Epiphany |Scorpius Malfoy|

Chapter Twenty-Four

Scorpius was by her side in a second, his eyes wide as worried, he watched her trying to limp away to the nearest door, with the portraits all around them watching curiously.

"Isabelle?" he asked as he tried to see what was wrong. "What's wrong?"

She did not reply for a second before she stopped walking and looked up. Her eyes were wide and she kept glancing all around the corridor, like a wounded deer that was waiting for any hunters to capture it. She grabbed his arm, her grip tighter than usual but she did not seem to notice.

"Help me get to the nearest empty classroom," she said, her words so quick he hardly had time to understand what she was saying. His eyebrows furrowed in confusion and he wanted an explanation desperately, but before he could ask, she squeezed his arm. "Scorpius, please."

He looked at her for one brief second, taking in her eyes that seemed to be glistening as if she was about to burst out crying at any point now. Setting his jaw, he gave her a curt nod before he placed his arm around her waist, allowing her to lean against him as he helped her reach the nearest abandoned classroom. As soon as he had opened the door for her, Isabelle rushed to the nearest chair, almost crawling in the process.

"Close the door, please," she called out, her voice breaking near the end as she sat down and closed her eyes.

Scorpius did as he was told but did not take a step forward as he watched her raise her skirt slightly and then lower the sock of her right leg down so that her knee would be seen.

The prosthetic she used in order to be able to walk came into view.

His eyes widened and he wanted to tell her something, but he found himself unable to say anything. It was coloured beige, in the same tone as her skin, and if he hadn't known that she was using it, he probably would have never paid attention to it. Still, he could not keep his eyes off of it as it was something he had never seen before.

He remained frozen on the spot as the girl moved the prosthetic to align it with her leg, and it was then that he realised that while she had been walking, it had been dislocated. She had probably been in pain for a while, he thought, and that explained why she had been so desperate to get in the classroom. While he had been thinking though, he did not notice that Isabelle had started crying.

She had raised both hands so as to hide her face from him, trembling in place as silent sobs wrecked her body. She had been so quiet he had hardly realised anything was wrong until he had brought himself to look up. In seconds, his eyes widened once again and he rushed forward to stand beside her.

"Isabelle," he murmured as he reached her and placed a hand on her shoulder, but she did not pay him any mind. "Belle, it's alright, you didn't do anything wrong, it just happened."

His attempt to comfort her did not seem to go as he had planned it would in his head. Instead of stopping, the girl seemed to be crying even more than before now, leaving him at a loss. He had never tried comforting a crying person before.

"Belle," he said in a pained whisper as he kneeled down in front of her, "please, don't cry. It's alright, you are alright."

Not knowing what to do, he looked around the room, as if he would ever find a solution there, only to realise that he had some handkerchiefs in his robe pockets, because Albus was allergic to dust and most of the time, he was in need of one. Quickly, he grabbed one and offered it to her.

Accepting his offer, the girl blew her nose before wiping her tears away. Hiccups left her lips uncontrollably, but she turned to him, still partly crying as she faced him.

"I-It is n-not a-alright," she said in between her hiccups as she shook her head.

"No, Belle, everything is fine," he shook his head as he tried to assure her that nothing was wrong. "Nothing is wrong-"