As the week progressed, the load of work only intensified, much to the students' dismay. The chilled autumn breeze made the golden leaves dance behind the many windows in the castle, and the warm air filled with the scent of pumpkin pie that filled the Great Hall seemed all the most inviting as Halloween quickly approached.
For the most time, Sigrid spent her days attending her regular classes and then forced to retreat in to the library or the Gryffindor common room to finish the ever growing pile of papers and homework. Eowyn joined her almost every evening, and she was ever amazed at her friend's ability to concentrate and get work done while complaining non-stop about the work load. Professor Flitwick had assigned them a paper about the history of levitating spells and its best uses, while McGonagall had them practicing how to turn a hat into a singing bird – which so far no one but Elladan and Elrohir had been able to do, a thing that seem to surprise everyone in class.
And Snape, oh Snape had not stopped picking on the Gryffindors every chance he got during potions, and it seemed that every period they got with Snape meant that Gryffindor would lose from ten to fifty points for whichever reason he could find. She would always sit at the back of the dark classroom, next to Eowyn and the twins, and pray that she would not be called on for any answer. But they all soon learned that Snape only ever called on Lasgalen, and he always either refused to answer or delivered a perfect answer. It never ceased to enrage her.
She had not spoken to Lasgalen since their encounter in Honeydukes two weeks past, and she had never had the chance to thank him for paying for the sugar quill she was going to gift Tilda when she had lost her money. Bu then again, he did not ever even turn to look at her in class and she figured that he most not even remember of her existence, so why bother thanking him when he would even remember her name.
"I hate Herbology." Eowyn's voice complained to her left as they crossed the vast green land back towards the castle, leaving the greenhouses behind. A group of Hufflepuff boys walked closely beside them, seeming to be chattering excitedly about the class and only making Eowyn roll her eyes at them.
"I do not mid it" She answered her friend while trying to suppress a light laugh. Eowyn seemed to only like those classes where she could see some action, such as flying class or defense against the dark arts and care for magical creatures – all of which made Sigrid a bit nervous, in truth.
"You like every class, Sig." Eowyn mocked her as they stepped into the welcoming warmth of the entrance hall.
"Eowyn, look!" She whispered in a low voice, pulling her friend close by the arm and giving her friend that stare.
"What?" Her friend's brow narrowed in confusion momentarily before her blue eyes followed Sigrid's to land on the long intricate archway where a Gryffindor was currently kissing a Ravenclaw girl behind one of the columns. Sigrid could feel her friend's eyes widen next to her a she let out another low chuckle.
"The twins will murder Aragorn for that." Eowyn whispered as they continued their way down towards the dungeons for the dreaded period of potions with the Slytherins. "Do you think they know that he has been kissing Arwen behind their backs?"
Sigrid shrugged. "I don't think they know yet, but this is not the first time I've seen them. Dan and Ro will probably throw a fit once they find out."
"That's got to be worse than Peeves when angry." Eowyn laughed.
"Hush, here they come!" Her friend hurried to whisper as they took their usual seat at the back of the classroom, the twins very loudly chattering as they took the desk next to them.
Silently, Sigrid pulled her thick potion making book out of her worn out bag, ignoring whatever conversation the twins and Eowyn had established at the moment, only barely noticing that they were apparently laughing about some poor Hufflepuff kid who had forgotten to skip the disappearing step in the stairs.
Instead she let her eyes wonder through the dimly lit dungeon, exploring the many flasks with strange glowing things floating in them and past the many old cauldrons stocked in one of the bottom shelves.
The murmur of chatter in the room grew louder as more of the Gryffindors and Slytherins walked in and took their usual seats, visibly dividing the classroom with the Slytherins at the front and the Gryffindors at the back – where they could be more easily ignored. Out of impulse and curiosity she let her eyes wonder freely through the emerald lined robes, searching for that striking waterfall of silver hair, but he had not arrived yet.
