Hogwarts Legacy : A Sixth Year Continuation

Chapter Twenty-Seven : Ghost Stories

I folded my journal away into my bedside drawer just before Ruby entered the dormitory that Monday night, scrawling my notes down about the dream of Mammy and the wand she had discarded.

The day had passed sluggishly. All I had been thinking about was reuniting with the girls in the Room of Requirement. I had dragged my feet to and from every single class. Would they have any revelations of the images I had seen of what was to come? I certainly was none the wiser, I hoped at least one of the murky premonitions was about to become a bit clearer. I tapped my wand rhythmically on the side of my bed staring at the clock across the dorm. I still had a full hour before the girls and I were to meet.

I had divination earlier in the day and to my relief Luka hadn't turned up. As a matter of fact I hadn't seen him since that last time when he'd demanded I look into the crystal ball, revealing my mind to him so he could share in my foresight. Where had he been?

"Moore, your bed is on fire." Ruby commented lazily, barley looking up from the nail file she was running along her fingers.

She was right, my frustration in trying to work through everything had escaped from my wand, catching my bed alight.

"Agumenti."

I send a short jet of water to the singed sheet. Turning to eye Ruby, once again cross legged on top of her bed, She was absentmindedly filing her nails while the other girls were already asleep, drapes drawn. It seemed a bit of a strange thing to be doing at this time of night, drapes open so she could see me. Was she keeping an eye on me?

"Ruby?" I said sweetly turning to her. Trying to keep my 'I have no idea you're plotting against me.' Act up.

She looked up from her fingernails, face narrowing with suspicion. Her grey eyes hardly visible. Her long white hair was almost tucked underneath her, just as long as my own midnight locks. Her skin shone slightly in the light of her lamp.

"Do you have any idea where Luka has been recently? I know you both speak on occasion. I just wondered if he's said anything to you." I shuffled my body round so I was facing her, she had my full attention. She rose her eyebrows slightly then leant over and put her nail file on the drawers between her bed and mine.

"I'm not sure where he is. I met him in the owlery the day he left. He said something about a family emergency. Missing him are we?" She smirked , pulling herself under the sheets of her bed , propping herself up on one elbow to face me. It was a funny position. As if we were just girls gossiping before bed. Friends. The way my time at Hogwart's should be.

"Not really. If I'm honest, I've started to notice in his absence I've been getting a lot more work done. School work." I added pulling myself under my own covers mirroring Ruby's position, propping myself up. Her brows furrowed very slightly. This isn't what she wanted, she needed me to want Luka. He had to get my thoughts. However the more I could plant the seed that his attempts were in vain , the quicker Ruby would come to the conclusion that he had broken whatever deal they had made.
I had a feeling from the way her eyebrows had knitted together she might not actually know the true reason for his absence. Either way I could tell she wasn't happy about it.

"He's very handsome. I'd stick with it if I were you. From what I've heard you've been a bit lonely as of late." She grumbled sleepily rolling over to extinguish her lamp. The gossip Natty , Poppy and I had been spreading was obviously working.
"And god knows if you'll ever do much better." She hissed. Laying her head down on the pillow, hair swirling round her head.

There it was. I couldn't help but smile at her snarky "Rubyism". With a flick of her wand the drapes whipped round her bed.

I drew the drapes of my own bed and stared at the ceiling until I felt enough time had passed to allow Ruby to fall asleep. With a flick of my wand I disappeared into the dark, and crept through the Slytherin Common room.