As many weeks passed, the slow deterioration of the fifth- and seventh-year students' sanity was becoming more and more apparent as the dark circles, late nights in the common rooms and the repetitive throwing of themselves on the couch was becoming more frequent.
Out of respect, the younger students allowed the furniture to be used by the older students. Everyone had witnessed how one of the seventh years almost start crying because of the course load and everyone began giving up their seats for the elder students after that day,
And while most of the furniture in the common room was used to nap or study, the library's most commonly frequented areas remained void of the older students. Most easily guessed it was because the younger students loved to discuss other things instead of their studies, so it was only natural the older ones would want complete silence. It was only expected that the dark corners of empty classrooms and library shelves were often occupied by sleep-deprived teenagers.
And being part of the fifth and seventh years, were the prefects, who only got tighter on rules as stress accumulated and exploded in the smallest of arguments. Most of the prefects were glad that the younger students were getting out of their way to relieve their stress as much as possible, but some of the others seemed like they were purposely hunting younger students to deduct points.
A mostly silent Thursday morning, the library was mostly occupied by older students, but many had to turn in the last assignments for their classes, hence the younger students hidden away to whisper amongst themselves to complete their work.
"Hey Fred, doesn't it feel like Molly is watching me? You know, a bit closely these last few hours?" Hermione whispered to Fred in the library one morning. They were both sitting in one of the furthest corners of the library, the tables and chairs all dusty and in desperate need of being swept or cleaned.
"What would you consider too closely?" He asked.
"To the point that wherever I go, she's there for some reason." She mumbled, looking behind her to make sure she wasn't coming around on her 'tours'. "I tripped and she deduced 5 points for disrupting the students."
"Now that is a bit suspicious." He whistled low. "Blimey, she really does not like you." Fred motioned her closer. "It might have something to do with Dumbledore stashing the Hourglasses away. Last I saw, we were close to being in the lead."
"How did you know?"
"It might have to do with the fact that Dumbles still uses the same passwords. Wizard sweets are his go-to codes." Fred grinned. "Let's just hope we don't have a repeat of the last time." He plugged his nose with his finger and stood up before saying quietly: "100 points to Harry for breathing, good job!"
"Oh so I'm not the only one who noticed the favouritism, then."
"Oh no, the whole school noticed. A victory was fun, but that first year was quite unfair, even with Snape removing points for every possible reason. That was like showing your dick to the entire house." Hermione grimaced at the comparison and made him sit down before he made a scene.
"Congratulations, our dear snakes!" Prefect Esposito shouted out, clearly happy about something that had recently happened. The students began asking each other questions about any celebration worthy actions that anybody had done.
The last few weeks happened without incident and habits quickly set back in after the incident of the word on the wall. O.W.L exams were coming up quickly for the fifth years and NEWT level exams were stressing most of the seventh years to the point where some of them were barely sleeping anymore.
"As long as none of you screw up, we will finally win the House cup!" Prefect Yaxley answered to the prolonged whispers of the students. "We dominated the student roll and the house points, it's not over yet." The students cheered excitedly, almost jumping off the couches and the floor of the common room.
"Work hard, and we'll have bragging rights for the whole year!" Prefect Esposito finished and the prefects left the room all together to let the younger students celebrate.
"Ah well that explains why Molly is docking you so many points." Fred pointed out from his spot on the couch. "She could also just be stressed and trying to do her job too?" The look Hermione gave him made him take it back. "Alright, alright, she's just being her controlling self."
It seemed almost coincidental how Hermione kept finding herself in these situations. Walking alone in the dungeons, when all the torches would blow out the halls into darkness for small moments, only to relight themselves less than ten seconds later.
It was getting frustrating for she hadn't heard of this happening to any other student so far. She had noticed one of the halls had gotten significantly darker for a few moments when she had been returning to her dorms, but the hall itself was empty. This time, the pitch black had been accompanied with a chill in the air and dripping of water onto the floor. No footsteps, no whispers, no shuffling of clothes, there was no sound other than her own breathing.
"Lumos," She whispered and pointed her lit wand across the dark hall, lighting a small path for her. The light bounced off the damp floor and walls, but not as far as she would have wanted. It only lit up her area, leaving the rest of the hall immersed in the pitch black. "Show yourself!" She muttered, showing her wand in front and then behind her.
No words or whispers.
No footsteps or shuffling.
She grumbled and hurried off to the next hall right as the lights went back on and the hall was left in its usual dark eerie glow.
"Miss Malfoy? What are you doing out so late?" She saw Prefect Esposito come down the hall, a bag slung over her shoulder and dark circles under her eyes as it they had been permanently shadowed.
"Oh, I just got lost. The lights went out." She explained, showing that she was on her way back.
