Crashing Down
PART 2 of the Stolen Moments Collection
https://archiveofourown.org/works/24416908
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Summary:
Ellana never had a first day of classes that bombed as she did today. Merula decided to mess with all her ingredients during potions. Transfiguration, she nearly fell asleep due to sudden exhaustion. The Divination room was so hot she had almost passed out, which Trelawny argued that it was Ellie's third eye manifesting. Then in practice, she almost threw up after catching a bludger to the stomach. Those things, however, weren't the worst thing. No, it was the glare Murphy gave her in the corridor was what really ruined her day.
Notes:
I would love to say I wrote this for the sheer joy of writing... but I am trying to procrastinate hardcore of this History assignment. That being said. I have another chapter hot off the presses! I was trying to add a little character depth to some of the characters (Mainly Rowan and Murphy).
I have some ideas that I am going to do along the way. But if you have anything that you may want to see in the future, leave a comment below, or you can find me on AO3: AlleyChaton!
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Quick Note: Ellana is starting her Third-year at Hogwarts. Meaning her Quidditch friends will be starting their Fourth-year.
Disclaimer: I do not own Hogwarts a Mystery. If I did Murphy would be seen a whole lot more, and he would be a romance option.
(See the end of the work for more notes.)
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"Ellie, wait up!" The redhead turned to see her best friend, Rowan following her from the potions classroom. "Jeez, you certainly didn't waste any time getting out of potions class."
"Sorry, Ro," the redhead muttered. She was adjusting her satchel. The strap seemed to be weakening the longer they stood in the hallway, "I was hoping to make a quick stop into the library before heading to Transfiguration."
Rowan looped her arm through Ellie, dawning as smile, "Well then, shall we?" Ellie smiled as they walked up the stairs. Leave it to Rowan to want to go with her on an adventure to the library before class. "I never asked at breakfast, what classes are you taking this year?"
"I am taking Care of Magical Creatures and unfortunately Divination…" Ellie drawled, rolling her eyes in the process, "I wanted to take ancient runes, but you should have seen my grandmother's face when the topic was discussed last Christmas." The redhead rolled her shoulder's forward and curled her right hand, trying to imitate an old woman, "Ellana Aurora Bennett." A shirl voice came out from Ellie's mouth, "You are named after my mother, who was a magnificent seer. It would be an insult not to study the noble art of divination. NO, BUTS!" Rowan and Ellie burst into giggles as Ellie's glasses bouncing down towards the end of her nose.
Rowan giggled, poking Ellie's glasses back into the appropriate place on her face, "My parents didn't care what electives I took. Though, being that mom was muggle-born, she told me not to bother with Muggle Studies. She said, and I quote, 'if you are so interested in the muggle world, I'll let you spend the summer with Daadee and Daada in Varanasi.' unquote." Ellie missed this simple talk. The last two years had been haunted by conversations about the hidden vaults. Ellie wanted to find her brother, she did. Still, the constant search made her wonder what typical students attending Hogwarts worry about. "So, when it was all said and done, I finally decide I am taking Care of Magical creatures and Ancient Runes!"
Ellie groan, tugging on the dark-haired girl's arm, "Wait, so I am going to be in Divination by myself!"
"You'll be fine."
"Nooooo," She drawled now, pulling her friend downwards, both giggling madly, "I'll die without you there!"
Rowan rolled her eyes now, trying to wiggle free from Ellie's grasp, "I think you'll have Penny with you. You won't die." They made it to the main corridor. Students were hustling in and out of entranceways and stairwells.
"When I die I am coming back to haunt your a-"
THUNK! CRASH!
"Shit…" a male voice mumbled. Rowan and Ellie turned to see a familiar blond laying across the floor. His wheelchair was on its side a few meters away from him on the floor.
"Murphy…" Ellie whispered quietly as she pulled Rown the direction of the Quidditch commentator. "Let's go help him."
McNully hadn't seen the girls walking towards him as rubbing his left wrist silently cursing. His books were scattered across the corridor floor. Ellie noticed a familiar dark shaggy-haired head of Orion, Ravenclaw's Quidditch captain, bending down and collecting the scattered papers. "Apparently, it was the 12.8 percent chance of falling that won out today."
Rowan was the first to speak up, "Are you okay?"
"Yeah," McNully mumbled as he pushed himself up into a seated position. Ellie noted that his voice must have gotten lower the summer holiday. McNully voice now had a low-calming tone to it. "Orion and I were coming from the Divination classroom. I used my levitation charm to easily descend the ladder. Orion noted that I happened to be distracted today, which I am not." He shot over to his friend.
Orion merely gave his usual lazy smile as he held McNully's books in his hands, "I am telling you, my friend, that your head and body have been out of line."
"Then, we were heading down the staircase when I happened to see you girls talking merrily." He noted his ears pinked lightly, and his hands were still going a kilometer a minute. "The back part of my wheel was on the part of the step when I released the charm, only happens 12.8 percent of the time. Then I lost my balance. My textbooks came flying out of my bag. Then I was on the floor cursing." McNully was laughing lightly at the events of his own fall. "Then, you girls came over."
