"Quiet please... Silence!"
Dippet's emplified voice echoes heavily throughout the Great Hall where the cacophony of shock and murmurs had sown chaos a second before. A loud hush settles in the room, all eyes riveted on the Headmaster who's begun his little speech at the beginning of dinner.
"I know those past weeks have been tremendous for all of you. Everyone is feeling scared and threatened by the incidents which keep sending students to the Hospital wing. Today was the fifth one to be petrified, and still no culprit found within Hogwarts walls."
Before a second wave of chaos, Armando's voice doubles in decibels. "The situation is getting worse each day, resulting in your parents worrying about your safety and the ministry wanting to take the matter into hands themselves. Be assured that the professors and myself will thoroughly pursue the investigation until the end. We will find who is behind this, or the school will close until further instruction. If anyone of you have some hints, doubts or elements that can help us find whoever is behind this horrendous mischief, please come see the staff or myself whenever you want."
"As if," Mulciber grunts lowly.
"However, know that if we come to find the culprit, they better be prepared to suffer the consequences immensely."
On this last note, Dippet sits back on the chair and raises a toast, triggering the signal for dinner. All at once, plates of all sorts materialize on the tables that fill with meat, potatoes, salads, bread, fruits and juice. Malfoy is the first to launch at the food. He picks a piece of roasted chicken, a lettuce leaf as well as a handful of vegetables perfectly arranged in the plate. Everything has to be classy with this idiot.
"Do you really think Hogwarts will close?"
"Don't be absurd Ezekiel," Mulciber snorts. "The Ministry has no rights over Hogwarts. All decision rests with Headmaster Dippet, and Salazar knows how much this school means to him and Dumbledore."
"If the bodies keep piling up, they won't have any choice but to listen to the parents' outcry," Sadell speaks without any emotion.
"What," interrupts Abraxas, "Are you complaining about the muggleborns being evicted from our view one by one?"
"I never said that. I don't care who transforms into a stone statue as long as it's not me. The idea of being forced out of Hogwarts repulses me, is all."
"You know what repulses you Eldwins? The idea of you going back home where your father can't wait to marry you off with the first pureblood who will put a beautiful heir into your belly."
"If you don't shut up, Lestrange, I'm going to sew your lips myself."
"Oooh~ scary."
"Back off Lestrange," Elizabeth growls, sending the boy one of her darkest deathglare. "Mind your own business, will you?"
"Or what?"
"For Salazar's sake, can we all get back to the subject?" Malfoy graciously sigh like an old man having lived five decades at once. "They're not closing Hogwarts. They can't just send everyone off at home without proper agreement from the Ministry of Magic. We all know how much the Ministers would like to get their hands over the castle's management. Controlling it means controlling the students and the graduates that could become big assets for them in the near future. Dippet knows it. Dumbledore knows it. They will do anything to prevent those vultures from snatching what they want."
This time, Mulciber burst out of laughter. "Why are you all getting to serious? What does it have to do with us if Hogwarts closes? It's not like we can't learn from home. Remember, homeschooling was once classified as a truly Pureblood thing back in the last centuries. It won't stop us from becoming great Wizards in the near future. Well, of course, except for all those pathetic mudblood that come from—"
"Logan," Sadell warns fiercely.
The boy is ready to snap at first, but then he suddenly grows still, finally realizing his mistake. The expression he makes is quite funny.
"O-Of course, I'm not talking about you Riddle. I know you're above them all. You will achieve anything even without the bloody school—"
He starts choking on his own saliva all of sudden. Coughing air that comes out but doesn't go in, Mulciber grabs his throat with such strength he almost crushes his own neck.
"My, my, Logan. You never learn don't you?"
Everyone stays still at the table. Even Lestrange and Orion have abandonned their fork full of food to witness the scene with a too eager-looking gaze.
"That mouth of yours really needs a thorough washing. Insulting Hogwarts doesn't make you a wise wizard, you know. This bloody school as you have beautifully put, is the greatest of all Europe only seconded by Beauxbâtons. This bloody school is where the most powerful wizards were made. Created by the Four Founders, including the one you idolize through the House you're part of."
