Eye Of The Storm

3. Gale

"Just be careful-" 

"She's not going to hurt me, Fred, bollocks she isn't deranged." George huffed, shooting him a glare. Fred's eyes were full of sleep, but he didn't look startled by George's shagged appearance. 

"S'not what I meant." Fred whispered, before flipping over to turn away. 

Ollie woke hours later to the sounds of Hogwart's humming with students milling between classes. When Ollie had told Hagrid that Hogwart's was laced with magic in the walls, he had only looked at her in disbelief before turning away. He didn't even want to entertain the idea, so Ollie kept it to herself. 

But to Ollie, Hogwart's was constantly making noises. The walls hummed and grunted in disapproval from time to time. The infirmary was always a gentle static of energy. The dark arts classroom always had a strong presence of distrust. The Great Hall was the nosiest of them all, constantly thumping to the beat of the chatter that filled the tables. 

The dark corridors were always full of whispers, and the stairs were like being inside of a drum. A constant thumping of excitement as they moved this way and that. The library was always a gentle trickle of solitude. But Ollie's favorite room had always been the kitchen. 

It was always full of instrumental noises. It would sing melodies before every feast, and during meals it was a gentle crescendo of an orchestra as students shared their enlightenment over the dishes. At night though, it was a constant vibration of pent up excitement as they prepared for the next day. The kitchens always had Ollie's heart racing as she felt the walls flex and accept the motions of the hardworking elves, proud to be apart of such a great service. 

Ollie cracked her eyes open, and took in the sight of Hermione sitting beside her bed in a hard plastic chair. Her knees were pulled to her chest, and she was flicking through a book with a frown on her face. 

Ollie grunted, and Hermione turned to her surprised before trailing her finger along a paragraph in the book. 

"Says here you need to eat as soon as you wake up, preferably something sweet to combat the dark magic coursing through your veins. Have you, oh seems you came prepared." Hermione reached over, tearing open the chocolate bar and held out a chunk of it impatiently towards Ollie. 

When Ollie only stared at it, Hermione grew more impatient and began waving it around until finally Ollie shakily reached up to grasp it. Hermione turned away to continue reading, while Ollie popped it in her mouth. 

It shocked her system as a sense of warmth over took her body, stretching down to her toes as the chocolate melted on her tongue. Almost instantly the warmth faded, leaving her with the sharp coldness again. 

"More." Ollie croaked, and Hermione without breaking her gaze from her book, broke off another chunk and held it out. 

They sat in silence, Hermione breaking off chunks of chocolate until Ollie finished the entire bar. Ollie's body was warm, it felt like a fire had started in her stomach and overtaken her entire body. She flung the blanket off her body, and was rather surprised when her body didn't ache in protest. 

"You are feeling better earlier than usual." Ollie looked up to see Pomfrey approaching her with a few vials of potions, intended for her to drink. The labels had been tore off, as per Ollie's request, she didn't want to know what she was taking. 

"Is that a replenishing potion? As well as a pepper up? Have you ever used a mood stabilizer, Madam? Says here it's been known to help." Hermione held out her book for Pomfrey to read, but Pomfrey only stared at Hermione with a look of curiosity on her face.