☞ 𝐓𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐝𝐚𝐲, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝟏𝟒𝐭𝐡 𝐨𝐟 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫, 𝟏𝟗𝟗𝟔

Half an hour passed, and silence plagued the castle. Once filled with echoing laughter, then haunted by screams and bubbling explosions led to complete and utter silence. Death eaters left no trace behind, the only ones who knew they had been here were the unlucky few who had faced them head-on.

"You okay?" Mattheo came to my side, slowly taking a seat beside me. I nodded, my feet quietly tapping on the stone floor. The cold air crawled along my skin as I pulled my arms closer. Seeing this Mattheo handed me his robe. A very familiar robe I might add. Strange. Where have I seen this robe before?

Mattheo sighed, his fingers intertwined as he clapped his palms together. His eyes slowly wandered around the room, making eye contact with his friends. They manically gestured between us, as though I couldn't see them. "You- I- um... I was worried." His tongue clicked once he finished his stuttering mess of a sentence.

"Congratulations." I reply, a small smile on my lips as I repaired to tease him for that abysmal sentence he barely formed. However, a creek of a door nabbed my attention away from him. My feet halted their quiet pats on the ground as anticipation consumed me. Madame Pomfrey emerged from the Hospital Wing, a small smile tugging her lips. After sitting outside the room in the cold hallway for about half an hour, I was itching for any news.

I have not had time to digest everything that happened. I wasn't sure what to make of everything. My best friend, someone who lived their life in kindness, someone who was open to befriending anyone even if her parents did not approve, someone who vowed to one day break the generational pureblood prejudice when she became a mother, was now a devoted death eater.

Then there was my father, who was attacked by an unknown dark magic user. Logically, it must have been a death eater who had attacked him, and the attack on Hogwarts further proved that. He's been on the brink of death, slowly toeing the line of life and death. Admittedly, I did not visit him as much as I should have, but seeing him in that state sent my mind into very dark places. I almost was admitted into the Hospital Wing myself.

Despite all that pain and suffering, Astoria was absolutely infuriated that I hadn't told her about my father, she felt as though she had the right to know as he held a big part in her upbringing. Now I have this nagging feeling that she only wanted to know so she could report it to her fellow death-eaters. What if she was tasked with keeping track of my father's health? What if she played a hand in the attack on my father?

I walked into the Hospital wing, leaving my thoughts at the door. The sound of our heavy footsteps echoed throughout the cold stone chamber. In the centre of the room, blanketed in white, was my father. The lines scarring his face were gone, as though the red markings had never been on his skin. The colour returned to his cheeks and his breath was stable.

I held back hope as my fingertips grazed his hand, which had wrinkled up and was icy to the touch. When my fingers held him, the warmth of his hand broke my strong facade. He survived. Streams of salty rivers poured from my eyes as I collapsed to my knees, holding onto my father's hand as though if I'd let go, the warmth would flee and a corpse-like body would take his place.

I felt arms wrap around me as I sobbed into the bedsheets that my father had been occupying. "He is going to live, Y/n dear." Madame Pomfrey bore a bittersweet smile as tears formed in her eyes. Words cannot express the slurry of emotions that I felt consuming my brain, all I could feel was a tightness in my chest that left me unable to breathe.

I jumped into Madame Pomfrey's arms, crying into her shoulder. I am grateful for her catering towards my father in his weakest time and gratitude for Narcissa Malfoy, who braved and risked her life to help save my father. My fingertips tingled with pure disbelief. "I don't-" I managed to stutter out amongst the rasp that strained my voice.

"You saved your father, Y/n. Additionally, there have been no major injuries from the battle, no deaths, only scrapes and bruises and one or two broken bones." Madame Pomfrey gleamed with relief, a small steady sign slipping from her lips. My eyes bulged from their sockets as I took in what Madame Pomfrey had told me. No one was killed?

The school, our home, was invaded by hundreds of mass murderers, psychopaths, and narcissistic killers alike, who slaughter innocents as family bonding. They invaded our school filled with young, almost defenceless, weaker children and didn't kill. Of course, I am extremely grateful that we didn't lose anyone, yet what Madame Pomfrey had described sounds like they were going easy on Hogwarts.

If that's the case, and taking into consideration what Narcissa told me just over an hour ago, every single death eater that appeared tonight was after me... and me alone. My head drains its thoughts as the gravity of reality shifts around me. I am no longer a bystander, someone simply lending a hand in this war... no... I've become a prime target for the enemy.

I thought I was living in peaceful bliss, that I wouldn't play a massive role in saving the wizarding world. That was Harry's destiny, never mine, and I accepted that. A saying I've heard applies to this feeling massively. In the eye of the hurricane, there is quiet, and you are safe, until you open your eyes, and take in the chaos around you.

I felt Madame Pomfrey's warmth leave me, as I remained glued to the ground. "Y/n?" I blinked my hazy vision away and saw Theo sitting beside me. "Are you alright, mio caro?" His soothing voice pulled me back to reality, and my unsteady heart eased.

"Yeah- yeah. I am alright, thank you, Theo." I smiled before pushing myself off my knees, standing up and dusting myself off. "I just can't believe that Astoria..." I sighed, gripping my temple. I felt utterly frustrated and exhausted.

