I kept thinking about Andrew and his secret. It wasn't like him to keep stuff from Mary-Louise, especially considering her low self-esteem. He had taken care of her when she's homesick, when she had the flu, even came over during breaks to take care of her mother if she had fallen ill or to keep an eye on their cat while they were on vacation. He did everything for her, but perhaps only as long as it meets the eye. I started to watch them obsessively, but their behavior hadn't changed; they still did everything together. And Mary-Louise started to notice my observations.
'Is something the matter?' she asked me after Transfiguration in private. I raised my eyebrows in surprise.
'No, why would there be?' She seemed nervous as she was fidgeting, looking uneasily. I wondered if that meant that she started to suspect anything about Andrew's weird schedules and expected me to have all the answers.
'I've seen you look at us, Andrew and I, I mean more than you usually do,'
'I have, but I don't see it's importance,' I answered honestly. I was never one to lie to my friends, hence why I did not share any false names or backgrounds with my friends, for them to find out as soon as we are done here and to resent me for it. They were aware of my little perks where I analyze abnormal considered behavior and I learned from my mother not to be ashamed of it. She glanced around to make sure no one was around to hear us and then leaned a bit forward to me.
'I was just wondering if...' Oh, did she indeed notice Andrew spending more time at libraries than he needed?
'If Andrew and I, make you uncomfortable – in any way, knowing that you won't love your husband, please say so,' So that's what it was about, jealousy after all. Trying to find a spot that would show her that my grass wasn't greener just because I got engaged before she did. Although she seemed honestly concerned, I saw what was going on in her head; trying to paint me as an inferior and unhappy. I smirked, placed my hand on her cheek and shook my head.
'I am completely fine, don't you worry,' I convinced her. She studied my eyes to be sure for just a second and then nodded.
'So there's nothing I should know?' she asked to be certain of any other possible motive I could have.
'Darling, if nothing changed then nothing changed,' I answered as we walked towards the Great Hall for dinner. She stopped asking questions and seemed to be content with what I gave her. I didn't like stirring unnecessary trouble by telling her about the visit to the library – not because he asked me, but because it might've been something innocent, it might've been covered up and I didn't like them bickering, ending up with no results. If there was something to know, then we will know. Back at the Slytherin table, Andrew was there, finishing up some homework with his male friends that we didn't really associate with. Beatrice was apparently running a little late.
'Well, let's eat anyways,' Mary-Louise suggested, too hungry to wait for our final friend to show up. I nodded in agreement and we started dinner. At the table, I noticed plenty of other students running later than usual. Not just the seventh years only, but even some sixth years, fifth years. Strange.. Odd even.
'What's the matter?' Mary-Louise captured my attention. Only realizing now she must've seen me frowning, I shook my head and cut off some meat off my plate to eat.
'No, nothing really,' I answered, she decided to not ask me any further.
'There have been a strange amount of Slytherins missing,' Andrew noted. Immediately I turned to him, having my full attention. So I wasn't the only one who noticed, which made it even more weird. Andrew shouldn't have a care in the world about who was there or not.
'Have there been any fights perhaps? An extra amount of detention?' He shook his head.
'Nothing out of the ordinary, really. You think they're busy recruiting again?' In an instant Mary-Louise hissed at him.
'You're not supposed to speak about it so publicly. You never know who hears you or thinks you should be next,' she warned him, I agreed with her. We were all already on thin ice as we are right now, but that did scratch one of the main possibilities off my list of reasons why Andrew feels like hiding something; He's not being recruited. Because of a matter of fact; Everyone that I already knew off that has been recruited so far has been missing as well. Before we could even picture her in that sort of crowd, Beatrice appeared out of nowhere and sat down next to Andrew, escaping a sigh.
'What took you so long?' Mary-Louise asked, playing it cool.
'I had detention for no reason! We had so share essays and give random feedback. There was this one of Ravenclaw that I kept bickering with, because I was sure I had the right answers, the girl brought us both in trouble for no reason,' she cried. None of the other suspects came back so soon, so I think we all assumed it was truth to that story. Later that night it actually checked out; We magically ran into the Ravenclaw girl she fought with, called each other a few names while passing. For some reason I caught Beatrice smiling at herself, even though she failed to have the last word.