☞ 𝐅𝐫𝐢𝐝𝐚𝐲, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 13𝐭𝐡 𝐨𝐟 𝐎𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐛𝐞𝐫, 1996

"Alarte ascendare!" Dean Thomas yells, causing his duelling partner, Seamus Finnegan, to fly across the Room of Requirements. I watched in awe as the Gryffindor's charm seemed to have the most powerful force I have seen thus far.

Alarte ascendare is the charm I chose for this week's DA lesson. It is a charm that shoots your target high into the air. After hours of practising the charm, learning to master it and even managing to control which direction your target gets sent flying, it was time to head to lunch.

"That spell was bloody wicked, Y/n!" Fred beamed as he, myself, George and the golden trio walked towards the Great Hall. I grinned at the twins who enthusiastically yapped my ears off.

"Which one will you teach us next week?" George asked, his eyes pleading for an answer. I smirked at the duo and shook my head, explaining that it would be a surprise and they'd have to wait. Truth is I haven't decided which spell to teach next, I usually decide last minute.

The twins grumbled in disappointment before disappearing into the Great Hall. I turned to face the trio behind me with a soft smile. "They never shut up, do they?" Ron chuckled as he watched his brothers surround and speak to their friend, Lee Jordan.

We all laughed and agreed with Ron before Harry addressed me. "Y/n, are we still good for tonight?" He smiled as I nodded. We have planned to go through another book tonight. The thought made my palms sweaty and my mind race with fear, however, if we wanted any chance of defeating Voldemort we would need to learn what the other books say. So I must push through my fears that try and prevent me from facing the unknown. Besides, after everything we've all faced over the years, a few silly little books are nothing.

"No, she's not." Someone spat from behind Harry. The four of us jumped out of our skin before turning around towards where the voice came from. Who else could it have been but Mattheo Riddle. His friends stood around him, looking sheepishly at me. Their eyes were already apologising for whatever Mattheo would do next. "She'll be with me tonight." He glared sinisterly at Harry, before pushing past the smaller Gryffindor and tugging me away from the group, rather forcefully I might add.

"Sorry about that." I heard Theo mutter to Hermione, whose face grew red as she nodded. Hermione and I have been off since... you know what. We are still friends, there's just this awkward atmosphere between us that we can't seem to shake, and the fact that we both know it's there and don't know how to get rid of that feeling makes it more awkward.

"What the fuck, Riddle." I finally gathered my thoughts and turned to Mattheo as we approached the Slytherin table. "You can't just drag me away from my friends just because you don't like them!" I spat as he glared at me, as though I did something wrong! Unbelievable.

"Oh please! As if Potter and you are just friends. Was I a joke to you?" He spat, ignoring his friends who tried to reason with the angered boy. Blaise's hand was on his shoulder, gently pleading him to calm down. Theo stood beside me with a stern look on his face pointed towards Mattheo, which was a comforting gesture. Draco stood on the other side of me, telling Mattheo to calm down, but in a far more serious and aggressive manner than Blaise.

"What the fuck does that mean!" I spat with a huff. I cannot believe him, not only is he accusing me of sleeping around with my friend, someone I've grown up with since first year, but he's acting as though I cheated on him! He's acting like I owe him loyalty and honesty, which I do not since we are not dating! What I do in my spare time is not up to him to dictate, but that is irrelevant since I am not sleeping around with Harry!

"Potter is going to your room tonight! What other reason does he have for being there other than to shove his dick into you." Mattheo's voice grew deeper and slightly quieter, yet the power behind his words did not diminish. I stood back, utterly flabbergasted at the words leaving this boy's mouth.

"What? Is that what you think of me!" I yelled, tears swelling in my eyes yet I refused to let my need to cry take over, refusing to stand down. "I am not sleeping with Harry, and even if I was that is none of your concern! We are not dating! You are not my boyfriend! Therefore I owe you nothing!" I seethed, watching as Mattheo's face grew more and more emotionless as he stared at me with nothing behind his usually bright eyes. I took a deep breath, before adding in a calm yet disappointed voice. "I was an idiot for giving you a chance to actually be a better person, clearly you just saw me as another Pansy. A girl you can use as a servant until something better comes along."

Mattheo's face fell, his eyes widened and his mouth fell slightly open, slipping into a frown. I didn't wait for a response, as I left shortly after. Theo and Blaise called after me, asking me to come back and talk through our feelings. I appreciated their concern, but I did not wish to try and reason with the unreasonable. Mattheo was bang out of order, and I do not wish to waste any more time with him. My heart had shattered.

"Y/n wait!" Someone yelled as I walked past the courtyard. This voice did not belong to the Slytherins, but rather my favourite Ravenclaw around. I stopped dead in my tracks, a small smile on my face as I tried to see through my tears. A blur of white, black and blue grew nearer and nearer. Once I blinked my tears away, I saw just who I suspected it to be, Luna. "Are you alright?" Her dreamy voice filled my ears once she reached me.

