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[CHAPTER FORTY - THREE]
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"I THOUGHT WE TOLD YOU TO STAY," said Mei when she saw Odette approaching, "Where were you?! We were so scared that you fell down the stairs and cracked your head open!"
"When have I ever fallen down the stairs?" said Odette.
The smile fell from Mei's face, "Odette, are you okay? What's the matter?"
"I want to go home," said Odette as Mei wrapped her arms around her.
"The year is almost over, just hold on a little —"
"No, I want to go to my home. The home that doesn't exist anymore."
"How can you return to a place that no longer is what it once was? Even if you return, it won't be your home anymore. It's just ruins."
"That's where you're wrong," said Olivia Mae, "It still stands. No one can go inside of it, but who says you have to follow the law?"
"Olivia Mae! Don't even suggest such a terrible idea!"
"It's her house, she has every right to return to it."
"But if she gets caught —"
"She gets caught. It's a risk she has to take. It's not up to us to protect her."
"Odette, do you know the address?" said Olivia Mae once Mei didn't respond. Odette shook her head, but it was probably included in the papers Regulus gave her.
"I don't either, but I reckon I could figure out."
"Thank you, Olivia Mae."
"Of course! We're friends now, right?"
Odette wrinkled her nose and gave Olivia Mae a small smile, "I'll think about it."
"You know what? That's something, I'll take it," said Olivia Mae, "Well, I'm going to go and write a letter to my mum. You better not disappear again!"
"Right now? You won't make it back before curfew," said Mei.
"Don't underestimate my abilities, Mei!" Olivia Mae left the common room in a hurry in an attempt to make it to the owlery, write the letter, and return back to the common room all before curfew.
"What time is it?" asked Odette.
"A quarter to nine."
"She won't make it," said Odette, "Even if she sprints, it takes at least fifteen minutes to get to the owlery and write the letter."
"Olivia Mae is well known for amazing people," said Mei, "You'll see."
Odette nodded with a small smile.
"Hey, Odette? Were you crying?"
"What?" said Odette, wiping her cheeks, "No."
Mei gave her a small smile, "Growing up, my mum taught my sisters and I that crying is a sign of weakness. Every time we cried, she'd leave. Eventually, we learned the crying will only make her turn against us. The last time I cried was when my dad died. Even then, I held back my tears. Xia let it all go, but Hua. . .Hua just looked cold. I'm scared for her children to be honest. She's a lovely sister, but as a person. . .she's taken after our mum a lot. Some of it are good qualities, but there are many qualities that aren't quite as good. Xia's worst fear is that Emery and Rosie will grow up feeling like we did, it's why she always tries her hardest to be the best aunt she can be. Just as she tries to always cheer them up, she also tries to teach them that it's okay to be sad. Odette. . .don't be ashamed that you were crying. I speak from experience when I say that holding back your tears will only break you more."
"Break. . .you speak as if we are shiny pieces of china sitting on the highest shelf."
"Isn't that what some us are?"
"Mei. . .why do we keep secrets?"
"It depends on the person," said Mei as she shrugged her shoulders, "A secret can be kept to protect someone or to hurt someone."
"What about my secret? Why am I keeping it?"
"To protect yourself," shrugged Mei, "It's not a bad thing at all. Sometimes, it's important to put yourself first."
"So, then if I tell people, it's because of trust, right?"
"I suppose. . . where are you going this?"
"Nowhere," said Odette immediately.
Mei narrowed her eyes at her but shrugged it off.
"I think I'm going to go to bed now. Today has been a long day," said Odette.
"Alright," said Mei, "Goodnight. I'll stay down here and wait for Livi."
Odette nodded and said, "Goodnight," before she headed up to her dorm. Chloe's side of the room was empty. All her stuff was gone. Emma wasn't in the room, but Naomi was.
"Hi, Naomi," said Odette as she closed the door. No response. Odette furrowed her eyebrows.
"Naomi?"
