Advanced Arithmancy Studies
The next morning Leigh was walking along the corridor, approaching her first class. She was excited to properly get into the start of term. Despite a difficult morning she felt hopeful. She wouldn't let the disappointment of the previous day bring her down, and she smiled faintly as she glanced down at her Arithmancy textbook. She had received an O in the subject in the O.W.Ls a few years prior, and she was more than excited to continue her studies in the subject at N.E.W.T level.
She knew Hermione Granger would do the same, having heard that it's been her favourite subject for some time now, and she was happy to see the girl already present in the classroom as Leigh entered it. They smiled at each other, and Hermione moved her things from the left side of the desk and urged Leigh to grab a seat.
They weren't the closest of friends, but naturally they bonded over the shared love for studying. Them both being muggleborn also helped, although that topic mostly stayed unspoken.
Immediately, the two students chatted away excitedly, sharing what they expected and what they looked forward to in the class. Of course, the two of them desperately wanted to be enrolled in the Advanced Arithmancy Studies class, and hoped that today's class would shed more light on the course and who its students were going to be.
Professor Vector soon turned up, along with the rest of the students (who hadn't bothered to arrive 15 minutes early), and the class ended up being just as interesting as expected. As Leigh and Hermione gathered their things from the wooden desk they agreed to visit the library before lunch, neither of them having another class scheduled right away.
As they entered the study area, expecting to be met with a wave of silence, they instead were greeted with the sound of people chatting across the tables. To her surprise, Leigh saw Ron in one of the seats. She didn't take him as someone who had spent a great deal of time in the library during his years at Hogwarts. Except, of course, when he was scheming with Harry and Hermione to in some way mysteriously save the wizarding world, which actually used to happen quite often. She soon saw both Harry and Neville at his sides.
Hermione seemed to notice them as well, and raised a hand to wave in their direction. Soon enough the two of them were moving through the tables to reach the rest of the group.
"Hi guys!" Hermione said cheerfully, sitting down at the empty space beside Harry, while Leigh placed herself in the chair beside Ron. Hermione's books made a loud thump as they were placed on the table. "Arithmancy was amazing." She exclaimed with a broad smile.
"Of course it was," Ron rolled his eyes in fake annoyance, but a smirk grew on his lips as he looked over at Hermione with love.
Not even registering his words in her state of cheer, Hermione continued on. "Both me and Leigh got put in the Advanced Arithmancy Studies class! Best day of my life!" She said happily, and Ron coughed loudly before nodding towards Harry, who was looking at Hermione with a faint smile.
Hermione didn't seem to catch on at first, looking between Ron and Harry several times before it dawned on her, and she rolled her eyes aggressively. "Alright!" She started, "Best day of my life after the day Harry defeated Voldemort." She huffed, only to once again receive a cough from Ron. She looked at him questionably. "What are you on about–". She delivered yet another, more aggressive, eyeroll. She spoke again: "After Harry defeated Voldemort and I professed my love for one special Ronald Weasley."
Finally Ron looked pleased, and a last eye-roll was delivered by Hermione. "You are an absolute pain," she huffed before leaning over to give him a kiss on the cheek before turning to her textbooks on the table. Ron's cheeks flushed pink.
Harry chuckled at the sight, and Leigh smiled at Ron's reaction.
Leigh looked down at the pile of textbooks in front of her, and singled out her Arithmancy notebook to review today's notes. She had just opened the book and started reading when Ron's voice piped up beside her.
"What's that say?" He asked as he leant towards her to look into her notebook, seemingly having seen something out of the ordinary.
First hit by confusion, Leigh soon understood what he was referring to. She glanced at the scrawly handwriting Fred Weasley had left in her notebook. For a second she considered not saying anything, especially considering McGonagall had stated that it was important not to divulge the soon-to-be regular meetings for the students. But it should be alright to tell her closest friends, right? Considering the twins were Ron's brothers it seemed only logical that the news would reach him soon enough. And after that it was only a matter of time before it reached Harry, Hermione and Neville.
Making up her mind, Leigh spoke with a sigh. "It's these meetings I have with the twins. Fred jotted down the next meeting. Tomorrow after my classes. McGonagall organised them."
Ron furrowed his eyebrows. "Meetings? Why?"
Leigh shrugged. "Who knows honestly," she huffed, her annoyance with the arrangement seeping back in. "They're opening a shop in Hogsmeade and McGonagall wants to have an overview of the products in case they enter the castle. Just ban the lot I say." A gasp was heard beside her, and she looked over to see Ron, shocked to the core. Leigh spoke again: "You said it yourself yesterday! They've been terrorising your mother around the house. Those products of theirs will do the same here."
