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she were in a nightmare as she was escorted up to the Gryffindor tower by Amanda later on that evening. After her sleep, she had been cleared to go and was shown Hermione, who had joined the ever-growing line of students who had been petrified. Her closed off bed was right in between Justin Finch-Fletchly and Olly Jowett, with Emilia Kallantar and Penelope Clearwater on either side of them. Hermione, of course, looked just as she had looked when Saffron found her in the library earlier on that morning. But that didn't make it any easier to look at her friend in such a state.

Hermione had been the one person to be friend with Saffron all the way through her time at Hogwarts. It had taken her a sizeable amount of time to befriend Lavender and Parvati, she had loathed Harry and Ron at first, she and Maya were going through a rough patch in their relationship courtesy of the Summer scandal, but Hermione had been there through all of it. Knowing that she wasn't going to have her for the next while was a difficult pill for Saffron to swallow. What made it worse was the circumstances under which Hermione had sped off to the library.

Hermione seemed to be onto something. As Saffron looked back on that ill-fated morning, she vividly recalled Hermione rushing off because she thought that she had figured something out. Now, they weren't going to know what she had figured out until Hermione would wake up. For all they knew, by that point, it could be too late.

Amanda left Saffron at the foot of the common room and told her to not hesitate in contacting her if something felt off. Saffron wanted to tell her that the very thought of going into the common room felt off, but didn't, as she knew she was going to have to face whoever was in there at some point. She felt utter. dread at the prospect of having to walk into the common room alone. Undoubtedly, the Gryffindors were all discussing what had happened to Hermione and Penelope, and likely her too.

When Saffron plucked up the courage to enter, there was a wave of chatter directed at her. Students of all years seemed to want to know exactly what had happened, all Saffron said was that she wasn't petrified (as many people seemed to have speculated that she had been) and merely kept her sights firmly set on her dormitory. It was with relief that she changed into her nightdress and fell back onto her bed. The only part that felt terrible was the sickening feeling she got when she saw Hermione's neatly made bed.

She shouldn't have been surprised when Lavender and Parvati entered the room, but for some reason, she was. The pair too looked forlorn and shaken, notably because of the eerie bed that would no longer be in use for the time being. Even though Hermione was Muggleborn, Saffron had never truly believed that Hermione of all people could fall victim to the monster. She was simply too clever and the fact that someone as remarkable as Hermione could be attacked truly instilled the thought that nobody was safe. The same went for Penelope, for she was a Prefect and a highly advanced witch for her age.

"How are you holding up?" Parvati took a seat at the edge of Saffron's bed nervously. The girl exchanged a glance with Lavender, who took looked nervously in Saffron's direction.

"I feel cursed,"

"Cursed?" Lavender repeated.

"First I run in on Mrs. Norris, then Olly and Emilia got petrified because I didn't go with them, now Hermione, again, because I didn't stop her or . . . or go with her,"

"You can't blame yourself," Parvati insisted.

"I'm not," replied Saffron with honesty. "Well, not exactly, but that doesn't stop me from feeling cursed,"

"At least she's just petrified," said Lavender in response. "As bad as that is, it could've been so much worse. Besides, this is Hermione we're talking about, I wouldn't put it past her to wake up without the Mandrake's help,"

Saffron couldn't help but smile at that. For, it was the truth. It was like she told her mother, she couldn't help but smile when she was with Lavender and Parvati. They were exactly the type of fun she needed to balance the more chaotic aspects of her life.

"On the bright side, Oliver Wood had a mini-meltdown when the Quidditch season was cancelled," Lavender capitalised on the faint smile that Saffron had shown them. The girl evidently wanted to try to continue to lift her spirit, even if it was only ever so slightly.

Saffron let out a small laugh, feeling annoyed that the Grey had made her miss out on that.

"Then, the worst news of all," Lavender continued, exchanging a satisfied glance with Parvati, who too looked relieved that Saffron wasn't completely in a state of depression. "Is that Hermione is now going to steal your Olly, mini Olly, imagine all the quality time they're going to have now that they're in the hospital wing together,"

"They'll be together by the end of the month," Parvati put on a sad, muffled voice. "Since they're basically living together,"

"Okay, if, and that's the biggest 'if' of all time, we were together, which we are not and will not be, Hermione wouldn't do that to me, she's too nice,"

"That's a fair point," Lavender nodded her head in agreement. "If Parv was in her position, then it would happen,"

"I would never," replied Parvati, aghast. "We made a pact, remember, on our first day with Alannah?"

Again, Saffron smiled. She would find it hard to remember the enthusiastic prefect Alannah insisting the four of them making a pact to ensure that no boy or any person for that matter would come between the four of them. She remembered being content with having such a pact made, as she really didn't have any friends at that point in time. Her only friends were Rachel and Rowan, whilst Maya was very decidedly not her friend.

"I remember," nodded Saffron, with yet another smile on her face.

Parvati nodded. "We promised that we'd stick together, no matter what happens and beyond the joke, it's what's happening now," She took Saffron's hand into hers. "We're sticking together, and we'll get through this,"

"Will we do the hand thing?" Lavender mimicked Alannah, speaking in a bubbly high-pitched voice, that caused both Saffron and Parvati to fall back into a fit of giggles. But, they still did the hand thing.

Parvati first, her brown hand was met by Lavender's pale one, followed soon thereafter by the sallow hand that belonged to Saffron. Then came their second hand, and once six hands were in a pile, they lifted them up in the air.

But as she did so, Saffron felt a haunting sadness at the fact that two hands were missing from the pile. At the fact that Hermione wasn't going to be with them for a long time. Then came the tears.

Instantly, Parvati and Lavender sat on either side of her, taking her into a hug.

"It's going to be okay," Parvati assured her softly, allowing Saffron to place her head on her shoulder.

"She'll be okay in no time," added Lavender, pulling Saffron's duvet over the three of them, who could barely squeeze onto the bed together in a line. "So just let it out and know that we're here for you,"

Saffron sniffled. She wanted to thank them. Not only for consoling her but for being her friend in general. As she never took it for granted. She had had so much love taken away from her as a child, but now that she had it and seemingly was always going to have it, she wasn't going to allow herself to not let those involved know just how much it meant to her.

"Thank you, both of you. For everything,"