"R-Rid...dle...! Pl-!"
"Know your place, Mulciber. This is the first step before becoming a great wizard you so naively mentioned."
And then, Mulciber can breath once again. He swallows big puffs of oxygene like a human fish, recovering from the little trauma under the amused eyes of his peers.
"I... I get it. I'm sorry, alright..."
"Good."
Ah. There. Another show of superiority to entertain his disciples. This is getting a little too boring in Eileen's point of view. Her attention focuses elsewhere quickly, not in the mood to hear Lestrange's taunting or Black's cackling like a mad kid. A move on the far end of the table catches her bored gaze that suddenly grows more lively as soon as it recognizes little Harvey departing from the Great Hall alone.
It's weird, seeing some of the blue spots not healed yet since the last time she's seen them. Is he taking care of himself? She doesn't like the way he was hiding himself like a scared prey, nor the way he seemed to be avoiding her each time they happen to cross each other's path. She has to investigate it more deeply when she gets the chance to.
And this chance appears just when another detail pulls her away from the bubble she's built around herself while thinking about Harvey– Magus Parker. He and Jacob plus two other agressive-looking puppies has left their table and are now walking towards the double-door in turn. Just like that. In the middle of dinner. After only twenty minutes of feeding their empty little braincells when they usually spend the hour to engulf all the meat they could until their stomach was on the verge of expulsing everything out.
Weird.
Far too weird.
And just after Harvey left through the same door? There's no way she would be so blind to ignore something like this. But– Does she have to do this, really? Getting in others' business just to appease her conscience? It's starting to get annoying. Nothing could happen without getting involved into something that would paint her as a hero-syndromed pushover. She is no savior of anyone. She is tired of playing the babysitter of two brats -and one sadistic psycho bastard- when she could just ignore everything like she intended too since the very beginning.
Or is it that all the pretense of feeling nothing was fake from the start? Is the constent apathy getting the worst of her and changing Eileen into some kind of cliché heroine all of sudden?
What to do? She couldn't just leave Harvey alone. The brat can't defend himself against these brutes. He didn't ask for anything. And those fucking slytherins weren't lifting a finger to back him up, let alone encouraging Slughorn to help the poor boy! What's their problem for Salazar's sake!?
"Where are you going?" Sadell asks with a rise of her eyebrow.
Eileen blinks stupidly, then looks down only to realize she is up and catching the attention of the whole group. Oh.
"If you say "bathroom" again, I will hit you."
Bloody hell.
"No, I..." she looks up to the now closed door, then at Dippet's table where none of the adults were aware of what is secretely occuring amongst their students. "I have to check on something."
"Sit down Floquet," Atheis spits. "You're making yourself an embarrassing mess standing up like this."
"Oh, for fuck's sake Greengrass! Can you and your inflated ego shut the hell up for a while? I can't think straight when your hurt pride is this loud!"
She is so astonished, she can't form coherent words for a minute. It is more than enough to finally reflect in peace while trying to find a good excuse to get away. Only, there is none that comes up in time.
"Can I just- I need to go check on something. I will be back shortly?"
"You're kidding," Orion chokes on a laugh. "You just atomized Greengrass' pride like nothing and you want to go Merlin knows where?"
"Sadell, please."
The girl looks constricted for a second. They stare at each other for a long time. The green of the girl's eyes cut into the brown one's without flinching. About two or three blinks later, Sadell finally answers.
"I already told you Eileen," she says in a flat tone. "I'm not the only one you have to take orders from."
... And that was a reply she had not expect at all. Surely she couldn't mean... No way. She can feel everyone's amused scrunity on her right now. They were waiting. She can't look at him right now. She can't, because that would mean she unconsciously takes him as a superiority figure as she does with Eldwins. She can't. She can't—
She looks up and meets Riddle's gaze. It's hard to tell if he's able to feel the anguish running through her mind right at this moment. But he must be. Given the expression of silent mockery he sends with his eyes, he is definitely feeling it.
"Orion will accompany you," is all he says.
Eileen gapes. Orion almost chokes a second time. "What?" they exclaim in unison.
