Cursed Together

Part 6 - The Deep Woods

No snow fell tonight, though the silver shimmer of the near-full moon carried the same bitter chill as the bite of the mightiest blizzards. The sky hung clear of cloud cover overhead, and distant stars poked pinholes in the night's fabric to bathe the castle grounds in their faint, but perceptible, ancient light. Down below, water sloshed in the lakes and moats around the grounds, and all but the laziest of the night's creatures awoke to disturb the frozen air with their cries. One of the grand clocks in the main halls rang out an hour, but its calls lost themselves in the sprawling corridors before they reached a single ear.

Despite all this, not an ember of warmth faltered in the embrace that greeted Violet's ascent to the highest level of the West Towers. "¡Violeta! ¡Por fin!" Zari wrapped her arms around her friend's body and squeezed firmly, her voice little more than a squeal. "¡Estás viva! I was afraid those awful Slytherin had sunk their fangs into you and refused to let go, but you're back!"

Violet wriggled her arms free to hug Zari back, sinking into the comfort offered by her friend's tight grip. "Well, they've got quite a few days left to try and keep me in their dungeon forever," she winked. At last, she found herself free of Zari's arms as her hands filled with her friend's fingers, the sharp nails at the tips gently cradled inside the curves of her knuckles. "How was it today, without me and Merula around?"

Though bubbling with excitement, Zari's eyes betrayed the exhaustion that lurked beneath their surface. "Silencioso, y muy aburrido. I never realised how boring classes would be without you two arguing todo el tiempo, it made the magic seem...sosa." She swung their linked hands in the cool air and smiled despite her shivers, her socks wet with melted ice. "¿Y si vamos adentro? You can tell me all about how annoying being with Merula all day has been, as well as how you've gotten her back for it, ¡claramente!"

At once, Zari's question made perfect sense and left Violet uneasy on the wet, slippery stone floor. After a day of addressing the extremely specific diet and habitat needs of various magical creatures and writing too many apology letters to keep track of, Merula's company seemed far from the worst misery anybody could face. "Sounds good to me," Violet said weakly, staring lazily out through the white puffs of her breath into the silver night.

Then she saw it again. The speck of green climbed from the dungeons, as before, yet this time it navigated the precariously slippery paths to the East Wing's entrance without stopping to flash the petals of lavender hidden on its other side. In the still night air, the large door to the opposite wing ground open without a sound, yet it deafened Violet to watch. "You go on ahead," she asked Zari.

"¿Qué?" Zari released her friend's hands unwillingly, immediately replacing them underneath her shoulders. Her large wool jumper did little to combat the sheer cold that engulfed the castle grounds this late in the evening, even in the absence of snowfall.

The cold occupied the nooks of her palm her friend's warmth had left open. "There's something I have to do first, I'll be quick. We'll share some drinks, okay?" Violet disappeared back into the main building, leaving Zari speechless.

At this time, most students and staff had deserted the school's main building for the warm tea and lively conversation of the common rooms, leaving only a couple of prefects and cleaners patrolling the halls. After over three years of sleepless nights leading to an overflow of curiosity, however, Violet knew that the monitors often neglected the upper levels of the castle during the nights, and any shoes clapping in her direction would be audible enough if she kept herself quiet. Three years of late detentions would provide Merula with enough experience to avoid the eyes of the patrols, too, though where she went at this time was more difficult to fathom. The Slytherin dormitories and common room were all located in the dungeons, not far from where they had attended detention, and the East Wing held little of immediate interest for anybody. As Violet rounded the corridors to the eastern staircase, her mind raced to anticipate where she might catch up with the green shade.