❝ MERLIN'S GHOST! ❞
❝ I MEAN, YOU'RE NOT WRONG. ❞
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Albany Bronwen was no Chosen One by any means, but being haunted by the ghosts of the greatest sorcerer of all time and a former king had to count for something, right?
❃ in which a lone...
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IF THERE WAS ANYTHING THAT COULD fix the worst of situations, it was a good night's sleep. Unfortunately, that didn't come easily for Albany after her eventful evening. She lay on her back, feeling more restless than she ever had as she stared blankly at the ceiling, mind racing faster than she'd thought it was capable of. After a while, the rest of the girls entered the dormitory, their efforts to hush their excited chatters in vain. There was a bitter taste in her mouth as she lay still with her eyes closed, listening to loud and lively whispers of Krum and tournament and Goblet of Fire for what felt like hours. When they finally succumbed to sleep, Albany found herself suffocating in the heavy silence again, surrounded by friends but feeling lonelier than she ever had.
Morning arrived like a long-awaited blessing, and she rose from her bed before the others began to stir, feeling more like a stiff plank of wood than a human body. She didn't waste much time in the dorms, eager to drown her problems in coffee given that sleep hadn't been an option, and the hot shower didn't wash away her lowly mood.
The lack of natural light in the Slytherin dormitories made it difficult to guess what time of day it was, but as she wandered through an empty common room and made the unusually quiet journey to the Great Hall, she supposed it was earlier than she had thought. The sky outside was cloudy again, though that was hardly surprising, and the daylight that shone through the narrow windows in the upper corridors was quite pale. Indeed, when she entered the Great Hall to find a grand total of seven other students awake, she realised it was far earlier than her usual waking hours. Hell, than anyone's waking hours.
She had nearly forgotten that it was Halloween, and the decorations caught her off guard; as always, Hogwarts went all-out for its celebrations, and even more so this year, with the number of guests it was home to. Jack-o-lanterns hovered above the tables, casting the hall in a warm, candlelit glow, while black, orange and purple streamers hung from the doorway and ceiling rafters. A cloud of live bats was fluttering about the room. Peeves was flinging peanut shells at a group of Hufflepuff girls, and cackled with glee before diving through the walls as one of them stood and jabbed her wand at him angrily.
Albany sat down at the Slytherin table alone, gaze drawn to the goblet that stood at the top of the hall. It was encrusted with jewels, blue flames lapping at the air from within it. She felt a pang of regret that she'd left the hall and missed its reveal, in exchange for a creepy encounter with Mad-Eye; but there was no point lingering in the past, she supposed, and now she was better informed on how unsettling her professor really was.
Speaking of the devil, he was seated by himself at the staff table; he didn't seem interested in breakfast, or the carved floating pumpkins. He simply sat, hands clasped over his staff, observing the few students in the hall with a cold stare. Albany met his gaze with a fierce glare as it fell upon her, and he curled his lip before turning away, though the magical eye lingered.
