CHAPTER NINE
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AUTUMN HAD GRACED THE CASTLE subtly, creeping in and indicating that winter was on its way with temperatures dropping little by little.

The desk that she sat at was old and creaked whenever she moved, even if it was ever so slightly. The only thing that brought her peace was that there were multiple other desks in the room with the exact same issue.

It was a challenge for her to be paying attention at that very moment. The lesson was particularly complicated that day and she wasn't following. Transfiguration had become a great deal more difficult since she had entered her sixth year.

Repeatedly she ran her fingers over the feather on her quill and knew that even if she began to pay attention she would be utterly confused. The notes she was jotting down on her parchment made no sense to her. She would have to ask Lily or Louise for help later.

At the seat in front of her she heard a few hushed whispers, catching most of what the two from her house were talking about.

"Did you hear about this?" the first boy asked. Winnie did not know him very well, but she did know the other boy, Tristan. He sounded somewhat panicked, though she didn't know what for. With a flourish, she finished off the last bit of notes before McGonagall went on an explanatory tangent that went over the content in the notes in further detail.

Instead of listening carefully to McGonagall like she knew she probably well should have, she turned an ear to the two boys.

"Yeah. I did," Tristan responded gloomily. A copy of The Daily Prophet was spread out in front of them, but she couldn't see the front page properly. She pressed her head lower against the desk and tried leaning on different sides so that she could get a glimpse.

Between their shoulders, the headline stood out. "ENTIRE MUGGLE FAMILY KILLED, PURSUIT OF SUSPECTS CONDUCTED," it read. She cast a glance down at her parchment and her eyebrows met in a crease. Well that was quite disturbing and Edwin (as she later found out the other boy's name was) and Tristan's reactions were very much warranted.

Before she knew it, class was over and she stood up, shoving her things into her bag without much thought. What she had heard had indeed bothered her and now it just wouldn't leave her mind.

Of course, news such as that had been floating around for some time. But this time it really had struck her and she wasn't quite sure of why this time had been worse than all of the others.

As she pondered this, she took no care to look where she was going and almost tripped into some first years messing around near some armor. But she wasn't exactly sure, as she was paying no attention.

"Oi! Earth to Winnie!" Louise's voice called out, pulling her out of her muddled trance. The girl looked at her expectantly and Winnie only returned the look with her own utterly blank one. "And you think I'm the one who never listens, shame on you."

"What was it?" she questioned, her mind still slightly in another place. Louise sighed impatiently before tugging at her arm and ushering her down the hall.

     "Well, our lake plans for this weekend may or may not be intruded upon," she explained quickly, eyes darting around to the stone walls, down to the floor, and back to the walls again. "And it may or may not be my fault, but really, who can really be blamed for anything?"

     "What are you even talking about?" Winnie inquired absently and Louise simply responded.

     "No idea. Anyway, it appears as though Remus will be joining us!" she finally got out with a smile, looking at her friend cautiously as if she expected her to put down the idea.

     "Okay. Remus is really nice," she responded with a nod, Louise furrowing her brows in confusion at Winnie's lack of objection.

     "You're not...mad?" Louise questioned.

     "Why on earth would I have a problem with Remus coming with us to the lake?" Winnie asked, now eyeing Louise suspiciously. She averted her eyes quickly and shrugged nonchalantly.

     "Oh, no reason. It just wasn't part of the plan — kind of panicked when he asked what I was doing for the weekend and just said it," she chattered, shooting a glare at Winnie when she realized she was giggling slightly at what she was saying. "What?"

     "Nothing. Since when have you ever panicked when talking to, well, anyone?" she questioned with a smirk. "That's not a very Louise sort of thing to do, you know."

     "Besides the point! Uh, so just direct your attention to, oh no, Mary Macdonald — looks like that charm didn't turn out how she wanted," she tried distracting. Winnie unwittingly gave in and glanced over at the girl that was frantically apologizing to a boy that now had bright orange, smoking hair. It had done the job and distracted her, though she hated when Louise did that when she wanted to avoid whatever they were talking about.

     The whole conversation was strange and it seemed as though Louise had been panicking through her explanation the entire time. But, it was clear she didn't want to speak of it, so Winnie left it alone.

     Or at least she would, until the real truth came out.