To Be Luminous || HP [REVIVAL 2021]

Chapter Eighteen

Constellations and Consolations

☆ ☆ ☆

☆ ☆ ☆

"Are you having a difficult time?"

Kiara is tired of talking to a ghost. She tunes the little girl out and attempts to fade her into the foliage. She's unnerved by how the dainty white blossoms sprout up with each step she takes. They've followed her from the large stone, creating a trail of blossoms for over a mile. Despite her suspicious attitude toward them, their tiny sneezes still make her wonder how Scorpius's little three-legged cat, Jamie Button, is doing. While she may be allergic to cats, it was always worth saying hello to the sweet girl.

Is, Kiara reminds herself. Not was.

"We could die out here. If you don't make it back by nighttime, I don't think we'll ever see the sun again."

"Euh, putain," Kiara groans. "Is this what it's like to talk to me?"

The little girl moves in a perfectly straight line through the dense undergrowth. Toe-heel, toe-heel, with glimpses of her shiny black Mary Janes.

"Isn't it a bit funny? You ran in here to escape the sun's wrath. And now we're going to die anyway, and all you can think about is what you would give just to see the light in your final moments."

"I didn't run out here because of that. I haven't been sleeping well."

"Why aren't you moving faster?"

"Everything hurts," she snaps with annoyance at the little girl. "Please, enough. Why are you even here, huh?"

"I'd like to change the subject," the little girl says. When Kiara turns to face her, she's gone.

Kiara frowns. She wishes she could explain to Albus that this is what ghosts are like in the Muggle world. Not like Ben Kenobi in Star Wars. Or Peeves and his antics at Hogwarts.

Her ghosts haunt. And then they disappear when she needs them most.

She falls to her knees, feeling the weight of everything pressing heavy on her. Thorns have scratched her up from head to toe, and she's bleeding everywhere. She's twisted her ankle. It's getting terribly dark. And she hasn't a clue if she's even going in the right direction.

A long time ago, Rose had told Kiara in the Ravenclaw tower's spiraling staircase that if Kiara were to ever disappear, everyone would just assume she'd 'transcended the mortal plane'.

She hopes, when she inevitably gives up, that her death will sound that beautiful.

☆ ☆ ☆