Chapter 124

Atlas had not managed to go to a single one of Slughorn’s dinner parties thanks to Harry scheduling every Quidditch practice over each invite – she’d been somewhat thankful at first, but Hermione was growing more and more disappointed each time Atlas had to explain she’d have to be going alone and that she was genuinely sorry she couldn’t attend. The little grumble of dissent and the ensuing mumbles that would follow always made Atlas wince and grimace, she hated to let her down — she’d even gone to Harry and asked him to schedule at least one practice around a dinner party but the boy was determined to avoid Slughorn and his eager hands. Even when Atlas reminded the boy that was the whole point and was what Dumbledore wanted he was reluctant.

So, naturally, because of this Atlas needed to make it up to Hermione somehow, and with the Hogsmeade trip hours away despite such high security measures, she vowed to treat Hermione to anything she wanted or so much as glanced at. She kept it to herself, of course, she intended to surprise Hermione with a hamper of gifts by the end of it. 

This meant she needed money, which she had, however, not on hand, maybe a few Galleons but surely she’d need more so she’d paid Minerva a visit that morning before breakfast, waking early to catch the woman before she left for her bi-weekly daybreak trip into Diagon Alley. The amount she had requested from her vault was so ludicrous Minerva’s glasses had almost cracked from the sudden onslaught of emotions that had attacked the aged lady, she declined and promised to bring her a pouch or two but no more.

She’d retrieved three but had Atlas promise not to spend more than a pouch.

Atlas sighed as she entered the Great Hall and sat beside Hermione, the trio looked to be in deep conversation, Hermione looking annoyed, frustrated and exasperated all rolled into one whilst Ron and Harry looked naturally defensive. She tried to catch bits of conversation but most of it sounded ludicrous, she knew Harry had been following some spells from that dreaded cheat book but surely he seriously wouldn’t be so stupid as to perform a spell with no description, at least Muffliato had an explanation of what it entailed, this Levicorpus sounded so obscure nobody in their right mind would perform it.

Nobody apart from her godbrother apparently.

“Are you stupid?” Atlas asked after getting the basic gist of the argument, “Harry you shouldn’t perform unknown spells.”

“It was a laugh,” Ron said, rolling his eyes as he repeated what he had been preaching in Hermione’s face for the past ten minutes. “That’s all.”

“Our dads used it,” Harry said and Atlas looked at him, frowning.

“What?”

“Lupin told me, he described what it was like and…” Harry continued quickly and then shrugged, “I thought you might’ve read something about it in one of your mum’s journals.”

“Are you forgetting that I don’t have all of them?” Atlas snapped, defensive. Hermione placed a hand on her thigh and Atlas looked at her briefly, letting out a shaky breath as she settled herself, “Regardless, you didn’t know that was the spell Lupin talked about until you did it. What if you chopped up his legs? Creating spells is advanced magic, it’s — it requires an understanding of what magic is in its purest forms and a further understanding of what you’re trying to accomplish.”

“It was for a laugh, it’s just an innocent –“

“Nobody would put that much effort and that much time into creating a spell for a prank,” Atlas refuted, shaking her head, “there are too many risks, experimenting with spell creation can get you killed,” Atlas thought of Luna’s mother and sighed.

“And besides, maybe your parents did use it,” Hermione said, “but they’re not the only ones. We’ve seen a whole bunch of people use it, in case you’ve forgotten. Dangling people in the air. Making them float along, asleep, helpless. This prince figure doesn’t seem as though he was a very nice person to me!”

A Death Eater’s favourite pastime. Atlas remembered the Quidditch World Cup. Harry looked thoughtful but ultimately shook his head.

“I don’t see where you get that from,” he said heatedly. “If he’d been a budding Death Eater he wouldn’t have been boasting about being ‘half-blood,’ would he?”

“The Death Eaters can’t all be pure-blood, there aren’t enough pure-blood wizards left,” Hermione said stubbornly. “I expect most of them are half-bloods pretending to be pure. It’s only Muggle-borns they hate, they’d be quite happy to let your three join.”

