Bad At Love

[Zara Cohen-Knight]

The brass telescope felt cool pressed against Zara's skin as she looked through it, pleased to have caught a clear night to stargaze. It had been some time since she had done so and it had been mostly with Asaiah - someone she had no desire to be friends with ever again - and for a while it had felt tainted to the witch but now she needed some resemblance of normalcy as she was going through such personal change. She had a lot on her mind at all times but while she looked through her telescope it felt. With the school still buzzing from the end of holidays she was sure she would be able to escape Ravenclaw unnoticed to do this little thing for herself to allow herself to clear her mind for a moment. But Zara stood up straight when she heard footsteps coming up to the tower and turned to see who else would come at this time of night.

 

[Darcy Pratt]

Darcy lay awake in her dorm staring up at the ceiling above her bed in which she had painted a night sky for her to view. She had enchanted the paint to move like the normally did, knowing she'd have to clear it all up before she graduated lest the school charge her for vandalism, even though she secretly considered leaving it up for future sevenths years that might also be tossing and turning thinking about their impending graduation, though that wasn't exactly on her mind just yet. But tonight the painted sky wasn't doing enough to calm her so she decided the best way to calm herself would be to get some air and spend some time under the actual stars. She wished her common room wasn't so far below, but the Slytherin made the trek all the way up to the North Tower quietly. As she entered the tower she looked up to see someone else was there and saw Zara's pale face staring back at her. For a moment Darcy thought she was imagining it, but then she broke into a smile. "Hey," she greeted her softly, her heart beating hard as she remembered the letter Zara had sent her over the summer.
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[Zara Cohen-Knight]

Zara felt her stomach in her throat the moment she caught sight of the familiar red hair and she starred blankly for what felt like too long. She was petrified now that Darcy knew - despite the letter that she had received and hid away in the deep crevices in her room where both Lennon and her mom would never think to look. She hadn't wanted to throw it away or burn it less the nice words be gone too but the girl was scared nonetheless that it was all a joke from Darcy and so the young woman caught herself starring worriedly - unblinkingly too. Until she realized how eerie that must seem so the girl looked away and closed her eyes for a moment. She said, "Hi," finally. Her voice was strained and more cautious than a deliberate, indelicate seeming person like Zara would ever seem to be. She was so hard normally that it was unexpected for those who saw from the outside in that she was scared and nervous. She prayed often for true strength and even now she thought of the lessons and wisdom her Rabbi gave her, helping her to be brave and strong. Only this strength made her feel somehow further from her religion. While she was nowhere near perfect looking at Darcy the way that she knew she did felt like a revelation and instead of saying something pertaining to the elephant in the room, Zara distracted them by pointing out a constellation, "Look - it's Delphinus." She hoped her mediocre attempt would be enough.