𝙘𝙤𝙡𝙙 𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙨-𝙧.𝙖.𝙗

𝟭𝟮-𝗹𝗶𝗰𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗲 𝘄𝗮𝗻𝗱𝘀

IT TAKES A WHILE FOR THINGS TO SHIFT BACK TO NORMAL. For weeks the silence is loud, muffled cries and sniffles and echoes of footsteps in the halls. Classes are duller, seem longer, and there's a bit of tenseness in the way professors lecture. Everything drags, everything's slow. Emmeline says that the Ravenclaw common room has been a miasma of grief, almost too thick to walk through. She sneaks into the Gryffindor common room most nights, curling into Jo's side or Hestia's up in the Hufflepuff common room. She's not the only one, either. The Gryffindor common room seems fuller than it usually is, blue scarves littered about.

Henry Fernsby is everywhere in death; he is the subject of every conversation, of every newspaper. People whisper about Stefan Balan as his trial is underway, waiting for more names, waiting for more answers. There's speculation and rumors and horror and it's almost inescapable for the first few weeks. People talk about how it happened. People talk about why it happened. People talk about it when it might happen again.

Jo's first years have never clung so tightly to her before. They trip over themselves to huddle closer to her in the halls, especially after hearing about the incident before the break. Their fear is palpable; something about it makes Jo feel righteous, indignant. She glares at anyone who looks at them a little too long, clenches her fists, makes silent threats.

At first, Jo feels like her movements are slowed, like she's dragged through the days. It's a miserable sort of feeling, to be constantly bogged down by anxieties and anger. She worries for her friends, worries something like this might happen to Dorcas, or to Hestia, worries she won't be able to protect them, worries it'll only get worse. There is a bad taste in her mouth almost daily. But as time passes, so does the sourness, the stillness.

The first time things start to feel somewhat normal is when James and his lot release glitter bombs in the Great Hall. It's harmless, a bit tame for them but it's enough to get a bit of laughter going again (though there was none from Jo, she's just furious at the glitter stuck in her hair). They don't even get a detention for it; just a bit of scolding from the professors-the lightest punishment they've ever gotten. By the time January is almost over, the Ravenclaws have returned back to their own common room, have begun laughing on their own again.

And though a bit of the heaviness remains, the tragedy does not hold tight onto them for too long. Almost everything has returned back to normal.

The notable exception being Regulus Black, of course.

Jo's late-night walks with the Slytherin boy have become a common occurrence, and it's no longer accidental. Regulus is now a company that Jo seeks out, nightly. He is always there when she looks for him. And every night, they walk, and they talk.

They talk about classes, the flaws, and virtues of their least favorite and favorite professors (Jo fancies Sprout and her cheery disposition, whereas Regulus prefers Slughorn, due to his obvious Slytherin favoritism). Jo tells him stories of her growing up, about the time she almost killed James (by accident), about the time she got lost in muggle London. She tells him of her adventures with her friends, sneaking out into Hogsmeade and getting drunk at Hog's Head Inn. Regulus tells her of his fondness of his family house elf, Kreacher, of his fondness of all house elves, the softness he has for them. He tells her stories of witches and wizards she's never heard of. He impresses her with his knowledge of things past and things present. Jo tells him about the muggle world, about records and television and Harrison Ford and Carrie. Regulus seems just as transfixed in the new knowledge she provides as Jo is by his.

And then, when the sun is about to rise and there is a drag in Jo's step, Regulus walks her back to the Gryffindor Tower, says goodnight, and is on his way. She will sleep for what feels like seconds, and when she wakes up, she tries to recall exactly what she had said the night before. Regulus Black is on Jo's mind a lot, whether he is near or not.