Help Is Only So Far Away

Part 19

When Quirrell opened his eyes, he was almost blinded by the light. Shutting them tight, he rolled over to face the back of the sofa. Inch by inch, he cautiously opened them again and found that he was protected by his own shadow. A patch of sunlight, just above his shadow's head, caught his attention. Lifting his hand up, he watched the rays dance across his knuckles. It was somehow beautiful.

A crash brought Quirrell out of his trance and he sat up, eyes wide like a deer caught in headlights. Tyler's head poked out from behind the kitchen door.

"Sorry! Didn't mean to wake you." He said apologetically. Quirrell sighed and pulled himself off his makeshift bed, before joining Tyler in the kitchen.

"Its o-okay. I w-was alread-dy awake." Tyler nodded, his light brown curly hair looking more of a mess than normal. He was wearing a dull red t-shirt and checked pyjama trousers.

"You.....um, wanna talk about what happened yesterday?" Tyler asked. Quirrell shook his head and watched his friend get himself a bowl of fruit.

The two made small talk as they migrated into the section between the sofas and wall, where the table and chairs were. Quirrell felt at home sitting with Tyler in his new dark blue pyjama t-shirt and plain grey bottoms. It was a feeling he missed and for the first time in a while, he thought of his parents.

He sighed and rested his head on his arms. They didn't care about him anymore.

"Hey, Sunshine. You want anything?" Tyler asked.

"N-no. I'm okay."

"You should eat." The voice shocked Quirrell and he sat bolt upright. Voldemort was stood a few steps away from the table, watching him. Quirrell hadn't even heard him come into the room, let alone walk over to the table.

"Um....okay." Quirrell blurted, still quite shocked. Voldemort awkwardly sat down and grabbed a bowl from the pile Tyler had brought in with him. The massive bowl of fruit in the middle of the table wasn't really his thing, but he didn't want to get up and walk the short distance to the kitchen so helped himself.

As he lifted the spoon to his mouth, he suddenly became aware of his roommates staring at him.

"What?" He said, defensively.

"Since when did you come and eat breakfast with us properly. You never have, not even before Quirrell was here!" Tyler said, incredulously. Quirrell just looked confused.

"Yeah well. I was hungry!" He said before shovelling his forkful of fruit into his mouth. Quirrell watched him intensely, eyes fixating on his mouth.

Tyler watched the interaction closely. What actually was going on with those two anymore? Voldemort did some awful things and was rightly hated for it. Now though, Quirrell seemed to be drifting closer and closer to him. They didn't hate each other.....they seemed to....like each other? Voldemort had just been looking out for him, telling him to eat and just acts differently around him and the look on Quirrell's face right now.......

Tyler cleared his throat and the brown-eyed wizard's head shot up, face suddenly burning scarlet red. His friend had to stifle a chuckle. Voldemort looked up, expectantly but went back to his food quite quickly.

"Hey.....Quirrell?" The pale wizard asked, tentatively.

"Y-yeah?"

"Do you like Sarah?" He asked.

"I....I....um......"

"Okay." He said, returning his attention back to his food.

"I-I didn't s-say anything."