"Care to dance?"

Music swelled in a crescendo around her, filling her with warmth, only to die to a faint whisper moments later. People buzzed and talked all around her as they swirled around each other in a dance, but it felt as if she was completely underwater. Everything sounded too far away. Even the lights had an odd shimmer to them, as if everything was fake.

Yet she could clearly make out the figure standing in front of her; it was Cedric. He looked the nicest Oriane had ever seen him with every strand of his hair perfectly in place, and dark dress robes covering his body. It wasn't until then that she realized she too was dressed for the occasion; whatever occasion it was, anyway. A long, flowing dress with colors that kept shifting every time she looked at it.

Cedric stood in front of her with his hand outstretched, and she realized she hadn't answered his question. He didn't seem impatient, though. Maybe she wasn't thinking for as long as she thought she had, or maybe he was and he didn't care.

She didn't say anything as she put her hand in his, and the moment they touched it was as if Cedric was brought to life; some motionless statue that had gained motor movement after being dormant for centuries. She didn't feel anything as they fell into the classic ballroom dance, his hand on her waist, her hand on his shoulder; just the fabric of her dress swaying and a terrible, overwhelming floral scent.

About halfway through their dance, Oriane suddenly realized that the music had ceased. It stopped a long time ago. There was no sound, no chatter of people around them, or the warm sound of string instruments. There was only the sound of their feet hitting the stone floor.

"Where'd the music go?" she asked. But it felt as if her voice was delayed, like her lips had closed long before her voice began to move.

And Cedric didn't answer her. In fact, he wasn't even looking at her. His eyes seemed glazed over, staring off impossibly far into the distance. His statue-like self had gone from unmoving, to only doing the same movements, over and over again.

They spun faster and faster in a circle, and Oriane found herself gripping Cedric's shoulder for dear life. It was as if she was apparating, her body twisting and contorting terribly fast as she unwillingly moved.

Cedric slipped right through her fingers, and she found herself falling backwards. Oriane braced her body for the harsh impact of the stone floor below her, but instead she found herself falling into something softer, and much colder. Everything around her was suddenly dark, and the air felt humid.

Once more she found herself back in a maze, one with tall, towering hedges and a bright, starry sky above it all. Picking up the skirt of her dress, Oriane stood to her feet and began to walk. She didn't know where she was going, but all her movements were automatic. Suddenly she was the statue, the robot, the one that was stuck doing the same movements over and over.

But it was always the same. Try her best. Run through the maze and hedges as if she had done it a million times before. But just as she was about to get to the end-

She woke up.

It was Sunday morning and Oriane's head was still pounding from the previous night. Whether it was from stress, or the terrible nights sleep she had just gotten, she couldn't be certain. But it wasn't like it mattered.

Sitting up in bed, Oriane looked around the room. Everyone else already seemed to be awake for the most part. Charlotte sat in her bed, scribbling away at something in her sketchbook, and Calista laid on her side, getting Milo to attack her hand through her blanket. Somehow, the little ball of fluff had managed to grow a bit bigger over their last month at Hogwarts.

"I think he was a hunter in a past life," Calista said, grabbing Milo by his face and wiggling him around. "Because he certainly is not a hunter now."

"Leave him alone, he's just a baby," Emerald muttered through her pile of blankets.

Oriane turned her attention to Charlotte and waited for her to say her classic line, but it never came. Her sketchbook seemed to be more important, and so she decided to pick up on the slack.

"An idiot baby."

That was the last thing anyone said before they slipped out of bed and began to dress for the day. All Oriane could think about was the events of the previous night. Harry's name being called. Everyone cheering for Cedric. The looks people gave her as she attempted to defend Harry. The last words she spoke to Cedric echoed in her mind, and she couldn't help but grimace as she felt like an idiot for even trying to say anything in the first place.

And her roommates all knew. They didn't even have to ask what was going on in her head. Her already pale eyes were much too glassy, and her lips too tight. Still, they didn't pry, and instead the four traveled to the Great Hall for breakfast.

It was strange being back in a place where so much terrible drama had taken place. Any hint of the previous night's feast had been washed away and replaced with a rather dull room instead. Or, perhaps it just looked dull to her. There was no warmth, no color, just…

Oh.

Oriane didn't realize it until they had sat down, but the reason for the dullness of the room was because of the cold stares she received from half of the Hufflepuff table. Even when she caught their gaze, their glares were unwavering. She wasn't sure if she should look away, or keep staring, but it was as if her eyes were glued onto the group. Maybe she thought she deserved it.

Finally, any lingering eyes on Oriane quickly looked away, all seemingly at the same time. It wasn't until Oriane looked back to her roommates that she realized the reason why. Charlotte had her own glare. A terrible heat seemed to have overtaken her bright, amber eyes. She stared at them with a look that could burn down a home.

"Hufflepuff. Loyal and just," Emerald said sarcastically with a sigh.

"Well, they are being loyal," Calista muttered. "Just not to Ori."