Was she asleep? Odette didn't think she was because she remembered Naomi mentioning that she couldn't ever sleep with the light on. Odette walked over to Naomi's bed and looked at her. She looked deep in sleep. Perhaps, she was really tired or maybe she had fallen asleep with the light off but Emma or someone else came in, turned on the light, and forgot to turn it off. Odette was about to return to her bed when she spotted a small glass vile on the floor. It was open. She picked it up and examined it. It took a couple of moments, but she was able to figure out what it was and her eyes widened.
Poison.
The Ravenclaws seemed to be wide awake with all the commotion in the common room. Naomi was immediately taken to the hospital wing, but no one knew how long she had been lying there. Emma said that she saw her when she went in the dorm to finish packing Chloe's things, but Naomi looked fine. She was smiling and laughing. She had given Emma a hug before Emma left the dorm.
Emma looked like a train wreck the last time Odette saw her. Emma went to the hospital wing with Naomi sobbing. Despite being tired, Odette didn't want to go to bed without hearing anything regarding Naomi's condition.
Rumours were being spread throughout the common room, despite the head of house telling them to quit spreading rumours. Some people were saying Naomi drank the potion herself while others were saying she was fed the potion, some even went as far to say that Chloe force fed the potion to Naomi. Olivia Mae yelled at the group that started telling people that.
Even if Chloe was stealing, she would never try and kill someone, especially not her own friend.
"Odette, are you sure you don't want to sleep?" said Mei.
"No, I'm fine," said Odette, "I'll just study for now."
Odette finally met the head boy. It was a rather grumpy Hufflepuff. He was forced to take charge of the Ravenclaws since Emma, the head girl, wasn't in stable condition.
"Everyone, please settle down. If you go up to your dorm room, you must be with two other people. No one should be alone until we hear any further news," he said.
Aditi went up to him. Odette hadn't seen Aditi in a while, she hadn't seen Lola around either. The last thing she heard from Lola was that the Gryffindor team was finally getting back on track after James Potter left. Odette still saw Xia around, but she hadn't really spoken to her as of late.
Odette sat down, but she wasn't actually going to study. She was going to go over the papers Regulus gave her. Flipping through them, she realized the paper that contained her information was missing. She saw it before when Regulus first showed her the papers, but it was no longer there. Did she forget it when she was cleaning up? She'd check tomorrow. No one was allowed to leave their common rooms, especially not after Naomi was found with a vial of poison near her. Odette heard that most of prefects were on night duty, instead of just being a few like it usually is. Odette was glad she wasn't a prefect, it seemed like too much unnecessary responsibility.
Odette put the papers away. She couldn't look at them without being reminded of Regulus. Her mind was still a mess. In fact, her thoughts only got jumbled around more.
After waiting an hour and a half, Emma finally entered. She was swarmed by curious Ravenclaws, but she pushed past them.
"Naomi is okay!" she announced loudly, "She is okay! Everyone can return back to their beds!"
Olivia Mae scurried over to Emma, along with Mei. Odette remained in her spot.
"How is she?" said Mei, "Is she really fine?"
"Physically, yes," said Emma, "I can't say the same for mentally."
"What happened?" said Olivia Mae.
"I'm sure you've heard about her family, Olivia Mae," said Emma, "They were killed a few days ago by death eaters, all of them, including Naomi's five year old brother. Naomi swallowed the poison herself. After getting her hands on it, she kept going back and forth, but after Chloe's expulsion. . .she just drank it. She appeared calm when she first woke up, but the moment no one was watching, she tried to run off."
"Will she be okay?" asked Odette.
"I don't know. . ." said Emma, "I overheard discussion of sending her to St. Mungos, but after a few wizards were killed there last week, she just might stay in the hospital wing until she either gets better or the last day of school."
"Poor Naomi," said Olivia Mae, "She loved her little brother to pieces."
"She loved her whole family," said Mei.
"She really did," said Olivia Mae as she nodded her head.
"Go to sleep," said Emma, "Come on, Odette, let's go up together."
"Sure," said Odette as they went up to their dorm rooms.
