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CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Despite the turmoil within the castle, classes and exams were still going on as usual. So, Arabella was to be found studying in the Gryffindor common room until late at night, long after her friends and family members had gone to bed.

This was exactly what she had been doing at around midnight one night when she heard someone coming down the dormitory stairs. She looked up and saw her younger sister, Ginny, looking sleep-deprived and highly paranoid.

"Ginny?" Arabella asked. "What's wrong? Why are you out of bed so late?"

"I couldn't sleep," Ginny admitted, walking over and sitting next to her on the couch. She wouldn't look at Arabella. Instead, her eyes were constantly scanning the common room as if she were afraid someone else was there with them. "I need to tell you something."

"What is it?" Ginny still wouldn't look at her. Arabella put a comforting hand on her back and felt her jump. Finally, she looked up at her, her eyes full of fear. "Ginny, what...?"

Just then, they heard the portrait hole open and both turned their heads to look. There, also looking quite sleepy, was their oldest Hogwarts-age brother, Percy, coming back from patrolling the school, one of his many duties as a school prefect. When he saw his sisters, he immediately straightened up and took on a stern look. "What are you two doing up this late at night? Go to bed," he ordered

"We were just-"

"Go. To. Bed." He remained stood there, and Arabella knew that he wouldn't leave until they went up to bed.

Arabella rolled her eyes. "Come on, Ginny. Whatever it is, you can tell me in the morning. Hopefully, Perfect Percy will leave us alone then." She led her sister up the stairs, glaring at Percy until he was out of view. The girls said goodnight to one another and went into their separate dormitories. That next morning, however, Ginny did not tell Arabella anything.

Later in the day, Arabella was with Seamus and Dean and the rest of the second year Gryffindor's, minus Harry and Ron, being led to their next and final class of the day when they heard Professor McGonagall's voice being projected through the castle: "All students are to return to their dormitories at once. All teachers to the second-floor corridor immediately."

Exchanging scared looks, Arabella, Seamus, and Dean hurried to Gryffindor Tower with everyone else. They knew this could only mean one thing: there had been another attack. Everyone was anxious as they sat in the common room, wondering who had been the victim this time.

Twenty minutes later, a somber-looking Professor McGonagall entered the common room.

"There's been another attack, hasn't there, Professor?" Seamus called out.

"Yes, Mr. Finnigan. But this time, the victim has not been Petrified," Professor McGonagall answered. Her eyes lingered on the Weasleys, and Arabella got a terrible feeling. "A student has been taken."

There were gasps and murmurings throughout the common room.

"Well, who was it, Professor?" Angelina Johnson asked.

McGonagall did not answer at first. She hadn't taken her eyes off the Weasleys, and they were all staring back at her, dreading her answer. "One of our own. Ginny Weasley."

As the rest of Gryffindor once again began to whisper amongst themselves, all of them shooting glances at the Weasleys, Professor McGonagall approached them, motioning for them to gather round. Percy, Fred, and George all got up to converse with her, but Arabella could not move. Seamus and Dean were trying to talk to her, but their voices sounded far away. All Arabella could think about was her little sister, trying to talk to her the night before, and now, probably dead in a Chamber no one could locate.

Eventually, she began to cry, though when, she didn't know. It was around this time that Fred and George took over for Seamus and Dean, both in shock but trying their best to be there for her. Percy had gone to send an owl to their parents, explaining what had happened, even though Professor McGonagall had offered to do so herself.

After an unknown amount of time, Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil took Arabella up to their dormitory to sleep. However, Arabella just plopped down onto her bed without bothering to put on her pajamas and lie there, her eyes staring as her mind wandered.

[word count: 745]
[written: 4/22/20]
[published: 5/23/20]