"Wow…" Rowan muttered in surprise, "You weren't kidding when you said he can go off into tangents." Ellie shook her head.
Ellie sighed as she walked over to grab the overturned wheelchair. She pulled it up, so it was right-side-up, she also noticed a stray wand laying close-by on the ground. "Some fall for you to lose your wand." She rolled the chair back towards her friend on the floor. Ellie noticed the forced smile that seemed to be on his face. Ellie saw that his eyes seemed to communicate his annoyance. He may have just been embarrassed to fall in front of everyone in-between classes. McNully sighed as he pulled himself closer to the wheelchair. Ellie watched as he pulled a lever on each side on the chair. Ellie was unable to hold back her words, "Do you want help?"
"No." Ellie jumped at the harshness of that single word. "I've got it. Just let go of the chair." Ellie let her hands fall from the handles. As far as she knew, McNully never used that tone with anyone.
Ellie and Rowan backed away from the blond silently as he pulled himself up into the seat. McNully took some time to right his legs back onto their platform. "Let us get to Potions," Orion spoke, breaking the silence. Orion held out the books which McNully accepted quietly.
"Sounds like a plan."
Ellie sighed, she thought she and Murphy were actually getting to be good friends. She meant nothing by it when she offered to help. "Ellana…"
"Yes?" She looked over towards the boys who were heading towards the dungeon.
"We have our first this year practice after dinner this evening. I'll see you there." Orion spoke a faint apologetic smile graced his face.
"Sounds good," she whispered.
xXx
Orion sighed as he flipped a page in his potion manual, "If I may make a suggestion…about Ellana."
"You are going to anyway." Murphy muttered as he pushed his chair back to look for his ingredients, "I need flobworm, lionfish nettles, and ginger root."
Orion let out a huff as he watched the blond wheel away from the table, "Why do you have to be stubborn now?"
Orion looked up across the table to see Ravenclaw's female Scottish chaser looking at the two with a raised eyebrow. She appeared to stop taking notes from her potions manual hearing the boys whispering, "What's this about Ellie?" She asked curiously.
"McNully decided that he was going to yell at Ellana in the hall," Orion muttered, pulling his hair back as he started brewing his potion.
"Ya, what?" Skye whispered shock evident in her voice, she turned to look at the commentator, "Ya yelled at Ellie?"
"Bloody hell, that's not what happened," McNully noted as he placed his ingredients on the potion's table. He started to weight out his lionfish nettles. McNully recited the tale of his wheelchair catching on the stairwell. How his books scattered across the floor and how Ellie had brought back his wheelchair, "Then she said, 'Do you need help?'." His face twisted as he began after a moment, he was quiet.
"Then he gave her a short 'No,'" Orion finished for the blond as he started to stir his potion. "Then Mcnully told her to let go of his chair."
Skye sighed as she looked up from her cauldron, cautiously watching the eerie smoke coming from the top. "Fine, ya didn't yell at her." The female chaser noted, "But, ya probabl' put her into a right foul mood."
The three were silent through the rest of class, well until Skye's cauldron started to spit potion everywhere. McNully took it upon himself to extinguish Skye's cauldron before any severe damage was done, but not before Snape ensured 15 points each were deducted from Ravenclaw. 15 points from Skye for not following directions. Murphy 15 points for being a know-it-all and not allowing the professor to handle the situation. And finally, 15 from Orion for allowing the incident to happen.
Skye pulled on the back of McNully's chair, "She probabl' didn't mean to offend ya when she asked." Skye reason as she let him go, now realizing she has had his attention. "She was just tryin' to be helpful. But, ya bein' short with her doesn't help either."
McNully opened his mouth to rebut her statement, but the small voice in his head told him to wait, "You have an 86.3 percentage of being correct."
"Damn right, I am."
"How mature of you, Skye," Orion smiled, nodding towards the female chaser. "Glad to know we can agree on something."
"Well, it's nice to have another girl on the team." Skye noted as she crossed her arms, "As for ya, I would suggest grabbin' some pumpkin pasties at dinner." She had a stern expression on her face as she turned towards the commentator, "They'll be a nice bargainin' chip for when ya talk with Ellie. And don't worry, they are effective 95 percent of the time."
xXx
"My day can't get any worse…" Ellie whispered, lacing up her sneakers. She's never had a first day of classes that bombed as she did today. Merula decided to mess with all her ingredients during potions. Transfiguration, she nearly fell asleep due to sudden exhaustion. The Divination room was so hot she had almost passed out, which Trelawny argued that it was Ellie's third eye manifesting. Then in practice, she almost threw up after catching a bludger to the stomach. Those things, however, weren't the worst thing. No, it was the glare Murphy gave her in the corridor was what really ruined her day.
