Part 5 Hello Darkness, My Old Friend
The hall was alight with the animated chatter of the whole school. There was so much to talk about. The christmas holidays were coming soon, the harsh homework from various teachers, and, of course, the Slythrin incident.
Hermione, on the other hand, just stared blankly into space.
Ron was worried about her. He was not a smart boy, nor intuitive or anything really but he did understand pain when he saw it. And Hermione was in pain.
It was the kind of pain that was kept bottled up inside, like a frizzy drink, until it exploded from too much shaking and pressure. Ron did not really want to see Hermione explode, he had seen it before and it was not pretty.
Ron's eyes left the empty face and moved to another empty spot, this time literally. Harry's empty chair.
Harry had pretty much fallen off the face off the earth since his outburst. He rarely appeared at lunch, only appeared at dinner out of obligation and in classes he was more of a ghost than the actual ghosts were.
Maybe Ron was naive. Hell, of course he was. It was one of those, "If you do it, I will too" relationships, leaning heavily towards Ron doing what Harry told him too. This made Ron angry. He was no flackie...
He shook his head with glum realisation. He was a flackie. This was proved by the way he took Harry's orders, unquestioned, about the Sytherin prank. For this he was ashamed, burdened and strangely quilty.
No one knew this of course. Everyone who knew had kept their mouths shut, not that many people knew anyway. The fact that they had gotten away with it unpunished was unsettling. Ron kept expecting Snape to leap out at him, accuse him of the travesty, point his wand and, well, hello darkness my old friend.
But nothing like that ever happened. For intents and purposes, they got away scott free.
Not that Ron considered writhing in a pit of self blamed guilt scott free.
A terrible crash pulled him from his shame. He looked up and over the table to find a sight so odd it almost made him rub in eyes just to make sure.
Neville Longbottom, sitting at his usual spot, holding a metal plate inches from his eyes.
Everyone was silent for a moment, Ron could almost hear the chirping of a cricket in the background. Then it began.
All at once, the hall ignited with the most loathed form of communication in the world: gossip. Neville, though, just sat there, looking at the plate with apparent mistrust.
Ron leaned into a conversation that was happening next to him.
"Did you see that? Absolutely unbelievable!" Pavarti Patil squealed, looking at Neville, in what Ron suspected was a new light.
Ron leaned in further, waiting for what he missed to be explained, but they just seemed to be avoiding it, so he just asked.
"What happened? I wasn't looking."
Lavender Brown's face seemed to switch on at this question, as if awaiting the chance to retell the tale.
"Well, we were just talking, you know, about usual stuff, Snape being a prat, homework, usual stuff, when, out of nowhere, a plate came flying at Neville..."
"Like a frizbee," Dean Thomas interupted (Ron didn't know what a frizbee was but it sounded painful).
"Whatever. It seems one of the Slythrin boys charmed it to come flying across the room. Probably Malfoy, if I was betting. Anyway, I don't know whether it was supposed to be aimed so high as to, like, chop of his head but, it didn't matter, because a slip second before the plate meet it's mark, Neville caught it."
She was interrupted again, this time by Pavarti, so she did not seem mind as much.
"It was like, whoose and bamn!" (She animatedly re-enacted the scene as she spoke, getting appropriate ohhs and ahhs in the appropriate places).
"What was the crash?" Ron asked, interested by the perculiar event.
"Ohh, Neville knocked over a glass as he brought his hand up. Some things never change, I suppose," Lavender laughed.
Ron nodded absentmindedly, looking back at Neville, who in turn was looking at his hand. Several students were patting him on the back but all Neville could do was look at his hand.
Ron opened his mouth and turned to say something to Hermione but he stopped short when he saw the most curious girl in school still staring into her own private oblivion.
Hello darkness, indeed.
AN: Thankyou to those who have reviewed. It is appreciated, believe me. The more reviews, the more I will be inspired! So please keep them coming! And 'Hello darkness my old friend' is a reference to both simon and garfunkel and stephen king.
