The Wicked Walk On Every Side

Chapter 9

Three days, Ryot thought to himself, since the first full day- since Wolfbane started acting weird- and he hasn't said a word to me. So much for friendship, I guess.

The prospect of Wolfbane just shrugging him off like that hurt. Yeah, they had only known each other for a couple hours, but Ryot had genuinely believed that they were going to be friends forever. Ryot supposed that this scenario was kind of like meeting another child at the playground and becoming good friends, only for the parents to say 'Okay! Time to go home!", with no such promise of ever seeing that friend again.

The red-haired boy sat in the Gryffindor common room, once again secluding himself from the hustle and bustle. He had made several acquaintances since the first day, but he wasn't close enough to any of them to be invited to their little groups. Ryot understood the mentality (he was, after all, the new kid among people who had been friends since they were 11), but it still stung that he wasn't invitation worthy.

The only Gryffindor who had actively tried to interact with him was a fourth year girl named Abbey Vencie. She had shown him around the common room on the first night, and had drummed up conversation with him every now and then. The girl was actually pretty funny, which was refreshing.

(An added benefit to their fledgling friendship- which Ryot hoped was more than a playground tryst- would be that she was a muggle-born, which meant that she knew all of the good songs Ryot listened to before attending Hogwarts.)

Deciding that he had had enough self-isolation for the time being, Ryot gave up his comfy seat in favor of finding Abbey. It was a Saturday, and it was a weird out-of-the-blue cold day, which meant Abbey was going to be inside. Then again, in the short time he had known her, Abbey had sufficiently shown that she did not conform to any kind of logical thought.

Eh, what the hell, Ryot thought to himself, a walk will be good.

He ran upstairs to grab his jacket and scarf, and then left the common room to start his search.

Abbey wasn't in the library studying, nor was in the Great Hall. Ryot checked everywhere he could think of, and none of them yielded the results that he wanted.

"How the hell are you supposed to find anyone in this damned castle of a school?" Ryot mumbles to himself, stuffing his hands in his pockets. It had been hard enough when he went to regular muggle public school, and now there was three times as much space he had to look around in for one person.

As if he had summoned her through his thoughts, Abbey ran full speed into him into Ryot just as he turned the corner, sending the broom she had been holding skidding across the stone floor.

Abbey stood and dusted herself off. Afterwards, she extended her hand for Ryot to use as leverage.

"Where are you going in such a rush?" Abbey said as she picked up her broom, which she then used as an armrest.

"I could ask you the same thing! I've been looking for you everywhere."

Abbey hooked her broom over her right shoulder as she said, "Oh, I was out on the quidditch pitch! The weather was nice, so figured 'why not', you know?"

Ryot called bullshit on the weather. He was freezing, and that was when he was inside the school.

"Uh, sure." Ryot said, not sounding sure at all.

"You have no idea what I'm talking about, do you?"

Damn. Busted.

"Not a clue."

"I figured."

Abbey grabbed Ryot by the hand and started dragging him the way she had just come.