Empty Gold • d.meadowes

-50-

Maeve and Silver, who had been waiting in the common room, stood up hastily. Heidi came over and hugged her. "Good luck with your life, Dorcas," she said with a smile. "Hope to see you around."

She smiled a little. "Yeah, maybe. Goodbye."

As Heidi left, she turned to her friends. Maeve looked close to tears, but Silver pressed her hand reassuringly. "Shall we go then?"

She nodded, and the three of them left the common room. With the trunk levitating behind them, they walked out of the portrait hole, strolled along the corridors, descended a hundred staircases, none of them speaking a word. Dorcas was grateful for the silence.

Finally, she reached the Entrance Hall where Professor McGonagall was waiting for them, and so were Leigh and Juliet.

Leigh gave her a wide smile and a wave, which she returned happily. But she avoided looking at Juliet. She wished she hadn't come to see her off, and she immediately felt guilty as the thought crossed her mind, for it was Juliet who had seen her, Juliet who had worried about her, Juliet who had informed Leigh and thus ensured that she wasn't in any trouble when she had so stupidly walked into the dungeons.

Dorcas was grateful, but a part of her didn't want to meet Juliet now. She had come to terms with her feelings for the Ravenclaw girl, had accepted the fact that she was never going to be with her. She had built up a strong wall to keep herself protected from those feelings, and she was afraid that if she spoke to Juliet now the wall might crumble and all her resolve to leave Juliet alone would die with it.

But Juliet was here now, and there was nothing she could do.

Professor McGonagall bustled towards her. "Leave the trunk here, I'll take care of it. Follow me."

The five of them silently followed the professor out through the large oak doors and stepped into the grounds. They were immediately doused in darkness as the lights inside the castle remained behind, and only the little squares of light from all the windows of the castle shone palely on the grass before them. There was no moon in the sky, which was a pale indigo colour.

Dorcas instinctively turned towards the path that led to Hogsmeade, but McGonagall was taking them another way. "Where are we going, Professor?" she asked, confused. "I thought I was going to disapparate from Hogsmeade."

"When I told your father that you wanted to leave, he requested me to set up a boat for you to cross the lake." She looked over her shoulder towards Dorcas, though she didn't slow down in the slightest. "He thought you shouldn't miss the experience of leaving Hogwarts the traditional way."

Surprised but touched, she followed her silently towards the Black Lake, where sure enough, a tiny boat bobbed near the bank. The sounds of her friends' footsteps sounded very close behind her.

"Well, here we are," announced McGonagall, rather pointlessly Dorcas thought, for they could all see that they have reached the edge of the lake. She remembered this was the exact spot where several boats had stopped seven years ago, and she had scrambled out and climbed out from her boat, scared and exhilarated at the same time. She suddenly felt a tight knot in her throat.

Dorcas turned to her friends, who all smiled widely at her. She had the sudden urge to laugh. Leigh was closest to her and she slowly walked towards him.

"I'm sorry you couldn't come over for summer like I had promised," she told him regretfully. But he was already shaking his head.

"Hey, don't apologise. I understand. And I'll take good care of Lucas. I'm sure we'll be great friends."

She laughed and hugged him, holding him tight. "Take good care of yourself."

"Will you write to me?"