Parallel

4. Hermits in Iceland

". . . up. Eve, wake up. Wake up!"

"You reckon she cast a Silencio around her bed?"

"I don't know, but she looks dead. Should I slap her? Ooh, what if I shoot an Aguamenti at her face?"

"No, Kate. Here, let me just . . ."

Something poked into Eve's cheek, whatever it was relentlessly exerting pressure into her skin and dragging her away from the wonderful sock puppet rendition of The Great Gatsby she was currently experiencing. The green light across the bay that sock puppet-Gatsby was staring melancholically at flickered, and the dream faded away into oblivion as Eve drifted into consciousness.

She cracked her eyes open a sliver, flinching at the brightness of the world beyond her eyelids. A blurry outline of two circular shapes came into view, the fuzzy details slowly refining to reveal two human faces peering down at her.

"Oh goody, you're alive," Kate remarked, sarcastically wiping sweat off her brow from behind Sophie, who retracted her index finger from Eve's cheek. "Thought you died in your sleep with how long it took just to get you to even move."

Eve blinked up at them unseeingly before electing to omit a response, pulling her blanket over her head and burrowing back into comfortable darkness. The coolness of the silk surrounding her along with the lack of brightness created the perfect formula for a nice sleep, and Eve felt herself smoothly slip right back into—

"Oi! Lumos!" The blanket was immediately ripped off of Eve, exposing her entire body to frigid air and extreme lustrousness, which was radiating from some light source very close to her face. She heard herself make a noise like some rabid animal before curling into herself and flipping over, smushing her face into her pillow.

"Oh, Merlin—Eve! Get up!" Fingers clutched at her shoulders, shaking them. "It's your first day! You're going to miss breakfast!"

". . ."

"Eve!"

"No. . . . Five more minutes. . . ."

A sigh. "Pull her up, Soph."

Eve felt something close around her wrists. Two hands grasped onto her, dragging her upwards and away from the heavenly surface of her bed. The loss of the silk beneath her body caused her to groan loudly as she was propped up by the side of her bed, her back against the bottom right bedpost as vertigo hit her.

She blinked sluggishly, and Kate and Sophie slowly came back into view. They were standing in front of her—Kate had her hands on her hips, and Sophie was examining Eve with concern written over her face. Their hair was neatly styled, and they were both already in their uniforms.

Kate smirked down at her. "Not a morning person?"

"Let me go back to sleep."

"No can do. We're going to be late."

Eve rubbed the sleep out of her eyes, mustering a tired glare up at the two girls. "I hate you guys."

"No offense," Sophie winced, staring at Eve's face, "but those eyebags look horrid. How much sleep did you get last night?"

Eve shrugged, yawning as she stood up and patting Kate and Sophie's backs respectively as she brushed past them. "Not enough. Just . . . pre-first day jitters." She drowsily shuffled towards the bathroom. "Give me . . . give me a few minutes, and I'll be ready to go."

She entered the bathroom and closed the door, her limbs still feeling twice as heavy from having been awoken from her sleep so abruptly. With a sigh, she turned around to face the mirror on the wall—and blanched.