Nacht's footsteps sent dull, heavy thuds echoing around the entryway as she slipped into the silent castle. The door was stained with the rainwater that splattered the bricks and paths outside, and hints of rust — perhaps always there, but now spilling further across the metal latches — reminded her of lost flames. Torch flames that leaped in their spots beside the door, or candlelight that fluttered in the lanterns, all glossing the main castle door with a faint hue of bronze.

Nacht wished she had brought a lighter. But all she found in her pockets were a sodden packet of matches, a tangled strand of unicorn hair, and a pencil she had used for homework two years ago.

Two years ago.

Two years ago, when the figures that now stood frozen in the corridors had moved from class to class, had raced across the courtyards, had jabbed their wands at the skies to try and bring down lightning. When the Great Hall, now unlit and echoing, like the abandoned chamber it was, had been filled with scents of pasties and hams and even a hint of owl. Two years ago…

It didn't seem right to speak, to even breathe a "There you are" to the chilled castle air. But a faint warmth pulsated and faded as the teenager rested her hand on a doorframe and peered into the classroom beyond. Inside, draped with a wavering strip of gray light from the window, the statue-like people held dramatic poses that Nacht would usually place inside an overdone, cheesy movie, but she remembered that overacting everything had been typical for the students and professors in the castle. Or at least for Jo Bekke…Belle…Bekle…whoever, and anyone who she happened to be around at the time. Nacht carefully picked her way between MICHel DUGAr, Dumbledore, and the constantly shifting numbers of kids sprawled across the floor and the benches. Jo, her blue eyes (Nacht had never actually found a diamond that matched the shade) paused in time and unblinking, balanced on the edge of a chair with an overexaggerated smile.

"I never really liked you," Nacht muttered. For a brief moment, she wondered why she'd come back to this dead castle, but an impulsive glance at the doorway swept her wonderings aside. That was where she and Ashe had stood, too long ago, scribbling commentary in their notebooks as they watched the chaos that had been happening within the classroom. The notebook… Nacht nibbled at the side of her cheek as she tried to remember where she and Ashe had put it last. Oh, right. We set it in the Room of Requirement. Somehow, that was where it had seemed safest.

She set off down the hollow corridors.

They had promised each other, promised the readers, that they would slip back into this world again. Even when they broke off their commentary on their last day here, one year ago, neither imagined that they wouldn't be back within a week. Nacht didn't realize how tightly she was clenching her right hand around her pencil until she looked down. As messed up as this place was, we shouldn't have abandoned it like we did.

It wasn't on purpose, she told herself.

It doesn't matter. You left the castle. You left the readers.

The wall leading to the Room of Requirement gaped its empty expanse at Nacht as she turned the corner. She tucked her thoughts into a deep fold in her mind and strained to focus on one thing, and one alone: I need to get to the place where our notebook is hidden.

I need to get to the place where our notebook is hidden. First pace.

I need to get to the place where our notebook is hidden. Second pace.

I need to get to the place where our notebook is hidden. Third pace. She stopped, her wet sneaker soles squeaking faintly on the stones, and spun towards the wall.

For a brief second, the wall stared back down at her, stern and still. But then it shuddered, like the old magic was grasping for the last of its strength, and a small wooden door was pushed out of the brickwork. It seemed silly to thank the wall, but Nacht whispered it anyways as she turned the doorknob.

Everything was just as she and Ashe had left it. The notebook was sitting on the table in the center of the room, closed and waiting patiently to be opened again. Her hammock, where Nacht used to spend idle time doodling while Ashe read comments, still sagged under the weight of the pillows that the room had conjured up. A faint twinge, a pressing pain surged against the sides of Nacht's chest, and she had a sudden urge, a rush to run back out of the room and shout all the I'm sorrys and I wishs and Please don't be upsets that had piled up over the past months. But she didn't.

She picked up the notebook and tucked it under her arm. A dribble of rainwater, pooled in the folds of her rain jacket, slid down the cover as Nacht started towards the door again. There was nothing left for her in the castle except for the multiplied echoes of her own movement and the ghosts of the chaos this castle used to be.

Except for the neat pile of envelopes by the door.

Neither Ashe nor Nacht had ever figured out how the readers' messages left on their commentary ended up magically teleported to this room, always in tightly sealed white envelopes. A fresh spiral of guilt sucked at her stomach when she saw the dates, carefully written in neat blue ink in the corners. 'October 2nd, 2015'. 'September 21, 2015'. More out of fading habit than anything else, Nacht picked up the top envelope and tugged at the flap.

