Safe With Me ~ Fred Weasley

Disappearing Act

I slid into my spot beside Bri, my face stinging from where Amycus had struck me not ten minutes before class. Maddie and Hannah had now joined the group of students living permanently in the Room of Requirements, and it was getting harder to deny where our own housemates were.

"It's bleeding, Cass." Bri whispered, sliding me a tissue from her bag. I nodded a thank you, silently, and pressed the soft fabric to my cheek. "Why don't we just stay in the room with everyone? It was a good idea, and now they have guaranteed food, it's safer for everyone if we just stay..."

"We're going to graduate in less than two months." I replied, scribbling down the notes of the start of lecture which I was only half listening to. "I want to learn something in our seventh year, especially since we know what's out there."

"What they're teaching us though, it's not... I mean, this isn't defense-"

"No, it's offense. It's dark, and it's what they'll all be using against us, so we'd better be ready." I offered her a serious look and she nodded in agreement, starting on her own notes.

A hiss from the row beside us pulled my attention, my eyes flicking over towards Theo and Blaise, the latter of which was taking careful notes and not meeting my eye. Theo, however, wore a more serious look than I had seen on him lately, though I had been doing my best to avoid him altogether.

"Selwyn," He hissed, and even I could tell he was biting back a smirk. "Where are all of your friends going, huh?"

"Trying to listen, Nott." I replied under my breath, my eyes scanning to the row behind him to find Draco's eyes on mine, flicking to the table below him as soon as ours met.

"Come on, tell me. Seriously, where are all the students going?"

"I don't know what you're talking about-"

"Your own roommates are gone, you're not that dense." He bit back, his voice easily carrying towards the front of the room, though everyone was pretending not to hear.

"I don't appreciate your tone." I shrugged, fighting the urge to watch his face fall into fury as I turned back to my notes.

"Miss Selwyn, I should have thought our talk before class would have lasted a bit longer than this, no?"

I nodded once, not facing him before he thankfully returned to his lecture, and Theo fell silent for the rest of class.

It was finally starting to look more like Spring, the chill retreating from the castle walls, the snow and sleet merging into constant rain that pelted the grounds, turning nearly all of the grass to mud. I snuck a final glance out the stained glass window before fixing my bag over my shoulder and continuing down the stairs. Bri was coming from Arithmancy and had asked me to grab a book she had left in the common room on my way down to the room of requirement, which I blamed as the reason the bag was so heavy today.

"Ols... Cassidy." An unfamiliar voice echoed through the empty corridor as I spun in place, placing the blonde hair at once.

"What?" I answered, knowing my voice sounded much smaller than his in the vacant space.

"I just... I had..." He let out a heavy sigh, stepping closer to me but stopping when he noted me step backwards. "Do you really know where everyone's disappearing to?"

"I don't."

"No, honestly." His eyes met mine, dull and dark. "I'm not going to say anything, I won't tell anyone, even the guys..."