The girl's face fell into her hands as she let out a grumbling sigh. "I should have just kept my mouth shut last night," she groaned.

"You were right to speak up on Harry's behalf," Emerald defended. "They don't understand his situation like you do," she finished, her eyes glancing at Calista.

Oriane's mind wandered back to the events of the previous night. More specifically, what she had said to Cedric. You've no idea what it's like being known only for the death of your family. She grimaced at the thought of it. At realizing just how selfish she was for saying such a thing.

"Yeah, well, doesn't change the fact they hate me just about as much as they hate him," she said bitterly.

"To be expected, really," Charlotte explained, stabbing her toast with a fork. "Cedric's been the Hufflepuff's pride and joy since he came to Hogwarts. And though we know you didn't mean it this way, in their eyes you challenged him." She paused for a moment as her eyes scanned the table around them. "If he's as smart as everyone thinks he is, he'll find some way to get them off your back."

Really, that wasn't what she wanted at all. For Cedric to swoop in and save her, or for anyone else to, for that matter. She was tired of being saved, even if it was from something as simple as school bullies this time around.

The rest of breakfast stayed the same lukewarm as the beginning. Her friends did their best to carry on in conversation, yet none of their words really stuck with her. Her mind was overwhelmed with swirling thoughts about what she was going to do. It felt as if she had lost a friend. With a heavy mind, when their plates were finished, or half finished in Oriane's case, she excused herself from the rest of the group, dismissing herself from the others.

Realistically, the best place for her to have been would be back in her dorm. The only people who would be able to talk to her would be her roommates, people who weren't convinced she was trying to undermine Cedric's position as Hogwarts Champion. Yet, for some reason, that was the last place she wanted to be. Yet the library and common room were much too crowded with watchful eyes for her taste, and the air outside too bitter and cold with the November breeze.

And so she did the only thing she could think of.

The clocktower was surprisingly less traveled compared to many other locations throughout Hogwarts, and it was more so abandoned on weekend mornings. It had been quite some time since she had last sat in that tiny, round window in that equally tiny corridor. Almost a full year, in fact, as it was the place where she had soaked in her sorrows the previous year after learning some rather unfortunate facts about her parents.

And it was much brighter outside than it was last year, but there was no snow on the ground. No terrible footprints to cut through the pristine white beauty that would soon coat all of Hogwarts in a month or so. Instead, there was just a simple courtyard with stone statues and walkways covered in dry, dead grass.

It was… ugly. Too grey and colorless, much like the Great Hall had been that morning. There were very few things Oriane ever really found ugly. A sky, barren from clouds. An unsuspecting bug squashed by a pedestrian not paying attention to it on the ground. A rose without petals. And for some reason, her list was only growing that year.

"Spoke out of turn, did we?" a terrible, grating voice spoke up from above her.

Oriane's attention turned away from the barren courtyard below her and up to the rafters above her. She was met with a transparent, floating figure drifting in the air several feet off the ground. Unfortunately for her, this was no mere ghost, but a terrible poltergeist who went by the name Peeves. He was named accordingly too, as he often did his best to peeve off anyone within several feet of him. She had managed to scrape by the past year and a half without being on the receiving end of any of his terrible pranks.

Until then.

"Naughty, naughty," the terrible poltergeist said while shaking his finger.

Without warning, a bright blue balloon came hurling her way, and she hardly had time to put her arms up before it collided with her body, causing it to pop and send a large splash of water her way. It was frigid, and stung her skin, and…

And suddenly, she was no longer in the clock tower. A terrible throbbing began to overtake her head, and it was then that she knew she was stuck in another vision. It was a vision that was oddly similar to her dream that morning, yet it seemed more crisp. She was in a ball of sorts, wearing a dress that was a bright, yellow gold. Everyone danced around her, and the music that played didn't seem far away at all, unlike it had in her dream

However, unlike her dream, there was no Cedric to dance with. Everyone around her had already found a partner. She stood alone, on the sides, watching as everyone laughed the night away. And she found that she was actually enjoying herself until a voice spoke up next to her.

"If you're so curious, then fine."

Oriane looked to her right and found that Professor Karkaroff stood next to her. He wore a set of rather nice dress robes, much like everyone else around them wore. Yet he didn't seem at all enthused to be there as much as Oriane was. His dark eyes glared at her as he held his hand out, offering her something.

"Don't say I didn't warn you."

In his hand was a small piece of parchment, oddly similar in size and shape as to what the champions put their name on before entering it into the Goblet of Fire. Oriane took it in her hands to get a better look at it. At first she thought it was blank, but after taking a closer look, she noticed two very small letters printed finely on the parchment.

R.G.

Oriane was no longer wearing a dress in some fancy ballroom. Instead, she stood back in the clock tower, wearing her regular, plain clothes, and dripping water onto the floor below her. If Peeves had taunted her any further before fleeing the scene of his rather distasteful prank, Oriane had missed it.