“There is no way they’d let me be a Death Eater!” Ron argued, dropping his fork to his plate with a cluttering clang. “My whole family are blood traitors! That’s as bad as Muggle-borns to Death Eaters!”

“And they’d love to have me,” Harry said sarcastically. “We’d be best pals if they didn’t keep trying to do me in.”

“I think I’m the only one they’d actually want,” Atlas offered a little grimly but grinned weakly as Ron laughed and Hermione shook her head with a disbelieving smile. Harry knuckled her shoulder lightly over the table.

“Hey, Harry,” Ginny spoke, suddenly arriving beside the boy, “I’m supposed to give you this.”

It was a scroll and Atlas recognised the whimsical slanting letters with a glance.

“Thanks, Ginny…it’s Dumbledore’s next lesson,” Harry muttered, unfurling the scroll to quickly read its contents, “Monday evening…not long now.”

“Did you want to join us in Hogsmeade, Ginny?” Atlas asked, tearing her eyes away to look up at Ginny who seemed to fidget oddly.

“Actually…Atlas could I speak with you?” She said and Atlas’s brows furrowed as she wordlessly nodded and followed when Ginny walked away, she shot a brief glance at Hermione, Harry and Ron, shrugging before finding herself in a secluded section of the hall.

“What’s up?”

“Dean asked me out.”

“Dean Thomas?” Atlas asked, her eyes widening a little and Ginny nodded, “when?”

“A few days ago,” Ginny said and fiddled with her hair, looking awkwardly to the side, “I told him to let me think about it, I think he knows that I…liked Zasha, he seemed really understanding. I don’t know but…he invited me to Hogsmeade with him.”

“What did you say?”

“Maybe,” Ginny answered and sighed, throwing her hands up, “I don’t know what to do Atlas, I still like Zash and — and I know it’s stupid but I just…I feel like it’s cheating — before you say anything, I know she told me to move on, but –“

“It’s okay,” Atlas said and looked at Ginny quietly a moment, “If you’re not ready then you’re not ready, maybe — maybe go with Dean but clarify it’s as friends.”

“Yeah…” Ginny nodded, “I’ll drag Luna and Neville with me.”

“Sounds good to me,” Atlas smiled and pulled Ginny into a hug, “although, I was serious about you tagging along with me and the others.”

“That’s ok, this’ll just be an opportunity to drag Luna out because Merlin knows she’d be spending the free time with those Thestrals,” Ginny huffed, there was still a little hint of sadness in her eyes, something deeper than skin that burrowed into her bone but Atlas didn’t comment and instead pressed a kiss to her forehead.

“Ok, come find me whenever – remember that.”

“Obviously,” Ginny said and pushed her away with a small smile. “Go on back then, I’m sure Hermione’s lost without you.”

“Whatever.”

The walk into Hogsmeade was an uphill battle against the bitter breeze, even Atlas, whose body naturally burned quite hot, struggled to fight back the chill, she had a hat pulled over her head, a scarf wrapped around her face and several layers of jackets and jumpers which Hermione had insisted upon. They weren’t the only ones, the village was full of students with the likeness of frigid marshmallows fighting the wind and snow, the sheet of white that dulled their senses made it impossible for Atlas to see if Hermione took an interest in anything displayed in the windows.

So much for spending more than a pouch, with the way it was going Atlas wouldn’t spell a Galleon.

Zonko’s was closed much to Ron and Harry’s dismay but Honeydukes was lit up through the snow, inviting them in – a saving grace considering Hermione seemed to have a peculiar sweet tooth going on. It wasn’t as if Hermione didn’t like sweets, but she preferred the strawberry ones with the juicy centres, or peach clusters and apple ribbons, not the newly stocked chocolate-dipped honeycomb scorpions she was pulling Atlas over to see. 

She had nodded, focusing mainly on Hermione’s delighted expressions and grabbed a few boxes when she wasn’t looking, she reasoned it wouldn’t hurt her pocket to pick out Hermione’s usual favourites too, buying them quickly and stuffing them in her school bag out of sight.

