Hearts are Blind (Severus Snape X OC)

The Class of Freakouts

Despite having slept most of the day already, Lucinda found it easy to sink back into that slumber once again. When she finally made it back to her dormitory, her mind was exhausted from everything that'd transpired over the last few hours. Her heart should have been going a mile a minute, but—although it initially was on the walk back to Gryffindor Tower—the preposterousness of every ridiculous and disgusting thing that man said to her had simply drained the last of her tolerance for the day. She just wanted to slip beneath her own covers and let her mind empty, as she drifted off once more to sleep. At least this time she'd know the dreams were hers and hers alone...

She crept quietly into her room and all three girls in the dormitory were fast asleep... or so it seemed.

A moment passed after Lucinda had changed into her nightgown and was buried beneath her blankets. All was mostly silent in the room, but then a voice spoke up in a whisper to her right.

"Lucy?"

Lucinda didn't look at her. It was Aurora. For just a breath, she contemplated ignoring her, because she didn't think it wise to start anything so late at night, but in the end... the honest part of her couldn't help but answer the girl.

"Yes?" She questioned quietly.

A pause followed and then, "Are you alright?"

That was still under review. She wasn't sure. She felt better than she had the last couple of days, but in a way, she felt even more confused and stressed than ever before. Adding Rorie's bad attitude on top of that was out of the question.

"I'm fine." She answered shortly.

Lucinda heard the girl's bed sheets shifting, as she readjusted herself. "Oh." Aurora said. "Okay..."

Another pause followed—this one so long that Lucinda thought she'd fallen asleep.

But then Aurora's unsure voice drifted to her ears again.

"See you at breakfast." She muttered quietly.

Several minutes passed, but Lucinda never replied. She stared up at the canopy of her bed and contemplated everything. Aurora's eventual snores put the girl somewhat at ease, but her mind was still in shambles. She realized that... currently... there wasn't a single person left at Hogwarts that she felt secure in her relationship with.

After talking to Xavier, she almost felt that he was the closest she had to a true friend, but... there were things he obviously didn't want to tell her. Whether it was that he didn't trust her with his secrets, or that he simply didn't see her as a close friend, one thing was for sure: he, too, had some kind of barrier between them, dividing them... thin, as it might be.

~

Lucinda woke calmly the next morning. It was strange. She thought perhaps she might wake in a sweat; that she might not have slept at all the night before; that her stomach would be in agonizing knots over her professor... but it wasn't.

She was alright.

She opened her eyes to the bright sun shining through the dormitory window and it jumpstarted her optimism for the coming day. Lucinda slipped out of bed, showered and dressed. Her beaded bracelet of water lay on her nightstand and she slid it over her wrist. The water churned at the contact and she smiled down at the beads. Thinking suddenly of the man whom sold her the bracelet, she said a silent prayer for his health and then continued on her way.

As she was putting on her shoes and getting ready to head down to breakfast, the dormitory door opened and Aurora stepped in. She'd been asleep as Lucinda headed for the showers and she was gone when she came back. Seeing the girl's damp hair, it was obvious Aurora had gone in to bathe not long after Lucinda.