AND THEY WERE WIZARDS. (Oh my god they were wizards)

Where Did The Year Go?

There was much frantic shuffling and movement as consciousness crept it's way back in. Virgil didn't open his eyes. People around him were talking in low, frantic voices. Everyone sounded either excited or confused.

He thought back. What did he remember last? He had gasped for breath, eyes burning, every inch of him aching, and then fallen back into the pillows of the hospital wing bed that definitely hadn't been there a second before, and passed out. But... something had to have existed before that. How had he gotten there? He was supposed to be in the bathroom with Emile, noticing the reflection of something in his glasses, a second away from warning him before it revealed its eyes...

Virgil's own eyes fluttered open. He lay on his side in the dimly lit hospital wing, facing a bed where Emile was still out cold. He sat up slowly, muscles still aching, and saw he wasn't the only one awake. A Ravenclaw two years above him, Penelope Clearwater, was sitting up in the bed on his other side, looking just as confused as Virgil felt. Then she spotted something near the other side of the room. Virgil looked in the direction she was facing. Colin Creevy, the first year Gryffindor boy who'd been attacked just a few weeks ago was flicking through his camera, which was smoking slightly, and looking distraught. Virgil looked back at Clearwater, then past her bed where the Gryffindor ghost was staring around the room, and a Gryffindor second year with bushy hair was whispering excitedly to Justin Finch-Fletchly from her bed. He jumped slightly as something landed on his lap, and saw that Mrs. Norris was prowling around on his bed, glaring at him suspiciously. The last he'd seen of her, she was hanging from the wall under an ominous message written in blood, immobile and helpless. The same fate had befallen Creevy. Did that mean...?

******************

"And it was Ginny Weasley?"

"No! Well— yes, but she was possessed or something. The monster was a basilisk!"

"And it would've killed them if they'd seen it directly, but they saw through the mirror!"

"Oooo I found a galleon!"

The group had known Emile and Virgil would be cured by that morning, but that joyful thought had been smothered by the knowledge that the school was closing and one of it's students was dead. Now, however, all the six of them could talk about was the news that Remy and Roman had heard from Harry Potter that morning in the Gryffindor common room.

"So a... a cursed diary possessed Weasley and made her attack every muggleborn she could with the help of an ancient giant snake with a death stare?"

"I mean, basically."

Logan stared at Roman with an unreadable expression for a brief moment before replying, "that makes perfect sense."

Their discourse stopped as Patton squealed with excitement, looking toward the door.

*******************

"Wait— It's been HOW long???" Virgil shouted, hardly daring to believe his ears. The sun had risen by now, and Emile was awake with him, listening to Madam Pomfrey as she explained the situation to them.

"Seven months for you two I believe, dear." The matron sighed, "the school's allowing you both to catch up over the summer, and exams have been cancelled so don't worry yourselves about that."

But exams were the last thing Virgil had to be worried about. Seven months. Seven months since he'd kissed Roman and it hardly felt like a day. Just the memory of it made him wish he was still frozen. But what did his friends think now? Almost a whole year for them to get over it and move on, and it had all happened without him.

Emile looked lost in his own thoughts as Virgil glanced over at him. He looked up at him abruptly. "Wanna go see the others?"

Every remaining brain cell Virgil had wanted to scream 'no,' but he still gave a shaky nod and followed a couple of other students out the hospital wing door.

"I know what you're thinking," Em said softly, spotting Virgil biting on the nail of his thumb, "but if anything, it's only calmed down while we were out." Virgil nodded half heartedly, but didn't answer. "We'll be oka—"

But just as the great hall doors opened, Emile's words were interrupted by an exclamation from across the room. Their friends had been gathered in a huddle in the corner, which Patton had broken away from and was hurdling toward them at breakneck speed. He reached Virgil first, who nearly fell back with the force of his tackle hug.

"Hi Pat," Virgil grunted sympathetically. It only then occurred to him the kind of strain the he and the others had been through after the attack. Patton was half giggling, half sobbing before he let go of his best friend and went to hug Emile just as tightly. The others had arrived from their corner at this point, and were circled around their two friends as Patton finally stepped away from Emile. Virgil felt even more uncomfortable to find himself in the center of attention.

"So," he started, he could feel Roman's eyes on him as he shrugged, "what'd we miss?"

Patton answered before anyone else. "Harry Potter killed a giant snake, Lockhart's supposed to have amnesia, Dee's name is Janus, he and Remus are dating, and I found a galleon."

"Is that the galleon you borrowed from me three years ago?" Roman cut in before either Virgil or Emile could answer.

"Oh shoot, is it?"

"We heard about the snake— what was that about Lockhart?" Emile asked.

"Well the Potter kid said he tried wiping his and Weasly's memories with a defective wand." Remy answered him.

"I thought Weasley was taken into the chamber."

"No, the other Weasley. The one in Potter's year."

"Percy, right?" Remus said.

"No Percy's the jackass that gave me detention for flipping him off." Said Remy.

"If I'm not mistaken, the Weasley we're talking about is named Ronald." Logan supplied.

"Why do they have so many kids?" Janus sighed. Virgil turned toward him.

"So. Janus, huh?" The other shrugged, looking at the floor. "I thought it'd be something classy like that. Nice name." Virgil smiled slightly. Janus grinned back silently.

"And you guys are together now!" Emile squeaked excitedly, facing the couple.

"Yep," Remus said proudly, wrapping an arm around Janus's shoulder, "since Christmas."

"Christmas?" Virgil groaned jokingly, "wow, I'm way behind on teasing you two, I'll have to make up for it."

"That's not all you have to make up for," said Roman.

"What do you mean," Virgil said quickly, tensing up. He didn't turn back to face him.

The tension didn't go unnoticed by the rest of the group, but Roman skated past it quickly, "uh- make up for lost time of course!" he said, noticing Virgil's shoulders relax, "we all have some catching up to do."

The next week was the last before it was time to head home for the summer. But all of them were happy to spend it as a full group again.

"And they're giving us work over the summer. Like, okay sure, school. Punish me for getting attacked by a fucking snake."

"Virgil, we learned how to summon shit."

"...... so I can get the TV remote without getting up?"

thanks for reading.