Iniquity Rises Book 1 of Iniquity Series~Now Complete~

Ch.28

I spent the rest of the week howled up in the one place I knew no one would search. The astronomy tower, it was peaceful to me, all my erratic feelings seemed to cease as I stared out at the lake surrounding the school. It was mesmerizing as I watched the sun reflect off the glistening water, the dark mysterious trees surrounding the lake swaying gently in the wind.

"You should know better than to come up here alone, especially at this time of day." Tom said, as he stood in the doorway, a sly smirk plastered on his face.

I ignored him and continued sketching on the piece of parchment I had brought up with me. "You know, if you keep following people around like you do, people will mistake you for some sort of nutter." I muttered, as I looked up again to finish sketching a few details of the swaying trees.

"You're still angry." He stated, stepping deeper into the room, his jaw flexing as he did so.

"No. I was angry the other day when you called me a mudblood. I was angrier the other day when you told me of the supposed wager James and Sirius along with his other friends. Now, I am just hurt, tired, and annoyed that you're still following me around acting like I'm the one who insulted you." I replied, as I finished the sketch and slipped it into my diary.

I heard him let out a tired sigh. "Look, Anna, I'm-I'm sorry I called you a-a mudblood. I didn't mean it, I was simply angry that day and you happened to be the only person I saw at the moment, and used you to take my anger out on. I know it was below myself to insult you like that, you know I would never say anything like that to you. I care about you, you are one of the few true friends that I have here. Why would I want to hurt you like that?" He asked attempting to sit near me.

I shook my head at him, unwilling to look at him as he spoke. I reveled at the length of time it took for him to even acknowledge fact he was wrong, before finally turning to answer him calmly.

"It's been three weeks, Tom. It took you three weeks to find me and 'apologize' to me about the incident. Like I said before I'm no longer angry. I find that being angry at someone takes too much energy out of me, which I don't seem have at the moment, nor do I have the time... just so you know, its alright to be messing around with those ladies, I'm not your girlfriend or anything of that sort, it's not like I'm going to be getting angry anymore. I mean, we hardly see each other anymore, if at all; it seems we're growing apart now. We're always going to be friends, Tom, but for now I just need my space." I whispered, setting my diary and pen down.

"Anna, I-" He began before I interrupted him by shaking my head, while attempting to keep my tears at bay.

"Look, with everything that's been happening with me at the moment. I need to be alone to figure out what's wrong with me. I don't want anyone to get hurt if I can't - control myself. That's why I've been avoiding people. Please understand I need my space." I said, grabbing my things before walking across the room and down the stairs quickly.

By the time I had made it to the Gryffindor tower it was time wasted. It was now dinner time, sighing as I plonked my book and pen into my bedside table before puffing my cheeks and letting out the gust of air roughly before turning and heading out of the room.

"Anna." Grisha called as she made her way down the steps behind me.

"Gri. What's going on, you look like you've seen a ghost." I commented as I slowed my pace to let her catch up.

"I resent that." One of the ghost roaming around the castle muttered before disappearing into the stone wall.

We looked at each other gaping and wide-eyed before bursting into the peals of laughter. Quickly recovering before we headed down into the Great Hall.

Everyone was already sitting in the table. I had just sat down when Headmaster/ Professor Dippet approached the stand, looking around the room to silence them before he spoke.

"Good evening my students, it has come to my attention-" He began before a loud resounded bang was heard in the from somewhere in the room and all of the candles that floated midair blew out.

The room was now coated in suddenly darkness, besides the reflective spellbound ceiling only giving off enough light to for us to blink. The room began to grow tense as the uncomfortable silence stretched on. Suddenly, a resounding clap of thunder was heard around the room, causing everyone in the room to jump in the seats, including the professors at the front of the room.

"Everyone, keep calm. Prefects, lead your houses back to your dormitories, all of you are to remain there until the heads of your house come and get you. Quietly and calmly began to head out." Headmaster Dippet said.

Without even looking back, I quickly stood on my feet and began following the students from my house and our prefects back to the tower, not knowing what was occurring at the time within one of the courtyards of the castle grounds.