𝗔𝗖𝗧 𝗜 ━━ 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗣𝗘𝗥𝗙𝗘𝗖𝗧 𝗦𝗧𝗔𝗥𝗧
027. rumours flow like a river

          𝗦𝗖𝗔𝗥𝗟𝗘𝗧 𝗕𝗥𝗜𝗗𝗚𝗘𝗧 𝗧𝗛𝗢𝗨𝗚𝗛𝗧 𝗦𝗛𝗘 𝗠𝗜𝗚𝗛𝗧 𝗕𝗘 𝗚𝗢𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗙𝗘𝗥𝗔𝗟. Absolutely feral. Dashing through the dungeons, she kept an eye around for Everest, trying to find her among the crowd of Slytherins who shot her knowing, calculated gazes.

Muttering the passcode under her breath, she busts through the doors to the common room. "Have you heard?" Regulus asked her, sitting up from his seat.

She nodded lightly, not answering audibly before she went to her dorm room. 

"I'm actually going to kill somebody," she said through gritted teeth.

"Okay, code red, I see," Everest shot down her book on the bed, sitting up. "First thing, calm down,"

"I CAN'T CALM DOWN!" She shrieked with concern, "I bloody hate rumours, you know it,"

"I heard," Everest nodded, sighing at the assumptions going around the school. That was when someone knocked at the door. "COME IN!"

"Hey," Dorcas peaked through the door, "I'm coming in,"

"Hey, Cas," Everest smiled, gesturing for her to sit down. 

"We don't have time for small talks, Eve, make this thing go away,"

"I'm not a lawyer, S," Everest retorted, "Give me a moment to think, and tell me what really happened,"

"I'm confused, what's going on," Dorcas slowly asked, glancing between the two of them.

"You'd know if you weren't married to the library," Scarlet rose a brow, sarcastically speaking.

"Rumour has it, Sirius Black hexed Silas Abrams into leaving school simply because he asked Scarlet out," Everest shrugged, nonchalantly speaking. "Some dumbass started it, I don't know exactly who."

"HENCE CODE RED ALERT!" Scarlet exclaimed, mimicking Everest's previous words. "I want to know who started this, and I want them hexed into leaving school,"

"But it's not true," Dorcas understood, "Make up something more interesting and let Everest spread it around, she's a mastermind when it comes to these things,"

"Whatever you do, do it fast, rumours flow like a river and I want this thing gone," Scarlet panicked, pacing around the room and gesturing wildly with her arms as she spoke.

"Were you involved?" Everest asked Scarlet, wanting to dig into it more.

"Yes,"

"Did Sirius hex him?"

"He only hit him but he had a reason,"

"I'm assuming the reason had something to do with you, and I only need to know... did Silas do anything that you didn't like?"

Scarlet stayed silent, staring back into Everest's eyes with panic scattering her eyes. Although Dorcas was utterly confused, Everest understood without any words having to be said. She did not know what exactly happened, however, she could tell by Scarlet's face that whatever happened, Silas Abrams was most likely not the victim at all.

      And she was beyond frustrated. 

"It'll be gone before you know it," Everest stood up, starting to make her way out of the room.

"Where are you going?" Dorcas asked, Scarlet thinking about asking the same question.

"To get assistance from a friend,"

"Might this friend be Marlene McKinnon?" Scarlet rose a brow, and Everest nodded with a sly smile.

"Do you know any other gossip master in this boring school," she chuckled, speaking sarcastically before turning on her heels and exiting.

Scarlet popped down on her bed as Dorcas looked around the dorm room, "A rumour that involved Black and Bridget, it's going to be hard to make it disappear,"

Scarlet shot her a deadpan look. "You're just like Eve, fantastic at making me feel better, you know that," sarcasm laced her tone, making the dark-haired girl giggle to herself.

      EVEREST ENTERED THE LIBRARY RIGHT BEFORE THE SUNSET, looking around the dark area when she finally found Marlene sitting with Alice and Lily, looking utterly puzzled. 

"I don't get any of this, can we go to sleep?" Marlene pleaded to Lily who looked as stern as ever.

"Absolutely not, it has only been ten minutes," Lily told her with folded arms, a scowl that resembled Professor McGonagall's. 

Marlene absentmindedly looked around, a large smile making its way onto her face as soon as she saw Everest making her way. "Hey, Eve—"

A large sound came from nearby, a familiar group of boys stumbling upon each other as a pile of books dropped from one of their hands.

"That is absurd!" Lily whisper-yelled, her heart practically breaking at the sight of the books on the floor. Lily adored books. 

"What is going on over there?" A voice sounded from the other side, footsteps nearing them.

"Run, run," Sirius hurriedly said, patting James' shoulder as the four of them started to run.

The boys were about to turn the corner the moment Everest made her way down the aisle, the midpoint of their path was a direct view from Marlene.