"Oh... Alright then. I'll walk you back. Come on, little snake." She waved her over and she swung her bag on to the other shoulder and went back towards the dungeons. It was a short walk of two more halls before they reached the entrance. "Time for bed." She yawned and said the password for the wall to open up.
Hermione let out a small laugh before adding onto it. "Both of us it seems."
The month of June had arrived and the pandemic of academic stress continued to spread and the fifth years were regularly trying to keep each other from having break downs in public, while the seventh years were now oddly calm. It felt like a silent bomb about to explode at any moment.
"You younger kids are so damn lucky..." Pavel Parkinson muttered angrily at the breakfast table one morning. He had his study book for his Charms O.W.L.s out, balancing itself open while he ate a piece of bread.
"Parkinson, take a break, for Merlin's sake. You've had the exact book open all week!" A fifth-year student exclaimed from nearby. It was a Ravenclaw that Hermione didn't know, but assumed she was his classmate.
"I have to pass on top of the class!" He grunted, flipping the page and drank his goblet of pumpkin juice until it was empty. "Can't have a Mudblood pass me again..." He muttered angrily in a whisper as to not pull any unwanted attention.
"At least study something else then," The blonde sitting beside him told him. "at this rate, you'll only be prepared for Defence and Charms. Then they'll really pass you in everything."
Hermione felt a nudge from her side and looked over at Fred, Bellatrix and Antonin all snickering in their corner of the table. "What's so funny?" She asked, tapping on Antonin's shoulder to get his attention.
They pointed over to the Gryffindor table where they could see the younger students try to sit as far away from the prefects as possible, while over at the Hufflepuff table, the students were trying to help the prefects as much as they could before being dragged away by fourth and sixth years.
"Really...?" Hermione raised a brow and shook her head in disappointment.
Of course, when Fred had said Molly was just being her controlling self, he didn't initially mean it so literally.
Here they were, sitting in the library, working on an assignment together in the library seated in the more frequented areas when they heard that shrill voice. "10 points for not putting your book away!" they heard her say from two shelves away.
"B-but I was going to come back, please Prefect Prewett, I didn't do anything wrong." They heard a second-year girl squeaked out, confused tinting her voice from the scolding.
"It's Miss Prefect to you. 10 more points!" It reminded Fred strongly of Percy back when he had made Prefect in Fifth and Sixth year, from the strongly controlling commands to follow every rule to the metaphorical stick up her arse, it irked Fred down to the very core.
"Oh, that's it." Hermione saw Bellatrix stand up and start heading over, before Fred lunged and grabbed a hold of her waist, trying to keep her back. "Frederick, let me go! She needs what's coming to her!"
"You're only a first year! She's a fifth year, she'll easily beat you, you know that!" He grumbled, also frustrated at the idea of his mother becoming a mini-Snape with the House Points.
"She's bringing all the houses down except hers! Let me have a shot at her, Just for a quick second!"
"Stop being a Gryffindor, Bellatrix." Those words froze her and she immediately took a seat at the table, suddenly passive as she was five minutes prior to the incident.
"I am not a Gryffindor, Frederick, nor will I ever be a part of those... those disgusting pigs!"
"Oh? Charging into a fight without thinking about it first? Sounds like a Gryffindor to me. I thought your family name was Black." Never had she seen Bellatrix shut up and shoot anger away from her face as quickly as the words had come out from Fred's mouth. The threats of being seen as someone unworthy of the name Black seemed to frighten her more than Hermione cared to admit. "Now, what would Aunt Cassiopeia do?"
"Blackmail." Fred barely had enough time to finish speaking before Bellatrix pipped up with a smile.
"Precisely." Fred smiled, the mischief of his other life seeping through the cracks and into his spirit, almost forgotten to the past, had come back full force. "And jinxing. You can't forget jinxing, Bella."
"Of course, how else would the message come across otherwise?" She stated as if it was the obvious.
'Oh sweet mother of Merlin...' Hermione thought, knowing they were only going to make things worse.
The updates are getting more Frequent so that's good news! The summer coming up after the first year is done seems like it will be a bit longer than I first expected and we will get to see more of some of the other characters too.
Comments and Messages are always welcomes, and even encouraged! You can also comment down which character you want to see more of and I can try to incorporate that a bit more into the story. I am aware that most of the characters in the back are well hidden so I'll try to pull them forward a bit.
On a final note, should I start answering comments on the updates? (It'll either be at the very start or the end of the chapter and evident it won't be part of it.)
I hope everyone's exams or semesters went well, I'm about to enter exams week in University so I'm hoping to get high grades on those exams.
Have a good day and a possible happy new year if I don't update by then.