𝐮𝐧𝐫𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐝 | 𝐝.𝐦

𝟎𝟖

Kaimana Valencia | December 1995

Kaimana tilted her head down to look at Quinn out of her reading glasses.

He was bouncing his leg rapidly as he sat on the couch, and he was biting his nails the way he did when he was nervous and anxious.

She tilted her head upright. "Q, you alright?" she asked softly.

Quinn's head shot up to her and he nodded with a distressed smile.

They were in their common room the night before a big Quidditch game, and Kaimana had left her dorm to get some reading done since Meleah and Jaxon both fell asleep on Kaimana's bed with Zaiyah between them.

Kaimana closed her book and set it on her thighs. She patted the empty spot next to her.

Quinn exhaled and went to sit next to her, the nerves pouring off of him. "What book are you reading?" he asked quietly, his back against the couch back, his leg still bouncing.

She turned her position, so she was facing him, her back to the arm of the couch. She pulled her glasses up, so they rested on her head. "Something about murder."

He nodded and smiled at her, but it was a distracted smile. "That's wholesome." A single strand of his brown hair fell over his forehead.

"Quinn, the offer to come to my house for holiday still stands," she reminded him gently, and put her hand on his knee.

He shook his head and let his head knock back, his leg still bouncing. "I can't. Mum wants me home. She said she misses me."

Quinn... Quinn's childhood wasn't such a big jar of sugar.

His mother was an alcoholic and she wasn't a very nice drunk. Quinn's father left when he was only six, and that was when Quinn's mother's drinking started.

Quinn's mother was a very mean and aggressive drunk. She took her anger out on Quinn when she was drunk. She abused him verbally and physically.

And Quinn took it.

One time, he came back from holiday in a cast on his right leg.

"I slipped on ice back at home," Quinn had said with a laugh whenever someone asked what happened.

And everyone had laughed too because that was Quinn. He was always making jokes and he was always laughing.

"Mum just had a bad day," Quinn had told Kaimana one night in her dorm after curfew.

"Q, your right leg is broken." She had frowned, holding his hand in hers.

"I only need to wear the cast for about a week. The Healer at St. Mungo's told me to just take it easy and then I can have it off as soon as possible," he had replied and gave her a small smile. "With the help of magic and serums, I barely felt any pain during my operation."

And that night ended in her holding him as he slept.

Kaimana tried her best to comfort him the best he could and remind him that she was here for him.

"I could come with you," she suggested now, and rubbed his knee through his jeans with her thumb.

Quinn chuckled wryly and shook his head. "Don't be daft, Kaimana. You're a mother and you have a baby who needs you."

"I want to be there for you too," she murmured and let her head lean against the back of the couch.

"You are."

"But—"

"But nothing, angel. I can handle Mum, okay? I'll be fine, I promise," Quinn interrupted gently.