To Be Luminous || HP [REVIVAL 2021]

Chapter Thirteen

She can't handle this right now. Nine-thirty strikes on the library clock, but she makes no move to leave. Her heart beats hard in her throat. It's setting in—the exact fear she's kept bottled up: To remember such a beautiful life before her accident is to mourn everything she's lost. Her chest begins to constrict, and all of a sudden it's like she's back in the hospital, connected to tubes and wires and needles, existing between life and death and all things wonderful. Gasping for breath, Kiara claws at her chest and kicks Albus's contraption out of desperation to stop the tape. The TV snaps off.

Kiara curls into a ball in the corner of the room and cries until there is nothing left. Her skin is taut with tears, and her nose is rubbed red as she sniffles into her sleeve. She's too frightened to sleep tonight, convinced that she may never wake up again.

☆ ☆ ☆

"Hello, Scorpius," Kiara says from the curtain.

He sits up in the bed with some effort and leans his head back against the wall, offering her a little grin that feels foreign on his lips. Not even a day before, he questioned if he would ever smile again. But last night the merpeople had told Finley that the 'three-legged cat boy' had passed out on the shore of the lake, with his bloody hand dipped in the water. Finley, ever a good prefect and a great friend, had helped Scorpius stumble all the way to Nurse Abbott. Then he'd stayed by his side until the sun came up.

Prefects and Headboys and girls always have annoyed Scorpius. But he supposes Finley has been nothing but kind to him.

"I just saw Fin," Kiara says. "He said you were fully recovered and can take visitors. You are looking great."

"Thanks, Kiara."

Scorpius takes a long look at the peculiar girl. Her hair, though never brushed to begin with, looks even more tangled than usual. Her face is sickly pale, and she has dark bags under her eyes. He reckons he looks just as bad.

"Didn't you sleep at all last night?"

"I had a few things on my mind. I am glad to see you—it resolves one of my worries. May I sit next to you?"

He's always surprised by Kiara's straightforwardness. She never shies away from honesty, never backs down from what she wants, and she takes every new development in stride. Upon the infirmary bed he scoots over, and Kiara sits beside him with both her feet on the ground and her hand resting atop his. It makes his heart beat slower. He feels comfortable with her here, knowing that whatever she thinks of him she'll make clear.

"It has been awhile since I have seen you," Kiara says quietly. "Since Hogsmeade."

"I still have some of that candy from Honeydukes left."

"Not I," Kiara giggles. "I have a sweet tooth."

Scorpius, still exhausted from the day before, pushes himself to dig deeper. This is only the beginning of his requiem. If he wants to be a different—no, a better person, he will need to kill off his old self and be reborn through the ashes. If it's through the fire he needs to go, so be it.

"Kiara . . ."

"Yes, Scorpius?"

"Why do you speak to me? I've never been nice to you."

She reflects for a moment. But not much time passes before she says, "I am familiar with a certain pain that you carry. I do not know yours, and you do not know mine. But I can tell it is the same. That makes us kindred spirits."

"How so?"

"The ways you have attempted to torment me has always reminded me of myself. You couldn't ever get to me, because we were always on the same plane. I find that we view things in a parallel manner. We both think we are being real—and maybe we are. But the truth is, we are hiding behind our cold natures to protect our hearts from something even more bitter than ourselves."