Oliver Evans is The Prodigy of the Heart (Book One)

Chapter Eleven: Smoke

The halls were quiet and bare. I could feel the chilly wind pushing its way inside through the windows near the courtyard entrance. I pulled off my scarf and hat, tucking them into the pockets of my robes. I decided to go to the great hall to warm up a bit before heading back to the common room for the evening.

As I entered the great hall, I saw the normally packed tables sitting rather empty. A few students collected at the Hufflepuff table, sipping tea and looking through their textbooks. The Slytherin table was all but deserted; only a few goblets were left from breakfast that morning. I took a seat in the middle of the benches, pulling out a piece of parchment and my quill.

"Do you mind if I join you?" a familiar voice said from behind me. I looked up to see Gregory holding his books against his chest, his tie loosely draped around his neck.

"I don't see why not," I replied "Spending the holidays here at school, then?"

"Yeah, I have some...erm...work to catch up on." he set his books on the table and sat down next to me "Sorry again about breaking your bones and what not."

"It's okay, really. That's just what happens sometimes." I looked up from my parchment "By the way, I meant to ask you. I didn't see you at the ball with Mallory, she was really excited to go. What happened?"

"Oh," he squirmed "Yeah. I was sort of busy doing something else. I apologized to her already and she didn't seem too upset. Heard she was dancing with some other Slytherin bloke by the end of the evening anyway."

"What were you doing?" I asked, dipping my quill

"I can't really say. I'm not supposed to talk about it."

I rolled my eyes "Okay, whatever."

"Look, I want to tell you. It's just...I'd get in a lot of serious trouble if I tell anyone." he picked up one of his books and turned to a page towards the center "I've been falling behind on Defense Against the Dark Arts, real bad. So after I failed my last exam, I decided to ask someone for help."

"I haven't had a class yet this year, but I've heard that the professor shadowing Leighton is pretty laughable," I said. Gregory nodded in agreement, "All I can say is I was training that evening with someone." he said quietly

"Who would have even been able to train you? Everyone was supposed to be at the ball..." I stopped to think for a second. I was remembering now that I didn't recall seeing Snape anywhere in the great hall that evening "Wait a second...Snape was tutoring you?"

"You can't say anything. He's really a great teacher, he's shown me a lot and I'm starting to get a lot closer to a passable grade on my OWLs."

"So that means you were with him the night he was attacked! That's great! You must have seen or heard something."

"Not... no, not really..."

"Come on, if you were with him most of the evening, you had to have seen someone or something out of place. Did anyone come by? Did you see anyone in the halls? Did you..." I noticed Gregory's face had fallen and his shoulders had slumped down. I narrowed my eyes "Wait a second...you didn't."

"It's not what you think!" he said abruptly

"You bastard!" I stood up and glared at him "What did you do to him?!"

"Shhh! Keep your voice down!" the group of students at the Hufflepuff table curiously looked in our direction "I didn't do it on purpose." he grabbed my arm and pulled me back down to the seat "I messed up a spell I was trying to learn and it hit Snape. I didn't know what to do, so I took off to try and find help. How else do you think anyone found you two?"