Over the next few days, Odette tried to avoid Regulus. Every time she spotted him, whether it be in class or in a corridor, she would spin around and scurry off in the opposite direction. It was really bad and she was even late to class once because of it. She was pretty sure he knew she was avoiding him, because they once made eye contact and she ran away. In her defense, she really needed to use the loo.
She had never realized how much Regulus affected her. Knowing she won't see Regulus that afternoon or tomorrow morning or tomorrow night upset her. She found herself not wanting to think about the future at all. She ate just enough to get by the day and distanced herself from her friends.
She did make time to visit Naomi, but Naomi spent most of her time sleeping. It scared Odette to know that if she had just thought Naomi was sleeping and went to sleep herself, Naomi might have not made it. Naomi did not appear okay, though. She appeared to get worse as each day passed. She didn't even eat anymore and Madam Pomfrey had to find other ways to make sure she got food in her system.
Her friends noticed that Odette was acting odd, but they stopped asking after a while. they focused more on Naomi and Odette liked it that way, it gave her time to think.
She never thought she would ever miss Regulus as much as she did. She kept remembering the evenings they would spend in the room of requirement, laughing and talking. Dancing with a curtain could never compete with when she danced with him.
Her mind drifted back to what Benny told her. She shook her head, it couldn't be — could it? She couldn't get Regulus off her mind no matter what she did. She didn't care about anything else anymore, she just wanted to be close to him again. Even if they had secrets between them, she wanted Regulus in her life. It hurt her seeing him in the corridor, but not being able to go up to him or share a smile knowing that they'd see each other later.
Why was she running away when she wanted to run towards him?
Odette knew what she had to do, so she waited for the perfect moment to approach him.
It was during lunch one Wednesday evening when she saw him leave the Slytherin table. Odette packed up her stuff and left the Great Hall. She wandered around the corridors, until she found him. He was sitting in one of the tables in the library. She felt her heart start to race and her hands get sweaty. Regulus stood up and walked through an aisle.
It was now or never.
Odette strolled inside and in the aisle he disappeared in. He was bending down, reaching for a book. Odette crept up behind him and kneeled down. She made it seem as if she was reaching for the book, but instead, she grabbed his hand. Regulus stared down at their hands before he looked up to look at her.
She smiled softly at him, "I'm sorry."
Regulus stood up, so she did too.
"Do you forgive me?" she said after he didn't say anything to her.
Regulus sighed, "I suppose."
Odette grinned as she let go of his hand and wrapped her arms around him. Without thinking, she pecked his cheek.
"Thank you! Thank you!"
She pulled away and seeing Regulus's expression, she realized what she did.
"Bloody hell! I'm so sorry, I - I really didn't mean to," said Odette.
"It's okay," he said after he cleared his throat. They stood in awkward silence.
"Oh!" said Odette as she pulled out the book he had been reaching for, "Here."
"Thank you," he said, "It's actually quite boring without you around."
Odette giggled, "I'm glad I could make you feel better."
Regulus stared down at the book before he looked up at Odette. They made eye contact and they both quickly looked away. Odette distracted herself with a book on the shelf. She traced the calligraphy on the spine. Her eyes widened when she felt Regulus wrap his arms around her.
"Odette. . .Aurélie. . .Can we stay like this? Just for a minute."
Odette smiled, "Can we make it into two minutes?"
"You're asking for time we don't have."
"Time. . .is a concept we're so obsessed with, but is it really important? Instead of minutes, why don't we just stay like this until our legs give out from standing so long? Or until our arms start to cramp? Or maybe when we start to fall asleep? Why do we have to count on time to tell us when it's time to let go?"
"Because, while that sounds wonderful, time doesn't wait for us," said Regulus as he pulled away. "Come on, we have a lot of talking to do."
He grabbed her hand and started to pull her along. Odette held onto his hand.
"That we do," she mumbled, staring at their intertwined hands, "That we do, Reggie."
"Call me that one last time. . .I dare you to."
Odette laughed, it felt good to be next to him again. She didn't want it to end. Unfortunately, she was asking for the impossible.