Magic (5sos/l.h. Hogwarts AU)

Chapter 28

~A/N~ Thanks for 1k reads lmao it took me so long to get to this point
Enjoy the chapter!
Leila xx

As I sat in the corner of the common room with Fred and George, waiting for Luke and Calum or Ginny to return, a distressing announcement in McGonagall's voice echoed across all the walls.

"All students are to return to their house dormitories at once. All teachers return to the staff room. Immediately, please."

I wheeled around to stare at the twins. "Not another attack?"

"Maybe," fretted George, chewing his nails nervously. That was a change, for I had never seen the twins nervous before. "Or it could be Peeves?"

I ignored his attempt at positivity and continued to chatter over the sound of all the Gryffindors shoving through the portrait hole. "What if it was Ginny? Maybe the Basilisk found out I knew and has come to attack all my friends! Maybe it knew all along, somehow! What if it took Luke or Calum? Maybe it killed them! Ginny hasn't been using mirrors to look round corners like I told her to, it probably killed her!"

George turned pale as he took all that I was saying in, while Fred's eyebrows furrowed. "Basilisk?"

"Might as well tell you now," I sighed, opening my mouth to explain but was interrupted by Luke and Calum dashing to where we were sitting and throwing themselves onto me in a hug.

"We thought there was another attack, we though it could've been you!" Luke babbled. "We were so worried- wait, where's Ginny?"

"Maybe she's not here yet," Calum suggested hopefully. "Maybe she got caught up-"

"No," I pointed at the portrait hole, where the steady flow of students coming through had trickled to a stop. "She's not coming."

"Don't say that," protested Fred as Harry and Ron climbed through the portrait hole and made their way to us. "Look, Harry and Ron just came through, there might be more to come."

But after Harry and Ron followed Professor McGonagall, with a very grave look on her face and skin as pale as Michael's, making all hope wash out of me.

"There has been another attack, and this time a girl has d-died," she choked out. "Along with a message, reading: her skeleton will lie in the Chamber forever."

The silence was louder than anything I had experienced, with not even the sound of anyone's breathing to break it. Tension was also thick in the air, so thick I could almost see it misting up.

Eventually, a brave fourth year raised her trembling hand to ask the question we were all dreading the answer to. "Who?"

The teacher raised her head and looked us all in the eye, stuttering in a quiet voice, "Ginny Weasley."

My whole world began to collapse in front of me, and their was nothing I could do. My best friend, who had been as close as a sister all year, was dead. Not even petrified, no Mandrakes could cure her of this ailment.

Ginny. Dead.

Tears pooled in the back of my eyes and started to stream down my face as it hit me like an axe to the heart. An agony began to rise in my chest and up my throat like bile, rinsing everything in a sour, acidic taste. McGonagall's final words, notifying us that the Hogwarts Express would take us home first thing the next morning, didn't even register in my brain.

For hours we sat in silence, all of the Gryffindors quiet and mourning. Luke, Calum and I couldn't even look at each other. People came and went, offering me condolences and trying to reassure me, but nothing could make me feel better. Even explaining about the Basilisk to the boys and discovering Harry and Ron already knew didn't take my mind off of Ginny. I was mildly surprised when the two boys told me they knew the entrance to the Chamber was in Myrtle's bathroom, but it sparked no interest in me.