"Silence." Snape's cold voice floated over the dungeon as the heavy door slammed closed behind him. Out of the corner of her eye she could see Elladan- or was it Elrohir?- quickly jumping drown from over the table to resume his seat before he could get yet another detention.
She could feel Snape's coal black eyes travelling the room slowly, cold gaze seeming to be assessing every student, and Sigrid wondered whether he was already picking who would be his victim for the class.
As usual, Snape gave some sort of introductory explanation about the potion they would brew during class before letting them have a go at it, and before she knew it she was already throwing strangely-looking things into her own flaming cauldron.
"Is yours pink too?" Elladan asked to her left, and she turned only to find his silver eyes looking worriedly at the thickly pink and bubbling liquid in his cauldron, his twin laughing loudly at his side.
"What did you put in there?!" She asked, looking instead at her own deep grey potion. It wasn't as the book specified since it said it should be a bright silver color but at least she was closer to the color range.
"Only the things the book said!" Elladan said defensively, and yet a smirk always present in his silver eyes.
"What a disappointment from Gryffindor" Elrohir's voice lowered to a deep languid tone, dragging every word as his face morphed into a perfect imitation of Snape's ever disgusted expression, and she was only glad that said professor was currently too far away from them to notice. "Why, Peredhel, you should take note from Lasgalen's potion, see if you can actually learn something."
The four of them erupted in laughter, covering their mouths as to not be heard, Elladan delivering a playful –yet not so gentle- smack to the back of his twin's head. Her eyes automatically traveled to where he usually at the farthest front corner, only to find that the seat was still empty.
"He is not here." Eowyn added next to her, one of the twins shrugging to her left.
"I bet he can skip as many classes as he wishes and Snape will still pass him with an Outstanding." Elladan rolled his eyes as if disinterested, yet she did not miss the hidden anger floating in his relaxed tone. It was not unknown that the twins especially disliked the Lasgalens ever since their father lost the Ministry to Oropher Lasgalen more than ten years ago, only to step down after only two years for reasons publicly unknown.
"Would he skip class?" She asked, not seeming to believe that anyone would just skip classes at Hogwarts because they felt like it, but then again not every student had the same fear at being caught skipping class as she did.
"He has a reputation for it." Eowyn answered, eyes burning with the unfairness of the situation. "I've heard from many other students that he regularly skips class. Haldir says that he missed about half of their transfiguration classes last year."
"And when your father can donate as much gold as the Lasgalens can to the school, you hardly have to worry about your grades. How he is top of his class, remains a mystery to me." Elladan continued, even though she was sure that Professor Dumbledore would ever accept money to pass a student who did not deserved it.
"Do you think that's why he is in the fourth year's class?" Elrohir mocked, his eyes darting to the empty spot in the corner, where Snape's star student was obviously absent. "Because he failed it twice?"
"Silence!" Snape's voice chilled the air once more, and her eyes immediately looked down as she realized that he was now standing next to their table, coal eyes staring icily at them beneath the curtain of greasy black hair. "And the four of you have gained yourselves detention with me this weekend."
That seemed to do it to silence them for the rest of the class, even though she could see the twins throwing angry glances at Snape's back whenever they got the chance. Sigrid returned her attention into her disgustingly looking potion, even though her mind kept wondering away from it, her eyes every once in a while turning towards the empty seat in the corner, even though she tried to tell herself to not pay attention to it. Why was her mind so much into Lasgalen anyway? None of her friends even seemed to remember talking about him anymore, all of them once again minding their own business. And yet part of her kept hoping that he would still show up for class, even if it was already late, but he never did that day. But then why? And why was she up to finding out why? Would she have cared had it been any other student?
But then again he had known every single answer before, she had seen his parchment filled with intricate notes that seemed more complete than even hers. Would someone skip class whenever they wanted and still take detailed notes and know all the answers whenever they did show up? That did not make much sense.
Snape's dismissal from class broke her trail of though, and she silently put away her books and cauldron before quickly walking out of the dungeon's eerie atmosphere, pretending to be listening to whatever the twins and Eowyn where talking about at the moment. She continued to pretend through dinner as well, not really tasting much of her food as her eyes kept casting glances at the Slytherin table only to find that neither of the Lasgalen brothers where there.
