The Legacy (Camren)

Chapter Sixteen

Snow had begun falling softly outside for the first time during the term. Most everyone was outside. Halloween had been over for two weeks and classes had resumed as normal, which meant that entertainment had to be made wherever it could be found, and in that case, it was in the snow. Lauren, on the other hand, had been tucked away in her bunk since Liam had given her that dreadful book.

It was entitled Hogwarts: a History Revised. So far, all Lauren could figure out was how Hogwarts had gotten its name, how long it took to build- which wasn't very long considered it was constructed using magic- and other useless information that was not helping her in her case to find the truth about the school, which, truth be told, she didn't care much about anymore.

She had more important things to worry about, like how she planned to not freeze to death during the quidditch match against Ravenclaw that was quickly approaching, or how Snape seemed to be purposely failing her when she knew she was acing his exams, or how Camila seemed to be growing more and more distant as time went on.

The girls still talked. Camila sat with everyone at lunch, walked with Lauren to class, and even joined in group conversations on weekend nights when curfew had been extended. But when it came to just Lauren, Camila was like a ghost. She was there, but she wasn't solid. Lauren was missing something, and with all that was on her mind, finding out what that something was seemed to be the only thing she could focus on.

The first opportunity to uncover the truth had presented itself in Transfiguration class when the two were paired up in attempt to turn two toads into one giant one. Lauren poked and prodded Camila to try and figure out why she seemed so distant lately, but Camila only made her usual jokes and pretended not to hear Lauren when a serious question arose.

The second chance she had, Lauren had returned from dinner early yet again, only this time to find Camila feeding the fireplace. She'd asked if Camila wanted help, to which the girl simply replied with, "No thanks, I have to go," before walking out the door.

Lauren figured the third time should be the charm, but so far, she hadn't gotten Camila alone again. She started to wonder if that was the problem. Perhaps their first physical encounter alone together had made Camila more uncomfortable than Lauren realized, but then again, Camila was the one who instigated it all.

After two weeks of reading four-hundred pages of a six-thousand page book on the history of Hogwarts and two failed attempts to get her best friend back, Lauren was beginning to go stir crazy. Dinah had been busy practicing for the open tryouts that were to be held soon. Chris was busy organizing his trading cards. Taylor was wandering around the castle somewhere in an attempt to make friends. Ally was too occupied with being Prefect and directing the choir, and Normani had found herself a nice young wizard to get to know at the Halloween party, so she was spending all of her time with him.

Lauren considered hanging out with Liam, but he didn't seem to be doing so well. Every time he stopped by to visit and saw Lauren holding the giant, dusty book, he became uncomfortable and found an excuse to leave. That left her with the rest of her quidditch team, be she realized she didn't know any of them well enough to open up about what was on her mind.

Really, when she narrowed it down, she only had one person that she could trust. Well, two, but the other didn't want to talk to her at the moment.

•••

Lauren knocked ferociously on Hagrid's large wooden door. She had to, or the giant would never hear her over Fang's incessant barking. When Hagrid opened the door, his hut reeked of burning wood and his beard had little particles of ash in it, but he was smiling and that was enough for Lauren.

"Lauren!" Hagrid bellowed happily. "Fancy seein' you here. Come on in!"

Lauren entered the hut to find that the right corner of the ceiling had been burnt to a crisp. Where twigs were usually packed together to form a protective roof, there was a great big, smoking hole.