The Years of Riddle

Chapter Thirty-Four | Hogwarts, April 1965

Chapter Thirty-Four

Hogwarts, April 1965

          The Hogwarts library was empty on the first truly balmy day of the year; spring seemed to have settled, the sky was clear – and only Silas seemed disinterested in the tempting weather.

Inesa Fawley found Silas nibbling at a quill, looking over an essay on the Goblin Revolution. It wasn't due for three weeks, but it already looked lengthily. "Sy." She kneeled by him, tugged on his sweater. "Why don't you come out for a walk with me? Arthur and Molly smuggled a bottle of wine in from Hogsmeade, they're down by the lake."

"I'm working." He glanced at her, then back at his paper.

"You're always working." She huffed, standing up and crossing her arms. "You're going to wear yourself out if you continue like this. Take a break."

He put his quill down and rubbed his temples. "I'm just trying to do well, Ness."

Face softening, she leaned against the desk and put a gentle hand on his shoulder. "You can do well and still take breaks, hun."

Looking up at her, Silas had to smile. She was too kind to him. "I know we haven't spent much time together lately, and I'm sorry."

"You're not my whole life, you know." She laughed, but leaned down to kiss him quickly. "Though I have missed you."

Silas knew that he was only an aspect of Inesa's life – she ran a book club, liked to go to Muggle music festivals during the summer, secretly loved to go to cafes and watch people doing mundane things. She had a haughty side, when he got too absorbed in homework or wouldn't stop pushing a point, when another student was being mean. Inesa was fair, dedicated and loyal, a Hufflepuff to the core. Silas could still remember when, in third year, an older boy had tormented her for weeks over something silly, how pale she was – and one day she just snapped, and punched him right in the nose. She'd broken it, too.

He loved this girl, not that he'd told her so. He didn't know if she understood how much she meant. So he closed his book and kissed her deeply, pressing her up against the desk.

She laughed and pushed him away. "Will you come down to the lake with us, please?"

"Give me ten minutes to put my stuff back," he grinned and kissed the end of her upturned nose.

"There's the guy I've been missing." She kissed him quickly and hopped down, tugging him out of the library.

Silas rushed through the castle, hastily throwing his books on his bed before bolting back out. All of a sudden, all he wanted to do was lie in the sun with Inesa in his arms, drinking smuggled wine with Arthur and Molly.

He was going so quickly he didn't even notice Professor Euphenia Periculum before he bumped into her, sending her papers flying.

"I'm so sorry, Professor!" he dropped to his knees, gathering the scattered essays and notes.

"Someone waiting on you, Mister Lacroix?" she asked, amused. "It's quite all right, I'm a little clumsy myself, you know."

Silas did know; Professor Dumbledore had to replace at least three crystal balls and two-dozen teacups a year for the Divination class. "Uh, yeah – Inesa Fawley."

"A girl." Her eyes glinted as she accepted her things. "You didn't take my class again, Lacroix, why is that?"

"Because I was rubbish," laughed Silas. "I enjoyed it Professor, I did, but you know I most certainly don't have the inner eye."

"I wouldn't be so sure," she studied him carefully. "You had something raw, Silas. I would say you've got a mild psychometry ability."

"A what?"

"Psychometry, the ability to see the history and future of an object simply by touching it," she explained. "You remember our classes, every time we used an object – you were quite close, always just a few shades away from the truth."

"You never mentioned that in class," said Silas, puzzled. "Besides Professor, I really was rubbish."

Professor Periculum smiled, in a manner that suggested that Silas was missing out. "If you insist."

Silas' smile slipped. He felt cold all of a sudden, and backed away. "Have a nice day Professor, enjoy the weather."

"You too, Silas." She shuffled off, still smiling to herself.

Shaking off his chills, Silas went to join Inesa, Arthur and Molly at the lake. The day was warm, and the buttery sun glinted off the lake and fell through the birch trees, dappling the tipsy teens.

"Oh I forgot!" Inesa cried, sitting up. Her head had been resting on Silas' chest. "My brother said I could invite you all to his wedding, since I have to be a bridesmaid. I told him I was too old to do such things, so we made a deal."

"I love weddings!" exclaimed Molly, clapping her hands. "Oh, this'll be good fun."

Arthur was playing with the end of Molly's long braid. "I quite enjoy weddings myself."

"There's also an open bar," she added, laughing as Silas tugged her back down.

"Am I going as your date then?" he whispered, holding her close. Molly and Arthur had wobbled off to snog somewhere.

"Most certainly."

"Do I have to dance?"

"Of course," she kissed the bit of shoulder exposed, where his shirt and sweater had been tugged away. "By the way, I love you."

Silas could only stare at the pallid eyes that looked shyly at him through charcoal lashes. "You love me?"

"Of course I do, silly."

"I love you, too." He laughed, unable to hold in his joy. "Can you read my mind or what?"

"I can," she snuggled close. "And just because you love me back doesn't mean you're getting out of dancing."

He brushed strands of honey hair away from her eyes and kissed each freckled cheek with care. "I'll always want to dance with you, Ness." At that moment, Silas would have done anything for Inesa Fawley.

A/N: Just want to make a little disclaimer, don't know why I'm doing it now rather than later, or why I didn't do it a few years ago:

this is not what love is like. Love is not the the girl you find pretty on your first day of boarding school, then date five years later. Sure it can happen, some people really do marry their childhood sweetheart. If you've read my other works, you know I love the "first love" trope. But it's not realistic, and I just - I wanted to say this? Yeah, my characters tend to fall in love at sixteen and stay with that person forever and have babies and what have you, but it's not...real, which is why I incorporate real stuff into my books. Just, if you're young, I'd hate to contribute to the state of mind where you think the first person you like in any way, shape or form has to be The One, because that's not how it works. I hate when people become upset because their life doesn't turn out like a story (been there, it sucks). Fiction is fun, but it is fiction. Real life is better.

I don't know where this is coming from. I'm a Young Adult, so maybe I'm just having a crisis.

OKAY RANT OVER SORRY!

Question: We're learning more about Inesa...thoughts? And the Divination professor...she's a tad creepy.

Only two weeks until I start school - ack, too soon. Too Soon.

Rose

P.S Sorry for my rant but I'm leaving it there 'cause I think its Important. Don't like it, sorry.