Just Like Old Times? ((Maryn & Ciaran))

[Kia Brightstar]

It was the first time in months - how many had it been? Two, three? - that Kia could honestly say that she looked at herself and felt somewhat like her usual self. How else could she feel when it was mere minutes away from turning midnight and she was returning from the kitchens - well, she had been patrolling! Food was simply an afterthought prompted by a craving for chocolate. And raspberries. And cake. - with a bag slung over her back, her hiding place for all the food she was spiriting to the tower. Was it really only last year that she had persuaded Maryn so many times to sneak down from the dorm rooms and all around the castle, just for fun? The thought made her shiver, unconsciously quickening her step to a more hurried pace. Being caught now wouldn't just mean the inevitable lecture from McGonagall and whoever caught her that it would have meant last year. Now, being caught was more likely to be the first step toward losing the badge still pinned to her robes. Adam had been so proud of that badge, praising her for doing the one thing neither of them had yet managed to; becoming a prefect. Her aunt had been positively thrilled and even her uncle had seemed pleased; at least, Kia thought she had seen something approaching approval in his eyes. He had even bought her a bracelet, sealing her thoughts of his approval. No, getting into trouble this year would definitely not be a good idea.

Though, as Kia whispered the password to enter her common room and took a seat near the already cold fire, she found it hard to ignore the nostalgia rising up in her. She wanted to sit here, revive the fire and talk about silly things like boys and make-up and what they were going to buy in Hogsmeade with Maryn. She wanted to giggle and laugh over hot chocolate and other treats, to just enjoy knowing that she hadn't been the sister to sink into another way of life and to appreciate that she could still do everything that she had planned as long as she was cautious and careful. But, most of all, she wanted to feel the adrenaline rush that could only come from hiding from Filch or Snape or McGonagall in the middle of night during an unexpected and unplanned trip to the kitchens or on the way back from causing some sort of mischief. She just wanted to feel like her old self again. Because she wasn't entirely sure that she recognised herself when she looked in the mirror anymore. Her eyes were too shadowed, too mature; her hair was too long and not as smooth as she would like; she didn't have the sparkle in her eyes that had, for her, made her who she was.

That was it. Kia stood up, taking care to place her bag of food in a place that wouldn't be immediately seen if someone entered the common room, before striding toward her dorm silently. The clock chimed midnight just as she started to shake Maryn awake. "Oi," Kia whispered fiercely, looking exasperated as she thought to cast a silencing charm. "Maryn. Wake up already!" Her friend finally seemed a little bit more awake and Kia smiled in satisfaction. Oh yes, this was just like old times; waking Maryn up at odd times just because she had enough faith in her best friend and partner in crime to know that she wouldn't be turned away. "Meet me down in the common room when you get dressed?" Kia questioned quietly, adding, almost as an afterthought, "I have chocolate and cake. And raspberries."

[Maryn Livley]

Maryn was tired. Drained really. She had been spending an unusual amount of time on her school work. Plus, there was that extreme amount of guilt inside her. The guilt that would never really goes away. For one thing, her brother had just been classified as being in remission of Leukemia. That was on its own, enough for Maryn to handle, on top of that, there was the Mercy issue. Mercy Livley just made the move to New Zealand after finally realizing that she wasn’t a witch. At first, the idea appalled Maryn. After all, her little sister had been acting crazy enough as it was, now she was leaving? But, with time, Maryn realized that it was the best thing for Mercy. With both of those issues, you would think that Maryn’s drama would be done, right? Wrong. Maryn’s best-friend, Kia’s, father had died in a car accident a few months before school had ended. And, Kia’s little sister Kae had been injured in the accident and went into a state of a coma. It had been months, and nothing. Kae hadn’t changed. Maryn tried to give hope to Kia, but it was hard. Even thought Maryn had been in a great deal of pain with her siblings, none of it had been this bad.

Then there was Cia. He was the boy that Kia had finally admitted to liking even though Maryn had known it all along. Cia’s sister Finn had been attacked and she was handicapped by the incident. Maryn really couldn’t offer him much helped, but she was trying. She had tried. Really, this was too much for the fifth year to handle. Maryn had spent years trying to help people with their problems. Really, it was all starting to catch up on her. She couldn’t stop helping her friends though. Not, that was who she was. A Hufflepuff at heart, she had always thought. Maryn still didn’t know why she had been place in Gryffindor. The Sorting Hat told her that she would see one day, but would she? Maybe it had been wrong. Maryn was staring to think that it had been.