She forced the thoughts out of her mind, and her evening was spent like the rest of them, hidden behind a pile of work while Tilda narrated every single detail of her day to her. But still her curiosity returned when Thranduil Lasgalen did not show up for class the next day, or the day after that, or for the remainder of the week, Snape not even seeming to pay attention to the absence of his favored student.
And so she found herself spending her Friday evening in Snape's gloomy office along with Eowyn and the twins, sorting all sorts of different quirky looking bottles and vials in the shelves specified. After taking a quick glance at the twins, who had been assigned to clean the cauldrons, sorting bottles of potions did not sound so bad really, even though some of them let out a foul smell that was revolting her empty stomach.
Bellow the high window in the plain stone wall, professor Snape sat hunched over his desk, scribbling silently upon some parchments, hostile black eyes every once in a while lifting to look in their direction, quietly observing their every move. None of them had dared to say a word since their arrival at his office, definitely not risking to gain yet another detention.
Pulling a curl of blond hair behind her ear, Sigrid bent down to pick a vial from another box full of flasks lying on the floor when Snape's cold voice interrupted her.
"Bowman." The name dragged coldly through the still air, and she looked up to find those hard, unyielding black eyes staring at her, making her shiver slightly. "Do not put those on the shelves. Take that box to Madam Pomfrey."
He commanded before once again looking down, not even looking at her. She silently nodded her head, bending down once again to pick up her charge, eager to leave the claustrophobic constraints of the room.
The box was heavier than she thought, and she had to balance it with her hip to be able to carry it, the many bottles and flasks clinking against one another like dissonant little bells, echoing through the high arched ceilings and humid stone walls of the dungeon hallways. She was curious as what sorts of potions they carried inside them, some of them portraying bright colors that seemed to glow eerily, but her first priority at the moment was climbing up the many steps and into higher levels of the castle.
Outside the dungeons, the castle was unusually empty, the long imposing hallways seeming even wider in the absence of the crowds, letting her know that the students must all still be in the Great Hall having dinner. Only one or two ghosts crossed her way, but they did not pay any attention to her.
She reached the Hospital Wing quicker than he thought, silently approaching the large wooden doors just as Madam Pomfrey exited through one of them, closing it behind her.
"Good evening, dear" The nurse witch greeted her with her usual motherly smile, eyes noticing the box of potions she currently carried.
"About time those were brought." She murmured to herself, signaling with a hand for Sigrid to follow her through a door adjacent to Hospital Wing's main doors.
Inside, the room was long and narrow, the walls covered with shelves that reached up to the ceiling, all filled with an assortment of boxes, flasks and many other instruments she had never seen before and could not even imagine what they were used for. She followed Madam Pomfrey nearly to end of the room, having to struggle to keep up with the witch's quick strides while managing not to drop the box of potions that had been entrusted to her.
"Put those here." The nurse indicated to one of the shelves with a nod of her head, not even waiting for her to put the box down before continuing. "Look at the labels on the bottles and find where they should go on the shelves, each shelf is labeled so you should have no trouble."
Sigrid nodded her head, but once again the nurse did not wait to check if her instructions had been understood, merely offering a halfhearted smile before quickly exiting the room through the same door they had entered, obviously in some kind of rush.
The heavy oaken door fell closed with a deaf sound, echoing in the many bottles that lined the walls all the way to the high ceiling. Only two torches lit the room, apart from the beam of silver moonlight that filtered through the sparse high windows. Only by throwing a glance at the number of shelves let her know that she would indeed have trouble finding where to place each potion. They all looked alike!
Deciding it best to start right away in order to finish quicker, Sigrid picked up one of the bottles from the box and tried to find where it belonged in the shelves. She twisted the round bottle in her finders for a moment, looking curiously at the green glowing liquid inside it, that seemed to bubble intensely from some seconds before stopping, only to bubble again after a minute or two.
