Owlpost
The flat immediately started to feel empty when Leigh had decided to leave later that evening and was currently collecting her things. Fred would've rather liked her to stay a bit longer, but it was Monday tomorrow, and he understood there was a lot for her to prepare before tomorrow's classes.
Somehow something felt unfinished after their earlier conversation, and he found himself pondering it as he stood leaning against the wall in the flat, waiting for the moment to say goodbye. His mind went back to earlier; her light touches, the way she fiddled with the sleeve of his shirt while leaning against him.
He chewed on his lip and glanced towards one of the rooms further inside the flat, where George had just entered. He gave Leigh a polite smile before moving towards the room, coming face to face with his brother, who was looking through some drawers.
Fred spoke quietly once he knew he was out of sound. "Do you think it was a good idea to talk about that?"
George's brows furrowed together as a look of confusion overtook his features. "That? What do you mean 'that'?"
Fred glanced out the door and towards Leigh before his gaze moved up to look at his brother.
"About the battle. About...everything."
George thought back to their conversation and seemed to contemplate it for a moment, peeking out through the door to take a look at Leigh. "She seemed alright. I think it's good for her to know she's not alone, you know? That others have also struggled," he replied finally.
Fred nodded at his brother's words. "Yeah. Yeah, you're probably right."
Moments later Leigh bid her goodbye and stepped into the cold air of Hogsmeade.
-
"Hi guys, what are you up to?" Leigh spoke once she was faced with a few of her friends in the great hall. The days had rushed past, and Wednesday had already came knocking at the door.
"Oh hey! Just chatting," Ron replied. "Except for Hermione who'd rather sit with her nose in a book than be social."
Hermione rolled her eyes beside him. "Just taking a few extra notes for Arithmancy," she replied, looking up. "Leigh gets it."
Ron shook his head, instead spearing his fork through a sausage and shoving it into his mouth. "I'll never get it," he mumbled, instead directing his gaze towards the ceiling, where a crowd of owls were approaching.
"Oh post!" Hermione exclaimed, abruptly shutting her book and looking up with a wide smile.
Harry leaned towards Leigh beside him, lowering his voice while his eyes were set on Hermione's grinning form. "She's been so excited for her parents to write, sweet isn't it?"
"Yeah." Leigh agreed. The corners of her lips tipped upwards at the view.
The owls dived, sweeping down across the tables to deliver letters, more letters than expected, along with some smaller packages. Both Ron and Hermione received a letter, while Harry received a small package with an accompanying parchment.
"Ginny?" Leigh asked with a raised grow and small smile.
"Yeah," Harry said in a breath, diligently working on opening his letter and reading through its contents.
She smiled faintly at the view and reached forward to grab a piece of bread from the table.
Her eyes trailed back to Hermione, who was reading her letter from her parents with big, excited eyes, fiddling with a strand of her hair.
The tinge of jealousy made itself felt as Leigh thought back to her own parents, but she quickly rid herself of the feelings. It was in the past, and there was no use dwelling on that now. She took a big bite out of the bread roll and let her eyes travel around the group. She had enough on her plate.
She was trying to hide her lack of sleep. It seemed the conversation with George and Fred about the battle had ripped a plaster open inside her. After listening to what happened that day, envisioning Fred motionless on the stone floors, halfway under the rubble, her mind had automatically gone to Evan, and nightmares she had had months ago were starting to reappear. Her fragmented memories of the battle and Evan's last moments had crawled back to her. The view of him in his final moments still had her in an iron grip.
She took another bite of the bread, trying her best to stay distracted.
She peered over to the Hufflepuff table, where Neville had sat for the last few weeks beside Louise.
"What did she say?" She asked Harry absentmindedly, dragging her gaze back to his form.
"Oh, you don't want to know," Harry replied with a grin, and Ron scrunched his face up in disgust in front of him.
"Gross," he muttered and looked away from his friend. He was distracted by Hermione, who was donning a huge smile and was calling his name beside him.
"My parents invited us over for Christmas!" She spoke, eyes glued to the letter in front of her. "Both of us!"
Ron seemed to light up a bit, his mind already moved on from the earlier reminder that Harry was dating his little sister.
"Really?" He asked Hermione, peeking over her shoulder to steal a glance at the letter.
