Fate Untold (Harry Potter Fanfiction)

Chapter 22: Big Fun

Ashley sat near the end of the Hufflepuff table, squeezed between Mitchelle and Alyssa as they listened to Dumbledore's speech about Lockhart's disappearance. The professor went missing (got killed) about a couple of weeks ago and ever since then, Aurors had been permitted inside Hogwarts to investigate. It was about damn time, seeing as he was already the third missing person, the first two being Alexandra and Kyra. Obviously, nobody found his body, only his wand at the edge of the forest, so he was declared dead this morning. None of the Marauders cared, of course, but they had to act like they did. It wouldn't do any of them good to be pinned as a suspect just because they couldn't keep a straight face.

Breakfast wasn't as animate as it would be on a normal day. The population of Hogwarts was mourning silently for the loss of three lives, and that was understandable. What irritated Ashley, though, was the way Lockhart's fangirls kept wailing about the unfairness of the situation, about how such a great wizard could be taken away just like that. Some people were simply too blind to face the reality of things. There were even memorials built right outside the great hall. Well actually, they looked more like shrines with the candles and overload of pictures and everything.

"I sure will miss him." Alyssa mused, eyeing one particular picture where Lockhart was posing with all his books.

"No, you won't." Ashley snickered.

"No, I won't." Alyssa agreed, "I haven't met such a useless teacher since eleventh grade."

"Teachers, you mean. We had two, remember?" Ashley helpfully reminded.

"Oh my Godric, I forgot about them! Math and Science, the terrible two." Mitchelle laughed.

"What were their names? Mr. Ro...Rolland? Roman?" Alyssa tried.

"It was Rohan." Ashley supplied, "Mr. Rohan and Mrs. Liu."

"Yeah, them! Every class was so bloody frustrating. I barely learned anything that year." Mitchelle complained.

"Same. I genuinely thought I wasn't gonna pass both subjects." Ashley groaned.

"Thank Merlin we all did." Alyssa sighed in relief, earning murmurs of agreement.

The Golden Trio continued to loiter the hallways, reminiscing about their high school days. They had the time to do it even though it was a weekday. Had Lockhart not been killed, they would have been in DADA right now, but he was gone and Dumbledore had yet to hire a replacement. The other professors couldn't very well fill in for Lockhart. They had their own tight schedules, which really proved how understaffed the castle was. Hundreds upon hundreds of students under only fourteen teachers, now thirteen? Ashley, Mitchelle, Alyssa---the three of them had attended a small school back then, much smaller than Hogwarts, but even then, they'd had a maximum of more than fourteen teachers. That was certainly something to fix once Dumbledore was out and the Heirs were finally in charge of what was rightfully theirs.

Eventually, the Golden Trio had to part ways. At least, one of them had to. Mitchelle had a prior engagement to go to with Neville and Pansy. She was in a rush so the Hufflepuff failed to disclose the reason why. However, she did say that they would be in Greenhouse 1 if anyone were to look for them. Ashley and Alyssa easily let her go and hung around the trophy case, internally longing to have their very own plaques one day. If Ashley was lucky enough, hers would be placed right beside her father's.

"What do we do now?" She piped up, turning to Alyssa.

"Hm... Oh! I'm supposed to meet Draco at the pitch." Alyssa recalled, "He wanted to practice for next year."

"And act as the third wheel? Like I don't already do that on a daily basis."

"You won't be the third wheel, I promise. Cedric will be there and Draco probably invited a couple of others along. Come on, it'll be big fun."