Open Waking up Alone

[Emma van Houten]

Emma hadn't been the same since the incident at the forest. In truth, she barely even remembered it. She remembered being mad at Lysander and Kas and following them into the forest. The forest she had entered so many times it was starting to be familiar to her. Teachers had always warned them against going into the forest, but it had never truly seemed dangerous to Emma. And it hadn't been, not really. The danger hadn't been from the forest, it had been her best friend who brought it there. Emma still couldn't quite believe the story, how Lysander had hatched a basilisk in the forest. The worst part was, that most of all she felt jealous. Jealous that he confided in Kas before her, that he hadn't told her. She knew it wasn't the correct reaction, but she couldn't help it. She knew some people thought Kas had been behind it, but Emma knew better. Hatching a dangerous snake int he forest was exactly something Lysander would do, and Emma would have gladly helped him if he had told her.

She was sitting on the cliff's edge, feet dangling down. Lysander had been sending her letters, plenty of them. She had actually woken to a small pile of them next to her bed, which had been how she figured out Lysander wasn't at Hogwarts anymore. She still felt hurt and betrayed and hadn't responded to him at all. She knew it was cruel, especially because she wasn't sure if he knew she was fine, but she couldn't bring herself to write him back. Instead, she just read his letters over and over. She grabbed the most recent one and read through it again, a frown on her face. She hated that she couldn't just talk to him. It would be so much easier.

 

[Poppy Perkins]

Poppy knew she should be studying for exams but the thought of spending hours inside buried in books while her days left at Hogwarts ticked down felt like torture. Besides after the incident in the forest she hadn't been able to focus on anything and she doubted anyone in their year could. She even wondered if they might get some exemptions from their NEWTs but that didn't seem likely. Yet she still found herself wandering the grounds trying to commit it all to memory. Today she had decided to spend some time on the cliffs. It wasn't a part of the grounds she had spent a lot of time but not one she wanted to forget either.

Poppy watched her step carefully as she walked, not wanting to take a wrong step and find herself in a precarious position, especially not after everything. She hadn't been expecting anyone else to be out here so when she caught a bit of red out of the corner of her eye she thought it was a strand of her own hair that had gotten loose. But when she turned she realized she had seen red hair it just wasn't her own. She recognized Emma immediately and hesitated before moving to sit next to her. "Hey, what are you doing out here?" she asked lightly before noticing the stack of letters she had with her. She recognized Lysander's handwriting and bit her lip before looking out at the view. She wasn't really sure what to say now. She felt so close to what happened and so removed all at the same time. She had seen how upset Iris was even if she had never gone to the hospital wing herself. She figured giving people space was best but she wasn't so sure.

 

[Emma van Houten]

Emma looked up at the sound of footsteps, but she didn't bother hiding the letters. Somehow, everyone knew what had happened anyway, some of them in a lot more detail than Emma would have expected. A lot of people had asked her questions about it, but Emma had managed to keep them at bay for the most part. It helped that Iris was around her a lot, and she was very protective. Emma was glad not to have her hovering around right now, though. She glanced at Poppy as she joined her and shrugged. "Thinking." She said quietly. "And reading."

 

[Poppy Perkins]

Poppy nodded in response to Emma's answer. How were you supposed to talk to someone who went through something you cannot understand even a little bit? "The cliffs are a good place to think...and read." she said pleasantly and glanced at the letters again. She pulled her legs in closer to her chest and rested her head on them. She was content to sit in the silence for a while but caved rather quickly and looked at Emma again. "So...how are you feeling?" she asked gently and quickly thought better of it. "You know with exams coming up?" she added quickly. "I don't know how many subjects you're taking but I'm swamped. Not to mention all the final edits I need to do on the paper. It's kind of crazy how everything kind of happens at once you know?" Poppy could tell she was rambling, an old habit she had thought she had kicked but apparently not.