She looked down at herself, arms held out awkwardly at her sides as she let out a long sigh. How a small balloon could hold so much water was beyond her (magic, probably), but it certainly was a nuisance. What little privacy she was able to find away from prying eyes had quickly been stolen from her by a terrible, annoying poltergeist.

The only comfort she was able to find in that moment was knowing that Peeves normally didn't seek out students for a particular reason. She had, as usual, just been in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Grumbling, the soaking girl shook out her body, attempting to wring out any large deposits of water that soaked her clothes, and though it had gotten better, it wasn't as if she was completely dry. So she did the only other thing she could do; walked back to the Hufflepuff house to get changed.

The walk back was miserable. The wetness soaking her clothes made her shiver uncontrollably in the cold halls of Hogwarts. Of course Peeves couldn't have done that prank during the warmer months at the end of the year when the weather was warmer. Not only that, but she became a spectacle for any wandering students to gawk at should they just so happen to pass by her in the hall. Having the pounding headache from her vision was just the cherry to top everything off.

"Ori?" a confused voice asked as she nearly bumped into someone turning around a corner.

Oriane came face to face with a dark haired boy who appeared to be just about as upset as she was. She would recognize that bespectacled boy anywhere.

"Oh, hey Harry," she greeted awkwardly, trying to get her teeth to stop chattering.

The boy turned his head to the side in an attempt to get a better look at her. By that point, her clothes had managed to appear mostly normal, although it still clung awkwardly to her body in some places. Her thick hair, however, seemed to be the slowest thing of all to dry, and it made her hair look more poofy than normal.

"Peeves," she explained simply before he could even voice his concern. "Caught me alone in the clocktower."

And in a way the boy almost seemed surprised. Not at her appearance so much as her words, and it didn't take Oriane long to figure out why he looked at her so confused. She was probably one of the few people left at Hogwarts who talked to him like a normal human being.

"I'm sorry," he said in a strained voice before quickly adding, "and I'm sorry about last night, too. I heard about what happened in your common room."

Word traveled fast at Hogwarts.

"Oh, right. Yeah. I'm, uh, sorry about last night as well," she said, crossing her arms over her chest. "It's not as glorious as they all say it is."

Harry nodded his head. "And is everything alright between you and Cedric, then? Have you two talked since your argument?"

Cedric. He was the last thing in the entire world that she wanted to think about. The very thought of his face and voice made her stomach churn with anxiety. He could be furious with her for all she knew, though her gut was telling her otherwise. At most, she knew he would be a little upset. She hadn't exactly shown her Hufflepuff pride in supporting him last night. He was bound to be a little hurt by it.

"No not yet… but you shouldn't worry about that. You've got enough on your plate," she dismissed, shifting awkwardly on her feet. "I'm gonna go, you know, change. I'll, uh, catch you later."

Oriane pushed past the boy before he was even able to mutter his farewell to her. Had she been feeling better she would have stayed to comfort him, but that moment was one of the first times Oriane Morissette had decided to put herself first. She continued to flee through the corridors as she descended into the lower levels of the castle.

The Hufflepuff common room wasn't as packed as it was the previous night, but there were still enough prying eyes to make her uncomfortable. Some students looked at her in confusion, and others caught sight of her and laughed.

"You know what they say about karma…"

At least Cedric wasn't there to see her like that.

All three of her roommates were in the dorm when she opened the door. Calista and Emerald sat on the floor across from one another, rolling a ball back and forth on the ground while Milo pranced after it. Charlotte sat on the edge of her bed, working on some homework that they had been assigned earlier in the week. But their attention was quickly pulled off of whatever they were doing the very moment they caught sight of Oriane storming into the room.

"Aye…" Calista gasped as she let the ball roll by her. "You're looking a wee wet."

"Just a tad," Oriane deadpanned as she made a beeline for the bathroom.

She walked right through Emerald's and Calista's little game with Milo before shutting the door behind her. No longer interested in the ball, Milo ran after her and tried to bat at her from underneath the door. Worried, Emerald stood to her feet.

"Ori? What happened?" she called, almost like a mother would to her child.

"Just give her a moment," Charlotte spoke up. She still sat on her bed, her quill awkwardly scribbling away at her parchment as she kept glancing back and forth at the notes sprawled out in front of her. "She's not going to talk to you guys if you keep jumping down her throat."

The very moment the door closed behind her, Oriane found her back sliding down the wall until she was sitting on the cold floor beneath her. Her original plan had been to actually change, but the moment she saw her roommates she found that she couldn't. Just more prying eyes to add to her embarrassment.

Her head began to spin with thoughts. Every little detail from the last few days came flooding back to her, mostly unwanted. Harry's name being called didn't mean that he was the only one in danger. Oriane was well aware that whenever danger followed Harry, it always managed to make its way back to her, too. And in that moment all she could do was think about Karkaroff in her vision. An Ex-Death Eater. How he seemed to be begrudgingly sharing information with her.

R.G.

What the hell did that have to do with anything?