Long Gone

Chapter XII

Studying is always boring. But now, no one can even learn anything. The weather's been stormy for days and weird things have happened. People are panicking and more and more people are leaving Hogwarts. The newspapers are spreading panic and information about famous witches' and wizards' visions. It is sure now that a dark wizard is about to rise. Although it can't be certain that O'Connell is this particular dark sorcerer, it's pretty clear that he is.

Alyssa is out of the hospital wing and she's perfectly fine. Turns out that the curse that O'Connell cast on her was only short-term. Fortunately so.

Me and my friends are still wondering how I could get the Elder wand and where it is. Right now we are in the library searching information about the wand and Severus Snape and how they're connected.

"Hey, Y/N!" Elodie shouts clearly forgetting that we're in the library. The librarian shushes immediately. Elodie ignores her and passes the book she's reading to me through the table.

"Did you know that Snape could read minds?" she says. I look at the page.

"So, next time you better try not to have any dirty thoughts about him", she jokes and I can feel how I'm turning red. Jeremiah next to me looks kind of shocked of my reaction.

Carolyn puts the books she's carrying on the table.

"You're wrong, Elodie. He needs to cast a spell to read minds, so Y/N would know when he does that", Carolyn corrects Elodie. Before either of us answer that, Carolyn continues.

"But none of that matters, because he's dead." (Ouch, hearing that really hurts even though I already know it.) Like usually, Carolyn has some information to share:

"His soul, tho, isn't really dead."

We all look at her, except Jack and Alyssa who nowadays only stare at each other. Carolyn clears her throat and continues.

"I've been reading a lot about horcruxes lately", she says with a voice barely louder than a whisper. "As you all know, Snape killed Albus Dumbledore - the former headmaster - but I don't think it was that simple. I think, somehow, Snape made a horcrux out of it. Now horcruxes have great power - they keep you alive, make you immortal in a way. But that is not all there is to them. Snape was a particularly powerful wizard, and his horcrux contains a piece of his soul. Even this little piece could be powerful enough to mend a magical item - like the Elder wand."

This feels like a little too much knowledge to process in such a short time, but the shock doesn't end there.

Alyssa seems to lose her consciousness and falls down from the bench. Jack tries to catch her, but he's too slow. Alyssa's head hits the floor pretty hard earning her another trip to the hospital wing.

Jackson is carrying her on his arms as we rush trough the corridors. Her lips start moving, and a quiet, distorted voice tells us what we were all afraid to hear.

"O'Connell has the horcrux, he has the Elder wand, and he will unite them tonight."

***

Once again we find ourselves standing in the hospital wing. We're staring at Alyssa as she's slowly waking up. Jackson is holding her hand.

Elodie seems really impatient and uncomfortable, so I ask her what's wrong.

"What's wrong? What's wrong???  Are you f*cking serious?" she screams as she loses her temper.

"Alyssa's half dead again, the rest of us are probably dead soon, too, as O'Connell unites the horcrux and and the goddamn wand and we have no idea how to stop him, neither do the aurors, and you're asking me what's wrong? What is WRONG with you? Do you not understand what is going on in here???"

I'm shocked. No one ever speaks to me like this. Never.

As Elodie takes a deep breath getting ready for another round of shouting at me, Carolyn comes between us.

"Elodie, there's no reason to be mad at Y/N. Now, more than ever, we all need to stick together", she whispers softly. Elodie breathes heavily and tears up.

She says to me: "Carolyn's right. I'm sorry. It's not your fault that the world is a f*cked up place." 

Having said this she rushes out of the hospital wing leaving us here, standing awkwardly. I'm incapable of speaking. 

I'm seemingly our only hope of defeating O'Connell before he damages the Wizarding world, and she dares to speak to me like this?

***

Alyssa woke up and we all gathered in our secret room. Now we're standing in a tight circle.

Carolyn is holding a little bottle that contains our wideye potion. She looks as dead serious as the rest of us.

"So. Should we finally use the potion and get to the bloody chair that gives you hallucinations?" Elodie asks. I'm not sure who that question was directed to, but since Carolyn is showing emotions for once, I leave answering to her.

"Have you even been listening? We don't know where it is. We can't know where it is", Carolyn looks angry and I'm surprised that she's even capable of showing such emotions. She continues:

"We don't go to the chair. It comes to us! And O'Connell's uniting the two pieces of s*hit, pardon my French for f*ck's sake, tonight, and what it basically means... The potion is no use for us. We're late."

Carolyn seems to calm down, but it doesn't last long. Cecil decided to open her mouth.

" So, how do we get it to come to us? "

Carolyn closes her eyes for a moment. Calm before the storm, as they say.

And she's releasing the hurricane now.

"WE DON'T, YOU F*CKING IDIOT!" she screams so loud that I'm sure the whole school hears it. But it's not just that, she also throws the bottle on Cecil's face. It shatters and leaves Cecil's face bloody and she's clearly in pain. Carolyn looks shocked like we all do, and Cecil loses her s*it. She first shouts a litany of rude names and other things and then attacks Carolyn completely ignoring how she's asking for forgiveness.

Jeremiah tries to calm them down, unsuccessfully. Then he turns to me.

"Y/N, please make them stop this." he looks in my eyes with desperation. I nod.

"Carolyn, Cecil, stop it." I say calmly.

They immediately stop.

That is the power that I have over them.

That is what I like.

When I was a child, my parents would constantly fight each other and their drunk friends. I always yelled at them, tried to make them stop. They never listened. I tried to go between them, even tried to call the police, but they took the phone from me. They tossed me to the basement for hours so I could 'calm down'. I felt so agitated yet powerless. When the sorting hat announced that I would become a slytherin, I promised myself that I would never feel that powerless again.

And I never did.

*

Today, three of my friends showed rage like never before. I'm especially surprised about Carolyn. So, if I learned something out of it, it's that anyone can crack under pressure and fear. And I should never underestimate anyone, my friends and I included. There are more sides to everything than just one.