QLFC Round 8
Prompt: The Prefects of the different houses are made to share dormitories and a common room for a term to encourage house unity.
Optional Prompt(s):
10.(quote) This is not a normal day. – Raymond Gaines, San Andreas
14. (word) possible
1. (word) elegant
12. (dialogue) "You have is eyes."
15. (object) suitcase
A/N: So you can pretty much disregard that Hannah's mom died. Actually, you can disregard most of what happens in book 6 b/c I honestly don't remember it very well *is ashamed*. Just consider this a very lame, yet hopefully close(ish) to canon AU. Also the poem at the end does not belong to me. ^_^
Word count: ~2,200
This journal is the property of: Hannah Abbott
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Dear Diary,
This is no normal day.
Because today is the day that my sixth year at Hogwarts has officially begun! Though, to be honest, it hasn't quite been the start I was hoping for.
Sixth year is usually a pretty exciting time for Prefects, seeing as we all get to live together in a special dormitory right in the center of the castle. It's a tradition that's been passed down for generations, dating all the way back to the Founder's Era. There's even a plaque hung up over the fireplace in the dorm common room with this poem on it, and even though I'm absolute pants at literary stuff, I'm pretty sure it's talking about how Hogwarts is a place where our differences unite us and make us stronger. I wish I could remember exactly what it said; it's really quite beautiful. Something about the wind and the sea, and how we're all one. I don't know. I'll have to write it down later.
Anyway, Ernie, Padma, Anthony and I disembarked the train around the same time, suitcases in hand and headed up to the new dorm together, not having a clue what sort of mess we were about to walk into. Dramatic though the summer had been—with all the Prophet articles and rumors flying about—I really never imagined that the year could get off to such a rotten start.
We could hear the yelling all the way down the corridor. At first, I thought that Hagrid had accidentally disturbed the den of Leprechauns again.
We found Hermione, Ron, Draco, and Pansy at each other's throats in the new dorm common room. They were arguing about sleeping arrangements of all things. It took us a good half hour to calm them all down.
We ended up drawing straws to pick our bunks. Poor Padma has to sleep by Pansy. I don't envy her one bit.
I don't think anyone else even read the plaque.
Dear Diary,
It's been two weeks since classes started, and things have gotten...better. Sort of.
The Quidditch season has started so I think that helps. People are usually pretty cheery on game days.
It's given me an idea actually.
I want to try and get the sixth-year Prefects together each week for a game night. Everyone likes games, right? It might help us all loosen up around each other.
I really think it could work. I mean, this whole tradition is supposed to be about house unity, right?
I'm going to bring it up to the Head Boy and Girl at our next meeting.
Dear Diary,
Great success! The Head Boy and Girl LOVED the game night idea!
Hermione got on me about cutting into her study time, but whatever. She needs to learn to chill out anyway. She keeps on snapping at Pansy for tapping her foot when she's trying to read. To be fair though, I think Pansy does it on purpose now just to annoy her.
Game night is going to be great.
I know it.
Dear Diary,
We had our first game night tonight.
We played Exploding Snap, which—in retrospect—was probably not the best choice.
Anthony and Draco nearly singed each other's eyebrows off. I think it was an accident, but neither of them seemed to believe it.
There was a lot of yelling after that.
I'll try to think of a better game for next week.
Dear Diary,
Sorry it's been awhile since I've written anything. Classes have been astoundingly stressful this year. It makes me miss living by the kitchens. The House Elves would always offer me a cup of hot chocolate if I stopped by which never failed to make me feel better.
Not living with the rest of the Hufflepuffs has been difficult in general. Justin and Susan have all sorts of new inside jokes that they won't explain to me. "You had to be there," they keep saying.
It's hardly my fault that I can't be there.
At least I have Ernie...
In other news, the games have been going a bit better. And by a bit, I mean the smallest, most infinitesimal fraction you can imagine.
We've started playing 'Never Have I Ever'. It usually starts out well enough, but then after about ten minutes, it veers off one of two directions: spiteful or sexual (depending on who starts the veering). And of course, the Slytherins always want to play under the influence of Veritaserum; "to make things fair," Pansy says.
I'm just going to keep believing we're making headway though. It's just a matter of time, right?
Dear Diary,
I came back to the girl's sleeping quarters tonight to find that someone had moved Pansy's bed. It's now situated directly by the window—the coldest spot in the room now that fall is setting in. Someone also placed some kind of ward around it so that it couldn't be moved.
To make matters worse, Pansy accused Padma of moving it (which Padma denied of course). And then Padma accused Pansy of moving it herself just to get her into trouble. The fight that broke out between them after that was near apocalyptic. Hermione had to disarm them and take their wands.
It was...a little terrifying to say the least.
I wanted to go get Professor Flitwick so that the wards around the bed could be removed, but Pansy wouldn't let me.
"Why bother?" she said. "It'll just happen again anyway."
I don't know why but that broke my heart a little, no matter how meanly she said it.
It doesn't help that I'm a really light sleeper and I keep waking up to the sound of her crying. I know that I should probably do something, or say something to someone, but I haven't yet.
I try not to think about what kind of person that makes me...
Dear Diary,
Draco was absent for game night. Again.
He's been acting very strange lately. I think that Katie Bell getting cursed bothered him a lot more than he wants to let on.
