Exchange to Hogwarts. (On Hold)

Out of Sight, Not Out of Mind

  The students had returned from Hogsmead, the time for the feast was a ton them.
  Crossing the threshold of the Great Hall Constance and Keira were overwhelmed at the decore spread across the large room. 
  Big jack-o-lanterns with various faces, hovered overhead as the candles inside filtered with light, the cozy warmth of the fires on either side If the hall sending a light rosy tinge to the girl's cheeks as they sat at their house tables.
  At the front of the hall, the staff table seemed to be inhabited by all teachers except for Headmaster Dumbledore.   That quickly changed once the old wizard appeared through a door behind the staff table. The Great Hall fell silent as the headmaster stood in front of the students.
  "Good evening students, staff and ghosts!" Dumbledore began. "And happy Halloween to you all! I hope you're all excited for tonight's feast as well as the upcoming costume party." 
  A roar of applause and cheers filled the Great Hall, to which the headmaster silenced with a raise of his hand.
  "So please dig in and enjoy!"

  And with that, the golden plates and goblets that lined the lengthy tables now began to fill with delicious looking meals. Connie chuckled while placing a few pieces of baked pumpkin on her plate, as across the hall at the Slytherin table Goyle had begun to snap his fingers in front of Keira's face numerous times, the girl sat their mouth ajar as she stared at the amount of food in front of her.
  "She al' right?" Dean asked, 
  "Yeah," Connie assured.
  "You sure?" Harry inquired.
  Goyle had snapped Keira out of her trance by now.
  " 'm sure. She's the same as Ron. Keira and food is a bond that shall never be broken." Connie declared in a triumphant tone , earning a few laughs.

  Before long the remaining crumbs of pumpkin pies, chocolate cakes and caramel tarts had vanished from the golden plates and Professor Dumbledore once again addressed the hall.
  "I do trust you all enjoyed the feast. Before you all proceed back to your dormitories I would like to remind you all that our costume festivities will begin at seven-thirty."

  Dumbledore dismissed the students and they began making their way back to their common rooms. Hermione, Connie, Harry and Ron climbed the Grand and, soon coming to a stop at the sight of a large crowd that had formed in front of the Fat Lady's portrait.

  "What's going on?" questioned Connie stood on her toes trying to see the problem. 
  "Neville's probably forgotten the password again." Ron chuckled.
  "Hey," Neville whined standing behind Harry holding Trevor in his hands.
  "Oh sorry, Neville."
Hermione saw Ginny in front of her and tapped her in the shoulder.
  "Ginny, what's happening?"

  "The Fat Lady! She's Gone!"

DUN! DUN! DUN!

  Though the fire burned brightly, there was a certain chill that set over the Great Hall. Worrying thoughts and scared questioned filled the heads of all those who inhabited Hogwarts.
  The Fat Lady had claimed that Sirius Black had attacked her, meaning that somehow a known mass murderer had broken into Hogwarts, even with Dementors surrounding the premises.
As a precaution of the student's safety, Professor Dumbledore had instructed that all students were to sleep in the Great Hall for the night.
  The four long tables had been magicked away, in their place many rows of sleeping bags laid out on the stone tile floor. Staff and ghosts ventured through the old castle searching for any sign of the escaped prisoner, while Percy Weasley was left to watch over the students, who were supposed to be sleeping.
 
  At such an uneasy time, house and year groups were not all that important. The only type of separation was the long a
the isle that went down the centre of all the sleeping bags, to which Percy was pacing up and down telling people off for talking.
  Keira and Connie lay head to head, laying on their stomachs and whispering about anything and nothing. Having not cared about much other than getting spots next to each other, it didn't matter to them who else was around them.
The white rays of the glowing moon and the flickering flames of the fires being the soul light sources of the hall was not a very good aid for better vision in the darkness of the night. 
  Connie had managed to figure out, due to the familiar faint smell of burnt, that Seamus Finnigan was occupying the sleeping bag to Keira's right, and seemed to be quite restless, as he kept tossing and turning. Both girls could see two vivid bunches of ginger locks on Connie's left, which they took to be Fred and George, they too seemed to be restless.

  "What would the world be like if humans evolved from lizards and not mammals," Keira asked quietly.
Connie stared at her blankly and blinked twice.
  "What the- Are you high?" She asked.
  "Trust me. If was, you'd be the first to know."
Connie was about to give a snappy reply but stop after hearing Percy's voice
  "You two, quite. Go to sleep."
  "Buzz of Weasley!" Keira mumbled
  "yeah in the middle of a conversation here!" whined Connie
  "Go to sleep!" Percy demanded
  "Why though?" tested Keira
  "Because I said so!"
  "And?"
  "I'm head boy!"
  "Pff! So? No one gives a Fu-"
  "Sleep! Now!"

*time skip*

  As Connie turned over in her sleep, the faint voice of Professor Dumbledore filled her ears.
  "For in our dreams, we enter a world entirely our own."

---

  The following morning annoyances and disappointment was shared among the students of Hogwarts. Professor Dumbledore had announced that due to the previous night's events, the costume party was cancelled. But Dumbledore suggested, " those still wishing to put their costumes to use are more than welcome to wear them to the Gryffindor vs Hufflepuff Quidditch match or if weather is not right, perhaps to Hogsmead one weekend."

  Time seemed to fly past the rest of the day. Though the feeling of fast-moving time was not one in which Connie had been experiencing. For her, time seemed to drag on. Minutes felt like hours and hours felt like eternities. This was most evident at any moment she crossed paths with Draco Malfoy.

  The way he had acted towards her hurt, a lot more then Connie thought it might. She had tried to talk to the boy and get to the bottom of his sudden cold shoulder, but that now seemed to be a lost cause as Draco now had turned to hash words rather than ignoring her. It gave her mixed emotions, she was unhappy but a the same time Connie was so angry at Malfoy she -for a moment- consider breaking his arm that wasn't in a sling.

  Connie had given up trying to communicate with Malfoy, which hurt him as much as it hurt her, not that he would tell anyone that. Even after Keira had spent all of the lunch lecturing Malfoy for being so rude, he continued to distance himself from Connie. Inturn she decided to push whatever she was feeling towards Draco Malfoy aside.....for now. After all Quidditch was starting soon and she had to focus.

  Much the same, Keira had given up trying to get Neville Longbottom's attention. Several unacknowledged complements and "study sessions" -intended dates... kinda- that included actually studying, lead Keira to spend the better part of the day thinking things over. And after running her hand through her purple hair out of frustration for what seemed like the millionth time, Keira realized that her efforts were meaningless. So she stopped.

  Of course, she wasn't going to just stop talking to him and ignore Neville's existence, she just 'cut back'.

  Keira stopped sitting with the Gryffindors so often and would sit anywhere that wasn't their table, she'd sit with Luna Lovegood and Terry Boot at the Ravenclaw table, or with Hannah Abbott, Susan Bones and Justin Flinch-Fletchley at the HufflePuff table or with her housemates at the Slytherin table. Keira also no longer studied with Neville Longbottom, she had decided to study with Goyle instead.

  So to Keira it seemed, that it was noticeable -to anyone who cared enough to pay attention- that the two weren't hanging out as much. With that said, Neville apparently did not notice this change, which must mean he doesn't care...right?

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WORDS COUNT- 1408