Giselle lay there on the mattress of her sick bed her eyes wide open. She couldn't sleep at all. Maybe it was because all she ever did in the Hospital Wing was take naps or maybe it was because of the anticipation of tomorrow. Tonight was her last day in the Hospital Wing and she felt relieved. All she needed to do was sleep for a few hours before waking up to a sunny day of freedom.
However, she couldn't sleep at all. She tossed and turned and tossed and turned trying to find a comfortable spot to rest on. Sadly, none of the positions had worked for her. And so she lay, in the darkness of the cold desolate room.
She had been awake so long she had taken notice to everything situated in her line of sight. How all the cream coloured fabrics and pearly white tiles glowed with the moon's silvery rays of light. The whole room had an unsettling hum of silence ringing loud and clear in Giselle's ears.
It was unusual for her to be up this late anyways. By now she should have been passed out in bed. Maybe she wasn't tired enough. After all she had been taking naps throughout the day. Giselle immediately thought of ways to exhaust herself that didn't include much noise. A walk around the floor wouldn't be too bad would it?
Not thinking over the decision she sat up in her sick bed and carefully placed her feet on the chilling tile. A jolt of cold from the floor shot up from her foot and all the way up her spine. Once Giselle had stood herself up she stretched. Staying in bed for days made her legs feel wobbly.
Quietly, Giselle tiptoed out of the Hospital Wing. She creaked one of the large double doors open to check if the coast was clear. She probably should have gone back to her bed but now her heart was beating at a racing speed. Adrenaline pumped through her as she stepped out of those doors for the first time in days.
From previous experiences Giselle knew that prefects patrolled the castle during the night hours so she would have to be careful. Her walk wasn't particularly long, or at least she didn't think so. She just strolled around the grey corridors which were lit just by moonlight. Everything looked especially pretty with the shadows of fat snowflakes falling from the outside.
Just when she was enjoying the moment Giselle heard the sound of footsteps echoing off the stone walls of her corridor. Panic swept through her and she began to run. Thankfully for Giselle she was very light on her feet so you could barely hear the sound of her bare feet pounding across the floor as she ran.
She sprinted, trying to keep her breath from not sounding to ragged. Rounding a corner Giselle slowed down thinking she was out of range from anybody. She was wrong. Just a step away was Filch's cat, Mrs. Norris. She backed away from the animal slowly while staring at Mrs. Norris carefully. One meow and she was done for.
Right on cue with her thoughts the cat meowed and the yellow light of Filch's lantern could be seen approaching. Quickly turning around she sped off only to hear the footsteps of her previous problem.
"Is somebody there?" it appeared to be a boy from the sound of his calls. He must have heard Mrs. Norris too.
"Bratty children. Thinking they can just come and go as they please. I'll show them." she heard Filch as he was coming towards her.
Giselle just cringed, she was going to get caught. So she just braced herself for what was to come. Any minute now the prefect and Filch would meet in the middle to find her bare-footed and dressed in a Hospital Wing nightgown.
A miracle was performed when Giselle felt a tug at the back of her nightgown and she was pulled into complete darkness. Before she could yelp a hand covered her mouth. Out of instinct she started struggling in the person's grip around her waist.
The person just shushed her and whispered. "Be quiet." the voice was completely recognizable and she just leaned against his stomach feeling totally relieved.
The sounds of Filch and the prefect conversing intensely was heard. They talked for about two minutes before parting ways. Once everything was completely silent her saviour let go of her. She just spun around to hug him.
"Fred." she breathed embracing him with deep gratitude.
"I know. I know. I saved your life and you are so thankful that I was in the right place at the right time." he waved her off but she could practically hear the smile he was wearing.
"I can't thank you enough." Giselle said, her heart pumping hard from all the suspense. She let go of him leaning against the wall opposite of Fred. She didn't even realize that there was a secret passage here.
"This passage has been here for a long time." said Fred as though reading her thoughts like they were written out in front of him.
