Battles of Darkness and Strife

Secrets Revealed and Dreams Uncovered

Chey R. POV

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Paige leads me into a secluded area far away from the chaos of the finishing classes. Her eyes dart around nervously. 

"First, I wanted to say that I'm so, so sorry for what I said to you earlier." Paige looked down and fiddled with her robes. "I hope you can forgive me."

I huffed annoyedly. "Of course I forgive you, but that was uncalled for. And we've never kept secrets from each other; why now?"

"That's what I'm going to tell you about now," Paige said stiffly. "So are you going to listen or not, because it's not a good secret."

"I figured as much." 

"You're insufferable, you know?" Paige fixes me with a look, but I give her a look right back and she sighs. "Here goes. Obviously, you remember my father, Sirius and I told you all about my... interesting... extended family."

"Interesting is one word for it," I joke half-heartedly. Paige didn't laugh and I wasn't exactly expecting her to. 

"My father left me a letter, explaining some things... a secret he kept from me." Paige's voice dipped to a whisper and tears began to prick at the edges of her eyes. "Chey... I don't know how to say this but... I'm cursed."

I blink and pop my ears to make sure I've heard correctly. "Cursed?"

"Yes cursed!" Paige wails quietly. "I'm probably not even going to make it past forty if what I've read is correct." Sniffling, Paige looked down at her shoes as her shoulders tremble. Immediately any annoyances or anger I'd felt before dissipated and I wrapped her in a huge hug. 

I breathe in the scent of her hair. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I-I didn't want you to think of me any differently," Paige admitted, as I led her to the dungeons for Potions class. "I always knew we were going to go through life together but now I know you'll have to go on without me... I couldn't handle it."

I bite my lip in thought. "Well, curses are made to be broken aren't they?"

"Run that by me again?"

"Every curse can be broken Paige, it's the one rule in fairytales," I explain matter-of-factly. It made complete sense. With every spell is a way to undo it (aside from Avada Kedavra that is, but even then there was the Ressurection Stone, aside from the side-effects), and with that logic, there must be a way to undo Paige's curse as well. 

"Fairy tales don't exist," Paige frowned at her friend. 

"To be fair, seven years ago, magic didn't exist either," I counter. "Now hush, we're here. We can discuss telling the other later."

"I didn't agree to that."

"They're your friends, Paige, it's non-negotiable." 

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Merrily POV

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So far, I have no idea what Hera even wants us to do here, besides to die of boredom. I haven't figured out what Eris or Nyx might even be up to, besides creating petty arguments and making the sun go down an hour earlier than it's supposed to. Which isn't even that nefarious, it's just annoying. 

I head down to the Great Hall, passing another set of bickering friends. Okay, maybe Eris was doing a little more than I thought. I slide into the seat across from David, who's looking slightly pale. 

"Woah, are you good?"

David shook his head slightly and turned green. "Worst dream."

"Dream? It's dinner time."