“There you are!” Hermione latched onto her wrist and pulled her away from the counter, “did you buy anything nice?”

“Just a few chocolate frogs,” Atlas grinned as Hermione huffed, rolling her eyes fondly and pulled her out of the shop. “Where to next?”

“Harry suggested the Three Broomsticks,” Hermione said, Atlas pulled her scarf around her mouth and pushed open the exit door, holding it open for Hermione to join her out in the bitter cold. “Harry and Ron went ahead when we couldn’t find you.”

“Charming.”

“I told them to,” Hermione said and Atlas looked at her quirking a brow.

“Want me for yourself, Mi? I’m flattered considering I look like a Graphorn right now,” Atlas said, her voice muffled by her scarf.

“Shut up,” Hermione countered, crumpling up some snow in her hands and reaching up to dump it on top of Atlas’s beanie, the girl didn’t put up much of a fight, shaking her head afterwards but otherwise laughing softly. “Come on.”

“Hold on, don’t you want to go anywhere first?” Atlas asked, reaching out to grasp Hermione’s hand gently, she threw a thumb over her shoulder at the old bookshop which could barely be seen through the thick haze of snow. “How about the bookshop?”

“We really mustn’t, the boys are waiting for us,” Hermione said, though she bit her lip, squinting through the snow at the dimly lit shop front, Atlas noticed and gave her hand an insistent tug, grinning triumphantly when the girl put up little fight and trudged through the snow following her.

They entered the shop, the entrance bell tinkling overhead as they stomped their boots to shake off the snow upon the welcome mat, the shopkeeper, Lady Josephine, a young witch around Bella’s age with thick glasses, greeted them with a smile and a nod of acknowledgement before returning to her book at the front desk. Instantly Hermione wandered off to the Muggle section and Atlas followed after her, ducking beneath antique stained glass lamps that hung low from the ceilings and stepping around jutting shelves above, which Hermione passed seamlessly under, bowing very few times to dodge a floating book.

Atlas plucked a few poetry books from the shelves, flicking through them idly whilst Hermione marvelled at first-edition hardbacks of timeless classics she loved, not daring to touch them despite them all collecting dust, seemingly unprotected. It was clear, however, that they were charmed to be somewhat impervious to the elements, Atlas could see the subtle sheen over them all. When Hermione looked especially overwhelmed by one particular section Atlas ventured over to read their spines, her head tilted to the side. 

“Little Women? You haven’t made me read these yet,” Atlas smiled, looking at Hermione briefly before reaching out to grab the set, however, Hermione lunged for her wrist and grabbed her fiercely.

“Are you crazy? Don’t touch them!”

“Why? Are they…are they cursed?” Atlas asked, rubbing her thumb and forefinger together as she regarded the books with some trepidation.

“No, worse,” Hermione looked flushed, “these are the first edition hardbacks, published in 1868 and 1869!” Atlas realised what was happening and that she had not been at risk of losing a hand, she smiled softly, endeared and let Hermione finish, “The fact they’re casually out like this, just — just collecting dust is insane!”

“Hermione, they have Impervious Charms on them,” Atlas said and reached out, slipping one of the books off of the shelf and holding it in her hand, Hermione seemed to hold her breath, gasping as she covered her mouth. “Are you forgetting a witch owns this shop? The dust is on the protective charm.”

“I…still,” Hermione chewed on the inside of her cheek and Atlas smiled, rolling her eyes as she plucked the second part off of the shelf and stacked it on top. “What are you doing?”

“Lady Josephine sells a lot of her books for pocket change, especially Muggle Books,” Atlas explained and gestured for Hermione to continue browsing, “pick what you’d like, and I’ll pay.”

“What? No, Atlas, I couldn’t –“

“I didn’t get you anything for your birthday,” Atlas said with a huff, “come on, just pick a few books.”

