6.3 - Holiday Plans

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With a wizarding war taking place at the time, fear was starting to rise, and everything was starting to descend into chaos. One of the main focuses during the war was the children.Β 

Hogwarts was starting to maximise security, being more strict about curfews. It was all about protecting the students, though they were using precautions that the students weren't particularly fond of.Β Β 

This year brought moderate familiarity to the daily lives of the students, where lessons and classwork were the same, but lives outside of class changed drastically over the summer.Β 

One of the few things outside of lessons they had that stayed the same was their Hogsmeade trip. The school organised four trips a year, but the staff made it clear that the trips may be cancelled later on.Β 

All the older students were given the option to go on the trip, but some parents denied their children the trip out of fear of the war.Β 

All of Ophelia's friends were allowed to go, and they tagged along with her and their entire friend group, but of course Ophelia still didn't want anything to do with Barty and Regulus.Β 

That didn't matter when she was with the rest of her friends like Daisy, Thomas, and Pandora, as they had no personal problems with the two boys, so they wanted to hang out with them.Β 

As the students walked down the hill, some of the kids in Ophelia's year started to make conversation with each other.Β 

Thomas slid into the group with a simple yet effective conversation starter. "So, what do you lot have planned for the holidays?"

They all thought for a moment, as the holidays were still a few weeks away, but most of them already knew some details of what they were going to do.Β 

"I'm going back home to my parents." Pandora said. "I'm going to stay with them for a week and then I'm going to visit Xenophilius and his family."

"Oh, that sounds so nice, Pandora." Thomas told her.Β 

"I know, I really am excited. And I might see Ophelia too, since she's going home to her family."

Ophelia didn't want to tell anyone about her winter plans, since that would mean Regulus finding out. She cringed slightly, but remained composed.Β Β 

"Oh, that sounds nice too, Ophelia." Thomas commented.Β 

"Yeah, I hope so." Ophelia shrugged. "What about you?"

Thomas looked slightly flattered that someone asked about him. He hesitated for a moment, then let out a soft smile and answered her question.Β Β 

"I'm going home too, I think everyone is." He said.

Barty Crouch chimed into the conversation. "Not me." He said with an apathetic tone.Β Β 

"What?" Ophelia asked.Β 

She was a bit shocked that she didn't know about this. She wasn't involved in the lives of him or Regulus, but Regulus sends her letters detailing things going on in their lives, and word gets around in the Slytherin dorms.Β 

"You're not going home for Christmas?" Pandora inquired. "You're just going to stay here?"Β 

"Yeah, I'm staying for winter break. My father doesn't want me leaving school until the summer." Barty shrugged. "He's all worried about the war since he knows all of the ins and outs of it."Β 

Regulus refrained from adding to the conversation, but Ophelia was watching him walk beside Barty and noted all of his facial expressions. She knew all of them far better than she was willing to admit. She saw him cringing and refraining from speaking and knew exactly what it meant.Β 

"You know, Barty's parents may have the right idea." Daisy chimed in. "My father works for the Ministry as well and he tells me things are getting really bad."

"Wait, what?" Thomas asked. "Both of your fathers work for the Ministry and they're both freaking out?"

"So what does that mean for all of us?" Regulus finally spoke up.Β 

"Yeah, is it really getting that bad if all of the adults in our lives are this scared?" Ophelia said.Β 

Regulus held back a smile at the fact that Ophelia acknowledged something he said. It was the first time in a long while that she did that. It made him happy to see a sign that things might possibly be getting better between them.Β 

"No, no, I think it's just precautions for now." Daisy said, relieving the group of some of their worries. "It'll all be okay in the end."


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