Black and Yellow.

Chapter 14- A Night-time Stroll

Ruby entered the girl’s dormitory and shut the door behind her. Walking over to her bed, she saw a goblet of potion sitting on her bedside table. She walked over to it, sat on the edge of the bed, and picked it up, swirling the funny looking liquid around in the goblet. She lifted the drink to her lips, and took a sip; the taste was so familiar to her now that she barely tasted it. She quickly swallowed the rest of the potion and lay back on her bed, exhausted.

It had been two weeks since the last full moon, Ruby looked out her window, and there was only a sliver of moon in the sky, half obscured by snow that was falling delicately. It was pretty, in a way. Almost like a painting.

The other girls were still at dinner; Ruby had left, saying she wasn’t hungry. And she honestly wasn’t, her stomach too tied up in nervous knots for any food. Ever since the last full moon, things had been even worse for Ruby. Any time she looked over to Jade’s bedside table there was a stack of books, each one worse than the last. Common Wizarding Ailments, Curses of the 21st Century, and even worse, the Influence of the Full Moon.  Jade was starting to put the pieces together, and that scared Ruby more than she was willing to let show.

She would catch Jade staring at her once in a while, one of the pages of her book open, considering. Then she would shake her head and move on, or notice that Ruby was looking at her a blush, pretending that she was doing nothing. Even thinking about Jade and her research made Ruby feel sick. Why did she have to be so persistent?

And Tallus’s father’s words had been hanging over her like an ominous ghost. A weight in her stomach that wouldn’t go away, someone would die to save her life. Hadn’t enough people died for her already? Who else could she lose? Ruby felt like crying. She didn’t know what to do.

All of a sudden, she felt claustrophobic, like the dormitory wasn’t big enough for her. She got up, sipped on some shoes, and walked out of the room quickly, trying to be inconspicuous, and no one looked twice at her as she crawled up the tunnels, through the barrels, and out into the hallways.

Dinner was just ending, a steady flow of students were making their way out of the great hall. Jade avoided the crowd, not wanting to run into any kids she knew. Instead she headed down a side hallway, wandering aimlessly through the empty castle. Reaching the end of the hallway, she stared out side, watching the snowflakes slowly fall to earth. It looked nice outside, a thin layer of snow covering the grass.

She let her feet take her where they wanted to go, and soon she was pushing open the large doors, and heading out into the snow covered darkness. Ruby loved the outdoors. She didn’t care that it was snowing, or that it was nighttime, or that it was almost curfew and would get in trouble if anyone found her out here. It was so much more peaceful outside, with the light of the sliver of moon to guide her way.

She waked along the edge of the forbidden forest, her feet crunching in the snow, leaving a trail of small footprints behind her. She paused by the herbology greenhouses, peering at the strange plants, and then kept walking following the edge of the trees, lost in thought.

She wrapped her arms around herself, shivering slightly. She wished she had brought a sweater. It was colder then she had thought. But she still wasn’t ready to go inside yet. She stopped walking turning towards the forest, staring through the tress. She knew what was hidden behind then, centaurs and lakes and trees taller then she could imagine. Ruby smiled, wondering where Tallus was now.

There was a sound behind her, the unmistakable crunch of feet on snow. Ruby whipped around, fear gripping her hart, and she stopped breathing. Far behind her, there was a tall shadow, holding a lantern cast in its yellowish light. She couldn’t see who it was, and they hadn’t seemed to have noticed her yet. If it was a teacher she would be in so much trouble! She wasn’t supposed to be outside at all at nighttime!