Modern Hogwarts

"I'm fine," Martha lied

Naturally, the whole school soon knew what had happened to Dominic. Hundreds of theories flew threw the air about why he did it. Some of Dominic's inner circle- the people Dominic was now eager to get rid of- started telling people that someone (Martha particularly) tried to murder Dominic in his sleep and that's why he was in the hospital.

When Dominic's parents heard about the incident, they were impassively indifferent. Mr. Greengrass said he wouldn't take a day off work to collect his son, and Mrs. Greengrass couldn't leave her other children unattended. Dominic assured everyone those were excuses and his parents didn't care whether their oldest son lived or died. While Emily was adament that wasn't true, Dominic was certain.

Emily, Maggie, and Teddy took turns visiting Dominic during the week. But Martha rarely left the hospital. The main reason was she didn't want to leave Dominic, her new and depressed friend, alone. But an underlying reason of not wanting to be in the Slytherin Common Room couldn't be overlooked.

Being in the Slytherin Common Room was like sitting on pins and needles. Everyone was on edge, mad at each other that their priviledges had been taken away. A lot of people were also mad at Martha once Gary had told everyone it was her who gave the letters to Professor Frost. They blamed her for not keeping quiet and going about her day like the rest of them would have.

Martha was stronger than most, and certainly had more determination than her peers, so the hate didn't bother her much. If anything, she was mad at people for not being more disturbed by the letters. Only half of the House thought anything needed to be done about students sending death threats to another student.

Dominic had been in the hospital for a week. While his spirits were much better, his condition was not. He had lost much more blood than anyone originally thought and it was taking longer for him to recover that expected. He looked sickly and his skin had turned to a gray, corpse color.

But for the first time in Dominic's life, he had someone who cared about his wellbeing.

Martha was relentless when it came to Dominic's health. She never left him alone and kept him accountable for eating three times a day and doing everything the hospital said. But she also kept his spirits up, bringing him games and books to read while she was in lessons, then recounting her entire day to him after school.

"Martha, you should really go back to the school a rest a bit," Dominic told her on Friday.

"I'll rest when I'm dead," Martha emotionlessly replied as she threaded a needle. "I'm not leaving you here all by yourself with no one to talk to."

"I'll manage," he replied. "You've been here every night this week until curfew. Aren't there other things you need to do? Like how is Slytherin Girls in Pearls managing without you? And The Hogwarts Journal?"

Martha pulled out a black pullover from her bag that was much too small for her and started mending the sleeve. "Well I'm glad you've started calling my club by name," she said. "But all clubs have been put on hold until next week. Frost has most of the death note writers caught and expects she'll have the last one in detention before the weekend's up. And I put the Ravenclaws in charge of The Hogwarts Journal. They're the writers. Nolan's the temporary editor until I get back. I needed a break from all that anyway. Editing nonstop was giving me headaches."

"Maybe I can help out when I get back," Dominic offered cautiously. The school newspaper was sacred to Martha and he didn't know how she'd react to the idea of someone like him helping out. "I can write pretty well when I try, and you could teach me how to edit. If I'm awful at it you can sack me and I won't take offense-"

"Dominic," Martha cut him off, laughing a little, "I'd love for you to come help me with The Journal."

Dominic smiled to himself as he watched Martha sew. He'd been accepted into his first official club that didn't involve a shift in power.