"We wouldn't want to have you eaten alive in the middle of the hallway, would we?"
Roughly meaning: he will keep an eye on you and report anything weird. Ha. Fuck this.
"Whatever," she says and sweeps her legs over the bench, ready to run.
"Hey, wait for me!"
They exit the Hall swiftly. Ignoring the annoying shadow behind her, Eileen roams the endless corridors of Hogwarts with such a rapidity that the Black heir has to trot in order to catch her up. That would be quite a view to admire, she knows, alas right now is not the time to make fun of the idiot.
"Where are you going?"
She takes another turn. The paintings are watching them with prompt interest wherever they are walking. Some of them greet the two students without getting a reply. Where did Harvey and Parker go? They couldn't be that far. They left only a minute ago, meaning the kids are without a doubt still in the surrounding area.
"Are you going to the second floor's bathrooms? You really should talk to Mrs. Pears about that you know. It's getting a bit too much–"
"Please Black, stop talking." She tries to listen around them, hoping to catch the slightest sound that could make her find the source of the anxiety she is copping with.
"I've never taken an order before," Orion contemplates like he hasn't heard her.
"Funny, you obeyed Riddle as soon as he breathed just now."
"Riddle doesn't count," he objects with a laugh. "He is a level above everything else here. What he tells you to do, you do it."
"It's not how it works for me."
What an irritating conversation they have. Why choose Orion Black above everyone else? Why not Nott or Elizabeth, they sure would have kept quiet during this whole comedy.
"Nope... It's not indeed."
She doesn't catch the weird intonation in his reply. Eileen keeps looking everywhere in every area she walks in without a break. Around a minute later, the frustration wins over the worry and the Black heir almost bumps into her back as she suddenly stop tracks in the middle of the first floor's corridor.
"Okay... Okay. Think, Eileen. Where could they have gone? Where, where...?"
"Searching for someone?"
Her eyes scan everything in the area before landing on the boy. She looks at Oriok like she has never seen him before.
"If you were a fragile little human with no power, afraid of bigger things than you... Imagine having finished your dinner and leaving the table without any friends. Where would you go?"
First, Orion appears completely puzzled by the question. A long time passes like this where none of them utter a word, fixing each other's emotionless face. After a long pause, the silence is broken anew.
"My dorm," Black simply responds. Like it was the most stupid thing she could ask.
... Because it is, actually. Oh no. Fuck Merlin. She was the most stupid being in the world!
"Bloody Hell!" cursing like she had no audience, the witch dashes through the hallways like an arrow, leaving her plus-one totally forgotten behind. She runs down the stairs two by two and comes back at the ground floor once again, passing the Great Hall a second time before entering the castle's dongeon. It isn't that long since they were crossing the first aisle of the underground when a small cry suddenly rises from nearby, putting Eileen and Orion to a stop. Eileen holds her arm in front of the boy when he's about to move. With a forefinger tapping her lips, she warns Black to keep quiet.
Another cry erupts from afar. Not so far in fact, because Eileen is sure it comes from one of the numerous classrooms on their way. She takes a hold on her wand.
"Point me Harvey!"
She expects Magic to work and pull her through the corridors to find the boy. Alas, nothing happens. The spell's echo ends up in the air like a thin trail of smoke. Beside Eileen, Orion barks out a snort. "Sorry to remind you Floquet, but I believe Magic and you aren't really compatible with each other."
Why isn't it working?! It is the right incantation, the right wand move, the right name— Oh. Ooooh! That's it!
"Don't look so ashamed. It happens to everyone, y'know. Even if most of "everyone" is First Year kids-"
"Points me the Third Year boy hidden in this area with that fuck prick named Magus Parker!"
There. She is violently pulled forwards, led by the wand that almost makes her run up through the hallway. She doesn't wait to see if Black is following behind and immediately smashes the wooden door where the Point Me spell has dragged her. It is really no surprise that the first thing she sees is the annoying big head of Parker in the middle of the abandonned classroom surrounded by three other boys. And then, as they turn around in shock, Eileen finally finds the one she was looking for. Here, on the ground, curled in a fœtus position, shivering like crazy.
