Not Broken, Not Yet | Tom Riddle

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty

"Amberly, where is June?!" Ruth repeated, voice shaking as she looked down on me. Her eyes were wild, like those of a cornered animal.

"I- I don't know!" I stuttered, looking around at my friends. They all looked grim, beside me Aiden touched my shoulder softly. "She said she would go ahead. She, she wanted to find you."

Ruth's lips started trembling. "She didn't find me, Amberly." She whispered. "No one has seen her."

The implication of her words shot through me like gunfire. I felt my blood freezing to ice as I stared at the taller girl. "She must be somewhere." I tried, so dearly wanting to believe the words despite knowing how hollow they sounded.

"But WHERE!" Ruth demanded to know. "Where, Amberly, where?!" She took a step forward, grabbing my arm. Beside me Aiden grew tense and shoved her away.

"Back off, Ruth!" He grunted. "She doesn't know."

Ruth started shaking harder as the crowd moved around us, some glancing wearily at our strange confrontation. Her chest rose quickly as she looked around, eyes searching for the blonde mane of hair that was her friend. She sniffled.

"I'm sure she's fine, Ruth." I tried, talking softly. Like one would to a wounded animal. Yet the certainty did not reach my eyes and as Ruth looked up on me I knew she knew the truth as well as I did.

June Wayland was dead. It didn't take long from Ruth's first outcry until the news had been confirmed by teachers and prefects alike. The school was in uproar. It was the second death in less than two weeks. While teachers reassured us that the chamber had in fact not been opened again it did little to ease the fear that spread like a wildfire within the castle walls.

Hogwarts wasn't safe any longer. We all knew it. Students and teachers alike. The days following the Gryffindor common room grew quieter and quieter, most stayed in their dorms or huddled in groups where they could seek comfort with their friends. Within just a day the angry letters from parents flooded the staff and the owls at breakfast caused havoc as they almost flew into each other on their way to their respective owners.

While the death of Agnes hadn't affected me all too much, June's did. The day after her death all her belongings had been brought to her mourning parents. Her bed was stripped empty, a constant reminder of what we'd lost. Maximus, June's large cat, still remained at the school, roaming the grounds during daytime and warming his owner's bed at night. One part of me thought he was waiting for her, that he somehow thought she was alive. The other thought it simply wanted to remember like the rest of us. As the days went on he even allowed Julius to join him on June's bed, allowing the small grey cat to cuddle close.

The same could not be said about Ruth.

As the days went on and the restrictions grew stricter she closed in on herself more and more. One night, four days after the death of June I found her sitting in the window with her knees pulled to her chest as she stared out into the night, eyes fixed on the full moon.

"Do you think she was in pain?" She asked me, voice monotone and low.

It was the first word she had uttered to me in days and while the topic of conversation wasn't one I particularly enjoyed, I approached her carefully, sitting down on her bed next to the window. I swallowed, looking at the other girl who was wearing the same pyjamas she'd had for three days. She had refused to go to classes, instead spending every moment in our dorm. I'd had to bring food to her and as more days passed it grew harder and harder to explain her absence to our teachers.

"I don't know, Ruth." I said softly.

"I think she was." Ruth interrupted bluntly. "They said her body was found like Agnes'. Throat slit and clothes torn off." She closed her first. "I wonder if she cried. If she screamed."