Restoration

Chapter One

【Ｒｅｓｔｏｒａｔｉｏｎ】

*****

"𝘈𝘴 𝘴𝘰𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘴 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘦𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘰 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘪𝘵 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘰."

 ― 𝘎𝘦𝘰𝘳𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘦 𝘏𝘦𝘺𝘦𝘳, 𝘝𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘢

*****

The turbulent storm was beginning to release its fury. No one seemed to hear the hard wind crashing against the walls, or the raindrops hitting the glass windows. It was a cold November evening and the students were staying in their common rooms or already drifting off to the world of night-time wonders in their chambers.

A burst of warm laughter could be heard from all houses, as they told each other fascinating tales they picked up that day. A muggle or a wizard, everyone loved to twist the truth and spread it around like wildfire. Most of the time it was harmless and comical, but it could become so corrupted and cold that the person in question felt its consequences years later. If they got tired of spreading rumours, they relied on the castle ghosts to tell them tales of the past. As time went by, the students got bored, because they realised the ghosts had sometimes repeated the stories or changed them a little bit, realising they were as imaginary as the sky in the Great Hall.

Everyone had settled into their lives and adjusted to the new routine. Making new friends and foes, trying new foods, and exploring the surrounding areas was one of the many things everyone did at the start of the semester. Smaller cliques came to be within a week or two, and usually, no one was left behind, except for those who decided to. Most friendship groups remained the same throughout the years, as the bond grew stronger and stronger. Established after the Sorting Hat ceremony, enhanced during the school year and maintained during summers by writing letters. It was a family they got to pick, friends for life.

"Come on, Ernie, you've been guessing for ages," Hannah complained. Sat in a small circle in the Hufflepuff's common room, a few students played "The Mystery Game". The rules were quite simple - each of them wrote a Hogwarts mystery on a piece of paper, handed it to the person on their right who then stuck the piece of paper on their forehead without seeing what it said. The mystery could have been anything - a rumour, infamous death, a potential couple...or even a missing person.

"I'm trying! So it's a girl, not from our house, and isn't dating anyone famous," Ernie tried to put the pieces of the puzzle together. Every other player could only reply with either a yes or no answer.

"And she also isn't dead? Are you sure?" he asked again.

"Yes, we've told you this before. Ask something else," annoyingly replied Hannah.

"Perhaps guess which house she was in," whispered Justin.

Hannah gave him a mean stare and shook her head as if to say he was helping him out too much.

"Was? As in, she isn't anymore? Didn't you say she didn't die?" Ernie inquired with a puzzled expression on his face.

"That's too many questions," shouted someone who wasn't even playing the game.

"Huh, was she expelled?" Ernie asked with a smile on his face.

"Nope," the rest of them sang in unity.