[C] Distraught Nighttime Wanderings

[Keaira Liath]

Keaira walked stiffly through the Great Hall and ducked under the stairs at the last moment, kneeling in a little crevice she had found a few days ago, cramped and pressed into a crack in the marble. It was barely wide enough to fit a child, let alone a girl of her own height—reasonably slim, but 5'5" nonetheless—but she was too distracted to notice.

"Mother isn't here," she reminded herself, right out loud. It was nearly midnight; what were the chances she would be heard? "Father isn't here. It's all right if you want to show some...some spontaneous emotion. It's all right if you want to sing. It's all right if you want to play games. Everything is all right!"

And with that proclamation (growing louder with every word; surely she had caused some commotion, yet she couldn't bring herself to care), Keaira burst into tears.

[Lisa Turpin]

Lisa walked into the Entrance Hall, her eyes dull and tired, carrying her book bag with a bit of a struggle. She hadn't been able to sleep for many nights in a row, and she had decided that she might as well stay awake without even attempting.

Her feet skittered across the stone floor and she was just about to head to her common room when she heard a slight echo near the stairs. Frowning, she stopped walking, the echo of her steps fading into the distance. There were a few more incoherent words, gradually growing louder, before a choked sob reached her ears.

Her eyes widening, she turned around, following the sound and finding herself face to face with a very broken Keaira Liath.

[Keaira Liath]

Footsteps echoed in the Great Hall, first towards her, then slightly away—too far left—then back again, and Keaira looked up, completely filling out the crack in which she crouched.

Oh, no.

"Oh, my—no! No, no, no, no, you didn't find me! You didn't—my parents will never forgive me if they know I've been crying, and in public..."

Keaira tucked her chin down against her chest, folding her hands to rest on top of her head and effectively hide her face.

"Please," she murmured, stopping her sobs in favor of a stream of silent tears, "don't tell anyone..."

[Lisa Turpin]

Lisa's eyes softened at the plea, and she looked at Keaira sympathetically. "Oh, Keaira," she said softly, holding the girl's hands and gently pulling them off her face. "I wouldn't ever dream of telling anyone something so personal."

Then, she frowned, looking at the little space the tiny crack allowed the girl, and helped her out, sure the Gryffindor was too mortified to realize what was happening around her.

Settling on the stairs, she looked at Keaira worriedly, "A small space like that isn't the healthiest place for a growing girl such as yourself." She offered a small smile.

[Keaira Liath]

Keaira laughed brokenly at Lisa's humor, gratified by the attempt to help her but still too distressed and embarrassed to do much else.

"I don't know if I'm growing much anymore," she said, somehow completely distanced from herself and not thinking through her words before they spilled out of her. Improper dialect! a voice seemed to scream inside her head. Contractions are the cheating shortcuts of the slums of society!

"Oh, my—oh, my goodness, what is happening to me?"

[Lisa Turpin]

Lisa watched the girl as she battled internally with herself before replying.

"Keaira?" She asked, waiting for the girl to respond, sitting on the edge of one of the stairs, her expression concerned as she waited for the girl's frustration and confusion to leave her.

[Keaira Liath]

"No, no, no, I'm the good one, I'm the good one..."

Keaira put her face in her hands, trying her very best to stop the dull tremor of her shoulders. "Mother disapproves of crying," she muttered. "Crying isn't allowed."

Putting on a brave face, she wiped the remains of tear tracks from her cheeks and looked at Lisa with a thin-lipped smile. "Yes?"

[Lisa Turpin]

Lisa looked at Keaira seriously, her eyes concerned and weary. She waited a few minutes before replying, watching as Keaira reprimanded herself with a sympathetic gaze.

"Keaira, don't ever tell yourself crying isn't allowed." She said softly, choosing her words carefully, making sure none of them would break the fragile girl. Putting a comforting hand on the Gryffindor's trembling shoulders, Lisa sighed.

"Your mother may tell you it's wrong, but I think it's completely right. A way to release pent up emotion..." Her voice faded into the corridor as she waited for a reply, her gaze resting atop the stairs at the empty hallways.