Hermione seemed to deliberate, torn as she glanced between Atlas and the first-edition classics that lined the shelves around her, she bit her lip and picked at her nails before hesitantly reaching out and stacking a few Jane Austen books in Atlas’s arms, there was a moment where she looked at Atlas after, almost hesitant but Atlas offered her an encouraging smile, gesturing for her to continue gathering her presents of choice. This proved to be incredibly encouraging as Atlas soon had a tall tower of books in her arms that stopped just beneath her chin – Hermione was in a frenzy, gasping and awing, reaching out unabashedly for her favourites, even the pretty ones she hadn’t read but had planned to.

All the while Atlas followed her around the shop, smiling at the amused looks Lady Josephine would send their way in between the chapters of her own book, licking her finger and shaking her head at the girls.

Finally, they walked up to the counter and Atlas carefully deposited the tall stack onto the counter, Hermione flushed, her eyes widening as it seemed to register in her mind that no matter how cheap Lady Josephine sold the books there was still a hefty number, as such she made to speak, to insist she put some back but Atlas ruffled her hair and told her to wait outside.

“Go on, I’ll come out after you in a second,” Atlas encouraged.

“Seriously Atlas, I can put some back, I don’t even need most of them, I just –“

“Wanted them?” Atlas questioned and smirked, “Then that’s reason enough isn’t it? Go on, Hermione, it’s ok, they’ll probably barely be a Knut each,” Atlas made a shooing gesture and Hermione’s shoulders sagged, she hesitated a moment longer before leaving the shop. 

There were several moments in which Atlas waited, eyeing the door silently before pulling out her wand and swishing it in the air.

“Muffiliato…” At least one good thing had come out of that book Harry had coveted, Atlas looked at Lady Josephine, “So…”

“You know these aren’t a Knut each, right?” She said, amused.

“I have two pouches of Galleons I can give you now without dying, can I pay you properly at a later date?” Atlas said as she placed the pouches on the table and pushed them forward, Lady Josephine eyed them with a smile and chuckled.

“Of course, I accept cheques if that’s easier than returning here?” she said and Atlas grinned, nodding, “I’ll send the bill to Gringotts I assume?”

“Yeah,” Atlas said and patted her pockets for a pen, “If you have a blank cheque I can write it for you now. How much do I owe you?”

Lady Josephine pulled out a calculator of sorts, swiping her wand over it as she pushed her glasses further up her nose and read out the price, when it came out she looked at Atlas with a somewhat apprehensive expression as the expense seemed to shock even the owner, she was surprised to see however, that Atlas remained stock still, not batting a lash, not even a blink – she simply smiled, nodded and wrote out the large number onto the cheque and signed it off with her wand to confirm the authenticity.

“Well then,” Lady Josephine smiled, looking down at the parchment, “always a pleasure, Atlas.”

“I could say the same,” Atlas hummed as she cast away the Muffliato spell and patted the books, “could you deliver these up to Hogwarts? I can pay the delivery expense if needs be?”

“Nonsense,” Lady Josephine waved off, “I’ll have them up there by the end of the weekend.”

“Thank you,” Atlas nodded and slipped her gloves back on, bunching her scarf around her face, “See you later, Lady Jo.”

“Of course, Atlas, it’s been a pleasure!” 

Atlas stepped out of the store smiling as Hermione ambled out from the alcove and nudged her shoulder.

“What took you so long?”

“Delivery instructions,” Atlas grinned and ruffled the fluffy hat atop Hermione’s head, “should we head to the Three Broomsticks then?”

“Harry and Ron are going to groan,” Hermione said and Atlas hugged her scarf tighter around her, reaching out to tug Hermione along, their hands interlocked. “I can walk myself, you know. You don’t have to drag me around…”

“Then why haven’t you let go of my hand?” Atlas retorted, throwing her a sly self-satisfied look as they trudged through the snow, Hermione fell silent and looked away, walking up beside her without so much as a peep.