"What happened?" Blaise apprehensively asked, seemingly almost too scared to even ask. Glancing around the room, I noticed more and more students entering to be treated and decided that it would be best to continue this conversation in the dormitory.

While walking down to the basement, we pass many students limping towards the Hospital wing, piles of rubble higher than our heads and fires still burning. As we entered the common room, everyone was sitting with slashed blood and growing bruises, holding each other in complete utter silence.

I couldn't bring myself to look at them, knowing that the reason they are injured, suffering and traumatised is because of me. I ran up the stairs and busted open the bedroom door. The boys were a strip behind me, quickly shutting the door and standing around ready to hear what happened.

"They are fucking death eaters." I spat, throwing my fist into my bedpost. I turn to face the group who are suddenly pale and sweaty.

"L-listen I can explain..." Draco frowned, stuttering with nerves. I rolled my eyes, shutting him up immediately. They looked confused, not understanding what was happening.

"What is there to explain? It's plain and simple. Astoria is a death eater!" I yelled, watching as they eased a bit. Blaise sighs, sitting down on his bed. "How could she? She's never been that type of person! I hate her! She's nothing to me anymore, not now that she's a filthy death eater!" Silence. They stared at me with an unreadable expression on their faces. "What?" I muttered, but I had no response.

"Is that how you truly feel?" Mattheo spoke, his voice sounding stern, however there was a slight strain of desperation for an answer. "Do you truly hate Astoria? Someone who has been with you since birth, someone who's a sister to you." He frowned, shaking his head. "All because she's a..." he couldn't even finish his sentence, the topic was painful for him. For all of them.

"You're right. I hate her now, but I miss her past self... her true self. This is all Parkinson's... I refuse to believe Astoria wasn't forced into this." I began to pace around the room, my eyes trained on the ground. "If she was forced, I could've helped her, if only she ahead had told me." Tears began to swell in my eyes as I slid down to the floor. My legs crossed as I slouched over.

Mattheo sat beside me, quickly rapping me into a tight hug. "Fuck you, Snape. I was so fucking worried about you." He laughed, pulling me closer. I sighed, resting my chin on his shoulder.

"Yeah, he was! I thought he was about to cry like a baby when we kept failing to find you." Draco burst out in laughter, joined by Theo and Blaise, earning a solid jab to the cheek from Mattheo. "Fuck!" Draco yelled as he fell to the side.

"Seriously though, Y/n. We were all extremely worried and we are glad you are safe. And I'm very sorry about Astoria, I'm sure she has a reason for all of this." Blaise smiles, looking hopeful. I smiled too, although I couldn't share his hope.

𝖠/𝗇: 𝖨 𝖺𝗆 𝗌𝗈 𝗌𝗈𝗋𝗋𝗒 𝖿𝗈𝗋 𝗇𝗈𝗍 𝗎𝗉𝗅𝗈𝖺𝖽𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝖿𝗈𝗋 𝖺 𝗆𝗈𝗇𝗍𝗁! 𝖨 𝖽𝖾𝖼𝗂𝖽𝖾𝖽 𝗍𝗈 𝗍𝖺𝗄𝖾 𝖺 𝖻𝗋𝖾𝖺𝗄 𝖿𝗋𝗈𝗆 𝗐𝗋𝗂𝗍𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝖺𝗌 𝖨 𝗐𝖺𝗌 𝗌𝗍𝗋𝗎𝗀𝗀𝗅𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝗍𝗈 𝗄𝖾𝖾𝗉 𝖼𝗈𝗆𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝗎𝗉 𝗐𝗂𝗍𝗁 𝗌𝗍𝗎𝖿𝖿 𝗍𝗈 𝖿𝗎𝗋𝗍𝗁𝖾𝗋 𝗍𝗁𝖾 𝗉𝗅𝗈𝗍 𝖺𝗇𝖽 𝖽𝗂𝖽𝗇'𝗍 𝗐𝖺𝗇𝗍 𝗍𝗈 𝗁𝖺𝗇𝖽 𝗒𝗈𝗎 𝗌𝗈𝗆𝖾 𝗁𝖺𝗅𝖿-𝖺𝗋𝗌𝖾𝖽 𝖼𝗁𝖺𝗉𝗍𝖾𝗋𝗌. 𝖨 𝗁𝖺𝗏𝖾 𝗌𝗈𝗆𝖾 𝗂𝖽𝖾𝖺𝗌 𝖨'𝗆 𝗁𝗈𝗉𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝗍𝗈 𝗉𝗋𝗈𝖽𝗎𝖼𝖾 𝖺𝗇𝖽 𝗌𝗁𝖺𝗋𝖾 𝗐𝗂𝗍𝗁 𝗒𝗈𝗎 𝗈𝗏𝖾𝗋 𝗍𝗁𝖾 𝗇𝖾𝗑𝗍 𝖿𝖾𝗐 𝗐𝖾𝖾𝗄𝗌. 𝖳𝗁𝖺𝗇𝗄 𝗒𝗈𝗎 𝖿𝗈𝗋 𝗒𝗈𝗎𝗋 𝗉𝖺𝗍𝗂𝖾𝗇𝖼𝖾 𝖺𝗇𝖽 𝗎𝗇𝖽𝖾𝗋𝗌𝗍𝖺𝗇𝖽𝗂𝗇𝗀 <3