There is a certain effect the view causes in Eileen. Something she can't describe at this moment. It is like a thread inside her just snapped in two, with the sound popping within her brain next and triggering a wave of nothingness inside. The panic is gone. She can't feel any anger. Her mind is just empty, waiting to be fulled with something, anything.
"What are you doing here?" Parker barks.
His wand changes direction to go point at the two intruders.
Orion whistles. "Waouh. You didn't do things in half Parker! What did our little snake do to you for him to be in this sorry state?"
"Not your fucking business Black! You and Floquet can fuck off!"
"You sure you want to talk to me that way?" Orions doesn't even seem angry, but looks genuinely surprised. Well, no one really knows what the brat thinks anyway. Without thinking Eileen walks past the group of four years to crouch in front of the boy.
"What do you think you're doing?" one of them- Finn Graysley?- bristles as he gets ready to use his wand.
"Harvey," Eileen calls, tapping gently on the boy's cheeks. "Hey, wake up. You're not dying."
His breath has yet to steady itself but Harvey still manages to blink his eyes open. Processing to sweep the confusion away, he tries to sit up with Eileen's help. His whole body is shaking like crazy. It's impossible not to notice how much pain that boy is in.
"What... are you doing here?" He can't even summon the surprise when he sees Orion Black standing above her shoulder, looking almost bored with everything.
"Saving you apparently," the latter replies first.
"Don't worry Harvey, we will get you out of here now. Let's go to Dippet's office."
"Aaw, would you look at this! The little crybaby snake can't do anything with the slytherins's dog," Parker cracks a laugh, not without putting the wand away from their direction. "I told you you were a good-for-nothing trash. You can't do things alone. You can't defend yourself. It's not even like your poor savior can do anything either!"
There is something on Harvey's expression that breaks a little.
"H-Hey," he murmurs shakingly. "Just leave me and... and mind your own business before you get caught up in the mess."
"Yeah Floquet. Listen to your little bro' and get the fuck outta here peacefully alright? We have something to settle with him."
Finn and the others apparently find their friend amusing, because they snicker like hyenas without any functionning braincell.
"Harvey. I said, let's go to Dippet's office. It's not a suggestion."
"Oï. Are you listening!?"
He has the tip of his wand fixed upon Eileen now. "I said to get the fuck out—"
From there on, everything happens very fast.
He has no time to think as a lightening spell hits him on the face and propulse the thickest boy through the whole room before crushing him against the door. Hopefully the wood is strong enough to endure the impact, or he would've gone through the planks right now. His friends react automatically in full panic. One of them steps back in the far end of the classroom while the other two simultaneously shot hexes after hexes, each more harmless than the others. In the midst of the chaotic duel, a Diffindo cuts through the flesh of her shoulder, but instead of backing down she does the total opposite and fire a confringo spell at the attacker. It hits, blasts one of the two in the same place Parker was smashed onto earlier.
"Die bitch!"
She pushes Harvey away when a red light is aimed right at them. She rolls on the ground and grunts at her back hitting a desk's leg. Another curse shatters the table and forces her to roll away again. And again, until she finds herself backing up on the wall.
"Ha! You thought yourself better than us, you slytherin wench?! Did you really think you could win against us?! Now eat this! Conjunctivis!"
The spell that goes straight for Eileen's face ends up crashing against a pale blue matter that materialized out of nowhere. Behind the shield, Eileen remains stoic, seemingly unfazed by the whole debacle that took place not even two minutes ago. Timothee Gluenell can't believe it. First his spell was blocked by a complete shield without incantation, and now the lowest slytherin is regarding him like the most pathetic being ever existing in this world... it is too much.
"I am better than you, actually."
Is what she blankly shots back before throwing another hex with a single twist of wand. The boy cries in pain as the wrist holding his useless rod is deeply cut open. The sobbing howls fills the entire classroom and covers Harvey's panting as he stays completely baffled by the scene in front of him.
"What the...?" he breathes. He is now standing up on his two feet, watching the gryffindor bullies slumped on the floor and grunting in pain. What a sight.
What a beautiful sight.
