Never Is Our Always

We Aren't Safe 2

(Third person)

Summer was creeping over the grounds around the Hogwarts castle; the sky and lake alike turned into a periwinkle blue while the flowers large as cabbages burst into bloom in the greenhouses.

With Dumbledore gone, fear had spread as never before, so that the sun warming the castle walls outside seemed to stop at the mullioned windows.

There was barely a face to be seen in the school that didn't look worried and tense, and any laughter that rang through the corridors sounded shrill and unnatural and was quickly stifled.

The Gryffindor common room was always very crowded these days, because from six o'clock onward the Gryffindors had nowhere else to go. They also had plenty to talk about, with the result that the common room often didn't empty until past midnight.

The Gryffindor Quidditch team tried to keep their heads held high for the sake of Oliver Wood, he wasn't going very well with his friend being petrified by the monster who lurked through the shadows of the castle's halls.

(Oliver pov)

"Come on, Wood, Professor McGonagall's here," I nod as I followed Percy out of the dorm and down the stairs to leave for breakfast.

-

"How do you think Lee is holding up?" I ask Percy quietly as we sat together while we eat.

"Not sure," I heard Percy reply in an undertone as he put some bacon in his mouth.

I look to Lee as he was talking to the twins, the flicker in his eyes showed a hint of pain.

"I wish we could go see her," Angelina said, snapping me out of my thoughts, "but Pomfrey doesn't want anyone visiting the petrified." I just grunt in reply.

"We'll get to see her when she wakes up," I say coldly while I stab my food.

"Wood." I glanced up and snarled at Flint, he licked his lips before pursing them, "I heard about Alice getting petrified, I'm sorry, man." My jaw clenched as my teeth grind slightly.

"Thanks. She'll be back with the others when the antidote is ready," I told him sharply, I wanted him to leave before I murdered him in broad daylight.

"I hope so," he said, walking away, Angelina was staring daggers into his back as did the rest of the team.

"Sicko," I hear Fred and George mumble before going back to talking with Lee.

"Lee," he turned his head and nods, "I think she should stay with you for the holidays instead of coming to sleepover for a week when she's unpetrified." I told him.

"We've been trying to do that for years," Lee replies and my eyebrows furrow, "never wants to be at my house with my mum and dad, drives her crazy and the noise messes with her head." Lee explains.

"Huh, okay," I say before looking at Percy, he glanced at me and then rubbed my back softly.

"Don't worry," he told me, "everything's going to be fine."

"I know."

-

Ten minutes into the class, Professor McGonagall told the class that our exams would start on the first of June, one week from today.

"Exams?" I hear Marcus howl. "We're still getting exams?"

"The whole point of keeping the school open at this time is for you to receive your education," she said sternly. "The exams will therefore take place as usual, and I trust you are all studying hard."

There was a great deal of mutinous muttering around the room, which made Professor McGonagall scowl even more darkly.

"Professor Dumbledore's instructions were to keep the school running as normally as possible," she said. "And that, I need hardly point out, means finding out how much you have learned this year."