Conversations

Conversations

By Alice Fortuna

It was dark in the room, and Rubymoon sat down onto her soft, white bed. It was so luxurious, she felt almost guilty leaving her Beauxbatons friend, Seu Mon Ling, behind in London for her new life here. She had never slept so soundly before. It was indeed different at Hogwarts.

She has brushed her long, curly black hair with her comb and looked at herself in the mirror. The dim lit of the candle cast shadows on her face that made her look as tired as she felt. It was well past midnight, but sleep would not come so quickly to her as it did for others. Her yellow eyes had their five o'clock shadows, but it didn't make her look any older than she needed to be. Oh, how painful it is to have insomnia.

Rubymoon kneeled on the floor, her hands together in prayer as she said her goodnights to the Lord. "El nombre del Padre y del Hijo y del Espiritu Santo, Amen," she said softly, and then stopped.

Someone was in the room. There was someone here with her.

Rubymoon's eyes snapped open, and scanned the room. She knew he was here. He always brought a sense of warmth when he entered to visit her sometimes, a feeling of laughter and content. And then there was always something else too; a certain something that's distinction varied from visit to visit. A feeling of something dark, and unwholesome, and not a little unsettling. Not the good kind of dark like her dark dream world she went to when she slept, or the "real" world's darkness. It was a darkness that whispered of hurt and anger, the kind of darkness that nightmares were made of. Did this make him evil? She wasn't sure. He rarely displayed that disturbing quality, so she didn't bother to be too frightened of him. But it was always there, lurking somewhere just below the surface, watching...

Her eyes tried to see through to darkness, to find him where he was hiding. But Rubymoon gave up. It was always she who got tired of his nightly game, first. He always stayed unseen until he wanted to be.

"I know you're here," she said, as though inviting him. "You can come out now."

A soft laugh like the tinkling of broken glass came from the south end of the room, where the shut window was. "How did you know?" he asked, stepping towards her. His face was illuminated by the small bar of light from the dying flame of her candle. The boy gave her a crooked smile.

"I just know," Rubymoon shrugged, studying his face. It was almost like she had forgotten how he looked like, and was slightly startled at how she could get his face out of her mind. He was dramatically handsome. His hair was always slightly tousled, as always, although it was what you would call 'fashionably messy.' His face was sharply angled, and he had a slightly aggressive jaw line, coupled with a straight chin. And his lips were thin a crimson, poised in a smirk. His skin was very pale, almost translucent. Sometimes it carried a deathly pallor, and other times it seemed to almost glow, as if there was so much life in him that some of it leaked out.

His eyes were his most striking feature. Rubymoon thought they were grey, but she wasn't sure. His eyes seemed different every time she saw them. Even as she gazed into them, they seemed to alter. And she knew that his eyes would betray and refuse to show what he thought and felt. If eyes where the windows to the soul, Rubymoon would rather not see what or who his soul was. Sometimes, she wondered if he were the devil himself, but would be ridiculous to think so.

As she thought this over, she realized that he got very quiet again. Rubymoon was disappointed when she seemingly disappeared again. She sighed and was about to lean against the wall when something brushed against her hand lightly. She looked up and yelped, smacking her head against the wall.

Rubymoon cried out his name, and luckily, none of the other girls in the dorm even stirred slightly. "For the love of God, don't do that!" She grimaced at the pain of her bumped head.

"Do what?" he asked, blinking innocently.

"Oh, you!" she said, in mock disgust. "That pretend-to-leave-then-pop-out-of-nowhere thing!"

"Oh that!" he pretended to be surprised. "I honestly didn't know you didn't realize I was still here. You know, it really does do my heart good though to know you actually acknowledge my presence. Really, it does," he stated as-a-matter-of-factly, giving her a smile.

Rubymoon gave him a skeptical look, making him smile wider. She smiled herself, thinking about how child-like this boy looked right then.

She rubbed her head again. "That really hurt you know," she stated flatly. "Maybe you should leave before I end up in the hospital wing."

"Oh, I said I was sorry! Please give me another chance? Pretty please?" he whined childishly, a pleading look on his face. "If you let me stay, I'll kiss it and make it feel better," he added slyly, leaning towards her with what he probably thought was a seductive look. Rubymoon tried to keep her laughter back, placing a hand over her mouth, but it bubbled out of her nose, making her snort. Then, she gave up and just laughed.

The grey-eyed boy smiled warmly in return. Rubymoon knew he was teasing, like he always did. And she did enjoy flirting with him, even if it that flirting destroyed the illusion of him being a young child. He could do almost anything she asked him to do, if only she had to courage to ask him. And that was peculiar quality of his. He would wait until Rubymoon asked him to do something, even though he knew she wanted it. He seemed to enjoy the exchange of requests, just so he knew he was needed by someone. Maybe, Rubymoon contemplated thoughtfully, that's what he wants from me. Maybe he just needs me to need him.

Suddenly, she was awakened from her thoughts by a warm sensation, then realized that he had put his hand right over hers, just so it was hovering over its surface. The hairs on the back of her neck stood up when she looked into his stormy eyes. He remained frozen, gazing into her brown ones. Rubymoon felt the warmth from his hand, a feeling of electric energy pulsing through his hand and into her own. She knew this was his way of asking her permission to touch her hand. She was startled and excited, because they rarely ever touched, other than the times they accidentally brushed hands, or sit close to each other, or when they shoved each other playfully. Rubymoon knew that he wasn't coming onto her or anything, but still... because he sometimes displayed so much intensity in his eyes that it frightened her. She never could be fully certain, however, since he never openly affirmed that he felt an attraction for her. That kind of attraction, anyway. Rubymoon didn't know how to react to that fact, for it was just a jumble of relief, disappointment and anxiety. She decided it was now time to feel differently.

She slowly put her hand over his, which was now on her other one. They stared into to each other's eyes for almost a full minute, before he squeezed her hand lightly, causing Rubymoon to break eye contact. He then cautiously placed his other hand on top of her other hand, so that she had the strangest feeling that they were young children who had just finished playing a hand game, and she was the loser.

He smiled. "I win," he mumbled almost inaudibly.

"What...?" she began confusedly, then stopped when...

...to be continued?