Spellbind

23. Serendipity

A/N:

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Niyla POV:

After an unusually drawn-out day— rather lengthier than I was used to— and then dinner, I was biting back the urge to transform. I wouldn't say I have a particular problem with shifting uncontrollably, but sometimes the need to, is loud in my thoughts and it's all I could think about at times. I left Draco, Crabbe and Goyle, and some of the usual Durmstrang students that always sat at the Slytherin table, half an hour before dinner would end. The Durmstrang girls shamelessly flirted with the Hogwarts seventh years, while the guys noticeably had their eyes on the Beauxbaton Veelas that occupied the table over, filled with Ravenclaws.

I suspect the staff wants us all to head to our common rooms after dinner, to ensure none of us wander too close to where they are keeping the dragons somewhere in the Forest.— They must be completing the decorative parts of the event. Making sure the area looks presentable for our guests and the people from the Daily Prophet and the Ministry, I'm sure will be attending.

Harry was warned about the dragons. He's talking to me more now, after I took him to see Dobby in the kitchen; but he is still very frustrated that Ron isn't speaking to him. He hardly says much to me in class. Though I hope by tomorrow he will be open to closer camaraderie.

I found myself in utter relief to have gotten past the school grounds and through the treeline of the Forbidden Forest. Without so much as a second glance in my direction from the ones I passed. Such ease I felt to see everyone's mind was absorbed with the excitement of tomorrow, it seemed they hadn't remembered to mention me in their conversations.— Or more favorably; didn't care to.

I walked slowly through the tall, thick trees around me. My eyes continuously focused on the soft purple that covered the sky. Mesmerized by how the lilac was surrendering to the pink that was gently merging into the nearly neon orange. I breathed deeply, the scents of the Forest drowning me. I closed my eyes and tried to not think of anything else; not of tomorrow, not of my fathers, not the dangers around me in the woods, or Harry... Anyone.

If the dull orange of the leaves and lovely green of the dying grass had an aroma, it would be everything I was taking in right now. I inhaled again, altering my senses to my wolf-self. Strangely, I caught the smell of faint lemongrass in the breeze. The sweet taste of sap running down tree bark from somewhere in the distance, the earthy scent of dampened dirt; and...

My nose scrunched up, my head turning in one direction. A smell gut-wrenchingly far too sugary to be anything naturally made by the Forest, led me to a concealed cliff on the side of a large hill.

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Fred POV:

I knew her longer. But I had been completely aware, for a very long time, that she was never meant to be mine. I can't seem to fathom this emptiness in the center of my chest, but have grown to be content and accepting of it. Like something inside me is telling me, I was created to never know such an attachment. As if the stars and anything worth the ability to create life, has drilled into my mind that I was born only to die without ever being adored by the one I love. Could my lifeline be limited to a single moment and burden that I have yet to see? And there can be no time for who I truly desire? Could the pinnacle of my life only ever be the moment I realized my feelings for her? No higher happiness I am ever to be gifted?

Because my confession cannot be stated aloud, and I know she will have never chosen me in this life. I will bury my affections— love her still— and let the idea of us go... Let her go. Because she is with my brother now, and that wholly demands I now can never have her. (Though, she will, for eternity, have my soul.)