Shadows and Sparks

A small raven-haired child sat huddled in the corner of a dark room. There were no windows. No light. Her only respite in the monotony was the occasional laughter and conversation that echoed from the floor above, the thumps on the ceiling as people moved around.

She loved these moments but hated them at the same time.

She hated how those sounds tempted her with something she could never have.

She had tried to leave the dark room. Tapping on the walls. Crying. Screaming. But she quickly learnt that it was all in vain. The door that she found after dragging her body up the many flights of stairs never opened no matter how many times she threw herself against it. It was completely sealed, allowing not a single stream of light to shine through.

Still. She remembered.

She remembered the time when she had first opened her eyes. Panic in the expressions of the circle of elders that surrounded her.

She remembered seeing the endless blue sky.

She remembered the green fields as she was carried away in the arms of a raven-haired before he left her where she was now.

She remembered the beauty of the day and the majesty of the night.

She remembered the light. The world.

She remembered.

The child remained huddled for a moment longer before she flexed her wrist, causing a spark of flame to appear shimmering just above her palm. Silent tears streamed down her cheeks as she gazed, hypnotized by her only source of light, and made a wish.

"Just once more. I wish to see the world."

.....

Cyrna's eyes flew open, gasping as cold sweat trickled down her spine. Accelerated heart rate. Unfocused eyes. Shortness of breath. She'd woken from a nightmare. But just what was that dream? She squeezed her eyes shut with a groan, coming to a blank.

"You're lucky that school technically starts on Tuesday."

Her head snapped to the direction of the voice, eyes wide as she looked at the girl—Daphne—in her bedroom... Prince grumbled at being woken early, and... right. She was at Hogwarts now. The sheets rustled as she got out of bed. "Good morning," she said.

Daphne snorted. "Morning? You're thirty minutes into lunch break."

There was a lull in Cyrna's mind before it clicked.

She had been sleeping for sixteen hours. "I missed class?" she screeched.

Daphne gave a slight shrug. "Not really. It's the first day, so we didn't cover much today—and honestly, almost everyone was sleeping in class. I'm not sure if Binns even noticed you weren't there. Not sure if he notices anyone really."

"But who misses class on the first day!?" Cyrna wailed.

Daphne arched a brow. "Well, if it makes you feel better, I've heard from the upper years that our Head of House doesn't really care about History and Astronomy—and divination, of course. He'll turn a blind eye if you get a passing grade."

Snape. Snape. She had totally forgotten that Snape was now her Head of House instead of Flitwick. That was terrible! Because look, she loved the guy as a character, but Snape was clever, nosy, and the most paranoid motherfucker on the planet. The last thing she needed was him noticing her pseudo-stalking the Gryffindor trio. Or really, him noticing anything else suspect about her beyond her oddly vast magical reserves.

So only do well enough to pass on her academics? She could be the brawn and no brains character. Cyrna winced. Well, maybe the brawn and some brains character. She'd have gone to acting school instead if she could pull that off.

"And I told the other girls that you slept in because you didn't really care about going to History when they asked," Daphne continued. "Can't have them knowing about your magical exhaustion."

Cyrna paused in her planning. "You think they'll believe you?"

"If they had any brains, they wouldn't be following Malfoy at the drop of the hat. Even if they did, they're far too lazy to find the answer themselves," Daphne answered dismissively.

With that covered, Cyrna and Prince rushed to the Great Hall for lunch.

Now alone in the room, Daphne allowed herself to think about her new ally. She pursed her lips. Well, nothing ventured was nothing gained. Cyrna clearly had ties with the Boy-Who-Lived and potentially the blood traitor; she was antagonistic with the Malfoys and the Parkinsons—which suited Daphne just fine. Because of the Malfoys, the rest of the other members of the House would dislike them—her being friends with the Gryffindors wouldn't help this. But the other members of the House wouldn't outright bully them, not after last night. Her magic was powerful—definitely the strongest of the lower years; she was a wildcard and Daphne's gut was telling that, in time, she would be able to upset the balance of the political factions. Daphne ruffled her hair and sighed, turning her attention back to the paper lying on her desk and got to writing.

....

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