The Blood Pact

James

James almost seemed like a stalker the way he silently followed his friend through the corridors after a late night of impromptu quidditch practice.

I followed Vega in the shadows of the corridors. She's crying? I've never seen her cry. And I can't even seem to picture her crying. I'm not sure where she came from, but it's obvious something is wrong.

"Who's there?!", She says in a hushed shout.

I make an attempt to fall back into the shadows, hoping to be able to figure out the reasoning behind her tears. A ray of moonlight betrays me and reveals myself to her.

"Oh hey James," She said to me as she wipes her tears away quickly, trying to hide the fact that she had been crying.

"What happened?", I asked with a concerned and grim expression.

"Nothing happened James. I'm fine," She said, but she hid her hand as she fidgeted with it nervously.

"Vega...", I said once I noticed her hand being hidden, my expression softening, "What are you hiding."

"I'm not hiding anything James! I'm just tired and heading to my dorm," She says her voice instantly defensive.

"You're hiding something, I can see it," I said, I was bothered that she was trying to just brush me off like that.

I grabbed her wrist trying to see what she was hiding, worried about her.

"James!", She exclaims, nothing's in her hand, but once I saw her palm there was a deep gash that was actively bleeding.

"What the hell happened Cottontail," I said in a soft voice as my expression turns to concern; I inspect the cut further trying to figure out what happened and how to deal with it.

"It's nothing James," She takes her hand back and hides it behind her back.

"It's not nothing Vega, you're bleeding!", I grab her hand once more trying to make sure it's clean as my frustration grows, "Where did you get this?"

"James please!", Her eyes begin to water again, "I can't tell anyone leave it alone!"

"God dammit! Vega I can't just leave this alone. You're injured, I need to know what happened!", I said in a huff, worried about my best friend.

"I can't James...", Her voices breaks, "Please stop."

"Why can't you tell me!"

"James please, if you care about me you'll drop it and i'll take care of it, please," She pleaded.

I scanned her face looking for a sign that I shouldn't let her go; after a moment I sighed, "Fine, promise me you'll clean up that cut and I'm going to check on it tomorrow."

"I will James, goodnight," She said turning around to walk away.

"Wait! Can I ask you just one question?"

"Yea James"

"Did someone attack you? Is that what happened?"

She smiled warmly back at me despite the sadness in her eyes, "No James, I wasn't attacked."

"Ok... That's good...", I said before sending a small wave in her direction as she walked off into the dark corridor.

I turned around and let out a frustrated sigh before walking off into the corridor with my hands shoved in my pockets.