But Eileen did this, not him. Eileen came to save him again like a pitiful victim, as Parker painted him. Eileen had the strength to help, to crush those imbeciles down and take revenge for something that doesn't concern her in any way. They don't know each other, and every time their paths have crossed was when he was being picked on or humiliated in front of every of his housemates. In front of Riddle.
A sudden shame comes over his injured features. Another thing Parker got right in the end.
"Harvey, let's go." She is standind next to him now, scanning him with her eyes for damages she might have missed.
It is too much.
"... Not Harvey."
"It not important. Now that they have done that, they won't get away easily. Dippet is still at dinner, we can—"
"I don't want to wander in this state in front of everyone," he croaked. " This is humiliating."
"It doesn't matter."
"IT BLOODY DOES!" He finally manages to scream. "It bloody does for me." This time, Eileen pauses mid way from the door.
"I am so weak, so insignificant in this place that no one is taking me seriously, not even you! I'm tired of being abused by those brutes, I have enough of you coming to my help and proving everyone how much of a loser I can be."
"I don't..."
"You do! You do, and now I'm looking like a fucking idiot because even though you're supposed to be as weak as I am, here you are, winning effortlessly against three of them! Were you looking down on me all this time? Were you enjoying watching my pathetic self getting his ass beaten like a loser?!"
Even through the angry tears, he keeps his glare steady on Eileen. "I never asked for your help. I never asked to be saved. I can fight my own battles, so from now on keep yourself from getting involved with me."
"Harvey, I..."
"MY NAME IS NOT HARVEY!" he slaps her hand away when she instinctively approaches to help him walk. She stops, not knowing what to do anymore. The boy then walks past her, limping on the bleeding leg to the exit.
"You'd know my real name if you really cared."
Eileen watches Not-Harvey disappear through the door, the limping steps echoing in the empty dungeons. After a while, the only noise she can hear is the panting of the three injured boys that have yet to rise from the floor. Although they won't be getting up so soon. All the anger she couldn't feel earlier is suddenly burning up from inside. She releases a breath as though to make the feeling lighter but the anger only intensifies to the point of shaking. She doesn't move when the fourth Gryffindor stuck against the wall with a look of terror starts to run to the exit. She doesn't even move when Orion, who she totally forgot, sends an Incarcerus at the runaway which tackles him on the ground with conjured ropes.
His pleas for life are completely ignored by both of the slytherins busy gauging each other in utter silence. That is, until Black decides to break the silence first.
"What do we do with this one?"
Is he seriously suggesting such an ambigous thing? If he thinks Eileen capable of torturing a poor immature soul just to ease some anger, he still has a lot to learn.
"Nothing at all. He will serve as a witness."
"What for?"
"He and his friends will now think twice before starting something like this again. Be it to Harv... to him or any other."
"... Didn't you listen to that brat just now? Won't you be hindering his pride again?"
The only response he receives is a silent look before Eileen starts walking toward the exit, stepping over Parker in the process. A laugh rises in her back.
"Wow, you are a Slytherin after all!"
He matches her pace to walk next to her.
"Got other secrets to share with me by any chance?"
"Not happening. Sharing with you means sharing with Riddle."
"Touché. What if I swear on my magic not to tell anyone?"
"We're late for the dessert."
"Come on!"
But Eileen's mind is somewhere else. She can't get Not-Harvey away from her thoughts, nor the eventual debacle she and Orion could have with Dumbledore if their fight came to be known due to some loosen tongue still located in the abandonned classroom. Will he pardon his precious golden students and send Eileen to the most unbearable detention for the rest of the year? Will he punish everyone equally? Will he give Not-Harvey justice for what they have done to him?
"Hey, Floquet."
"What?" she asks impatiently.
"You know, earlier when you tried to locate your little friend. You could have simply Pointed Parker instead of spouting nonsense."
Oh, yeah. She hadn't had enough time to think it through. But she can't understand why the Black heir is mentioning such a useless fact right now.
"So what?"
Eileen can't see Orion's expression right now, but she can still feel the mysterious smile in his voice when the Black heir replies:
"...Nothing. You're funny."
And just like that, all the anger, frustration and worry are gone.