The Prophesy of S

Chapter 22

After reconciling, we stayed down the storage area, catching up. I knew that our time spent apart had me feeling hollow, and speaking to him again made me realize just how much. It ached. I supposed deep down I knew why I avoided going to my usual places, and it's not just so I could avoid bumping into him, but because those places held such good memories with him.

The library was where he helped me for the first time in finding answers about my gift by breaking into the Restriction Section and also taking the fall for it when we got caught.

By the fireplace in the common room was the time he gifted me my wand handle after our time at Hogsmeade. He even gave me his chocolate frog card to start my collection. I already have a huge stack of cards now. And the best memory that happened there was after the Yule Ball. I had my first kiss.

We always had our moments when we were in the Room of Requirement. The first time I showed it to him was when I talked about my family, which turned to us leaving ourselves bare of our guilt about killing our parents to each other. He was adamant about us not continuing to carry that burden on our shoulders. The other time, he, in a non-direct way, confessed his feelings for me, but he didn't expect us to be anything other than friends. And the most recent was in the beach vivarium, where we had a hell of an emotional time when he poured his heart out to me, all that burdened him after the skirmish that happened in Feldcroft and the aftermath. It was breaking my heart to see him that way, but he took comfort in me crying for him when he couldn't completely. He then comforted me by showering me with kisses.

And for obvious reasons, I couldn't go to the Undercroft. Not only was that the place where our fight took place, but it also had a good memory there, too. He trusted me enough to show me the Undercroft when he was supposed to keep it a secret from others. There he taught me a couple new spells for me to try. I was really impressed, still to this day, that he was able to modify an existing spell. That's when he also told me more about his sister who was cursed. It was the first time I comforted him when he told me about her, and by extension, his suffering. I was never in a position to do something like that, but it made me happy I was able to literally offer my hand and make him feel better. That's when I was certain the prophecy was talking about him. He's the one I'm meant to help, and I'd gladly do it.

"How did you know I'd be here?" I asked.

He smirked. "Wasn't that hard. I knew you'd hole yourself somewhere secluded with water nearby. It's why you either stick with the common room or the Room of Requirement. Since you haven't been frequenting either and there was no sign you were at the Grotto, I then tried here. I did remember Weasley telling me that Prewett told him about meeting you above here on our first day of Hebology. How you were so entranced with the fishes in this tank."

Hmph. Sometimes I would forget how clever and sharp he is.

"Um...I have to tell you. Before I had that talk with Sirona, that morning I got a letter—from Anne."

I smiled excitedly. "You did?"

"Yeah. She told me that she could meet with me tonight." He wore that guilty face again and rubbed the back of his neck. "I'll be honest. When she told me that we could meet soon, I quickly thought of finding you to tell you the news. But then I chastised myself for even thinking that. I remembered our fight and thought to myself on why I should tell you anything when you're secretly working with a goblin whose kind attacked our hamlet and nearly killed Anne." My heart plummeted at hearing that. "I told Ominis about it when we were at the Three Broomsticks, and I sort of vented to him about it. Nothing about you trying to get ahead of Ranrok, just that you're conversing with a goblin. And that's when Sirona came around and gave her two knuts about the issue. I let what she said stew around in my head until I finally decided to come around and find you to apologize."