Parallel

4. Hermits in Iceland

Red, bloodshot eyes stared back at her, rimmed by dark, sunken eyebags (which were somehow worse than yesterday). A bird's nest of hair was piled atop her head, knots and strands and flyaways visible from every angle. Her skin had a pale tinge to it, the characteristic mixing with all the previous ones to give her the appearance of an undead corpse.

Eve stared at her reflection, recoiling slightly.

The day had just started, and she was already looking like a zombie. Wonderful.

—

"Wow, you weren't kidding by 'a few minutes'." Sophie looked down at her watch in surprise when Eve exited the bathroom, tugging uncomfortably at her new Slytherin robes. "That . . . wasn't even five minutes. Carina literally takes a whole hour every morning to get ready."

"A Scourgify on my teeth, another on my face, and a ponytail," listed Eve as she made her way over to her trunk, opening the lid and grabbing the book bag she'd packed last night. A flash of red and gold by the edge of the trunk caught her eye—her Gryffindor patch was halfway visible from where she'd hidden it underneath some schoolbooks. She quickly covered it from view with a sock and stood up, slinging her book bag over her shoulder and wiping the red and gold out of her mind.

"Wait." She then frowned, whipping her head left and right, the absence of her fourth roommate now glaringly obvious. "Speaking of Carina—where even is she?"

"Left over half an hour ago," answered Kate, rolling her eyes from where she stood by the door. "She always leaves early—and thank fuck for that."

Sophie hoisted her own book bag over her shoulder and looked over at Eve. "Ready to go? You have all your books and supplies?"

"Yeah."

"Your schedule?"

"Yeah."

"Parchment, quills, and ink?"

"Yeah, got that."

"Extra parchment, quills, and ink?"

"Um—"

"Oh, stop being a mum." Kate yanked Sophie's arm towards her, officially ending the girl's bombardment of questions. "C'mon, let's goooo. I'm hungry." She opened the door, ushering Sophie and Eve through before following and slamming it behind them.

Unlike last night, the dim corridor outside of the dorms was now crowded with students. First-years and sixth-years alike hustled through the narrow hallway, stuffing schoolbooks into their bags and hastily brushing their hair with their fingers. A young girl was running down the corridor, hurriedly applying makeup with one hand and no mirror.

"Looks like we're not the only ones almost late," remarked Eve, grimacing when she tried to squeeze through a crowd of younger students and felt the sharp point of a quill poke into her side.

"Yeah, it's always like this during the first week of school," said Sophie. They reached the spiral staircase that led to the common room and started to descend. "Most people are still on their summer schedule—waking up late, you know. Give it a few days, and it'll be less of a madhouse every morning."

They exited the dim stairwell and entered the Slytherin Common Room, and Eve couldn't help but look around in wonder.

She hadn't thought it would, but the morning sunlight extended below the lake and into the common room. Instead of murky darkness outside of the tall windows by the side, the water outside was now a pale, greenish color, illuminated by the warm glow of the sun above. As she stared, a small school of fish swam past the glass, creating streams of bubbles with their fins, and disappeared into some point beyond the windows.