Reflections - Mattheo Riddle

Back to the Light

They spent the whole of Sunday in the common room, buried in their books while the room around them filled up, then emptied: It was another clear, fine day and most of their fellow Slytherins and Hufflepuffs spent the day out in the grounds, enjoying what might well be some of the last sunshine that year. By the evening Kirra felt as though somebody had been beating her brain against the inside of her skull.

"You know, we probably should try and get more homework done during the week," Kirra muttered to the boys, as they finally laid aside Professor McGonagall's long essay on the Inanimatus Conjurus spell and turned miserably to Professor Sinistra's equally long and difficult essay about Jupiter's moons.

"Yeah," said Jasper, rubbing slightly bloodshot eyes and throwing his fifth spoiled bit of parchment into the fire beside them. And so they worked on while the sky outside the windows became steadily darker; slowly, the crowd in the common room began to thin again. At half-past eleven, Kirra's head fell down onto the desk, soft snores falling from her mouth

The three boys jumped slightly at the loud bang, surprised to see her fall asleep so quickly. 

"Nearly done?" Jasper asked the three boys, feeling like he was about to do the same as what Kirra had just done

"No," said Mattheo shortly.

"Jupiter's biggest moon is Ganymede, not Callisto," Mattheo said, pointing over Jasper's shoulder at a line in his Astronomy essay, "and it's Io that's got the volcanos."

"Thanks," snarled Jasper, scratching out the offending sentences. Jasper quickly looked up as soon as he said it, feeling bad for his tone. "Sorry, I only —"

"It's all good mate, i get it, we're all tired. Just don't raise your voice too much, let her sleep —"

Jasper's voice softened as he glanced over at Kirra, who was now snuggled up on the desk, her breathing steady and calm. He sighed, feeling a pang of guilt for snapping at Mattheo.

"Yeah, sorry about that," Jasper said quietly, running a hand through his hair. "I'm just exhausted"

Mattheo nodded understandingly, sympathy evident in his tired eyes. "We all are," he replied, stifling a yawn. "But we've got to push through this. We can't afford to fall behind, especially with everything going on."

Theo and Jasper nodded in agreement, Mattheo's gaze drifting back to Kirra. He reached out, gently tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear, a tender smile playing on his lips.

"She looks so peaceful when she's asleep," he murmured, his voice barely above a whisper.

"Yeah," Jasper agreed softly, a small smile tugging at the corners of his lips. "She's been through a lot lately. It's good to see her getting some rest."

They fell into a comfortable silence, the crackling of the fire and the soft snores of their sleeping Hufflepuff filling the room. It was now past midnight and the common room was deserted but for the four of them and Whiskers who was snuggled up against Kirra on the table. The only sound was that of their quill's scratching out sentences here and there on their essays and the ruffle of pages as they checked various facts in the reference books strewn across the table. 

Kirra has woken up when Whiskers had jumped up on the table twenty minutes ago, and she was back to writing. Kirra was exhausted. She also felt an odd, sick, empty feeling in her stomach that had nothing to do with tiredness and everything to do with everything going on. 

She knew that half the people inside Hogwarts thought her strange, even mad; she knew that the Daily Prophet had been making snide allusions to her for months. And with a surge of sympathy for her best friend, Kirra thought that Sirius was probably the only person she knew who could really understand how she and Harry felt at the moment, because Sirius was in the same situation; nearly everyone in the Wizarding world thought Sirius a dangerous murderer and a great Voldemort supporter and he had had to live with that knowledge for fourteen years. . . .