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ATHENA DIDN'T THINK THAT THE situation of fear within the school could have gotten any worse, she was terribly wrong. Following the attack of Justin and Sir Nicholas, people were more fretted than ever.
It seemed that everyone was under the impression that the school wouldn't be able to stay open for very much longer. Athena was under the same ideas. As much as she hated to admit it, it seemed that Hogwarts was no longer safe.
Many parents had made the decision to take their children out of the school and Athena couldn't blame them. She was near terrified everyday that another student would be attacked. It felt as though everyone was walking around on eggshells waiting for something to happen.
Athena felt particularly bad for the first years. After all, this wasn't a brilliant introduction into the school nor was it a good representation of what the school was usually like.
Ginny Weasley seemed more scared than the rest of them. A lot of the time, Athena saw that she was with Percy as he tried to comfort her. Her skin pale and often shaking, Athena could imagine that this year so far hadn't lived up to her high expectations of the school.
She taught all the first year classes for astronomy and could therefore see the terror on many of their faces having to be out of their beds at night. Athena had taken to walking her classes back to their common rooms as she didn't want them to be alone.
Common rooms were seen as safe spaces for the students. Many wanted to stay there all the time or would run back to them once the school day was over. Of course these rooms were protected by passwords however Athena wasn't so sure how the portrait of the fat lady would fair up against a great big monster.
Making everything worse was Harry's involvement. After the attack on Justin, at least half of the school seemed to think that he was Slytherins heir. They'd avoid him like wildfire, running wildly in the other direction when they saw him.
Ron was finding this hilarious however Athena was sure that Harry didn't share the same view. It seemed that something went wrong for him every year. Athena told everyone she could that Harry had no involvement however children often fed on rumours until they grew beyond control.
Athena simply told Harry to ignore it. Once the catastrophe of the chamber was sorted out the real culprit would be caught and then no one could blame Harry. There wasn't much other option of what they could do. Harry just had to keep his head down and stay out of trouble. Of course this was never an easy task for him.
There still wasn't any clue what was causing these attacks and by the week before the Christmas holidays, it seemed that nearly everyone was making the decision to go home. Usually Hogwarts seemed a lot safer than the outside world however now it seemed as though people were escaping the dark stone walls.
☽☽☽
Athena unfortunately found herself down in the dungeons towards the end of the last week. She had been neglecting going down there recently as Snape was even more unbearable than usual.
This was for many reasons. The main one of course was the stimulus of the chamber and what this had done for his rivalry against Harry. Athena already thought that it was pathetic for Snape to hate a twelve year old so much however it seemed to be getting worse.
Snape had fed into the lies that Harry did have something to do with the attacks. This was completely stupid and Athena wasn't sure how a thirty year old man could possibly believe this. He was supposed to have more intelligence than the gossiping school kids, it seemed not.
The man wasn't under the complete pretence that Harry was Slytherins heir however he definitely had a suspicion that the boy was up to something. Athena supposed she couldn't blame him for that, after all Harry was usually always up to something.
Another reason why Snape was even more unbearable than usual was because of Lockhart. This Athena could sympathise with. The man was a walking delusion.
It wasn't rare for Snape to hate the defence against the dark teacher, he did it every year. He saw the professors as competition for his dream job. He'd been after the position for years. Snape may be amazing at potions (not that she'd ever tell him that) but he had a weird love for the defence position.
Lockhart was worst than most. Quirrell had been hiding Lord Voldemort on the back of his head and Athena still believed that she'd rather have him back than deal with two more minutes of Gilderoy.
Snape had taken to hiding out in the dungeons to simply avoid him. Since the duelling club, Lockhart was under the strange perception that he and Snape were acquaintances, this was definitely not the case.
Although Athena had been enjoying the absence of the potions master from her life, she regretfully couldn't avoid him forever. She'd been meaning to speak to him for a while since she got the written response from Kennedy.
Walking down the stairs with the letter clutched in her hand, Athena knocked harshly on his office door. The dungeons were cold at the best of times but considering it was December, the cold stone now felt like ice and she visibly shivered while she waited.
As usual, there was no answer of the door and Athena rudely pushed her way inside without a second thought. She frowned slightly to see that the office was in fact empty, it was rare that Snape ever left his cave except to eat and teach.
Athena turned and started to walk back towards his classroom. As she approached, she could hear the faint sound of rustling and clinking.
