Good Enough | hp

24| Again and Always

Summer crept over the grounds around the castle; sky and lake alike turned periwinkle blue and flowers as large as cabbages burst into bloom in the greenhouses.

But somehow, with no Hagrid visible from the castle windows, striding the grounds with Fang at his heels, the scene didn't look right to Estella; no better, in fact, than the inside of the castle, where things were so horribly wrong.

Estella had managed to convince her parents to let her stay at Hogwarts for the rest of the school year(or until the school had to be shut down - a prospect which Estella desperately hoped not to happen) with the promise that she would write once every two days.

However, she had been barred from visiting Hermione.

"We're taking no more chances," Madam Pomfrey told her severely, though she gave her a look of sympathy. "I assure you Estella, your sister's fine and perfectly healthy." 

This did cheer Estella up. That is until Madam Pomfrey added, "I'm sorry, there's every chance the attacker might come back to finish these people off..."

"Comforting," Belle commented sardonically one afternoon after Estella had attempted to sneak in. 

"Don't worry Stella," Hazel patted her hand. "I'm sure Hermione's fine."

"But you have to be careful," Lucille said gravely, frowning in concern. "What with Dumbledore gone..."

Fear had spread as never before with the absence of the Headmaster so that the sun warming the castle walls outside seemed to stop at the mullioned windows.

There was barely a face to be seen in the school that didn't look worried and tense, and any laughter that rang through the corridors sounded shrill and unnatural and was quickly stifled.

Estella constantly repeated Dumbledore's final words to herself. "I will only truly have left this school when none here are loyal to me... Help will always be given at Hogwarts to those who ask for it."

But was good were these words? Who exactly did Dumbledore expect her to ask when everyone was just as confused and scared - if not more - than she was?

Hagrid's hint about the spiders was far easier to understand - the trouble was, there didn't seem to be a single spider left in the castle to follow.

Estella looked everywhere she went: the cracks in the walls, the corners of unlit rooms, even under the tables in the Great Halls.

She knew Harry and Ron were looking as well but they too, were stumped.

They were hindered further by the fact that they weren't allowed to wander off on their own, but had to move around the castle in a pack with the other Gryffindors.

Most of their fellow students(Estella's friends included) seemed glad that they were being shepherded from class to class by teachers but Estella found it very irksome.

How was she supposed to search when she was being tailed by teachers at every turn?

One person, however, seemed to be thoroughly enjoying the atmosphere of terror and suspicion. 

Draco Malfoy was strutting around the school as though he had just been appointed Head Boy. 

"Sir," said Malfoy loudly one Potions lesson so that Estella dropped the sage leaf she was carefully splitting in two. "Sir, why don't you apply for the Headmaster's job?"

"Now, now, Malfoy," said Snape, though he couldn't suppress a thin-lipped smile. "Professor Dumbledore has only been suspended by the governors. I dare say he'll be back with us soon enough."