Petals of Oleander

Chapter 18: You can hold my hand

"There they are!" Avalon said as we approached the four boys in front of the stone by the stairs. 

"Shit. Goyle came. I thought you said it was just Draco, Crabbe, and Blaise!" Miri whisper shouted at Avalon. 

"Whoops, must've left that part out." Avalon shrugged. 

Goyle was Miri's first year crush. I always thought she was WAY out of his league, but I guess she saw something in him. She never told him though, and he was too stupid to figure it out on his own, so that spared her some tension at least.

"You're such a snake." Miri pursed her lips. 

Avalon said nothing, just pointed to the pin on her tie and ran off to meet the boys. 

"It'll be fine." I gave her hand a squeeze, and pulled her behind me as I caught up with Avalon. 

"Are we all ready?" Blaise asked, only looking at Avalon. 

"Yes! Yes, yes, yes!" Kitsune squealed. 

"Okay rule number one, we must stay quiet." Draco said and shot her a look, "Rule number two, stick together as a group. No one wanders off. Rule number three, if we get caught, Crabbe's rat ran off and we are looking for it. Got it?" 

We all murmured in agreement and with that, we set off. 

I felt a tingle go down my spine as we approached the woods. It looked so intimidating in the dark. I looked around to see if anyone else was feeling the same, but everyone looked happy as clams, so I did my best to shrug it off. 

"You're awfully quiet." Draco said over his shoulder at me. 

"Isn't that rule number one?" I said back. 

"Rule number four, stop acting like a twat and enjoy yourself." 

"Oh please" I scoffed and widened my stride until I was walking beside him. "I'm having a great time."

"Right, is that why you won't quite twisting the rings on your fingers?" He chuckled.

I smacked him in the arm. "Shut it." 

"It's okay if you're scared, you can hold my hand." 

"The only way you're ever holding my hand is if you cut it off and kill me first." I snapped. 

"Is that so?" He glanced down at me all cheeky. 

"Yes. Anyway. How do you know where this graveyard even is?"

"That's the point. We are finding it." He said.

"So we're just going to wander aimlessly until we happen to stumble upon a mysterious graveyard that may or may not even exist?" 

"Not exactly. Legend says there are a series of old runes carved on rocks. The first one is supposed to be just ahead of us, then we follow the rest of them until they lead us there." Draco explained. 

"If it were really that simple, don't you think someone would have found it by now?" I asked.

"Oi! Draco!" Blaise called ahead of us "I found your symbol." 

"What did I tell you?" Draco once again, gave a cheeky smile and pushed ahead to examine the rock. "The top is pointing that way. C'mon" 

"Apparently the writing on the rocks is going to tell us where the graveyard is." I said to Ondie as we walked. 

"Fair enough." She sighed. 

We walked a fair few more minutes with not a rune in sight. I was about to go make a clever remark about it to Draco of course he found the next one, and we set off again. 

The next one came shortly after, and the one after that was even quicker.

"I cannot believe this is actually working." Kitsune exclaimed. 

"I mean, we are definitely being led to something. We don't actually know what it is." Miri said. 

"Draco!" I yelled

He stopped in his tracks waiting for me to catch up to him. 

"How do you know these runes are taking us to the graveyard and not something else?" I asked. 

"Read it in a book." He answered shortly. 

"That's good enough for me. Look! There's another one!" Kitsune jumped. 

"Perfect, we're heading in the right direction. It can't be far off now." Blaise said. 

We walked for a few more minutes until we heard Crabbe and Goyle whooping and hollering ahead of us. 

"No way! There it is!" Avalon squealed, running toward the dark silhouettes of headstones in the distance.

Everyone followed suit until it was just Draco and I walking calmly toward the looming cemetery.

"Well. Are you sorry for doubting me?" He nudged my shoulder. 

"Surprised, but not sorry." I replied. "And why aren't you running, aren't you excited?" 

"I would but that would mean breaking rule number two and giving you the space to wander off." He said. 

"What if I-" I bolted into the darkness. 

I heard Draco laugh behind me and picked up the pace. "I'm gonna beat you!" I yelled. 

"Not a chance!" He panted 

There was a chance though, because I made it through the gates and smacked my hand on the first headstone, marking my victory.

"You had a head start." Draco whined.

"Don't be a sore loser." I said, patting him on the shoulder as he bent to catch his breath. 

We explored the headstones and took some very edgy photos on Miri's polaroid camera, then we all sat in a circle and decided to tell ghost stories. 

Blaise went first, telling a story about a man being haunted by the ghost of his wife, Avalon hung tight on his arm, acting WAY more scared than she had any business being, since the twist at the end was that the man had murdered his wife. Wow! Who could have seen that one coming? 

Next, Kitsune began a story about a haunted doll, when we heard a rustling in the brush.

"Did you hear that?" Crabbe gulped.

"Hear what?" Miri whispered

A twig snapped. We all stood up and squished together. 

"It's probably just a deer." Avalon breathed. 

Suddenly, a massive black dog leapt out of a nearby bush. 

We screamed and huddled even closer together, I shut my eyes and held onto whatever was close, which in this case happened to be Draco's hand. 

"What're you kids doing out 'ere?" Hagrid shouted as he came through the gates. That explained the dog. I heaved a sigh of relief. 

"My er, my rat" Crabbe stuttered.

"YEah, Crabbe's rat ran away and we are trying to find him." Blaise explained. 

"Awful long distance for a rat." Hagrid said suspiciously.

"He's an athletic little rat." Avalon offered. 

"Get back to the castle, please. Now." Hagrid ordered. 

"Yes, sir. Thank you, sir." Crabbe bowed to him like an idiot as we passed. 

It wasn't until we could see the edge of the forest that I realized I was still holding hands with Draco. 

"Oh!" I gasped, letting go and walking away from him. 

"My God, for a moment there I thought I must have been holding a dismembered hand from a corpse girl." Draco laughed after me. 

I threw my middle finger into the air back at him and maintained a great distance until we were safely back in our dormitory.