They came to the Three Broomsticks and stepped inside, instantly spotting Ron and Harry at a table closest to the bar, Ron was admiring Madam Rosmerta’s behind when Atlas looked at him, it was beginning to be his favourite thing to do each time they came to Hogsmeade. With an amused smirk on her face, she snuck behind him, took off her scarf and wrapped it around the boy’s eyes, blindfolding him effectively.

“Stop ogling, Ronald.”

“Atlas!” He snapped, pulling the scarf away to glare at her, red-faced. “I wasn’t — I weren’t…piss off…”

“She’s a very pretty witch Ronald, but well out of your age range I’d think,” Atlas teased as she shrugged off her coat and sat beside Hermione.

“Where were you two?” Harry questioned, looking a little cross but intrigued as he glanced between the girls. 

“Secret,” Atlas said as she downed Ron’s Butterbeer.

“Shut up,” Hermione muttered, slapping her shoulder lightly before turning to Harry, “we were at the bookshop, anyway, what’s got your wand in a knot?”

“What?” Harry said, flinching and suddenly defensive. Atlas noticed and cast him a curious look. “All right, fine…we bumped into Mundungus,” he began and grit his teeth, “he’s been thieving from Grimmauld Place…had armfuls of Sirius’s old stuff.”

“Really?” Atlas frowned, something simmering beneath her flesh but at the look of ire steadily returning to Harry’s eye she shook her head and sighed, “Don’t worry about it, Harry.”

“What? How can you –?”

“It’s my stuff isn’t it?” Atlas interrupted and watched as the gears turned within Harry’s head, a look of resignation falling across his face, “I don’t reckon anyone will be wanting any of the things he’ll be stealing anyway, almost everything back at Grimmauld Place had the Black Family Insignia branded onto it, can’t imagine that’d be too popular these days.”

They fell silent after that, Madam Rosmerta coming by at some point to drop off another two pints of Butterbeer for Atlas and Hermione respectively before sauntering off, Ron’s eyes following her to the back. They talked about a few up-and-coming practices and even another Slughorn party that Atlas could go to. Hermione had been quietly thrilled, grinning at Atlas and hugging her tightly when the girl agreed to accompany her. Harry, unfortunately, would be busy with Dumbledore and Ron quietly grumbled, a little disdain upon his face.

And then, the moment the last dregs of their pints fell into their mouths they stood to leave, calling it a day. 

Atlas walked ahead, thinking of Mundungus with a frown. He was a thief, nothing but a criminal who stole from the dead, sure, it belonged to Atlas now but it didn’t truly, in her mind it still belonged to her dad, she felt he was still there, at Grimmauld Place, arguing with his mothers painting and sitting in his old room. In the delusional part of her mind. The realist in her relented, though, pushing against her skull, a splitting headache forming at the frontal part of the bone. He was dead. Mundungus stole from the dead and gone.

At least the sleet that cast itself upon what little skin she left uncovered iced her to such a degree she felt nothing, the voices up ahead served as something to block her own thoughts outside, familiar voices that argued and fought. Atlas looked and found Katie and Leanne shouting at one another, fighting over a package, a worried frown fell across her face and she sped up.

“Hey! What’s up with you two?”

The package fell between the girls and Atlas tripped, falling back as Katie shot up into the air, suspended by unseen wires that yanked apart her arms and legs, pulling them so that she resembled the Vitruvian Man, held in place, unmoving, mouth wide open, a gut-wrenching scream clawing out of her throat, eyes stretched in horror. Leanne started to scream too and Atlas scrambled to her feet, launching forward as the invisible strings seemed to slacken. She caught her before she could hit the snow and cradled her face.

“Katie!? Katie, look at me,” Atlas rushed, lightly tapping the girl’s cheek as Leanne collapsed to her knees and sobbed. “Harry, go and get someone!” Atlas shouted and looked at the boy who stood unmoving, she scowled and glared, her eyes flashing dangerously, “Harry, you idiot! Go and get help!”

He flinched and nodded, running through the sleet towards the castle as Hermione came forward and comforted Leanne. Ron ambled over to the package, bending down and with a pale hand, reached out to it. Atlas panicked, her eyes widening as she flung him back through the snow with a silent spell, watching as he thudded against the cobblestone wall.

