost sad.
"Don't pull your wand on me, B. We all know I wouldn't last too long against you." I smiled back, knowing my own smile would also be strained, then sitting near the window of the tower.
"That's not true and you know it. I would think a gryffindor would have more pride." Brandon noted, sitting near me, sighing quietly.
"Well, I'm not like most of the Gryffindor. Why'd you ask me here, B? Neither of us likes to break rules (often) or be up this high..."
He sighed again, more openly this time, staring at the floor. "I was going to tell you something. And then I thought about the flood and realized that there was no one better to talk to about why it happened than you."
I blushed despite myself, "Well, a few of us are meeting in the library tomorrow to discuss what could've happened if you'd like to join us-"
"Gabi. I need to clear my head, like, now. Please." He pleaded, looking up at me for the first time since I entered the tower. I nodded slowly, not knowing what to expect. "It's been silent since the 90's. Nothing's happened to suggest that he might still have a following. But this... This all feels dark to me. And it feels like what I read about bridges collapsing and tornados and-"
I saw where he was going with this, "Brandon, seriously. That's- Hogwarts is the safest place I know of. They couldn't get to us here that easily." I shook my head, "And they wouldn't put in that much work unless there was something they really wanted." We both gazed out the window in silence for a moment before a thought hit me.
We both turned to make eye contact at the same time, automatically knowing we were on the same page we stood up and raced out of the tower. I turned to him, "Be at the library tomorrow, we'll need to tell the others."
He nodded, "Hey, Gabs?" I looked back, "Thanks." he kissed me on the cheek, running towards the Ravenclaw tower, leaving me with a hand on my cheek and a rising feeling in my chest. (Despite the sense of impending doom).
———
I sighed, nearly asleep at the large study table at the library. I was not a morning person to say the least.
Brandon chirpily sat next to me and smiled, "Hey, Gabs." He said, acting as if he hadn't done something crazy last night.
I looked over at him without moving my arms, "Hey, B. Why are you so chipper?"
"I kissed the cheek of a beautiful girl last night and felt her blush when I did it. Psychologically this leads me to think aforementioned beautiful girl likes me." He smirked at me, sighing.
I was suddenly very awake, sitting up straight and crossing my arms, "What? No! I did not blush because I like you I blushed because I didn't expect it and I haven't been kissed on the cheek in a while and-" I was promptly shushed by the librarian as my volume increased.
"Don't deny it, Gabs. You'll only dig yourself deeper into a hole." Brandon shook his head, still smirking, "It's not a bad thing to like someone, you know."
"I know but-" He cut me off when he grabbed my hand and interlaced our fingers, forcing another light blush out of me.
"Shh, Shh, Gabs." I frowned, or attempted to, but soon everyone else was there and we had to start the meeting. As soon as possible.
"So, this is urgent business. Last night Brandon and I met and we figured out what the rain was all about. You see we were in the astronomy tower and I started thinking of certain events that took place there a while back..."
Brandon picked up where I left off, "And we all know everyone who agreed with him or disliked Dumbledore didn't just disappear when the battle ended, despite it all seeming that way on the outside. It just took them awhile to finally boil back enough anger to strike. And they did."
"We think that Dumbledore's body was the target of the flood. And it's now missing. It would explain McGonagall's weird manner yesterday, and why all paints of Dumbledore seem to utterly depressed but cannot say why." I chimed in, liking this whole tag team thing a bit more than I expected to.
"We have no proof, but we can get that. If we can get a few more brains on board and some supplies... We have what it takes to protect Hogwarts." Brandon said, and I nodded.
They all looked shocked, but no one looked too surprised by what we had come to. "How many more people are we talking here?" Ben asked, looking around. Going from the two of us to this was kind of a lot....
"Not many. Three, I think." Brandon said, shrugging.
"I know someone. Stef does too."
"I do too, I think."
Brandon and I looked at each other and then at everyone else, "Great. So we're doing this, then?"
A murmur of positive responses were heard, "Great. Before we do anything else, everyone please do some reading on Dumbledore's life & death, and also some on the Death Eaters if possible. We wanna be prepared for every situation." Brandon assigned homework like the professor he'd probably end up being after Hogwarts.
"Not mandatory, just a good idea incase we encounter something unexpected." I added, trying to scare anyone. It wasn't a glory quest. It was something we were doing to try and save the school and the magic we loved.
YOU ARE READING
count on me // hogwarts au
Fantasytwo gryffindor sixth years have been best friends for forever. and when they meet three fourth years they immediately take them under their wing. but no one expected them to become a family. (based on a group of my friends called the og squad)
