His Light In The Darkness

Chapter Twenty-eight

Chapter Twenty-eight

As Elayne walked into the Hufflepuff common room, she noticed it was nearly empty. There was only a handful of students sat in various places around the room.

By the fireplace, playing a game of wizards chess, was Brighton and Colby.

This put a small smile on her face as she walked over to them. "Who's winning?" She asked as she got closer to them.

The pair both looked up at her. Brighton flashed her a small smile before saying, "I am."

Colby rolled his eyes. "Not by much."

Elayne looked over the board. She giggled when she saw that Brighton was almost to checkmate. She leaned down and whispered the move into the blonde boy's ear.

Brighton's eyebrows shot up as he looked at the board and noticed that she was right. He quickly called it out and won the game.

Colby huffed. "You're not supposed to cheat."

Elayne laughed, sitting down on the hearth of the fireplace. "Sorry, Colby."

"Don't mind him. His girlfriend has just broken up with him, so he's in a foul mood." Brighton said, flicking his wand towards the chess board. All of the pieces put themselves back together and a new game was ready to be played.

Looking over at Colby, who had crossed his arms and was staring moodily into the fireplace, Elayne couldn't help but feel for the boy. She hadn't technically broken up with Tom just yet but the thought of doing so made her heart ache.

"Oh no. I'm sorry, Colby." Elayne said, speaking softly.

Colby roughly ran a hand through his hair. "It's fine. I'm going up to my dorm room. A bottle of fire whisky is calling my name." He then stood up from his chair and was about to head to his room, when Brighton stopped him.

"You have fire whisky? How the bloody hell did you sneak that in?" Brighton asked, looking at his cousin with raised eyebrows.

A small smirk tugged on Colby's lips. "I found out that Slughorn was helping check the students belongings this year. You can get anything past that man if you alter it a bit."

"You altered fire whiskey? How exactly did you do that?" Elayne asked.

"Chemically. You'll understand once you've gone through sixth year potions." Colby said as he headed towards his dorm.

Brighton and Elayne glanced at each other before Brighton called out, "Care to share?"

A laugh escaped the seventh years lips. "Not a chance." He then disappeared.

Making a face, Brighton turned back towards Elayne. "Arse." He muttered. Then, motioning towards the chess board he asked, "Care to give it a go?"

"I'm not very good. I don't think I've ever won a game." Elayne said, shaking her head. She moved from the hearth and sat down in the chair Colby had just abandoned.

Brighton gave her an incredulous look. "Bull shit! You just pointed out a move that neither one of us saw! A move that helped me win, at that."

Elayne shrugged, bowing her head. She tucked a curl behind her ear as she stared down at her lap.

There was a paused before Brighton spoke, asking, "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine." Elayne whispered. She could feel the buildup of tears.

"You don't look it. In fact, you look as if you've been crying." Brighton said, leaning forward in his chair. "What's happened?"

Reaching up, Elayne pushed her fingers against her closed eyes. She was trying to keep her tears at bay. "Nothing. Really, I'm fine."