Lilac Sky; s.black (EDITING)

〚 31 〛 Friendly Fire

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Chapter Thirty One
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Friendly Fire
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Ines found herself in the library, in the weeks after her release from the hospital wing she had found herself surrounded by more people. She was told by a few people that the sight of her at the bottom of the pitch with her limbs arranged incorrectly was a difficult sight to bear. In the library, she sat with Lily, Marlene, Benjy Fenwick who's New Year's party they religiously attended, his friend Owen Caudwell, and Emmeline. They sat with the intention of working on their Herbology essay but ended up deliberating the outcomes of the upcoming Slug Club dinner. Benjy had placed a five Knut bet that Slughorn would get so drunk he'd tell the story about his time setting the Snitch free at the Holyhead Harpies game thirty years ago yet again. "I'm not so sure" Owen whisper yelled, "I don't think he could go a night without talking about Ines and Oberon being twins, like they need another reminder."

Owen was a kind boy and, similarly to herself, he had a brother he didn't get along well with. Owen had lost his mother, a muggle, a few years before he started Hogwarts. His father, pureblood, remarried a few months before school to a pureblood woman who already had a son. His name was Luis, and he looked down upon Owen and his family, especially because he was half-blood. While Owen was placed in Hufflepuff, Luis was sorted into Ravenclaw, saving Owen from having to see him too often, something Owen was grateful for. For that reason Ines understood that in bringing up Oberon, it was not out of malice or to rile her up, he knew that he wouldn't appreciate the same treatment and never dealt it out.

Ines put up the best smile that she could, ignoring the surrounding group's apprehensive manner at Owens comment. "Either that, or he'll tell the story about when he walked into the Puddlemere United locker room thinking it was the loo.". Their laughs eased the discomfort from the mention of Oberon. He and his group of friends often incited discomfort in being brought up, and if not discomfort then anger. It was no secret, as much as Ines tried to avoid thinking about, that they were intertwined with things of a dark nature.

As Emmeline struck up a conversation with some gossip Marlene had told her about the young hospital wing attendant Madame Pomfrey, Ines watched as Lily became increasingly frustrated as she flitted through her bag. "What's wrong?" Ines asked Lily looked up at her in frustration. "I forgot my potions notes back in our dorm." She said, upset at her mistake. Ines made to go stand, packing up her stuff. "No problem, let's go grab it, I'll join you." The girls bid their goodbyes to Owen, Benjy, and Emmeline before walking out. In the halls they passed a group of Ravenclaw 5th years huddling around the most recent issue of the Daily Prophet, mumbling back and forth to each other.

Walking up the stairs, they found that the stairway had turned them away from their intended destination on the 7th floor but the 4th floor. Lily sucked in a breath, never having liked the stairs' tendencies to do so. "At least we didn't step onto the one with the trick step." She muttered, stepping off and into the hall. Ines concealed her smile, lamenting on that night with Sirius. Walking down the hall, headed towards an alternate staircase that would lead them to the 6th floor they heard voices. Typically this wouldn't bother either of them. But, when the voices they could both recognize in a heartbeat were made clearer through the bustle it struck them. Rounding the corner ahead of them was Severus, Oberon, Regulus, Mulciber, Evan Rosier, and Bertha Jorkins. Evan and Bertha were clinging to each other, feeding into the rumors of them being sexually involved as of late. Oberon, towering over Regulus, and spoke to him with a wide grin on his face, hardly paying attention to the fact that both Severus and Mulciber were even included in the conversation. Ines and Lily grabbed each other's hand and made to speed away from them. They were in no way scared but preferred to stay away from them by all means necessary.