"Yes!" She said joyfully, dropping the letter to the table and instead looking out into nothingness with wide eyes. "It's gonna be amazing!" She looked at Ron, placing a hand at his arm. "You will come, right?"
He seemed to wonder why she even asked. "Of course I'm coming Hermione, it's your parents. If they invited me I wouldn't miss it for the world."
Harry had finished reading his letter and was fiddling with the small package while he looked up at his friends.
"You spending it at the Burrow as usual?" Leigh asked, not liking the silence taking over the table.
"Yep." He popped the p as he spoke. "Everyone going back to the Burrow, except Ron it seems. But we'll see. It's still a while until then." Leigh hummed in agreement.
He opened the package, and immediately a small figure sprung out of his hand and started soaring through the air around him, no bigger than a grindylow. "What the–", Harry started, ducking slightly to avoid the flying figure. It did a loop in the air before returning to hovering above the table. Harry took a closer look. "It's a...figure of a small quidditch player," he said. "It's saying how many days there are left before we meet again."
Leigh saw how the figure held up a sign with a number on it.
"It's brilliant," Harry continued excitedly, looking closer at the small figure and its sign.
-
Leigh was exiting a classroom after an arithmancy class a few days later. They had just got news that they would have a mock exam at the start of December, and she could already feel the nerves bubbling in the pit of her stomach at the thought. She loved arithmancy, but God was it still difficult.
"Let's revise together." Hermione declared, walking by her side.
"Yeah, let's do that," Leigh agreed with a sigh, looking down at the notes she had taken during today's class. She had lost focus too many times during the last hour.
"It's really starting to pace up, isn't it?" Hermione spoke, biting her cheek and gazing down the corridor ahead of them.
Leigh nodded in agreement, thinking of the deadlines that were coming up, clutching her notebook tighter to her chest.
"That it has."
"And I can't believe it's Christmas break soon. It's all gone by so quickly."
Leigh nodded. "Yeah. 6 more months and then...no more Hogwarts."
"Don't say that." Hermione nudged her with her elbow, although the realisation could be seen in her eyes. "It's at least 6 more months. Maybe 7 even." Her hair swayed as she shook her head.
Leigh delivered a smile her way. "Yeah, you're right."
-
The nightmares didn't give her a break, although she tried her best to limit the effect they had on her.
Her days had been packed, and Leigh made a mental note to go visit the twins when she found a gap in her schedule. She found herself missing their presence, and her dreams involving rubble and greying eyes made her want to physically squeeze Fred just to make sure he was still there.
"Leeeeigh."
Nova's voice groaned through the common room, making Leigh look up from her conversation with Neville at her side. Nova trudged her way over to the sofa and let herself fall into the piece of furniture in a slouched position.
"What is it?" Leigh asked.
"Could you please help me with the history of magic homework?"
Leigh raised her brows. "Since when do you care about homework?"
"I usually don't," Nova replied and started picking at her nails. "But Professor Binns told me I might fail if I don't pull it together."
"Oh." Leigh's face fell. "That's not good."
"I know. Not my fault Binns' droning ghost voice is so incredibly uninteresting."
Leigh couldn't help but smile, and Neville chuckled faintly, slightly nodding agreement.
"Of course I'll help, Nova," Leigh spoke. "We can get started right away if you want."
"No chance," Nova immediately interrupted. "I will not be doing any studying tonight, mark my words. History of magic can wait until tomorrow at least. Or the day after even," she grumbled, standing up and stretching her back. "I will not let school ruin my night."
Leigh giggled. "Okay then. Let me know whenever."
"I will." Nova moved towards the door. "There's this get-together happening in the Ravenclaw common room, do you two want to come?"
Neville looked over at Leigh, shrugging his shoulders as if saying 'why not'. Leigh shook her head with an apologetic smile.
"I'm gonna head to bed. You two should go though!"
"Are you sure?" Neville asked and gave her a look.
"I'm sure. Busy days ahead. Need the sleep." She stood up and moved towards the dorms. "I'll see you guys tomorrow, yeah?"
Nova nodded over by the portrait, giving her a last wave. "Yeah, see you later."
Leigh started her journey up the cold stone stairs towards her dorm, hearing the painting shut behind her.