Sparks Fly || A George Weasley Story

Year 4: Vegan Vampire

I'd barely stayed awake in Charms and had actually fallen asleep in Ancient Runes which lost Hufflepuff twenty points. I know that I deserve to lose some points, but twenty seemed like it was a bit of an overreaction. Of course, I hadn't told Professor Babbling this as I would have only lost more points and ended up in detention for what felt like the hundredth time this year.

I knew it hadn't been that many times, but like I said, it sure did feel like it.

However, I was now on my way to the library for my free study period in between ancient runes and lunch, which I was planning on taking to try and read through more of this magical reptile book I'd stolen from the magic shelf in Hiram's house. I'd been reading on it for over a week now and still, couldn't find anything that could help me, and I was starting to get worried.

I had a lot of the book left to go through, but that didn't mean that my answer was in here. Maybe the shelf was just giving me a starting point and wanted me to go and hunt down my own resources on what it could be. I'd found nothing of interest in the entire book, and the table of contents looked like it had been ripped out at some point or another, and if Hiram hadn't been lying about not being able to find the room, that was decades ago.

There was no telling where the table of contents was now, unless it was under all of that moldy food that I threw in the bin while I was in there.

I shuddered at the thought of having to reach down into the bin and dig it out from underneath all of those maggots.

I stepped through the doors of the library, basking for a minute in the sweet smell of old books and the familiar warmth that seemed to emanate from the shelves themselves. I'd never seen a fireplace in here, which was for the best, since one stray ember could send this whole place up in flames in a matter of minutes.

I tried to think about anything but the library burning down as I hurried through the shelves to find my favorite table. It was next to a window, like almost every other table in here, but this one had a view of the black lake and the trees that blanketed the countryside behind it. There was just something about it that was so calming. The dark water, so still that it looked like a black mirror reflecting the sky above it. The way the limbs of the trees swayed in the slight breeze. It was just beautiful.

I sat down, sitting the book on reptiles on the table with a loud thunk. I cringed from the sound, hoping that Madame Pince wouldn't come rushing out of the shelves to shout at me and kick me out. She had a strict policy on noise in her library and that meant no noise at all if you could help it. Sometimes, she got riled up if you turned a page too noisily. I thought she was a bit overdramatic, but I certainly wouldn't be the one to tell her that.

I flipped through a few pages until I came to where I'd left off last time. I wasn't really any farther than I'd been when I'd left Hiram's house and this whole this was starting to feel pointless.

Did I really think that some stupid shelf that hasn't seen a human in literal decades would be of any help with this situation? Did I really think that this book would help me figure out what was terrorizing us students? Did I really think that I could make a difference by being here?

Maybe I did, but now I wasn't all that sure of any of those things.

I'd only been back a day, but I could tell things were different. Everyone was on edge, and there just wasn't enough of me to go around and still pretend that every step I took alone through this castle didn't send jolts of fear straight through my chest. I came back for Heather and Hermione, and I'd only seen Hermione once when I first arrived.

I needed to check on Harry, because like me, he tended to take other people's wellbeing on himself without thinking about how it would affect him in the long run. Then there was Ginny. Something was off with her the last time we spoke, and I had pretended to not notice the way she jerked in her sleep. She was having more nightmares, and I don't think any of her brothers have really even noticed what was going on with her.