Same Old, Same Old
You didn’t make a stop to hang around the common room, you didn’t feel like socializing with anyone at the moment, and made a beeline to your dorm. You opened the door to your shared dorm with Solaris and looked inside to make sure she was there (and indeed she was). She was laying mindlessly on her bed, writing something in the journal you recognized as the one she had bought earlier today. As soon as you slipped through the door, she turned to look at you and smiled.
“Hey, how was your tea party with Hagrid?” She asked, closing the book and setting the quill aside.
You walked towards your bed, dropping your satchel at the foot of your bedside dresser before falling dramatically onto your unmade bed. “It was nice. We talked about the usual, you know, him casually smuggling an illegal creature onto school grounds to nurture it — same old, same old.” You left out the fact that Snape had been there too, just out of courtesy and privacy for the grouch. He was sure he didn’t want many to know the relatively neutral stance he had for the groundskeeper.
She chuckled, joking about Hagrid’s love for any creature he laid eyes and ears upon. The bed sunk beside you as she laid next to you, some of her hair tickled your face as it fanned out and you flicked it back onto her. She joined you as you stared at the ceiling of your four-post and watched the moon, stars, and constellations float in the dark of it. It was an easy charm you found somewhere in a wizarding magazine for room decorating. Not only was it a pretty scene, but it turned out to be quite convenient as it told the moon’s current phase.
Solaris turned to look at you, no longer splayed on her back but rather curled into herself as she watched you. She tucked her arm beneath her head and continued to chat about the magical creatures the two of you had managed to learn about because of the giant’s incessant love for them.
The rest of the late evening was spent chatting about anything and everything. It was calm and comforting and you thanked the Slytherin for taking your mind off of the mildly unpleasant conversation you had had with Snape an hour prior. It wasn’t something that you necessarily told anyone, which is why it felt odd to have told him. Maybe you thought the mutuality of being scarred would maybe rebridge what little of a relationship you once had with the Potions Master. Maybe, it did more harm than you thought.
“Is something wrong?” She asked suddenly.
You blinked a few times before looking at her, having gotten lost in thought. “Uh… what do you mean?”
She softly grabbed your wrist and pulled it away from your face. When had you begun scratching at your scar? You watched Solaris put your arm to rest between the two of you.
“Your scar,” she asked, her voice sweet and motherly, “does it hurt? Is it bothering you again?”
You watched as the charmed moon in the canopy floated mindlessly above you. Solaris didn’t follow your eyes as they trailed the glowing orb, she was too busy surveying your scar. You were glad she hadn’t. A heaviness fell upon your chest as you studied the floating lunar model. You knew exactly why your scar was acting up — it was nearing a full moon.
You sighed and dropped your gaze to meet her eyes. “Yeah, it’s being a bit fussy, like a Gryffindor who was told they couldn’t do something stupidly daring.”
The two of you snickered, worry immediately melting away. She smacked your shoulder playfully and rolled her eyes.
“I’m trying to be nice and thoughtful for once. Anything I can do?”
You shook your head and bit back the thought to snarkily say ‘only if you know the counter-curse or antidote to the stupid cursed arrow I were shot with.’ She had yet to know what really caused it and you intended to keep it that way. Your cover-up story of a magical outburst mishap from your childhood was much more believable than exposing yourself as a werewolf.
“Maybe if you kiss it all better —” but the soft bluntness of a pillow muffled your words before you could finish your sentence. The cackling of the other Slytherin sounded right as rain as she very nearly rolled off of the bed. You rolled your eyes and grabbed her before she did so she wouldn’t accidentally hit her head on the floor.
- - - - -
Transfiguration had been quite uneventful the next day. You had fallen asleep halfway through the lesson. It wasn’t that the lesson had been boring. No, no, no — the impending full moon was beginning to withdraw energy from you and you fell asleep the moment Professor McGonagall had instructed students to read a few passages from your textbook. It didn’t help that you had stayed up a bit later with Solaris last night, you couldn’t sleep much after the two of you called it a night.
McGonagall woke you with a tap to your shoulder and gave you a warning the next time you were to fall asleep (you knew it was an empty warning since she knew your condition was taking a toll on you). You saved yourself from embarrassment by putting on one of your mean glares — you hadn’t really meant to glare, your eyes were just a bit unfocused from the nap. A Hufflepuff sitting a few seats away accidentally met your stare and looked away hurriedly. Shit — you’d have to find a way to apologize to her later.
As soon as the bell rang, McGonagall reminded students of their assignments due next class and dismissed everyone to head for their next class. You groaned, realizing that you had History of Magic next. It wasn’t that you thought it was boring, but the current unit was dragging on a bit too long, and knowing your chronic lunar tiredness, you weren’t sure how long you would fare before falling asleep in class again.
Solaris both prodded and worried about your ‘stunt’ but mostly worried. Adrian joked about you falling asleep in Potions and you cringed at the thought. Regardless of whether Snape preferred Slytherins above any of the other houses, if he ever caught anyone sleeping in his class, they’d wish to venture into the Dark Forest rather than face his discipline.
The three of you walked out of Transfiguration and made your way to History when an abrupt tug stopped you from walking any further. Curious, you turned and looked down to see a bed of red hair. Ginny was holding onto the back of your robe, which she dropped once you turned to face her. She seemed deep in thought, lines of worry marring her freckled face. She had yet to look up to see you so you initiated the conversation.
“Ginny, did you need something?” You asked cautiously, waiting for a response.
She glanced up briefly and chewed the inside of her cheek nervously.
“Could you… could you maybe walk me to class? I would ask my brothers but I couldn’t find them anywhere and you were the first person I saw and —”
You stopped her before she could ramble any more excuses. “Gin, hey — you don’t need to explain why — I’ll walk you, no worries. Who do you have next?”
The first-year’s tension seemed to practically melt off of her shoulders as she thanked you and apologized. Since you, Solaris, and Adrian all shared the next class, they decided to accompany the two of you and drop her off at Charms.
The image of three older Slytherins walking the first-year Gryffindor to their next class seemed humorous to you. Of course, you weren’t taking the situation too lightly, you were still aware that something was off with Ginny, but you found the scenario a bit amusing nonetheless. The three of you tried to lessen her anxious self by including her in your conversation. She seemed to feel a bit more at ease and even cracked a smile as the four of you made your way up the stairs to the Charms classroom.
Her usual flowery scent was muted, not like that other muted scent you smelled once in the Slytherin common room sometime before. It was almost as if something else, some other scent, was holding it under. Never had you smelled something like this before and it was worrying you a bit. You watched her curiously as she walked beside you and decided to pass on your worries to the twins the next time you saw them.