I may not be as bright as Hermione or Padma, but I do see things. Like how Draco always throws out his most scathing remarks whenever anyone so much as mentions the name of another Slytherin. He's very sensitive...much more so than I would've ever thought possible what with that cold sneer he's always wearing. It's almost like he wants everyone to hate him the most.
Why he would want that though, I have no idea.
Dear Diary,
Where do I even start?
We had game night again tonight. We've been exploring other options besides 'Never Have I Ever', since I suppose there's only so many things you can bring up before you have to start repeating yourself. Anthony came up with the idea to change the game into a 'Have You Ever' game. Not entirely clever, considering it's just the inversion of 'Never Have I Ever', but whatever.
The game started innocently enough.
Have you ever lost your wand?
Have you ever collected Chocolate Frog Cards?
Have you ever been to the Quidditch World Cup?
But then after a few rounds, Hermione and Ron decided to veer.
Have you ever been to Borgin and Burkes?
Have you ever seen You-Know-Who? (Ron actually said his name, but I can't even bear to write it down).
Merlin, my blood ran cold.
For a while, no one moved, but the tension in the air was palpable. Everyone's magic felt toxic and black, like something straight out of a horror story. I've never felt anything like it in my life.
And Hermione and Ron wouldn't stop staring at Draco, like they were accusing him of something.
Draco tried to leave, but Ron caught him by the arm before he could get far. In that moment, my heart was pounding so hard I thought I was going to be sick.
"I've only seen pictures of him myself," Ron said, "but you want to know the strangest thing? You have his eyes."
For as long as I live, I'll never forget the look on Draco's face after he said that. I don't even know how to properly describe it. It was like something in him broke and hardened at the same time.
I'm starting to think that maybe game night wasn't such a good idea after all.
Dear Diary,
Everyone's just returning from the holiday break. It was nice to be home for a while. Relaxing.
We decided to stop game night for this semester.
It's probably one of the few things we've unanimously agreed on since we moved in together.
I keep looking at the plaque and wondering what we're doing wrong.
Dear Diary,
Draco's been gone a lot. Even more than usual. I feel like I never see him around the castle anymore—not even for meals. He even skips Prefect meetings sometimes.
I feel like something's wrong. I don't know why, but I do.
But it's not like I can ask him about it. He and I aren't exactly friends. I doubt we've exchanged more than five words outside of the weekly games and Prefect meetings.
I've tried a couple times, but then he looks at me and all I can't help but remember what Ron said, and I just...lose all my nerve.
It's stupid.
Because I know that beneath all those cold sneers and elegant clothing, he's flesh and blood just like the rest of us.
Something is looming though. I don't know what it is, but I can feel it like a shadow at my back.
I'm scared without knowing why.
I think everyone is.
Dear Diary,
Ernie told me today that he's the one that moved Pansy's bed last year. I think he thought I would be impressed when he told me.
He said that we have to stand together however we can against You-Know-Who's future followers. Apparently, that's what Pansy and Draco are. Ernie said he saw that they were both marked.
I had no idea...
Dear Diary,
I don't know who they think they're fooling. Harry Potter and Dumbledore, I mean.
If I didn't know any better I'd think they were working with Draco on something. Everyone just keeps disappearing.
And I keep seeing Ron and Hermione huddled in front of the common room fireplace late at night, whispering to each other. Neither of them look like they've been sleeping well.
Meanwhile, the Prophet has been eerily chipper. The last front page article covered the Harpies' charity fashion show of all things.
It's like we're sitting in the calm before the storm.
I keep trying to get a glimpse of Pansy's arm in the bathroom or while she changes, but I haven't managed it yet. I think she's starting to catch on to me—I've never been particularly subtle or sly.
But it's worth the risk, right? I mean, what if Ernie's was telling the truth?
Dear Diary,
It's funny how things just go on, isn't it? I mean, I can't be the only one who feels nervous about the fear that no one dares give breath, and yet nothing changes.
We still go to classes. The professors still give us homework and make us take exams. We still all eat dinner together and gossip about who said what and who's got a crush on who.
It's all just so...normal.
Well, mostly normal anyway. Hardly anyone talks to any of the Slytherins anymore. It's like this unspoken retaliation. And for some reason, the professors are acting like they don't even notice it.
Draco and Pansy have become downright impossible to live with. Everything they say or do anymore is just nasty, and they've even taken to sleeping together on the couch in the common room. I guess they don't want anything to do with us either.
I don't know. It just feels strange. I feel strange.
They're here.
I don't know why I'm writing this. I don't know what else to do. I can't sit still.
The Death Eaters are in Hogwarts.
Padma and I are locked in our room. We don't know where Hermione, Pansy and the others are.
I'm so scared.
I can hear screaming.
They're here.
Dear Diary,
Heart of my heart, we are one with the wind
One with the clouds that are whirled o'er the lea
One in many, oh broken and blind
One as the waves are at one with the sea
Ay! When life seems scattered apart
Darkens, ends as a tale that is told
One, we are one, oh heart of my heart
One, still one, while the world grows old
That's what the plaque over our fireplace read. Such lies wrapped in such beautiful words. We are not one. We've never been farther from it. Dumbledore is dead. How can we ever be one after something like that?
I burned the thing. Ripped it right off the wall with my bare hands and threw it into the fire.
I doubt anyone will notice.
A/N: Thanks so much for reading!