𝘣𝘦𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘺 {𝙘𝙝𝙤 𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙜/𝙤𝙘} ⚢

xi.

i waited for bao's eyelids to flutter shut. i couldn't take any chances. god-- or whomever loitered in the penumbra of the night sky above --cleary wasn't on my side. i was playing with chance, and i wasn't known for having much.

bao breathed in and out. he was peaceful when he slept (strange, it was, that even the most cruel people slept!). it made an uneasiness rattle in the hollows of my stomach.

i had to make it to yalong. i just had to. intuition wisped me to its shores. and maybe, i needed to learn to lead with my gut (the one that told me bao wouldn't stop!). he'd promised me over and over again.

he'd stated that every last time was the last time, but it wasn't. his anger couldn't be controlled. he was vicious, more than vicious, and i feared bao only apologised so i wouldn't ultimately leave him. i studied his sleeping silhouette once more before getting up and closing the door to our room, my nimble fingers shaking and shaking with fear. i despised this feeling; this dragon hearth inside of me.

i'd spent hours tending to my injuries: magically bonding my bones together so they'd heal (with time!) and hold for the night (i couldn't go to yalong with broken bones!), healing my bruises as much as i could, and adding makeup to all the places that my skin was stained mulberry.

"請 (please)!" i murmured. "don't wake up in my absence!"

i knew the risk i was taking, but i couldn't convince myself not to take it. i ran and ran and ran, my midnight blue dress swaying in the wind with my every stride. i couldn't stop myself. my ears doned the prettiest pearls found in diagon alley, the ones i'd originally bought to impress an american man (bao shyu in my sad case!).

i reached yalong puffing and panting like a dog on a sweltering summer's day. i could taste the salt on the air almost instantly (way before i could even hear or see the waves of the sea!). i felt home here.

a bonfire crackled in the distance. its warmth called to me, and i was sure lian and her friends had to be there. i approached, scared someone (especially lian since she was so good at it!) would somehow see right through me and know what happened between bao and i only hours prior. i knew it wasn't logical, but it didn't seem to matter in the slightest.

i wasn't ready to be honest, that kind of vulnerability took a strength i didn't think i possessed. the waves were apparent now; the ebb and flow of the briny, the ambers disappearing onto the shore or into the ether sky (but always, always turning to ash!).

lian called my name, "cho!" i could hear the smile in her voice. "you came!"

"of course, silly!" i said as she leaned in and hugged me. it took everything in me not to scream. gods, merlin, cedric(!) did i want to! an ache-- a suffering --i couldn't explain coiled inside of me. it set fire to my very veins.

bao had hurt me, he had, but never as much as he had that late afternoon.

my vision still resembled that of a kaleidoscope when lian pulled back, but i tried to remain flat on my feet even if the world turned and turned all around me. strangely, despite the horrid pain that coursed through my body, her friendship and the closeness of it soothed me.

other figures appeared behind lian, and slowly, i could see them more and more as my agnoy faded softly. the first form i could completely decipher came closer and closer to me.

arwen lovelace-- the famous seeker, the man that would potentially steal my soul-sister's heart.

"cho chang?" i hadn't heard my last name in such a long time. i was scared lian would correct him, but she didn't bother. i grinned wildly.

"one and only," i teased. arwen laughed, and i was right, he was just as handsome as he'd ever been. he was long and lanky and had wavy raven hair, sun-kissed skin, and light eyes from what i could tell in the dark of the night. no wonder lian fancied him. "i didn't know you knew me, maybe of me because of lian, but no more than that."

"are you mad?" i cocked my eyebrow. "you're cho chang. you were the ravenclaw seeker, quite renown actually. you know many believed you could have made it if--"

"if the war hadn't come full force."

"yeah," empathy coated his voice. "i was in russia, at the time. i was helping some innocent wizards flee their version of azkaban. i wasn't even aware of the battle until its ends. it was too late by then, i'm afraid."

i listened as we walked to the bonfire where steven and yan sat, their fingers interlaced and yan on his shoulder.

"you served in dumbledore's army, right?" arwen asked.

"yes?" i wasn't sure how he knew that.

"my brother," arwen started, "he was adopted actually, but that's of no signifiance, was in the army as well." i wanted to ask who, but i stayed silent. "anthony goldstien-- he was originally supposed to be raised by his grandparents, queenie goldstien and jacob kowalski. however, jacob was a muggle, and queenie was a witch in a time where it was illegal to love someone who wasn't exactly like you. they died when their marriage was discovered, even if they'd taken her name as a precaution instead of his."

i didn't know what to say. that was beyond cruel.

"anthony was very kind," i said, trying to remember all of my interactions with him. he'd died in the battle of hogwarts, and i could tell with the little i knew of arwen lovelace, that he blamed himself for his brother's passing. he shouldn't, but he did.

a lot of people, wizards or muggles, did that; blamed themselves when they weren't the ones who merited the blame to begin with. and blame, i'd found, was a weight too big to shoulder for one (for two, for any!).

i made my way beside steven and yan, leaving arwen with a small smile and gentle eyes (hoping he'd make his way beside lian!). i greeted yan first, and then, i turned to steven. his eyes felt unfaithful on my skin. i hated it.

ever since my youth i'd heard the same saying time and time again, "a witch knows when a wizard looks at her. they do. they always do." it was true. the same could be said for the few no-mag women i'd spoken to. they knew when men watched them as well. it was a gift and a curse. i'd known back with bao the first day i'd met him in america, but did bao know with me?

no was the answer. men didn't know because they didn't have to know. they weren't conditioned to feel unsafe by their adverse sex. the act of knowing was simply a survival tactic for women and witches.

i disregarded steven's glare. he wasn't dangerous (unless it was with yan's heart we were speaking of!). he was merely disloyal (a lot of men were!). i sighed and hissed in a painful breath as lian, arwen, yan, steven, and i sat around the fire. it took only moments before lian's voice broke the stillness we'd created.

"dante!" lian screamed. a beautiful man proceeded toward us. he made arwen (as handsome as he was!) look pretty average. i observed closely as another silhouette emerged from behind him. they had the same honey blonde hair. i choked on my breath, and for the first time, i wondered if witches had a radar for other witches (not wizards!) who decided to stare at them, too.

i know i didn't (because what woman or witch would look at me?).

"galilea?" lian called out, and i was still.