章節 376: My Wife's Boyfriend
As the days turned into weeks and the month of November turned into December, Oleandra fell into a routine of sorts. She lived a peaceful and unassuming student life, attending all of her classes like a good girl and not causing any trouble. She stayed out of Umbridge's way as much as possible, though she'd still be forced to see her in Defence Against the Dark Arts.
With the Gryffindor Trio trapped in detention with Umbridge every single day of the week, including the weekends, it fell to Oleandra to lead the RC (Temp) meetings. She didn't know much more Defence Against the Dark Arts than the rest of the people she was supposed to teach, so she mostly relied on the Sorting Hat (and of course, everyone wanted to try it on again!) in order to teach them tactics, and how to parry or dodge enemy attacks. Having an arsenal of spells that could be used to solve any problem was indeed useful, but one had to still be alive in order to use them…
In her free time, Oleandra would practise drawing perfect runes. One didn't require access to 100% accurate runes in order to draw out their power… as long as one had the twenty-four runes of the stars engraved upon their soul. It was quite unnecessary for Oleandra to practise such a thing, but she wasn't doing it for herself.
As her understanding of runic magic had grown, Oleandra had come to touch upon the true nature of the inheritance she had gained from the stars. She still wasn't quite sure what to make of what little understanding she had gleaned from it, but for a while now, she'd get submerged by feelings of foreboding at the idea of teaching her magic to others.
It was too late for her, Daphne and Draco, but Astoria's soul was still untouched, and Oleandra wanted to keep it that way. Still, runic magic was a useful tool, so as a Christmas present to her little sister, Oleandra planned to paint the same runic sigils that she and Daphne used on Astoria's skin.
But for now, Oleandra stuck to practising. She made protective Elhaz amulets for each member of RC (Temp), engraved with their initials. She also finally got around to engraving the Retaliating Galdr on the Sword of the Lake, and she also resumed work on the complex design of the Full Set of Armour of Awe; which was a Galdr that incorporated six times the Lokk of the Helm of Awe, Ægishjálmur.
Time flew, and before she knew it, she was finding herself helping the teachers hang up Christmas decorations nearly every day, which was somehow part of a prefect's duties. Speaking of which, still an ever-present part of duties were her patrol duties, though stalking through the halls at night now felt much lonelier, now that Ron and Hermione had been stripped of their responsibilities.
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"Let's stop here for today," Oleandra called out. "You've all improved dramatically, I'd have to say. Especially you, Neville!"
A chorus of groaning and whimpering answered Oleandra's words. It had been another gruelling RC (Temp) training session, and when Oleandra was in charge, there was a lot more dodging, rolling and diving, which more often than not left her pupils covered in bruises, even with the bouncy floor of the Room of Requirement.
"Gather 'round," Oleandra continued. "I've got gifts for you: protective amulets! Here, catch, Neville."
Oleandra threw him the pendant marked with Elhaz, which he somehow managed to catch without it slipping through his fingers. After a brief moment of hesitation, he put it around his neck.
"Good, now tap it; and… Stupefy!"
Oleandra attacked without warning, and a bolt of red soporific energy blasted into Neville's gut. He reeled, and… to his surprise, he was completely fine.
"If you had these all this time," Zacharias Smith, hissed, "why in Merlin's name did you have us throw ourselves against the ground for half an hour?"
"Once you activate the amulet, it will block the next attack thrown your way," said Oleandra calmly. "However, the last thing I want is for you to think you're invulnerable. A Killing Curse or any spell powerful enough to break through a Shield Charm will break the amulet's protection. Furthermore, if the amulet blocks something, it'll need a few moments to cool down. So, do you want one, or not?"
A lifesaving object might count as an external source of strength, but it was still better than running into battle naked. Plus, any items enchanted by a runesmith were incredibly valuable, so whether they were planning on using them or not, everyone gratefully accepted Oleandra's gift.
"See you next year!" Fred and George called out, as they were the first to leave.
"Merry Christmas!"
"See you next year!"
Little by little, the Room of Requirement emptied itself as people left in small groups, until finally, Oleandra, Tracey and Cho Chang were the only ones left.
"The coast is clear," said Oleandra, who had her nose buried in the Marauder's Map. "You can go, Cho."
Harry had left his special map with her to ensure that nobody would run into Umbridge or a teacher upon leaving the room.
But instead of leaving, Cho continued wringing her hands nervously.
"Can we talk?" she said urgently. "It's— it's about Cedric."
"What about him?" Oleandra asked curiously.
This was getting weird; Cho was looking more and more terrified by the minute.
"Cedric— he knows about all of this," she said, gesturing to the room in general. "Hermione Granger, I know she tried to get him to join. He refused, b-but recently he's been approaching me, asking me to get back with him— and asking… questions."
"Like what kind of questions?" Tracey asked worriedly.
"Like where we hold our meetings," Cho said miserably. "Who's participating; that sort of thing."
"But why?" Oleandra asked in confusion. "Don't tell me he believes what Umbridge's peddling?"
Cho laughed nervously.
"Don't you get it?" she said, with a small disbelieving snort. "Cedric hates you and Harry with a passion. You know, he and I used to go out—"
"We know," said Oleandra and Tracey in unison.
"—but we ended up breaking up at the end of last year," Cho continued. "I couldn't take it any more; he kept flying into rages about how it wasn't fair that two kids, who were supposed to be too young to even register, had managed to slip through the cracks and steal his only shot at glory—"
Oleandra and Tracey shared a glance at each other.
"—you know, Cedric's always had everything go his way," Cho sniffled. "Everyone in his House loves him, he's always been, I don't know, perfect. Good-looking and nice and humble and smart and good at magic and at everything. So, when he didn't even get to try; you know, at participating in the Triwizard Tournament, and when you and Harry, of all people, took the only thing that he was missing to make his life completely perfect, he just… he just couldn't accept it. It shattered his pride."
"So…" Oleandra said hesitantly. "You think he's gone to Umbridge's side? To the Inquisitorial Squad she's been meaning to form?"
Cho nodded.
"Lots of Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws have," she said sadly. "They think your sister's evil incarnate, and they're scared. And since you've got the same blood as her, they think you're just as likely to go bad…" Waving her hands, Cho then quickly added, "not that I think that, I really think you and Harry are doing the right thing here…"
Cho wrung her hands even faster.
"Harry's been in detention these past weeks, and we can't really see other outside of RC reunions," she said, blushing furiously. "So, er— would you mind telling Harry I said that? I mean, warn him about Cedric, and tell him I think he's doing the right—"
"I get it, I get it," Oleandra said hurriedly. "I'll pass on the message for you."
創作者的想法 
Azure_Abyss
Azure_Abyss Evil Cedric is about the only concept I'd even consider using from the abomination that is Cursed Child, but I do need an antagonist, since Malfoy is running scared
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