It took her a whole ten minutes to find the proper location of that specific flask, and the box at her feet was still full to the top. It was definitely going to be a long night.
She shook her head in frustration, bending down to pick a second flask when the soft murmur of voices from the other side of the wall caught her attention. She stopped her hand mid-way, momentarily forgetting about the flasks on the floor at the agitated tone the voices carried, but she could not catch a single word, the stone wall too thick for the sound to travel properly through it. Yet the voices were definitely coming from the Hospital Wing next door.
She silently wondered which student had run into Peeves this time and suffered a merciless prank, or if someone had been once again dwelling in the hallways only for a curse to land on them. She shook her head, stretching her hand again to grab the forgotten flask when one of the voices spoke loud enough for her to catch a fragment of the sentence.
"….enough…..transfer to St. Mungos…."
She could not recognize the voice, could barely even hear it, but it was enough for her mind to once again forget about the crystal bottles lying at her feet.
Her eyes darted tentatively behind her, confirming that the door through which Madam Pomfrey had left was indeed still closed. Tentatively she walked to the other end of the room, where a second door joined this storage room with the Hospital Wing. Orange light flickered trough the slit underneath the door, alternating from burnt yellow to black as shadows moved at the other side.
Careful not to a make a sound, she let her hand travel to the silver doorknob, the metal feeling cool against her palm as she turned it painfully slowly, taking advantage that the voices seemed to be too agitated to notice if she took a peek. Surely no one would be watching the door that lead to the storage rooms. At least she hoped not.
The bright light blinded her momentarily, and she blinked a couple of times as she tried to take a look at whatever was happening in the other room. Through the narrow slit she could see figures arguing next to one of the beds, directly across from where she stood behind the barely opened door. She immediately recognized professor McGonagall in her long emerald robe and pointed hat. The other figure was no other that Snape, muttering something to McGonagall too lowly for her to hear. What was Snape doing here? She had just seen him at his office down in the dungeons.
Madam Pomfrey sat at the side of the bed mixing something in a long crystal glass, perfectly blocking her view of whoever was the student that lay inside the blankets.
"Drink this, dear" She heard the nurse add as she handed away the long narrow glass. "Any pain still?" If there was an answer, she did not hear it, the nurse witch still blocking her view of whoever was in the bed.
The tall doors of the Hospital Wing opened and closed once more, all of the figures turning to look as Professor Dumbledore approached, rich blue robes trailing softly behind him. She remained frozen trying not to move and hoping no one would notice if she opened the door just a little bit wider, just enough for her to see properly, even though a voice inside her head kept telling her to shut the door and resume her boring task of staking the flasks. It was what she was supposed to be doing in the first place.
"What is his temperature this time?" The headmaster asked in his ever peaceful voice.
"A hundred and six." Madam Pomfrey was the one to answer, choosing that moment to stand from the bedside and search for something in one of the wooden cabinets.
Her eyes widened as she finally took a look at the student lying on the bed, but still she remained immobile. Long silver hair draped lifelessly on the pillowcases, damp with beads of sweat that she could see upon his furrowed brow. Thranduil Lasgalen looked even paler than usual, his porcelain skin now devoid of color except for the bright fevered flush upon his bony cheeks. His eyes were shut tight as if in obvious pain, and even through the distance she could see him shivering.
"Severus, contact Oropher Lasgalen. We are transferring his son to St. Mungos tonight." The headmaster ordered before turning once more to exit the room at a faster pace this time. "Minerva, come with me."
Her eyes once again traveled to the bed, unsure of what to make of what she was seeing, only to find a par of ice blue eyes suddenly staring directly at hers, piercing her hard and cold even through their fevered glaze, making her freeze once more under the hostile glare, anger flashing through those ice colored irises. He did not break the stare, mercilessly burning through her until she immediately pulled the door closed once more like a chastised child. She had had no right in peeking through that door, and now she had witnessed something that was not meant for her to see…
Here's the next chapter! I hope you enjoy it! Let me know what you think!
Love,
Elena