Rise of the Death Eaters [3]

Chapter 52: OWL season

[Long chapter warning: ⚠️ 3982 Word Count]

"The moat is still there," Sam confirmed, as she came into our dorm room to find me going through my laundry basket.

Earlier in the week a green placid moat had cursed itself onto the fifth floor near the east wing, compliments from Fred and George following a rather impromptu escape from school on their confiscated brooms. The whole ordeal had been absolutely hilarious to those who witnessed it and became the talk of the school since then. Not many could believe Fred and George Weasley actually up and left school in the middle of fifth period, upsetting the corridor and Umbridge (who came shortly after the chaos started) with dung bombs galore and more fireworks that had been showcased at the beginning of her reign.

They never gave sure instructions on how to rid the moat from the fifth floor, no teachers under Umbridge's flock could deactivate it (thought I'm sure Professor McGonagall could easily fix the mess if she wanted to). So it remained as a constant jab in our Headmistresses side and a nice reminder to the rest of us to keep fighting.

"Brilliant," I said with lackluster as I tossed one of my skirts clear across the floor before divebombing again for one of my cloaks.

"What are you doing?" Sam asked the imaginable. It took me a moment to respond over the rummaging, but finally I came up for air.

"I've been missing one of my three cloaks for the last few weeks now and it's been driving me nuts, swapping back and forth between the two without a clue about the other- "

"And so you reasonably think that after weeks of it being lost you'd find it in your week-old laundry?" Sam asked with a very sister-like tone that I was familiar with hearing aimed at Tati or Alice. Occasionally me, but only when I was being a real ditz.

I rose from the mass of clothing with an obvious pout while Sam regarded me from the doorway with a motherly stare.

"Why can't you just wear one of the two remaining cloaks you have? I manage to do fine with two cloaks, I don't see why you can't."

"Because," I huffed as I grabbed for the clothes on the floor and began to stuff them back into the laundry bin. "One smells and the other I spilled jam on from breakfast so I can't just-" one of my button-up shirt's caught on my shoe, making me trip. I tried to shake it off but it stayed stubbornly on until I thrashed my foot in the air enough times for it to finally go flying. I released a frustrated sigh before grabbing the rest of the clothes on the ground and stuffing them unceremoniously back where they belonged.

Sam had seen enough. My bin was looking desperately overstuffed and I was on the edge of crying for no apparent reason.

Well, there was a reason. But it was a rather stupid one.

"Here." Sam was holding that damned shirt from across the room nicely folded in front of me. "Now, is this about the potions OWL? Because I'm just about ready to shake you mad until you learn to realize you've studied more than long enough to know what you're doing for today-"

I snagged the shirt from her with a grateful glance before tossing it on top of the mess now in the corner.

"I know, I know," I agreed as I sat down, defeated on one side of my bed. Sam eyed me suspiciously but went on to open the top draw of her dresser and snag out a chocolate frog with its wrapper.

"So then, what is it?" Sam asked, with her back turned.

I didn't want to open that can of worms. But knowing how Sam was, it was bound to come out eventually unless I gave her a story to keep her mind off it.

In reality, what bugged me had slowly been growing now for the last few weeks.

Following my revenge with Pansy and the start of weekly detentions with Umbridge, Draco and his band of squad members became more prolific with their work. It didn't seem like much but I watched as Draco went from avoiding being anywhere near me to suddenly taking back the spots by the fireplace with his clan with no real worry over whether I was in the same room or not.