ARITHMANCY & ALCHEMY | h.p.a.u

Mercury

A loud bang had Albus sit straight up, scanning the Slytherin common room for any threats. His nerves were on high alert despite the grounds being fortified already. 

Scorpius was already up, swinging open the door to the Slytherin dungeons to peek outside. Albus concern grew when Rose gasped at the sight and rushed out. 

He glanced at Thea who had a knowing twinkle in her eye before rushing out as well. 

There was a huge sign outside of the Slytherin common room. With a large...birthday....message.

Albus grimaced. He'd forgotten Scorpius' birthday. 

Jay Finch-Fetchley was holding up a Muggle confetti canon. Half of Slytherin was out here, magical fireworks going off through their wands. 

"January 13th already, huh." his best mate smiled, leaning against the entrance of the Slytherin dungeons while Rose rushed to hug Roxanne.

No Gryffindors were in sight other than Roxanne, thank Salazar for that. He knew that Lily had gone home, but he wasn't sure about Hugo and Dominique.  He couldn't face them if they came back early and saw that he was still here and not roaming various countries with Scorpius.

Albus lingering at the entrance as well, not noticing Althea until she'd hooked her arms through both of theirs. "I know it's last minute since Roxanne and I got back from France yesterday, but I figured it would be a good start to the semester. A little party never killed anyone."

Wrong choice of words. He immediately thought of Ursula Goyle's dead body at the Yule Ball. Of how close more of his housemates had come to dying if Rose and Scorpius hadn't figured it all out.

But no one else seemed to care. Among the happiness that Althea was pushing, it was just...forgotten. 

~

Dinner was loud and bustling as usual, but he didn't have it in him to indulge in the large buffet. Looking at the food made him sick. Almost as much as seeing Scorpius and Althea winking at his cousins at Gryffindor's table. 

Tomorrow was the last day before classes started. He had one more night to himself before preparations for classes began. 

Usually he'd never come to this spot alone, since it was a place that he, Scorpius, and Althea all held sacred. But this time he needed to collect his thoughts without his two biggest distractions being present.

Climbing up the winding staircase to the Astronomy Tower, he decided there and then that he had the worst luck in all of Hogwarts at that moment. Sitting on the steps, moonlight catching the tears on her eyes, was his third biggest distraction. 

"Diana?" he said quietly, so as to not startle her.

She jerked her head up, and any doubt of who she may be melted away. This was definitely Diana Thomas. She was in her civvies, a suitcase balanced under her feet. The casual wear made him doubt her identity. Usually casual wear was restricted for common rooms. But considering that she had probably just came back from the extended break, it wasn't too surprising to see her in it. 

Her outfit wasn't anything gaudy or out of character. The clothes suited her. It just didn't line up with her personality. Diana Thomas was the no-nonsense Ravenclaw quidditch captain who boasted near-perfect grades. It was strange to see her in a blue satin off the shoulder top and flared khaki jeans. She had a deluge of butterfly clips in her hair that actually looked charmed to be alive. And her blue heels matched her top, tied off with a bow at the back of the ankle.

She looked soft and feminine, but her posture revealed a proud and powerful stature. The contrast threw him off. 

He stepped forward, but she lurched up and snatched the suitcase rushing past him before he could get a word out. 

 It was then, he realized as his inquisitive green eyes followed her shaking form, that he wasn't at the Astronomy Tower. In his mindless walking, he'd actually come to the Ravenclaw Tower. 

A riddle was posed by the eagle knocker and Diana whispered the answer in a hushed tone. Albus noticed the back of her hand swipe roughly at her eyes before the double doors swung open to grant her entrance. He barely got a peek in, noticing that Lysander Scamander was lounging in a plush blue loveseat in civvies, before the doors shut behind her. 

He stared at the door for a moment, then decided to reroute to the Slytherin dungeons. It was probably best for him not to go to the Silver Trio's spot. If he did, he'd probably end up never hearing the end of it tomorrow at Quidditch Practice. The February game against Ravenclaw was coming up. And this time, he'd be replacing Lana Avery as one of the Beaters. Which also meant that he'd face his lab partner, who was the Keeper of Ravenclaw's quidditch team. 

He decided to investigate just what exactly she was crying about before he headed off. To his surprise, there were flowers engraved on the steps. The names were painfully familiar. It was all the Ravenclaw students who had been murdered. 

Albus wondered then if she was the one who engraved the flowers on each step with a name written on it. Ravenclaws were practical and precise. Emotions only served as a distraction- in fact they weren't to be useful at all. Logic was best. He couldn't imagine anyone in Ravenclaw doing something like this. 

But Diana? She had confessed her feelings to him two weeks ago; she was openly mourning the loss of her housemates. Who else could it have been?

He glanced down once more at the names, guilt eating at him. He'd been so wrapped up in the housemates he'd lost, that he didn't realize other Houses lost members too. Slytherin may have been the main target, but the chaos of that one pebble directed to Slytherin had rippled into the whole Hogwarts pond. 

Albus pulled out his wand to cast a quick spell, hoping that it would give comfort for whoever else decided to pause at the steps and remember the fallen witches and wizards of Ravenclaw.

~

xx 𝔭𝔩𝔞𝔶𝔩𝔦𝔰𝔱 xx

ℌ𝔬𝔩𝔡 𝔒𝔫 - 𝔗𝔥𝔢 ℑ𝔫𝔱𝔢𝔯𝔫𝔢𝔱
𝔇𝔢𝔞𝔡 𝔱𝔬 𝔐𝔢 - 𝔎𝔞𝔩𝔦 𝔘𝔠𝔥𝔦𝔰
𝔉𝔦𝔯𝔢 𝔣𝔬𝔯 𝔜𝔬𝔲 - ℭ𝔞𝔫𝔫𝔬𝔫𝔰
ℑ'𝔪 𝔑𝔬𝔱 ℑ𝔫 𝔏𝔬𝔳𝔢 - 𝔎𝔢𝔩𝔰𝔢𝔶 𝔏𝔲
𝔖𝔢𝔞𝔪𝔩𝔢𝔰𝔰 - ℭ𝔥𝔯𝔦𝔰 𝔊𝔯𝔢𝔶
𝔖𝔞𝔪𝔢 𝔒𝔩' 𝔐𝔦𝔰𝔱𝔞𝔨𝔢𝔰 - ℜ𝔦𝔥𝔞𝔫𝔫𝔞
𝔐𝔢 𝔞𝔫𝔡 𝔜𝔬𝔲𝔯 𝔐𝔞𝔪𝔞 - ℭ𝔥𝔦𝔩𝔡𝔦𝔰𝔥 𝔊𝔞𝔪𝔟𝔦𝔫𝔬

xxx

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