Rainbows (A Hogwarts Mystery Story)

Chapter 22

"Where--have--you--BEEN?!"

Shouts and screams greeted me the very next morning, followed by a hard tackle of a hug that knocked me down to the floor, courtesy of Rowan. Barely had I entered the Great Hall at all when I heard it all--the loud exclamations, the thundering of feet approaching me, and the questions that rained down on me (quite literally). 

"We thought you fell victim to the Dementors!"

"What happened in the Forest?"

"Was anyone with you?"

"Don't ever leave us alone like that again!"

"I know, I know," I said weakly, shaking my head and trying, without much success, to sit up on the floor. "I guess I just let Merula's words get to me."

"It wasn't your fault, Clara," Tonks said lightly, reaching for my hand to haul me up. "You couldn't have seen it coming, after all. Besides, it's not too late to teach Merula the Patronus Charm either way, right?"

"It might be." I sighed and released my hair from its hair tie, running my fingers through the ebony locks to restyle my ponytail. "If you guys don't mind...I'd like to be alone for a bit."

That said, I turned around and walked away from them, my mind abuzz with everything that happened last night. Cecil had lent me a pair of fingerless gloves to put on last night after the expedition in the Forbidden Forest, and so I put them on, almost as a source of comfort, even if the fleece that made it offered no warmth. Ever since finding the Black Quill in the dead Slytherin Prefect's corpse, I constantly felt cold and numb all over--clearly, the trip in the Forbidden Forest did nothing to ease the stiff numb pain. I thought it would give me more answers to finding the next Vault, but so far it had done nothing but give me internal frostbite.

I couldn't find it in me to eat or sleep. Even going to classes had lost its joy, now that everyone was walking around like soldiers in opposing armies and were muttering about me even more than usual.

I couldn't keep my promises to my friends. Everyone was in danger because of me.

Barnaby was wrong. If anyone got hurt or worse here, it was all because of me--and they would have no one to blame but me.

---

For the next few weeks, I spent my time alone. I created a makeshift journal from several pieces of parchment and some string, and poured out everything in it--all my emotions, all my worries, and the typical day-by-day activities that made no dent in my long-term memory. Rowan tried to reach out to me several times a day, but I couldn't dare face her. No one was able to reach me--not even Rakepick, who had tried to stop me in the hallways several times. I even blocked out Barnaby, turning away from him every time he saw me.

What if this school truly was better off without me? All my friends were capable of breaking the Cursed Vaults, for all I knew. They were able to work with each other to do all the things I was capable of doing alone. For all I knew, I was only endangering the incredible reputation that Hogwarts has on its students, and the legacy could end up tarnished because of me, my brother, and our troubles. Me walking through this school, it was like leaving a poisonous gas trailing in my wake. The further I travelled, the more it spread, and the more potent it got the worse the students got affected. I felt like I was a toxic agent for all the troubles were delivered to me.

Could I really stay here?

Things eventually changed when a letter arrived for me from Azkaban Prison one morning at breakfast. The snow was just beginning to melt outside as the early days of March dawned upon us all, and that was when the huge flurry of owls began to stream in by the masses, delivering the post to students that was delayed for several weeks due to the deep freeze. As the huge brown Screech owl dropped the big envelope in front of me, I noticed just how tired and exhausted it must have been from the journey. It must have been rough to travel from someplace isolated and far away to here.