The glare and sad tone in his voice every time he had to say her name in his commentary. Those seem to resonance with her more than the awful day of classes. So much for starting her third year off right.
Ellie pulled off her practice jersey. She wadded the recently used jersey and threw it into the back of her locker. She pulled out her blue t-shirt and quickly put it on, she just wanted to go up to her common room and…
She paused, did she really want to go and face Murphy now? Perhaps she could grab Rowan and hide in the girl's dormitory, Tulip and Badeea wouldn't mind. Maybe they could invade Skye's dorm room if they got bored. Anything to avoid…
RIIIIIIP! THUD!
Ellie stared as her backpack discarded all of its contents onto the floor of the locker room. Ellie felt her emotions slowly bubbled to the surface. Ellana was shocked at the sound that escaped her lips. She dropped to her knees and began reaching for any book or piece of parchment as she could.
Ellie pause at the sight of a napkin with three pasties neatly placed within it. She looked past the pasties to a forearm, then a white sleeve, then finally to a breast-pocket proudly displaying a golden snitch pin, "Pumpkin Pasty?"
Ellie was silent, trying to keep her face neutral. This really was a horrible day. Murphy lowered his face to try and look her in the eyes. Ellie diverted her eyes. She was not in the mood to deal with him right now. With her book set in a neat stack now on the bench, Ellie turned her head to search for her ripped bag. Ellie stood patting her face with her hand, frustrated tears leaked from her eyes.
Murphy pulled the napkin back onto his lap, "There's a 56.8 percent chance that you are actually listening." He began, "For as long as I could remember, I remember being in a wheelchair. I remember people giving me these sorrowful looks. As though I wouldn't be normal." He was not looking at Ellie; he was, in fact, looking everywhere but her. "I remember being at this muggle park. It was shortly before my father died. I just wanted to play with the other kids." He muttered as he tried to focus on the redhead's back. "At some point, I lost my balance, and my chair fell over like it has done multiple times. Older kids and parents were circled around me as though I was broken. They wanted to 'help' and 'keep me safe.'" Murphy let out a dry chuckle, "You have no idea how excited I when mom told me I was going to a Wizard. It gave me a chance to take my life back."
"Murphy, Why are you telling me this?" A small voice whispered.
"Because, I don't like the idea of people looking through me and only seeing the chair," Murphy muttered as he patted the arms. "I don't like that I am known as the wizard in the wheelchair. I was embarrassed when I snapped at you. I know you didn't mean anything, but I felt like I was back to being helpless."
Ellie turned back to the blond, she didn't realize his brown eyes were following her every move. This was not the Murphy McNully with whom she played wizard's chess. Nor was this the McNully who provided commentary for Hogwart's Quidditch matches. This was Murphy McNully, who wanted to be seen.
Murphy sighed as he put his hands on his wheels, "It was a 56.8 percent chance you would listen. I didn't bother in calculating if you would try to talk to me…" He rolled started to roll backwards out of the changing room.
"I was asked because you were my friend Murphy." Ellie force out the words, McNully stopped in his paces. "Friends help each other. Besides," Ellie paused until the courage struck, "I was more hurt that you pretty much bit off my hand. Orion was helping you too. I didn't see you yell at him."
"He tends to yell back," Murphy admitted, "Ellana, I am truly sorry. I can tell you that Skye and Orion have been letting me know how much of an idiot I have been all day."
"What a way to start off classes?" Ellie reached down to gather her books.
"Yeah," He whispered, "Ellie, I want us to be friends again. Hell, I brought pasties because Skye said they can be a peace offering."
Ellie cracked a smile, "You must mean it if you are taking advice from Skye."
Murphy smirked, "Well, fine if you don't want these…" Murphy pulled out the napkin that contained the pumpkin pasties. Ellie jumped in front of him so quickly, he could have sworn she apparated.
"Let's not be hasty," She smiled as she reached for the napkin in his hands, "it is a nice gesture after all." Murphy handed her the sweets. He smiled as he watched her pull out one of the pasties to nibble on.
"Hm, 95 percent of the time, huh?" Murphy mutter as he rubbed his chin.
"Did you say something?" Ellie asked with a raised eyebrow.
Murphy smirked as he rolled right passed her, "I said, let escort you back to the common room." He gathered her books and torn bag from the bench and put them on his lap.
She blushed, trying to reach for her mess, "You don't have to do that."
"A gentleman never lets a lady carry her books," Murphy drawled, putting on an overly formal tone, "Especially when they are trying to eat."
Ellie rolled her blue-green eyes behind her glasses. She pulled out her fake curtsy, "Why thank you, such a charming gentleman."
McNully grin settled back onto his face before he threw a wink back to Ellie. Once, he had balanced her books and backpack comfortably into his lap. They journeyed up to the castle, merely enjoying each other's presence.
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Notes:
Alright, my Lovelies! Please leave your comments and Kudos down below.
I hate to inform you that I will not be able to upload frequently as I did today, but I promise to have more content coming your way.
Until next time!
~Rosie 🌹