"And you never told me?" she asked with a hint of mock hurt.
"Well you never asked." he replied.
"What were you doing walking in this passage anyways?" she asked and he chuckled.
"What do you think I was doing?" he countered and the answer seemed obvious now. She grinned "Stalking the corridors like a creep?" said Giselle bemused.
"Ha ha." his sarcastic laughter made her laugh more. "Very funny. Guess again."
"You were stealing from Filch's confiscated cupboard again. Weren't you?"
"Guilty as charged." he laughed and he grabbed her wrist leading her through the dark passage.
"Where's George then? He's usually with you during these types of robberies."
"He's asleep. And it wasn't a robbery!" protested Fred. "I was taking back what was rightfully mine! Which is why George isn't here by the way. Filch took some of my fireworks when it 'accidentally' hit him straight in the nose at lunch period today." he explained.
"Does George know that you got your fireworks confiscated?" she asked amused. Fred always had the tendency to lose things.
"Nope. Which is why I had to get my fireworks before he noticed they were gone. Imagine all of the things he'd say to me if he found out."
One of the things Giselle loved to listen to and watch was the twins' banter. It was like a game of wit. If one of them had done something embarrassing or stupid then most likely the other would be there to throw witty remarks to make fun of them. They never hurt each others feelings though because they knew it was all for fun.
"Speaking of George. How is he?" Giselle asked genuinely curious.
"Of course you would want to know that." she was practically glowing red. "Anyways he's all right. I guess."
"I guess? What do you mean by 'I guess'?"
"He's been acting strange lately. I think he and Alice had a row or something because they haven't talked with each other comfortably after you were admitted into the Hospital Wing."
She thought for a moment her eyebrows furrowed as she processed the current thoughts running through her mind. Alice had not told her anything that involved George and her for the last few days. Giselle couldn't believe how bizarre this was before since Alice never stopped talking about him.
"Alice hasn't told me anything about that." she said softly still trying to imagine what could have happened.
"I think you should talk to George about it." said Fred and Giselle grabbed his hand and spun him around to face her.
"Why me? Has he not told you anything?"
"Unfortunately he hasn't." Fred sighed. "That's why I need you to talk to him. If I can't get anything out of him then I'm sure you could. You two used to tell each other everything. Remember?" he inquired and she found herself smiling.
"Yeah. I guess we did didn't we?" she thought aloud, her voice small and barely audible.
If only things were how they used to be.
~*~
Never had Giselle been so relieved to be back at the Hospital Wing. She was extremely tired now from all of the walking they had done to get here.
"Thanks Fred." she said to him for probably the billionth time.
"See you tomorrow, Jelly." he smirked at her. He and George had started calling her that because of her infinite love of gelatine dessert.
"Oh and don't have any bad dreams now, you hear?" he joked and she just waved him off.
With a hearty laugh her ginger-haired friend had disappeared into the darkness.
Giselle slipped under the covers of the Hospital Wing's bed sheets and let her eyelids get heavy. In the moments before drifting off she planned on seeing George that day tomorrow so that they could talk. Tomorrow would be a new day and she was just glad that she would finally be leaving this colourless section of the castle.
Kinda crap but it's all I got.
So it's been a long time. I've been busy studying for exams and I still have one more to go. This is all I got unfortunately. I keep making these filler chapters that sort of go with the plotline but in a way not really (I just defined filler chapter, I know). Don't hate me! I know the plot line is messy and kind of vague but I've got the idea written down and I know exactly where I'm going to end up and blah, blah, blah.
I should sleep but I'm procrastinating (which is bad considering I have an exam tomorrow).
Bananas, bananas. They're sitting on my fridge. Bananas, bananas. They're shaped just like a bridge.
If you know where that's from you're cool by my standards, so yeah...
Sleep deprivation sucks. I'll sleep now.
So long! Farewell! Auf wiedersehen! Goodbye! GOOOODBYYYYYYE!!!!
- Avery xx