Maryn mumbled as a mixture of the clock chiming, Kia shaking her, and Kia’s words, woke her up. It took a few seconds before she opened her eyes. It took a little longer than that before she could focus on anything. “Kia?” She asked, already knowing the answer. Maryn sat straight up. “Jeez, what time is it?” She inquired, but she was sure that it was midnight. Maryn felt the need to ask if Kia was crazy, but she didn’t. For a second, Maryn felt it. It felt like old times. This was something that Kia would have done the year before. Actually, she did quite a few times. But, things weren’t the same. They couldn’t be. Still, Maryn knew that she couldn’t ask Kia why she was acting like this. She was trying to get back to normal that was for sure. Maryn just had to decide if she was going to help her get back there this way.

Maryn nodded slightly as Kia went back downstairs. Of course she would go. After all, she did love cake, but it still felt a bit weird. Was Kia ready for this? Maryn wasn’t sure. She slipped a pair of cotton leggings on since it was the middle of the night and she didn’t want to wear jeans. She slipped a lot blue and purple dress that Mercy had sent her over the blue leggings. The dress showed only a couple of inches of leggings. It wasn’t perfect, but it would work. Maryn yawned as she eyed her sleeping dorm mates. It was amazing that Kia hadn’t woken them up. She yawned yet again as she quietly left the dorm and went down stair. Maryn smiled as she took a seat in a chair by the fireplace. Maryn instantly went to the cake, took a fork, and took a bite. “You woke me up.” She said sternly, yet still in her playful manner. “Well, at least you have cake.” She took another bite. “So, tell me. Do you manage to dodge teachers and get to this cake or are you using your prefect-highness?” She asked half-joking. Kia knew that Maryn was glad that she got prefect. After all, Maryn didn’t need something else to juggle along with school and everything else. This was something Kia needed even if she didn’t think she did.

[Kia Brightstar]

This was what she had been searching for, what she had been craving so desperately since the beginning of the year. The summer had been so hard to handle and so she hadn't handled it. She had just faded into the background and blindly followed kindly-given orders from her aunt and her cousin. Grief had dampened her personality and her fire. But then she had gotten back to Hogwarts and it felt like all of her worries had just fallen away from her. She didn't need to worry about Kae, because her little sister wasn't her responsibility anymore - she should never have been her responsibility! Fifteen year olds weren't meant to handle the stress of seeing their little sisters slowly fade away before their eyes and so Kia had embraced the chance to run away to Hogwarts, gladly dumping all of her worries in Adam's lap. It was selfish and it wasn't the action of someone that Kia wanted to be but she couldn't help it. It was hard to put into words and so Kia had no hope of expressing this feeling to her best friends but she knew exactly what she was doing when she pretended to herself that everything was fine. She was just protecting herself because she could feel deep in her heart that Kaelyn wouldn't wake up. So if she distanced herself from the situation and from her sister, maybe it wouldn't hurt so much.

"Maryn!" Kia grinned in exasperation, the familiarity of the situation hitting her and nearly bringing wistful tears to her eyes. How many times had she tried to shake her friend awake, often taking five minutes or longer because Kia simply couldn't bear to wake her up sharply? And, oddly enough, it had always been around the strike of midnight that Kia had felt most active and mischievous. Even now, beneath the thin layer of grief that was still quietly churning in her, Kia could practically feel her need for fun and adventure stirring quietly and trying to break free. After months of that need not even trying to make itself felt, Kia wasn't quite sure if she could really stop herself from dragging Maryn into some odd adventure of their own making, prefect or not.

"Yup," Kia chirped quietly, for once not having to force a grin. "It's midnight, of course. What other time would it be, silly? Midnight is our happy hour." For a second her grin faltered but Kia blinked once, almost like forcing herself to focus and it came back again. "I know we dropped it for a while because so much was going on but surely it's not time to drop our hour completely?" Before leaving to let Maryn change, Kia shrugged out of her robe, leaving her in the jeans and white shirt that she had been wearing before it had been time to patrol. Back in the common room, Kia curled up in one of the armchairs near the newly relit fire, tucking her feet beneath her, with a small dish of raspberries balanced on her knee. Just like her mini-adventures, it had been months snce Kia had indulged in her favourite fruit and so she was going to enjoy every bite of them. Perhaps next time, she pondered contentedly, a small dish of melted chocolate would make a lovely addition to the flavour.


