Scratches (Fred Weasley)

(84) End Of Year

The stairs were not the best place to sit, as you would feel your bottom numbing if you sat stationary on them for even twenty minutes. But Florence couldn't really feel the numbing, just like how she couldn't feel anything after yesterday's tragedy. She did not feel tired, nor hungry, nor sad. And instead of resting as she should be for a train ride back home in a few hours, there she was, sitting on the stairs just outside Cho's dormitory room, who she hadn't seen since she went to mourn Cedric. It was four o'clock in the morning, and she just wanted to be there, emotionally supporting her friend through a closed door.

This said closed door had creaked open, much to her surprise, Florence preparing to scramble up and ask Cho how she was feeling when she stopped in mid action, realizing that the person who had came out was infact, not Cho, but Marietta, who was holding an empty glass in her hand.

She too, was monumentally startled with Florence's appearance, composing herself as soon as she made out her face in the barely lit staircases, "Oh, uh," she said awkwardly, "I was just going to put this away... It was a glass of cold milk, for Cho. Professor Flitwick generously left her some, said it would help her sleep." she sighed, "The sun's nearly up and she hasn't slept at all."

"Has she talked to anyone since..." Florence paused, not sure what she was going to call it, "...since it happened?"

Marietta shook her head, "I don't really know. She was out for quite a bit and when she returned, Professor Flitwick was escorting her up." She glanced back at the room, "She must feel absolutely terrible. I feel extremely bad for her."

The fourth year student set the glass onto the ground, plopping down beside Florence on one step of the stairwell, "Did you hear what they were saying after everything happened?"

"No," Florence frowned, "I, I left immediately...the crowd was getting violent. What happened?"

Marietta leaned in closer, as if afraid that someone would overhear her, despite the fact that the two of them, and Cho, were probably the only waking souls at this time of the morning, "Harry Potter said that he saw you-know-who come back."

Florence froze, Sirius' franticness to communicate with Harry all year finally made sense. Did Harry feel anything? Was that why he was placed into the tournament as a fourth champion? She shook herself out of her trance, as Marietta looked like she had more to say.

"...a couple of students also saw the Durmstrang headmaster flee the venue before Harry came back with dead Cedric. Apparently he was a death eater once? Who would have known? And here's more: Professor Moody wasn't professor Moody at all!"

"Okay," she stopped the girl, before she launched herself into a frenzy of explanation, Florence still trying to digest what she had said. "Let me get this straight. What do you mean Moody isn't Moody at all? And Headmaster Karkaroff put Harry's name into the Goblet?."

"No," Marietta interjected, "But you would think that Headmaster Karkaroff did, right? He acted pretty guilty but it wasn't him. Turns out Professor Moody was this ex Death Eater all along, disguising himself as the real Professor Moody with Polyjuice potion... He was the one who had put Harry into the tournament... I overheard the Fat Friar and Nearly Headless Nick talking about how the real Moody was locked up in a trunk or something..."

It was amazing how a Ravenclaw's nosiness could help at situations such as this, Florence thought for a second.

"Do you know where Harry is now?"

"Probably still at the Hospital Wing. They tried to detain Cho there as well, but I think she insisted on going back to her room for the night...said she needed to pack, which, unfortunately, I haven't done yet." Marietta sighed heavily, getting up from her previous spot, picking up the glass. "I better take care of this... you should try and go back to sleep too. I'll tell Cho that you came by."