laconic • t.nott ✓

08 ➺ give me your hand

「 GIVE ME YOUR HAND 」

THE WEATHER GREW MERCILESS. PROTECTED though they were by the strong walls of the castle, the cold entered in waves through the large open balconies and seeped through droughts and any opening. When they weren't in classes, students remained in the confines of their common rooms, huddled in front of their respective fireplaces.

One good thing came out of this though - the incessant storms and the cold subdued the Carrows enough to allow the students to get a breath of fresh air. They wanted to escape into their own chambers as much as the students did, and thus as November drew on excruciatingly slowly, the castle took on a desolate state. The corridors were walked on only between classes, and most of the time they remained miserably empty, to the point that any visitor who should happen to enter the premises would only see a solitary, abandoned castle.

The day before their Hogsmeade weekend, Theo found himself walking eagerly to the Divination classroom. Trelawney's room, at least, could be counted on being excessively hot and thus he looked forward to settling himself down in the stuffy room and taking off his gloves and several layers of clothes for once.

He climbed up the ladder and entered through the trapdoor to get into the low, dark room. He felt a rush of gratefulness for Trelawney, for the sudden warmth was enough to drive away any negative thoughts from his mind. For the next one and a half hour, he was sure to be in bliss, with no Carrows and no war invading the peace of his mind.

He found Daphne sitting on one of the twenty tables scattered around the room and made his way to her. They were the only Slytherins to take Divination for NEWT level, and as he sat down, the classroom began to fill up with other Gryffindors, Ravenclaws, and Hufflepuffs. Despite all four houses being gathered here, the room was barely half full - Divination wasn't one of the favourite subjects.

Theo took off his gloves and cloak and stashed them clumsily under the table, giving out a relieved sigh. It was a well-established fact, though never proven or verified, that Professor Trelawney added something to her fire to infuse the air with odd scents that had a drug-like effect on her students. Theo found himself getting sleepy.

"Going to Hogsmeade tomorrow?"

Daphne's voice pulled him away from the stupor he had fallen into. He blinked several times to get rid of the sudden drowsiness and looked around him. The entire class has gathered and Trelawney's lips moved as she walked amongst the tables, though Theo barely heard her. He decided to pay attention to Daphne instead.

"Yeah, I'm going with Blaise."

She raised an eyebrow as she looked at him. "Finally talking again?" He nodded. "I'll go too. I wasn't really eager to go but Astoria is going and I'm not going to let her walk into a hoard of dementors alone."

The mention of dementors caused a cold shiver to run down his spine. Annoyed, he said, "Can you not bring up dementors in every conversation? I'm trying to pretend they don't exist and you're not helping."

She narrowed her eyes. "Fine. I'll just pretend that we aren't surrounded by soul-eating creatures, and that will definitely keep them from coming into the castle and devouring us whole."

"Well, there's nothing you can do about them, so why talk about it at all?"

Theo realised he had raised his voice a moment too late. Daphne kicked him under the table, but that was unnecessary. The entire class stared at him with eyes shining with amusement, and Trelawney whose eyes sparkled with fire. The two Gryffindor girls, who admired the professor perhaps a little too much, glared at him in reproach for disrespecting her.