Catching Eyes

kiss me

Elena stirred in her sleep, her dreams a tangle of confused images. Something was tugging at the edges of her consciousness, drawing her out of the comforting darkness and back to the waking world. She blinked her eyes open, squinting in the dim light of the Gryffindor girls' dormitory. The soft rustle of fabric and the creak of a floorboard caught her attention. She froze, holding her breath as she listened intently.

There it was again—footsteps, faint but distinct, moving down the stairs toward the common room. She glanced at the clock on her bedside table: it was well past midnight. Frowning, Elena slid out of bed as quietly as she could, her bare feet making no sound on the cold stone floor. She reached for her wand on the nightstand, gripping it tightly as she crept toward the door.

Elena pushed the door open just a crack, peering through the gap. A figure, shrouded in the darkness, was descending the stairs, moving with deliberate quietness. Her heart raced, but she felt a strange compulsion to follow. Who could be out of bed at this hour?

Curiosity overcoming caution, she slipped out of the dormitory and carefully made her way down the stairs, keeping a safe distance from the figure ahead. As she reached the bottom, she saw the figure more clearly—it was Harry. Relief washed over her, but it was quickly replaced by confusion. What was Harry doing up so late?

Harry moved with purpose, his eyes fixed on something in front of him. As he reached the entrance to the common room, Elena saw him pull out a piece of parchment from his robes. She squinted in the dim light, trying to make out what it was, but before she could get a better look, Harry slipped through the portrait hole and disappeared into the corridor beyond.

Without thinking, Elena quickened her pace, determined to follow. She slipped through the portrait hole just as it began to close, and found herself in the darkened corridor outside Gryffindor Tower. She saw Harry's figure moving swiftly down the hall, his footsteps echoing faintly off the stone walls.

"Harry," she whispered, but he didn't seem to hear her.

She followed him for what felt like ages, twisting and turning through the labyrinth of corridors in the castle. The cold, silent hallways were eerie at night, the only light coming from the occasional flickering torch. Shadows danced on the walls, making the castle seem more alive than it did during the day. As she followed Harry, she noticed he kept glancing down at the parchment in his hand, turning left or right based on what it seemed to tell him.

The Marauder's Map, Elena realized. Harry was using it to navigate the castle.

But why? And where was he going?

Just as she rounded a corner, Elena lost sight of Harry. She hurried forward, but when she reached the next intersection of corridors, he was nowhere to be seen. The corridors stretched out in every direction, dimly lit and silent as a tomb. Panic began to rise in her chest—she had no idea where she was.

"Lumos," she whispered, and the tip of her wand lit up with a soft, white glow.

The sudden light aggravated several nearby portraits, who grumbled and muttered about students being out of bed at such an hour. Elena ignored them, her mind racing as she tried to figure out which way Harry might have gone. She turned one way, then the other, feeling more disoriented by the second.

Then, out of the corner of her eye, she saw a shadow move. She turned, the light from her wand trembling slightly as she held it up.

"Harry?" she called, her voice a little louder now, hoping he would hear her.

Suddenly, something moved in the shadows, and Elena collided with a solid figure. She screamed, her heart leaping into her throat as she jumped back, her wand raised defensively.