"Hold on, WAIT!" Marlene exclaimed, standing up. However, she acted too late and two fo the boys bumped right into Everest's figure.

The boys clamoured in distress, racing through to avoid the librarian. Remus and James tripped over one another in their efforts, colliding harshly with Everest who gazed upon them like a deer lost in headlights. The trio's bodies crashed together like symbols, and Everest hit the floor first, followed by the remainder of the boys who elbowed and kicked the floor in their attempts to soften the fall. They created a pileup in the middle of the library. 

Everest gasped for breath, "Merlin. Get off me!"

Remus' shoulder was pressed against her lungs, leaving her struggling the regain oxygen. Embarrassed, both of the boys scrambled up from the ground, clearing their throats.

      Sirius let out a loud roar of laughter—not even caring that they would now get detention due to being slowed down, what mattered was that he saw his best friends completely humiliate themselves. Meanwhile, the colours drained from Peter's face, his chubby cheeks now almost paper-white from being frightened by a fuming Everest on the floor.

Marlene made her way over, offering Everest a hand, "Here,"

The Chasseur grasped the blonde's parm, pulling herself up from the wooden floor. Fortunately, she was uninjured. "I'LL KILL ALL OF YOU, BLOODY MONSTERS!" She cried in anger, Marlene held into her arm and squeezed it lightly in a gesture to ask her to calm down.

"All four of you, DETENTIONS!" the librarian practically gasped at the sight of the fallen books, glaring at the troublesome boys.

"I bloody hate the library," Everest whispered to Marlene who shot her a raised brow, wide-eyed look to say 'same'.

"Why are you here?" Marlene asked her, she knew she was there in an attempt to study, but it was really not working. She blamed it on Lily for being a terrible teacher.

"I needed to speak to you, actually," Everest said, shrugging.

Marlene's heart was in her throat. "Me? Uh—sure, of course, I mean, let's sit," she stumbled upon her words, offering her a gentle smile whilst Everest shrugged nonchalantly, accepting the gesture.

"Scarlet was about to eat me alive," Everest said, sitting down opposite of her around a different table from the other Gryffindor girls. 

"About the Abrams rumours?" Marlene obviously had an idea, "Gryffindors and Slytherins hex each other all the time, is it a big deal?"

"Scarlet hates being involved in bullshit drama," the brunette told her as though it were an obvious fact.

"Hm," Marlene nodded, knitting her brows. "You came here to make something else up,"

"All I know is that Silas did something terrible and Black is not at fault,"

"I don't understand why Sirius' not bothered if the rumours are untrue," Marlene doodled on her thoughts, twirling a strand of her hair in her fingers. 

"Because Black never cares about anything,"

"I think he cares quite a lot about your best friend," Marlene told her, shooting her a knowing look that caught Eve off-guard. "I sometimes see them helping each other in the library, but he doesn't seem to pay much attention to the work,"

"I'm not going to comment on that," Everest desperately wanted to gossip about her best friend's love life, it was a fabulous topic. However, she knew better. She was not that close to McKinnon.

Marlene calmly slumped back into her seat, back hitting the wooden chair. "I heard Abrams was expelled... and we all know he's been obsessed with Bridget since he was eleven—not that I blame him," she paused to hear Everest chuckle lightly, a smile creeping onto the blonde's lips. "We could say he attacked Sirius out of jealousy so he hit him back out of self-defence, hence he's the one expelled, and not Sirius,"

Marlene speaks quickly. And she said the entire plan in one breath. "You're a mastermind, aren't you?"

"I know what Hogwarts likes and dislikes, you put out a rumour like that and everybody will forget the last one," Marlene folded her arms, spreading her legs out to sit in a comfortable manner. 

"Except you and I, of course," Everest cheekily grinned. "I heard some Hufflepuff girl asked Lupin out and he ran the other way, I mean actually ran,"

Marlene bursts out into a peal of laughter. "Remus is quite shy, he's always blushing,"

"He used to be a lot more moody before," Everest remembered watching him walk down the hallway with his head down like an imposter, "I never used to see him smile,"

"I guess he grew out of it," the blonde said, "Is it true Evan Rosier shagged two girls the night Slytherin won the match?"

"Rosier's been a slag lately," Everest chuckled, not with much judgement but rather finding it funny. "Someone has got to take the title now that Black is not... you know,"

"Oh yeah," Marlene thought back about Sirius Black and his reputation the last year, "Are they shagging, Black and Bridget?"

"I'm not going to comment on that either," Everest suppressed a laugh. It dimmed down soon as she exhaled a large breath. "Are you doing anything this weekend?"

"Other than Slugclub? Not really," Marlene answered.

"Wanna get ice cream?" the brunette blurted out suddenly, heat crawling up her throat and blossoming in her cheeks.

Instantaneously, Marlene's head snapped up, eyes boring into Everest's soul. She was trying to detect a falseness within the inquiry but came out with nothing of importance. 

it was genuine. And so was her answer.

"Yes."