dremiosa | dnf hogwarts au

chapter seven

the sky was radiant in the pink, purple and orange hues of the sunset. the moon peeked out from over the hills at the large wizarding school as students began to make their way into the great hall for the nightly feast.

meanwhile, a group of individuals all wearing masks were scurrying to get to the fifth-floor corridor. the man wearing a pig mask stood in front of the large wall in front of the room of requirement. a door slowly appeared, and by the time it did the rest of the masked figures stood behind him. they all shuffled into the room and removed their mask one by one. one man didn't move his mask however, it remained, shielding his face.

the woman who had taken off her mask, a pink axolotl, was the first one to speak. "who is this?" she asked in her calm voice. "none of your concern, but vital to our plan. nobody else can know." the man holding the pig mask said, his deep voice ringing through the otherwise silent room. she fell back into place next to the man holding a mask of a blue sheep. the man then placed his arm around her, not necessarily a romantic gesture, but a protective one.

the strange man that none of them had ever seen before stood in the back of the room, his mask barely poking out through the shadows. the brunette at the front of the circle cleared his throat before stepping on the podium. "we have a plan. and it's a damn fine one if i do say so myself. once and for all, we will get the revenge on george. he will pay for what his parents did to our parents as well as the wizarding world!" the man exclaimed. "for l'manberg!" he shouted.

"l'manberg!" they all chorused.

—

george woke up, abruptly sitting up. he regretted it instantly though, as he felt pain radiate throughout his body. he felt something cold in his hand, and heard silent snores from the chair next to him. he let out a small gasp. it was clay. what was clay doing there? "clay?" george croaked, desperate for answers. seeing as it was dark and everyone else was sleeping, he figured clay was his only option.  

"thank god you're awake, georgie." clay smiled, his white teeth radiating warmth and comfort. "w-what happened?" george stuttered, a bit flustered by the blonde's presence. "you fell, george. down quite a few flights of stairs i might add. i found you and rushed to madame aphmau."

george didn't recall falling. he couldn't remember what had happened but he knew he didn't fall. he raised his eyebrows at clay's lie, but decided to ignore it. "i'm glad you're here." george smiled. when clay returned his smile, george's worries about the lie melted away. he probably was just clumsy. clumsy and delusional, it seemed. why would clay lie to him? clay had rescued him for merlin's sake! "i've missed you, georgie." clay said, nuzzling his head into george's neck. it was dark, but george knew he was about three shades darker than the curtains in the gryffindor common room.

george didn't even know why clay was talking to him after what happened on the train. his mind flashed to the scene a month before.

george's "boyfriend" from primary school, if you could even call them boyfriends, they were very curious about their sexualities. came to visit him on the bus. "alex!" he exclaimed once clay had left. "i thought you were in mexico."

"i was, but my mom wanted us to move back. she missed london." george grinned at his friend, but his frown returned once he thought about clay. "why did you hug me like that. you saw me talking to someone." george said, in a clearly disappointed tone. "i thought you would have missed me, george! but clearly you've moved on." alex scoffed at the thought of george's friend's hand in george's own. "i havent talked to him since first year! gods alex, you ruined everything!" george cried in a moment of passion in anger. "we were in primary school! we're not together anymore, i wasn't waiting for you!"

alex flinched at george's yelling. he slowly stood up and felt behind him for the latch on the compartment door. a single tear slid out of his eye as he made his way down the corridor, as far away from george as he could get. george sighed, placing his head against the window and falling into a nightmare-filled sleep.

"clay, i'm sorry." george muttered. the blonde boy lifted his head up, shaking his head to remove the hair from his eyes. "theres nothing for you to be sorry about, georgie. i'm here now. that's all that matters." george smiled at his words. "now get some rest." clay smiled, ruffling his hand through george's hair. george smiled and laid his head down on the pillow. clay lifted his blanket back up so he wouldn't be cold. george closed his eyes but sleep wouldn't come. it wasn't until he heard clay's soft snores once again that he felt at peace enough to fall into a slumber.

the doors to the infirmary busted open, clay quickly casting a silencing charm around george's bed to not wake him. "what the hell, dave?" clay asked, realizing who had busted in. "clay, its urgent. you need to come, now." dave said. clay couldn't ignore the pain in his voice. clay sighed, reluctantly following dave as he stared at george's sleeping figure. "what's going on?"

"a student has been found dead!" whispers echoed around the hallway. clay gasped, hurrying to follow dave's lead as he scurried through the grounds.

tw: blood, but this part is kinda important

the scene was gruesome. it was like what you would see in true crime tv shows but worse. there was blood everywhere. if clay had a low tolerance for blood, he would have thrown up everywhere. there were hufflepuffs fainting and students just flat-out sobbing. there was a sea of red all over the floor, slowly seeping out of the lifeless body on the ground. they were so blue and pale, it was like all of their blood had been drained out of them. this was no murder using an unforgivable. this was stone cold murder. clay looked up to see writing on the walls. that, made him almost faint.

WE WANT RIDDLE
AS MUCH BLOOD WILL BE SPILLED AS NEEDED

those words sent a shiver down clay's spine. they were written in blood. the victim's blood. "who is it, professor lizzie?" a ravenclaw asked. "alex quackity." professor lizzie sighed. thoughts were racing through clay's mind. who was "riddle"? was it an alias? was it a student? clay sighed in curiosity. and then it clicked.

clay knew who riddle was.