The hall was alight with the animated chatter of the whole school. There was so much to talk about. The christmas holidays were coming soon, the harsh homework from various teachers, and, of course, the Slythrin incident.
Hermione, on the other hand, just stared blankly into space.
Ron was worried about her. He was not a smart boy, nor intuitive or anything really but he did understand pain when he saw it. And Hermione was in pain.
It was the kind of pain that was kept bottled up inside, like a frizzy drink, until it exploded from too much shaking and pressure. Ron did not really want to see Hermione explode, he had seen it before and it was not pretty.
Ron's eyes left the empty face and moved to another empty spot, this time literally. Harry's empty chair.
Harry had pretty much fallen off the face off the earth since his outburst. He rarely appeared at lunch, only appeared at dinner out of obligation and in classes he was more of a ghost than the actual ghosts were.
Maybe Ron was naive. Hell, of course he was. It was one of those, "If you do it, I will too" relationships, leaning heavily towards Ron doing what Harry told him too. This made Ron angry. He was no flackie...
He shook his head with glum realisation. He was a flackie. This was proved by the way he took Harry's orders, unquestioned, about the Sytherin prank. For this he was ashamed, burdened and strangely quilty.
No one knew this of course. Everyone who knew had kept their mouths shut, not that many people knew anyway. The fact that they had gotten away with it unpunished was unsettling. Ron kept expecting Snape to leap out at him, accuse him of the travesty, point his wand and, well, hello darkness my old friend.
But nothing like that ever happened. For intents and purposes, they got away scott free.
Not that Ron considered writhing in a pit of self blamed guilt scott free.
A terrible crash pulled him from his shame. He looked up and over the table to find a sight so odd it almost made him rub in eyes just to make sure.
Neville Longbottom, sitting at his usual spot, holding a metal plate inches from his eyes.
Everyone was silent for a moment, Ron could almost hear the chirping of a cricket in the background. Then it began.
All at once, the hall ignited with the most loathed form of communication in the world: gossip. Neville, though, just sat there, looking at the plate with apparent mistrust.
Ron leaned into a conversation that was happening next to him.
"Did you see that? Absolutely unbelievable!" Pavarti Patil squealed, looking at Neville, in what Ron suspected was a new light.
Ron leaned in further, waiting for what he missed to be explained, but they just seemed to be avoiding it, so he just asked.
"What happened? I wasn't looking."
Lavender Brown's face seemed to switch on at this question, as if awaiting the chance to retell the tale.
"Well, we were just talking, you know, about usual stuff, Snape being a prat, homework, usual stuff, when, out of nowhere, a plate came flying at Neville..."
"Like a frizbee," Dean Thomas interupted (Ron didn't know what a frizbee was but it sounded painful).
"Whatever. It seems one of the Slythrin boys charmed it to come flying across the room. Probably Malfoy, if I was betting. Anyway, I don't know whether it was supposed to be aimed so high as to, like, chop of his head but, it didn't matter, because a slip second before the plate meet it's mark, Neville caught it."
She was interrupted again, this time by Pavarti, so she did not seem mind as much.
"It was like, whoose and bamn!" (She animatedly re-enacted the scene as she spoke, getting appropriate ohhs and ahhs in the appropriate places).
"What was the crash?" Ron asked, interested by the perculiar event.
"Ohh, Neville knocked over a glass as he brought his hand up. Some things never change, I suppose," Lavender laughed.
Ron nodded absentmindedly, looking back at Neville, who in turn was looking at his hand. Several students were patting him on the back but all Neville could do was look at his hand.
Ron opened his mouth and turned to say something to Hermione but he stopped short when he saw the most curious girl in school still staring into her own private oblivion.
Hello darkness, indeed.
AN: Thankyou to those who have reviewed. It is appreciated, believe me. The more reviews, the more I will be inspired! So please keep them coming! And 'Hello darkness my old friend' is a reference to both simon and garfunkel and stephen king.