I nodded, continuing to walk out of the castle as I explained to her what had happened. I decided to divulge what happened to Harry and me in the restricted section and the dungeons, about the books, but not revealing what was in them. Luna listened carefully, never once cutting across, only asking questions when I had stopped talking. She was brilliant, the perfect person to be around during this difficult moment.

Before we knew it, the hours had flown by and we were miles deep within the forbidden forest. Luna knew which paths to take to avoid wandering into any dangerous creature's territory, and showed me many of the wonderful and peaceful creatures that resided within the woodland.

My eyes noticed something odd, a broken archway. It seemed familiar, too familiar. The sight of the soft grey stone brought shivers down my spine. I turned to Luna, whose usually dazed bluebell eyes were now latched onto the same odd structure I was looking at. Her eyes were cold with fear, her hands now balled into fists clutching onto her blue and black robes. She could sense it too. The dark aura around this odd thing. Strange.

"What do you suppose it is?" I muttered to the blonde, who took a cautious step towards the archway. As I followed suit, we walked around the pillars, our hands hovering around the stone, not watching to touch it. There were odd symbols meticulously carved into the smooth stone, must be runes, although I am unfamiliar with these. I noted how there was no sign of plant life growing on the stone, meaning it must be fairly new. Looks like another trip to the restricted section is due.

"It's radiating dark magic." Luna mumbles with a cracking voice as she walks back to my side. "I don't recognise the runes, do you?" She asks, looking at me once more. I simply shook my head, before looking back at the archway. The familiarity of it not leaving the forefront of my mind. Suddenly a hand clasped around my wrist. "What are you doing!" Luna's face was pale with worry as she quickly tugged me away.

Confused I asked her what she meant, her hand tightened around my wrist as her eyes swelled with tears. "You had gone in a trance! I was calling and calling your name." Luna tried to regulate her breath. "Y/n, you were muttering gibberish, the fallen stones began to rise and float towards the arch, as though you were mending it. You were about to walk through it!" Luna cried as she and I continued to walk away. "The dark magic around that thing was becoming suffocating." She added as we walked past tree after tree.

My eyes were filled with fear. What was that archway? How long had it been there? Why hadn't Luna, the girl who knew this forest like the back of her hand, seen that arch before? How did I end up in a trace, almost repairing the arch completely subconsciously?

Suddenly, my mind flashed back to Astoria, when I saw her entering the woods all by herself. Before I could begin to understand why my mind would show me that memory right now, a booming voice came from the edge of the forest that I had not realised we reached.

"Y/n, Luna!" A deep West Country voice called out to us. As Luna and I emerged from the trees, we saw Hagrid standing by his hut with Fang at his feet. His eyes took one look at our pale faces as his face fell in worry. "Blimey, yeh two look a right mess." He quickly walked towards us. "Y'alright? Yer not hurt, are yeh?" Luna and I shook our heads, not knowing what to say after what happened there.

It seemed as though Hagrid understood, as he began to usher us back inside. "Come on, best be off. Dinner'll be ready soon. I'll walk with yeh ter make sure yer alright." He smiled, walking us back into the castle. Luna and I went our separate ways, I sat down at the Slytherin table, in between Draco and Astoria. It was strange she was with them, but my mind didn't have room to question her as it was preoccupied with my racing thoughts.

"Y/n! What happened? Are you hurt?" Astoria asked as she looked at my paled expression. Blaise was sat opposite Astoria, Mattheo in front of me and Theo in front of Draco. They all looked at my lifeless face with such concern. I shook my head and pulled Astoria into a hug.

My arms held her tightly, as my face buried into her neck. I couldn't tell them. "Y/n?" I looked over at who called for me, it was Ron with Harry at his side. "Luna told us everything." The ginger added, his expression deeply worried for me. I simply nodded, having nothing to say.

"Don't worry about tonight, Y/n. Get some rest, we will reschedule." I thanked Harry, I'm not sure what I would have done if I had to open up any of those books tonight. I felt as though I was going crazy. I almost repaired an archway surrounded with remnants of dark magic, and let said dark magic take control of me. If Luna wasn't there- would I still be here? Alive? Would that archway unleash a hellish danger to the castle? Would I have endangered my friends? Potentially taking their lives?

Harry and Ron had left, not that I noticed. My friends looked at me worried, my eyes jumped between each one of them until my eyes landed on Mattheo. Suddenly bile built up in the back of my throat, threatening to project itself out from my throat and all over the food in front of me. With my hand over my mouth, I ran out of the Hall, throwing up all over some bush in the courtyard. Astoria had charged after me, now soothing me as she held back my hair.