Stories from the Vault - Hogwarts Mystery One Shots

Passengers

"Alright, I'll do it," said Penny. She was clearly uncomfortable, but her face was set in determination. 

"Thank you, Penny," said Sarah with a sigh of relief. It had taken a lot of work to convince her friend to brew a love potion for her, but she had to have one in order to get to the last cursed vault before R. 

"But you'll have to help me find all the ingredients," said Penny. "I worked too hard to get into Snape's good books to get caught nicking stuff for a forbidden potion."

Sarah grinned. "Don't worry, endless errand running is like ninety percent of a Curse Breaker's job, in my experience." She took a swig of her butterbeer. As she lowered her glass, she noticed a girl seated in a corner table alone, facing away from them. 

"Is that Rowan?" she asked. 

Penny turned. The girl turned her head to the side just enough so that they could make out the brown skin and glasses. "What's she doing here all by herself?" she asked, her blue eyes full of concern. 

At once, the girls stood up and brought their drinks over to Rowan's table. 

"What're you doing here?" Sarah asked as they joined their table. 

Rowan jumped in surprise. She'd been staring down at the table with a far off, hopeless look on her face. "Oh, hi. I'm just having a drink."

"Where are your books?" asked Penny. 

"Back at the castle. I felt like taking a break from studying for a bit." They both stared at her. "What? Aren't I allowed to take a break to go to Hogsmeade?"

"Of course you are," said Sarah. "You just...don't."

"We usually have to drag you kicking and screaming from the library," laughed Penny. 

"The library..." Sarah muttered. Then it dawned on her. She slapped herself on the forehead. "We were supposed to study together this afternoon!"

Penny gasped. "I'd forgot! Oh, Rowan." She reached down to grab Rowan's hand. "We're so sorry..."

"Nobody turned up," she said, staring down at the table as if it had just insulted her. "I'm used to you bailing on me, Sarah, but today I sat in the library for an hour and nobody showed. I guess they don't bother about me anymore, either."

Sarah was too stunned to speak for a moment, but Penny shook her head. "It's not that, Rowan. It's just that everybody's so preoccupied at the moment. I've been so worried about Bea..."

"Everyone in the castle seems to be hiding from this new curse or else fawning all over Cedric Diggory..." said Sarah.

"Studying just seems to be the last thing on everyone's mind," finished Penny. 

"Yeah, well," said Rowan, not removing her eyes from the same spot on the table, "I've got problems, too. Doesn't mean I abandon my friends. Or I wouldn't, if I had any friends."

"Oh come on, Rowan. You know that's not true," said Sarah. She leaned back, away from the piercing look Rowan now gave her. 

"Isn't it? When's the last time you and I did something together that didn't involve the Cursed Vaults? When's the last time any of you actually wanted to be around me, unless you wanted me to write your essays for you? You're not really my friends, you just use me like a tool whenever you need me."

Sarah tried to speak, but Rowan cut her off. 

"We used to be friends, Sarah. I was the one who stood by your side at the beginning, when no one else would. 'We can be weird, together,' you said. But then, you got other friends and you didn't need me anymore. It's fine, I guess. That happens. We're just not on the same page anymore."