"Yeah but it's funny!" Ron retorted, and a few shrugs of agreement was seen around the table. Personally, Leigh disagreed, but that seemed to be only her opinion.
Neville was the next one to speak. "It is funny as long as it's directed towards people who are deserving of it," he started, "But it's not the best to have dungbombs thrown at you by Slytherins 4 times in a week, you know?"
"Zonko's was open for years though. I doubt we will see anything out of the ordinary." Hermione chipped in.
"I wouldn't be so sure," Ron spoke. "They've truly developed some innovative products recently. Mum is livid with it all, but she's impressed, no question about it."
As the conversation moved on to other topics, Leigh looked down at her notebook again, sighing internally as her eyes traced over the words:
room 703 after classes tomorrow, see
you then :)'.
Great. Not even capitalised. The handwritten note almost taunted her from the page, and she really had no clue what to expect from her first official meeting with the twins.
-
A few hours later, after her history of magic class and dinner, Leigh found herself seated on her bed, mindlessly reading one of this years' charms textbooks. She had yet to have a class in the subject, but she figured there's no harm in preparing a bit. Right?
Contrary to the day before, most students had been heading to their dorms relatively early today, tired after the first day of school. Nova was already snoring in the bed beside Leigh's, and she realised that it might be time to put her book down. Reluctantly, she finished the sentence before standing up from the bed and placing the book on the neat textbook pile by her side.
It was quite late, but even after changing her clothes and getting ready for bed she felt as wide awake as ever. With a sigh she realised she wouldn't be able to sleep for at least another hour, and she instead picked up a jumper from the top of her trunk before heading towards the exit of the common room. She normally wasn't one to wander around the castle at night, but then again she was normally able to sleep.
Without really thinking of where she was heading, her legs carried her out of the portrait hole and down towards the great hall. The night outside was clear, and moonlight shone through the windows, creating patterns on the walls. It was still early September, and the castle was pleasantly warm. She appreciated the temperature, knowing very well that the corridors would be icy once winter came.
Not once on her journey had she met anyone else. Good for her really, when she thought about it she really didn't want any professor, let alone McGonagall, to know about her spontaneous little walk. Not that she was doing anything wrong of any kind, but she suspected even seventh years were not allowed to wander around the castle at night.
She stopped in her tracks once she realised she was facing the entrance to the great hall. Her eyes immediately scanned the wall in front of her, taking in the countless photos hanging upon the stone. She didn't initially plan to do this now, but still she took a few steps forward to take a closer look. She was met with Lavender Brown gazing back at her with a smile, and she felt her throat tighten. The photo version of Lavender smiled at the onlooker, tilting her head to the side before raising her hand to give a small wave.
The girl looked so young and full of energy. She was supposed to have years and years full of love and joy ahead of her, yet she met her end here, way too early, on Hogwarts grounds. It felt both good and bad to know that this was how she would be remembered; that excited and childish gleam still glinting in her eyes.
With a step to the right, Leigh came face to face with Nymphadora Tonks, whose photo hung beside previous Hogwarts professor Remus Lupin. Their photos seemed to have been taken together, potentially at an Order of the Phoenix meeting, as they both smiled widely before looking to the side: Tonks to the left, and Remus to the right, making it look like they were looking at each other warmly. Leigh's eyes watered at the sight.
She hadn't spent that much time with either Tonks or Remus; perhaps met Tonks once before the battle, and Remus only when he was teaching Defence of the Dark Arts in their third year. Still, seeing them commemorated, together with the 48 other casualties, was difficult to say the least.
However, the next photo she encountered was excruciating, and a lump grew in her throat. The fluffy, dark hair, the warm smile and the kind, brown eyes she had loved for years. The boy had a big, stupid grin on his face, and was looking in the lens of the camera pointed at him before looking at someone to the side and bursting into laughter. Leigh smiled faintly, despite the emotions swelling in her throat. She remembered the moment like it was yesterday.
Evan Blake had been a joyful, colourful boy since the first day Leigh met him. Joined at the hip, it used to be him, Leigh and Nova who explored Hogwarts and both the world of magic and the journey of growing up together. He was a genuine and wonderful being, often spending time with magical creatures or cheering for his Quidditch team from the stands. And now he was gone. The world would never hear his yells of profanity when the opposing quidditch team scored, or see him blow kisses to players to give them good luck throughout the game, and the world was a shade darker for it.
When your beacon of light gets ripped from your grasp, how were you supposed to know where to go or what to do in the dark? Leigh had no answers.
After a few more seconds she took a step back and sat down at one of the provided benches. Her head fell into her hands, and she let the tears flow quietly. It was all a big mess. Absolutely everything. Being back at Hogwarts felt empty and disingenuous, and while she was confident in her abilities as a student, she really wasn't sure if she would be able to handle it. And it scared her to death.