“Are you stupid!? Don’t touch it!” Atlas snapped as the boy went red, looking over at her, startled and shaking. He nodded quickly just as Harry had done, gulping as he rubbed where the spell had struck his chest. “Here just…wrap it – wrap it up carefully and do not touch the metal.”

Atlas very briefly let go of Katie to shrug off her jacket and jumper, two boundaries of cloth for good measure. Ron ambled over, took the offered garments and wrapped the necklace up carefully.

“Atlas you’ll freeze,” Hermione said from where she comforted Leanne but Atlas ignored her, rocking Katie back and forth, trying desperately to stop her from screaming.

And they waited like that for what felt like forever, Atlas sat on her knees trying to comfort Katie to no avail, it must’ve only been two minutes but felt like an hour before Hagrid emerged from the curtain of snow, Harry following behind. He spared one glace to Katie before scooping her up in his arms and sprinting back towards the castle.

A binding helplessness struck Atlas as she watched the man disappear, an ache in her bones that had her standing and darting off after him, the witch replaced by an animal. The wolf bounded through the snow, the flakes melting against black fur as she caught up and created a direct path to Hogwarts through the inches of snow, she sneezed, her massive ears flicking from side to side as she shook the snow from her head. Hagrid jumped over the cobblestone wall and darted down the path Atlas made, thunderous footsteps echoing even through the thick torrent of ice as he followed her until they reached the castle, both gargantuan forms barrelling into the infirmary.

Poppy shot up from her desk as Hagrid and the Direwolf did not slow, Katie still hung and screaming in Hagrid’s arms. “What on earth happened here?”

Atlas shifted back, stumbling upright, ice stuck to her lashes and cotton t-shirt, shoes soaked through and trousers pitch black with melted snow, her skin was red, her burn looked raw and she panted, catching her breath. “She needs sedating.”

The screams were growing louder and more agonised, plaguing the hall – Poppy nodded, setting her questions aside as she mixed up a concoction and poured it down Katie’s throat bit by bit so as to not make her choke. It took a while, a painful while until she eventually calmed, falling unconscious.

“Now, will you tell me what happened?” Poppy asked, hooking a towel over Atlas’s head and handing her a small potion. Steam shot from Atlas’s ears when she drank it, a warmth filling her belly and chasing away the biting cold.

“There was a necklace, I had Ron wrap it up…I think Katie must’ve touched it,” Atlas said, running a hand through her wet hair as she stared at her friend, bed-bound and then at her palms, flexing her fingers. “Poppy…Poppy, it was as if I had touched her…as if my Fear had touched her, she was trapped, screaming at some unseen thing it was awful.”

“Was there anyone with Miss Bell?”

“Her girlfriend, Leanne, I — I left her with Hermione, Harry and Ron,” Atlas said, she pulled her eyes away from her shaking hands and looked back at Katie. 

“Hagrid, would you please go and locate the whereabouts of those four?” Poppy asked and the man nodded agreeably, patting Atlas’s shoulder before leaving the infirmary, his great big moleskin coat still dotted with snow. “Atlas?”

Atlas looked at Poppy, her eyes glazed over. 

“There’s nothing left for you to do here, honey,” Poppy said softly, pinching her cheek. “Go back to your dorm room.”

“…please keep me updated,” Atlas muttered and Poppy nodded, watching as the girl left the infirmary.

Atlas walked back up to Gryffindor Tower, clenching and unclenching her fists as she wandered, she walked a trail of wet, her shoes leaving marks on the stone floors as she roamed, she apparently appeared such a sorry sight The Lady let her through her portrait without a word, no one even approached her when she walked through the common room to reach the stairs to the girls’ dorms, she simply strode by and they never said a thing.

“There you are,” A towel landed on top of the one Poppy had given her, still hooked around her shoulders, Hermione handed her a warm set of clothes and held her forearms, “is Katie all right? Did you see Leanne with Hagrid?”

