Vita Mortem

“Ravan,” Scarlet groaned, brushing off her friend’s hands as Ravan tried to help Scarlet up the moving stairs, “I am perfectly fine.”

“Alright, I just don’t want you falling back, you’ll squish me,” Ravan teased.

“Hey,” Scarlet retorted, whirling around to face Ravan, “it was purely emotional, and there’s no way I would squish you. You’d get out of the way before I hit you, and then laugh at me.”

Ravan scoffed, “I would not laugh! In front of you,” she added in an undertone.

Scarlet stared at Ravan, before letting out a small chuckle as she turned away to continue walking up the stairs towards the Gryffindor Common Room. Ravan noticed her friend leaving and ran to catch up with her, “Wait up,” she whined childishly as Scarlet stated the Gryffindor password and they entered the common room.

“I’m home!” Ravan exclaimed, throwing herself onto the empty couch closest to them and sighing in bliss. Scarlet just sighed and sat next to Ravan’s head, pulling out her homework to get a better look at it.

“Scar,” mumbled Ravan, with her eyes still closed, “when are the Quidditch trials?”

“This weekend. What position are you going for?” asked Scarlet, eyes not moving from her Defence Against the Dark Arts essay.

“Keeper I think, I’ve always found it easy to read the opponent’s moves,” Ravan smirked triumphantly. “What about you Scar?”

“Hmm, I don’t really know. I’ve only ever played Chaser, and that was only to help the team train,” mused Scarlet, scratching her quill against parchment.

“What are you doing?” Ravan asked, shifting about to see what Scarlet was doing.

“Why don’t you go flirt with Fred? I’m sure he’d be happy to indulge you, seeing as you two are so good at it,” Scarlet said, rolling her eyes.

Ravan pouted, “I’ll disregard your sarcasm, he’s got detention with George. They were caught pranking Filch.”

“Of course they were,” Scarlet smiled, “well at least they can’t get into trouble right now, and drag us to detention with them.” So far, the girls had had to serve two detentions because of the trouble the mischievous twins had gotten them into. But secretly, the girls didn’t mind, as it gave them time to make even more pranking plans with the boys, and just time to be around them in general.

“You know what, I feel like playing chess. Want to play with me?” she asked, putting her parchment down to look at Ravan, officially distracted from her homework.

“You want to go up against the Master? Bring it,” Ravan grinned, moving herself up off the soft couch to the chess table.

“One day, I will win against you, and it will be glorious,” Scarlet replied, pointing at Ravan as she sat opposite her.

The game began, with Scarlet moving one of her white pawns first. It continued with Ravan losing two pieces and Scarlet losing five, about to lose another when Neville Longbottom, a younger student burst into the Common Room, interrupting them.

“Sirius Black! Sirius Black!” he yelled, hysterical.

“Oh, checkmate,” Ravan smiled, causing Scarlet to groan in frustration.

“Sirius Black! He’s been seen near Hogwarts!” he yelled one final time, before running off up to the boy’s dormitories to let the others know.

The girls watched him go, sitting in silence as noise erupted all around them. “Near Hogwarts?” Ravan repeated, a blank look on her face.

“This isn’t good,” Scarlet thought out loud, her eyes narrowing. “I need to get something from our room, think you can stay out of trouble?”

“Is my name; Scarlet Wolfe!?” Ravan shouted, drawing the attention of her fellow students.

“No,” Scarlet said slowly, “that’s my name.”

“Exactly!” Ravan cried out.

Scarlet just looked at her and turned on the spot, making her way up the stairs that lead to the girl’s dormitories. Once in the room the girls shared with Alicia Spinnet and Angelina Johnson, she crossed the room to the trunk at the foot of her bed.

A furtive look came over Scarlet’s face as she opened her trunk, pushing aside cloaks and spare pieces of parchment to uncover a small object wrapped in soft material. She deftly unwrapped it, revealing a small vial with a few drops of colourless liquid inside, bringing it up to her eye-level.

“And the truth comes out,” Scarlet muttered, the sky darkening behind her.