But the envelope opened too easily, a far cry from the usual superglue-like strength that bound it shut. The comment, a small strip of words on a folded sheet of paper, slid out and settled to the floor. The girl paused for a second, her mind slowly hitching suspicions together. Maybe it's a fluke. So she reached for envelope after envelope, in a hoping, barely-believing frenzy, opening and reading and opening and wondering why the envelopes were opening and understanding and hoping—

She only stopped when the new comments were layering the floor around her like a thin pile of feathers. She could only imagine how many of the readers had left forever, who had moved on to another section of life and would never check her and Ashe's commentary again. The idea of everyone scattering in the time she and Ashe had been gone made her bite her lip. But even that was layered with some hope, especially since someone else had opened the envelopes. Someone else had read the new messages.

Ashe had been here, too.

She carefully stacked the envelopes again, but left the pile of messages on the floor in case her friend ever returned. It would be a sign to Ashe, maybe. A sign that Nacht had been here, too. She wasn't sure why that was important, but something seemed right about leaving the slips of paper free.

The notebook cover warped and bent under her fingers as she picked it up off the floor opened it to the last written page. There was one completed commentary she'd never posted. A short chapter — too short, in her opinion — but maybe it was enough for now. The girl carefully stepped around the messages and left the Room of Requirement. Frozen gazes brushed her skin as she walked by the characters; the lingering scents of explosive spells and potions gone wrong seemed to have faded even more in the past ten minutes. But Nacht just squeezed the notebook tighter.

I'm going home, she thought as she slipped back into the rain. She tucked the notebook under her jacket and pressed it close. And I'm going to find Ashe.

There was still hope for this dead castle.

Chapter 44

AN: STUP FLAAMING AAND DOIN COMMENTAREES!1111111111111

No thanks.

if u flam then GO HLL!

Hey, Ashe, do you want to go hll this weekend?

Sure. Sounds fun. What's go hll-ing?

No idea. My first thought was that it involved a hill. So like some messed up form of sledding?

Let's do this.

Chapter 44

IT WAS…

ELEN DEGENERIS!

Well, at least it isn't Ellen Degeneres, because if it was I would have to get mad, because she is queen.

"OMW

Oh My Wombat

Wombats are God now, everyone.

your that gay lady!11111111111'

"yep that's me," she said.

GO AWAY FREEK!11111111111111111' I SCREEMED.

#Rude. Not that I'm surprised.

#BadFicsAreAlwaysRude #JoBekkeAlwaysScreams. Someone should start those somewhere :)

sHE RAN AWAY CRIEN.

thEN MICHELE DUGGAR SAD, "NOWE WE CAN STURT THE LESON."

NOPE nope nope nope nope nope

Ten bucks says the lesson doesn't start.

"wait!"

Called it.

I DIDN'T ACCEPT THAT BET. YOU READ AHEAD, YOU CHEATER.

I object.

Overruled. Get out. I'm keeping my ten dollars.

:0(

it WAS…..

DUNBLECORES TWIN BRUTHER ABWEDORTH!

Oh boy. Abwedorth. He's my favorite character.

Were he and Dumbledore even twins, or just brothers? I forget.

Brothers. Aberforth is younger. And technically they're both Dumbledore.

Haha, true.

2 B CONTIINUES

But why. Why are you continuing this?

Hi, everyone. Nacht here. It's...been a while. The above commentary is from about one year ago.

There's a lot to say. I'll be honest, part of me is using this as a way to reach Ashe again, see what the hopes are for the future. It really makes me kind of sad to go through the profiles of some of the frequent commenters - especially you who were with us from the beginning - and see last edited dates for your profiles or stories be a year ago or more. People have moved on, I completely understand, but I would have liked to have let everyone leave with a completed, or at least regularly updated, commentary. So I'm sorry. I really am. I truly feel like we just left this project hanging, despite repeated promises, promises, that we wouldn't do that.

Well, I'm here now. I don't know what that means. I don't know if that means anything. I don't know if anyone is still there. And I don't know if anyone would trust me if I said, for the final time, that we will tell you if this is going to end for good. Actually, this time, we'll tell you whether it will end or whether it will continue. Here's a promise, for whatever it means now.

Thanks, everyone. You've been amazing.