𝔪𝔢𝔱𝔞𝔪𝔬𝔯𝔭𝔥𝔬𝔰𝔦𝔰
vingt-quatre. — the disappearing door!

"Lestrange I have a limited amount of time in the library to enjoy my peace, spit out what you have to say or leave please." Persephone didn't even look up from her book as the gaping Lestrange came out from behind the bookshelf he had been pacing up and down for the past ten minutes and sat across from her.

The tall boy towered over most of the students so Persephone had found it quite amusing watching him try and fail to be sneaky, "I need your help."

"Obviously," she finished writing what she needed from the book and placed her quill down, "what is it?"

"Swear you won't repeat this to anyone?"

Rolling her eyes, Persephone nodded in agreement, "I promise."

"How do you know—," he struggled to put his feelings into words for a moment as his voice lowered into a whisper, "how do you know if you're in love with someone?"

"Seriously? Why are you asking me?"

"You're a girl," he threw his hands up in the air in exasperation, "besides you have Malfoy and Druella trailing after you like they're your lap dogs — you must know something."

Persephone reflected on his words, yes she cared for a great deal of people in the castle — but love? — love was a foreign concept to her and for a moment she tried to reflect on all the things she had heard love should feel like. Yet deep inside she knew a terrible truth that she was not yet ready to admit to herself.

"When you're with Costia, how do you feel?" She shook her thoughts away and locked them in a box inside her mind, not to be touched on until she was ready, which would be a longtime that she was sure of.

"I look into her eyes and I feel... complete," his nose scrunched up as the sappy words left his mouth, "my stomach gets all knotted when I think of her — which is all the time. And when I imagine my future she's all I can see."

"Well I think you answered your own question there," smiling softly, Persephone grasped his hand across the table, "maybe go tell her how you feel?"

He nodded hesitantly, like a man who suddenly had the weight of the world on his shoulders when suddenly the seat beside Persephone was filled. A cheerful Druella smiling at the two, "What are you two whispering about?"

"Quidditch."

"My plot to take over the world."

Both Druella and Lestrange turned to look at Persephone with increasingly questioning looks, "I'm joking..." her next word mumbled beneath her breath, "...mostly."

"I best be off."

Lestrange was halfway out the library when Druella called out in an embarrassingly loud voice, "You best hurry, I think Costia's tongue is missing yours." She smiled mischievously as he stuck his finger up in a rude gesture at her before turning back to her friend, "I've had an idea on how we can try and find out who you are! We need to retrace your steps from the first thing you remember."

"Okay, wait a second." Persephone grabbed her wrist to stop her standing and simply sat staring into her swirling blue eyes for several moments.

"What?"

"Nothing," she let go of her wrist ever so slowly, a disappointed sigh leaving her, "absolutely nothing."

—————

"Are you sure this is it?" Druella questioned hesitantly as the two girls stood in the corridor on the seventh floor.

"I'm positive — I distinctly remember that ugly tapestry," Persephone pointed to the tapestry of trolls doing ballet before walking to the wall opposite it, "there was a door right here, but I think it disappeared."

"Seph I've gone to this school for five years, there's never been a door here," placing a delicate hand on the girl's shoulder, Druella had never felt more useless, "perhaps you were disoriented."

"It was here!"

Druella flinched, it was so rare that Persephone shouted and Druella herself had never actually been present when the girl raised her voice. It was scary, like seeing a calm grandparent you had always known to be kind and gentle, shout and swear. It's a shock you can't prepare for, and it is also the moment you know a situation is truly dire.

"I'm not mad," Persephone paced the length of the hall, "there was a room — with chairs and a fireplace and a—,"

"Girls!" Professor Slughorn's voice interrupted both her thoughts and her pacing as he marched towards them, his face slightly red and sweaty from fright, "You know you mustn't be wandering off with the monster prowling this halls."

"Sorry, Professor." Their apology was hollow and spoken in unison but Slughorn paid them no mind, too paranoid about the monster.

The oblivious group of three were in such a hurry to leave that they missed the sight of a door materialising on the wall seemingly out of nowhere.

Persephone couldn't say she judged her teacher for his cowardice as he led them back to the common room as fast as his podgy legs could take him, nattering on about how disappointing it was that Slug Club had to be cancelled. Everyone was frightened these days, from first years to the headmaster it appeared nobody was immune to the sense of dread that hung in the air. And yet Persephone found herself less afraid of the monster and selfishly more afraid as to what would happen to her if the attacks did not stop and the school closed down.

She knew she could not spend her entire life under the guise of Persephone Dumbledore. And deep inside her gut was telling her that the answers she so desperately sought after were right where she was.

( IN THE CASTLE )

—————

It was well past midnight when the portrait hole swung open, knocking the girl out of the trance she had managed to fall into whilst writing an essay in front of the fire, the ambience of the crackling flames and glow from the Black Lake having pulled her into a sense of safety that was not common at Hogwarts in the recent months.

"You're back late, Tom."

She did not remove her gaze from the paper before her, to be honest she was unsure how she could always sense him without looking — his mere presence and the bolts of power that seemed to follow him around somewhat familiar to her.

"You're up late." His tone was careless as he dropped his body elegantly onto the plush emerald sofa behind her, Persephone finally glancing up from her work to witness the boy loosening his tie and rolling his sleeves up.

"Yes, I'm trying to finish this essay but Costia and Lestrange were distracting me with their ridiculously loud displays of affection," he read her essay over her shoulder, brows pinched in confusion, "don't worry this is just a piece Binn's is letting me do for extra credit in History of Magic, it's about the goblin rebellions, why they failed and what I would have done different so they would succeed."

"Why?" He threaded his fingers under his chin as she stared up at him from the floor, "Why set yourself extra work? I hardly ever see you not working or without a book in your hand."

"Pot, kettle Tom," Persephone rolled her eyes and set her completed essay down, as she leaned her back against his long legs, "I don't know, I guess since my accident wiped my memories I've been lost. I came to Hogwarts a blank canvas, no memories, no opinions, no nothing. So I wanted to fill my mind with all the knowledge I possibly could to make up for all the blank spaces up there. As for the extra work, I'm most content when doing something useful — you know?"

"I understand," Persephone nodded at his words before standing to go back to her — hopefully quiet — dorm only to be stopped when boney fingers grasped her wrist, "you're not that blank canvas anymore you know? You've made a name for yourself here, a life."

"Goodnight Tom." She smiled politely at him as she gazed deep into his dark eyes for several moments, before turning away and letting the smile drop.

Nothing, absolutely nothing.

AUTHORS NOTE!
Ugh I'm so ready for fifth year to be over it is dragging so much, however I am so excited to write the summer holidays got some fun stuff planned and then of course sixth year. So there will probably be 1-2 more chapters revolving around fifth year.

ALSO I CANNY BELIEVE THIS STORY JUST HIT 11K READS!! Thank you loves so much for all your support and this story is so so so close to 1k votes so please remember to vote!!

Stay safe! Remember to vote, comment and or share please lovelies if you enjoyed <333

Unedited
-summer