"Hello?" She called as she stepped into the potions classroom. Athena was getting flashbacks from just being in there, she'd always hated potions.
"Who is it?" The snide voice of Snape came travelling back.
"It's Rena" she replied as she walked further into the room. Snape was stood in his supplies cupboard, rifling through boxes and jars with great discontent.
"What's wrong with you?" Athena asked with a frown. Snape's glance snapped up to herself and Athena could immediately tell that he was angry.
"Someone has been stealing my supplies" Snape barked in reply.
"Stealing from you?" Athena asked, "are you sure? You might have just miscounted"
"No I'm very sure" Snape replied bitterly, "I keep a list of everything I have and some ingredients are missing"
"How much?" Athena asked, "do you think it's a student?"
"Of course it's a student!" Snape shouted angrily, "I bet it's Potter"
"Of course you do" Athena frowned, "will you stop jumping to conclusions? What's missing?"
"Bicorn horn and boomslang skin" Snape muttered,
"What would students want with your supplies?" Athena asked.
"Many things" Snape huffed, "I'll get to the bottom of this even if I have to question Potter myself!"
"You'll do no such thing" Athena glared at him, "do you have any proof that Harry has anything to do with this?"
"Well no but—"
"Exactly" Athena smiled triumphantly, "you always blame Harry for all your misfortunes even if he has nothing to do with them"
"I told you, he's up to something" Snape sneered,
"Yes well I doubt Harry requires bicorn skin and boomslang horn"
"It's bicorn horn and boomslang skin" Snape corrected in annoyance, "how did you ever pass potions?"
"There's no need to be condescending" Athena shrugged, "no one is amazing at every subject... well maybe except for Hermione—"
"She's mediocre at potions" Snape interrupted,
"Of course she is" Athena rolled her eyes, "you just hate seeing Gryffindor's do well, don't you?"
"You'll ask Potter if he's been stealing for my stores" Snape stated.
"Why should I?" Athena raised her eyebrows, "this has nothing to do with me"
"Because if you don't, I will" Snape glowered, "and I doubt you want that"
"Fine I'll ask him but I doubt it's Harry, maybe you just got your calculations wrong"
"I did no such thing" Snape snapped, "why are you even here?"
"Nice to see you too" Athena rolled her eyes, "I'm here because I got a reply"
"From... her?" Snape asked slowly,
"Who else?" Athena asked shortly, "are we waiting on replies from any other old friends"
Snape didn't reply as he snatched the letter out of Athena's outstretched hand. His black beady eyes tore over the paper with obvious interest and Athena wondered whether showing him would be a good idea.
"Well it's more than I got" Snape frowned,
"Of course it is" Athena smirked, "I told you, she likes me better"
"Yes, yes whatever... she evidently doesn't want to be contacted"
"I think we worked that much out from the letter that she sent you" Athena pointed out, "that's not the point, she says that she's ok"
"Can we believe that?"
"Well we don't have anything else to go on" Athena shrugged, "this is all we have... so we'll just have to trust that she's telling the truth"
"She's on the run as a wanted criminal completely on her own, how can she be ok?"
"She might not be on her own" Athena pondered, "we don't know where she is or what she's doing... for all we know she may have a completely new life with completely new friends"
"Does this not bother you?" Snape asked as he held up the letter, "knowing that she's out there and knowing that you can't see her, that you might never see her again?"
"Of course it bothers me, but if it's what she wants—"
"It might not be what she wants"
"Well it sounds like it" Athena shrugged, "writing more letters will just anger her, that's not what I want"
Snape didn't seem to agree, he handed the letter back slowly as his mind whirred into motion. Athena knew what he was thinking, it had crossed her own mind. The possibility that they could go against the girls wishes, that they could find her, that they could finally help her.
"I presume you're not going to reply?"
"How could I?" Athena asked, "what is there to say? We just have to accept that she's moved on, that she doesn't need any reminders of the life she left behind"
"If you say so" Snape muttered, "I still don't believe any of this, that she's ok"
"Not sure why you're pretending to care so much, you've put more effort into helping her when she's gone than when she was actually around"
"You seem to love pointing that out" Snape frowned,
"Just a reminder" Athena shrugged as she turned and went to walk out of the room.
"Ask Potter about the ingredients!" Snape called,
"Yeah, will do" Athena replied lazily, knowing that she probably wouldn't.
☽☽☽
A/n
Words - 1840
Published- 4th May 2020
May the fourth be with you