“Uh…no, no I didn’t,” Atlas said, her brows furrowed as she tried to process what had just happened, Katie’s screams still rang in her ear, “Katie she’s…Poppy gave her a sedative, she’s been put to sleep for now but that — that doesn’t mean she’s not in pain or — or still seeing whatever she saw –“

“I’m sure she’ll be ok, she’s in good hands,” Hermione said, taking Atlas’s hands and guiding her over to her desk. “Professor McGonagall sent for Snape to go down and lend a hand.” She offered softly, “Hey look at me,” Atlas obeyed as Hermione cupped her cheek and angeled her gaze downward, “Are you ok?”

“I…I couldn’t handle losing someone else important to me, Hermione,” Atlas swallowed, licking her lips as she looked at the floor, her hands shaking imperceivably, “her screams…Hermione they were horrible, is — is Leanne ok?”

“Hagrid took her to the infirmary, I’m surprised you didn’t bump into one another,” Hermione informed as she reached up and took the wet towel from around her shoulders and used her dry one to ruffle Atlas’s hair. “Harry thinks Draco did it.”

“What?” Atlas’s face scrunched up, her jaw clenching, “why?”

“Because apparently, the necklace was in Borgin and Burkes at some point,” Hermione said and then shook her head, “but it couldn’t have been anyway, Professor McGonagall said Draco was with her in detention…Harry is still adamant.”

“Did you find out why Katie had the necklace?” Atlas said and Hermione nodded.

“It was supposed to be a delivery,” she replied and let her hands rest in Atlas’s to stop them from shaking, “Leanne thinks she was Imperiused.”

“That makes sense,” Atlas muttered, “Katie would never argue against Leanne like that.”

Hermione smiled softly and pulled Atlas down to kiss her still-damp hair. “Will you be ok?”

“I’m more worried for Leanne and Katie, Mi,” Atlas said dismissively and walked over to her bed to get changed into dryer, warmer clothes.

“I am too, but Katie is your friend, your teammate,” Hermione urged as she stood in front of Atlas who sat on the edge of her bed, cradling her pyjama t-shirt loosely in her hands, Atlas looked up at Hermione who held her face again, “I know you’re upset now and we don’t have to talk about it anymore, I just want to know if you’ll be ok going forward.”

Atlas was quiet for a moment before resting her head against Hermione’s stomach, “They’ll take her to St Mungo’s tomorrow…Madam Pomfrey is a good Healer but we’re not equipped here.”

“You should ask to go with her, Professor McGonagall would let you, she wouldn’t deprive you of that,” Hermione encouraged and Atlas pulled back, looking up at Hermione with furrowed brows.

“What about Slughorn’s thing?”

“Ginny’s going, I’ll be all right,” Hermione sighed softly.

“Are you sure?”

“Making sure Katie gets the best care possible is much more important than some dinner where Professor Slughorn will have you dredge up information about your parents,” Hermione said and Atlas inwardly lamented at the thought of info dumping her entire lineage. “I’ll be fine, seriously.”

“I’ll make it up to you,” Atlas promised.

“You already did,” Hermione said and retrieved a bag, waving it around, “you bought all of my favourite sweets.”

Atlas sighed and huffed softly, “You weren’t supposed to look.”

“You dropped your bag and it spilt everywhere,” Hermione chuckled and pinched Atlas’s cheek, smoothing it over, all in one swift motion, “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” Atlas said quietly.

“Get changed, you’re soaking your bed sheets,” Hermione ordered quickly as she dropped the bag back onto Atlas’s desk. The girl quickly obliged and was soon dry, looking out of the window upon the snowy plain. “You’ll be gone before I wake tomorrow?”

“Probably,” Atlas nodded as Hermione pulled out some homework to do.

“Will you help me with this now then instead of at breakfast?” Hermione asked and motioned to her DADA homework. 

“Of course.”

She took one look at it and realised Snape had given Hermione a completely different assignment from her own. That snake.