Loneliness in Difference

Chapter 17: What it Takes to be Satisfied

Luke and his friends left the library ready for a fight. The cheer had been idiotic, but true, and Luke was watching Cecillia and Adelaide with a smile as they broke into a conversation on strategy. Their conversation stopped abruptly when Professor Longbottom showed up. He said he was here to bring us back to their dormitories.

Luke was dropped off at Gryffindor tower first like always. When he entered the dormitory it was quiet, too quiet. There was no fire in the fireplace, the chairs were empty, and even the tables were clear of any quills someone always accidently left behind.

Luke remembered how Adelaide had described the Slytherin common room when the Slytherins had been paralyzed.

Luke bolted up the steps and swung open the door to his room open. It banged loudly and cards flew in the air as Yin fell backward in his chair and kicked over a small card table as he fell.

"Where. Have. You. Been?" Selck, one of the beaters for the Gryffindor quidditch team, asked. Selck was tall, he had light brown hair, brown eyes, and tan skin. "You disappeared at lunch and it's been nearly three hours since then! Where were you?"

"I was with Cecillia, Jakob, and Adelaide," Luke said. "I know I've told you about them, you've even met Cecillia and Jakob, right? Now you just have to meet-"

"The Fions," Yin said quietly from where he was lying on the floor. "Luke we know you okay?" He sat up. "And I know you think you know this girl, but I'm going to warn you again because we're friends, you can't trust a Fions or any other Slytherin for that matter. So stay away from her."

"You know Cecillia basically told me the same thing," Luke said, "But once she started getting to know who Adelaide really was she quickly realized she was wrong."

Selck shook his head and sighed. "You're not going to be able to get through to him, Yin," He said, "You'll understand where we're coming from eventually Luke."

"Let me guess, I don't understand where you're coming from right now because I'm a muggle born right?" Luke asked.

"No!" Yin said quickly, "It's just-"

"I didn't grow up in the wizarding world so I don't understand how it works," Luke said. Yin looked away and Selck shrugged. Luke rolled his eyes, turned on his heel, and started to leave. "I can't tell the difference between you and who you think every Slytherin is right now." Luke shut the door behind him. Why had he acted like he was concerned about them? He had thought they may have been paralyzed too, but now he wished they had.

Luke descended the steps back to the entrance. He pulled out his wand, muttered a quick spell, and the logs in the fireplace caught fire. He collapsed in the nearest chair and stared into the flames. Back up there he had tried to think how normal people would feel if their friends were insulted and imitated that, but for some reason, it was starting to get harder and harder to act like he had human feelings. Yes, he was human like everyone else but ever since that night he was only able to feel a very small hint of the emotions he used to have.

Luke wasn't sure he wanted his feelings back. He would watch people like Adelaide cry and suffer from a loss of someone they cared about and he'd wonder if he really wanted pain like that again. Then there were the times where his friends would laugh at some stupid bread pun and he'd think he wanted to feel that joy again. He was never sure, though. After all, can someone with barely any emotions actually know what they want?

Luke shifted his thoughts to a different topic. There was no point in thinking about something he would never know the answer to. He grabbed the nearest quill and piece of parchment. He began to write:

Power = Royal blue
Hufflepuff = Royal purple or Crimson?
Conjuring a Horcrux is gone, why? What does the book have to do with all of this?