ᴏᴍɴɪꜱᴄɪᴇɴᴛ ✵ʀᴇɢᴜʟᴜꜱ ʙʟᴀᴄᴋ✵

𝐗𝐗𝐈𝐗

☼ ꜰʀᴇʏᴀ ☼

»»-------≪ °❈° ≫-------««

"I'm sorry," Emmeline releases a strained, hysterical laugh. "I thought I just heard you say that you cheated on Caradoc with Regulus Black."

In the leaden sky, clouds are threatening, and their heads bow against the gusting, drizzly wind. Freya pulls up the collar of her overcoat to further shield herself from the bitter weather. The day is in perfect sync with her mood.

"Van, focus."

"I can't focus because you've just made my brain go haywire," Emmeline mutters as tangled wet grass turns into damp cobbled stones beneath their shoes. She side-eyes Freya appraisingly. "It may not be as erratic as your brain, though."

Freya nibbles her bottom lip, which is currently a bit busted from a rather brutal practice, so she winces. "I definitely wasn't thinking logically."

"Mm. Clearly."

"I didn't want to hurt anyone."

"That's sweet."

"I planned to end things with him after the ball," Freya blurts out quickly, words as frantic as the incessant throb in her heart. Warmth of the castle embraces them as they walk inside, but the frozen guilt that torments her mind isn't relieved, she reckons it won't defrost anytime soon. "I just... I got carried away, I s'pose. There is no excuse for this, it was callous and selfish and I feel terrible for hurting him. Caradoc hates me now, and I hate myself for —"

"— Frey," Emmeline cuts in firmly. She halts so abruptly that Freya unconsciously does as well, and she withdraws her wand to dry them both while she speaks, "You fucked up. Was it shitty? Yes. Does it make you a shitty person? Eh —"

"Is this supposed to be a pep talk?"

"Do I look like Pandora to you?" Emmeline replies simply. She lets out a dramatic sigh and places both her hands on Freya's shoulders to fix her with an unwavering, direct stare. "You're not a bad person if you've done bad things, but you are a bad person if you don't acknowledge and grow from them. From what I've seen, you are very aware that it was wrong, in fact, you're so distracted by guilt that you took a bludger to the face today. Learn from it, grow from it, and come back to Earth because we have a match next weekend."

"That was really... insightful," Freya says, huffing out a soft laugh of surprise. Despite the sting, her mouth quirks upwards. "Can I hug you?"

"No," Emmeline deadpans, though her faint smile is a subtle sign of her amusement. She pats her face two times, then turns around and doesn't proceed to walk again until Freya follows. "No matter the stupid shite you do, I'll always have your back, though."

Freya's stomach pools with warmth and she bumps their shoulders together. "And I'll always have yours."

The nearer they are to breakfast, the louder chatter and laughter gets. Some irrational, anxiety-inducing part of Freya's brain is convinced that everybody inside discusses her, and her footsteps gradually falter before the double oak doors. It takes Emmeline a second to realise, but when she does, she reaches out to give her bicep a consoling squeeze.

"You can't hide from this," she insists, her voice softened to a notable degree, "and besides, nothing is going to happen."

With a heavy breath, Freya's taut muscles relax and she nods. The Great Hall's ceiling is shrouded with dark clouds, identical to the squares of sky that can be seen through the high mullioned windows. So far, Freya doesn't see any heads turn at their arrival, but she delusionally senses eyes on her and her legs feel like wobbly stilts.