"Took you long enough," Kia scolded playfully as Maryn took a seat, not at all surprised when she immediately zoned in on the cake. It was hardly out of the ordinary when she considered how much her closest friend loved cake. "Of course I used my prefect-ness. I still don't know why I was made a prefect and I'm not planning to use my rights in this way again but surely once wouldn't hurt. Besides, I was at the kitchens before I had even thought about it." It was odd. Like her subconscious had taken control for a few moments, guiding her to the kitchen and back out again before her mind had quite caught up with the plan. And by that time, the feeling of old times had set in so much that Kia was happy to acceot the idea of sitting in front of a warm fire, eating fruit and chocolate with one of her best friends. Maybe the only thing that could make it feel even more like old times would be Ciaran joining them. Neither of the girls had ever invited him to one of their late night meetings but Kia had gotten so used to his company, to having him on one side and Maryn on the other or being next to Maryn with Cia on the other side of Maryn, that it almost felt wrong to not have him with them. But he wasn't just one of her close friends, he was also her crush and so Kia wouldn't dare to extend an invitation to him. It would just be too embarrassing!

[ciaran]

The moon had a yellow-ish glow around it. Clouds were moving slowing around it and all Ciaran could do was watch the moon. Well, he had been pretending to sleep for hours. He didn’t have to try too hard really. His dorm mates were asleep after all. They were probably dreaming as they snored rather loudly. Ciaran related dreams with snoring for unknown reasons. He took a deep breath in as he continued not to sleep. He had been like this for weeks. Ciaran couldn’t think of anything but Finn and what had happened to her. She was the only thing that he dared to think about really. Basically, the only two activities he would partake in was classes and writing Finn letters. Writing her letters took his guilt away. He tried too hard to say that it wasn’t his fault but he still felt that he could have done something and that he should have known. Ciaran refused to think that he had nothing to do with the attack. It was his fault according to Ciaran. And he would have to deal with it for the rest of his life.

Ciaran thought to Kia for a moment. She was going through something similar. Well, sort of. Kia had lost her dad and her sister would probably never wake up. This was something that Ciaran couldn’t imagine happening to him. Finn’s ‘accident’ was bad enough. Ciaran wondered if Kia thought some of the same things that he did. Ciaran had often wished that he was the one who had been handicapped and not Finn, but he couldn’t have what was. Well, there was a time turner, but Ciaran couldn’t go back and change things. Well, he could but it wasn’t an option really. Or was it? Ciaran tried to shake that thought away but he couldn’t. It was embed in his brain now. Ciaran sighed and lifted his covers from him. He couldn’t do this anymore. He couldn’t just lie around and thing of something that could ruin his life. He needed to go somewhere and get this mind off this. Ciaran wasn’t even thinking about house points if he left the common room and he really didn’t care. He just needed a breather. Ciaran pulled his jeans on and glanced to his grey shirt which was fine to wear out of the dorm and then left. He didn’t even think about it for a second.

Ciaran didn’t have a thought of staying in the common room until he saw Kia sitting there. He wanted to smile but it was hard. He barely noticed Maryn at first. His mind had been on Kia lately and other things of course. Finally, Ciaran forced a smile. “Hey you two.” He said walking over them. “Leave it to you guys to be out here at midnight. With oo cake?” Ciaran smiled a bit. He had always been one for cake. “Tis, tis. And to think, Kia the Prefect is out of bed.” He laughed a bit. And for once, it was actual a natural laugh. Ciaran eyed the two. “So, am I allowed to join you two or am I simply allowed to just watch you eat cake.” Ciaran was happy now that he was with Kia. It was strange but true. He couldn’t explain it really. Well, he could. Ciaran liked her. He knew this now, but it was hard to think about. After everything that had happened with both of their families, to was weird for Ciaran to like her and vice versa. Ciaran didn’t know if she felt the same. It was weird, really. He sighed. Maybe, he could just let it go. Maybe.

[Kia Brightstar]

“Maryn?” Kia started quietly, fidgeting nervously. Without her noticing it, the fingers of her right hand were tapping on the dish of raspberries, squishing some and spreading red over her fingers. “You remember what we were talking about a while back in the dorms? You know, about Ciaran?” Instinctively, Kia shot a look around the common room even though she knew no one except them two was around. Normal people were sleeping, not talking and eating. “I...I think I might tell him soon. He has a right to know about my feelings for him, right? I mean, he might not feel the same way but I think it might make me feel a bit better. Besides, when have I ever kept anything to myself unless I had to?” Kia mustered up a small smile, looking at Maryn for guidance.

“Oh great,” Kia scowled as she noticed the raspberry stains on her fingers, rubbing them clean against her jeans and feeling thankful that her jeans were dirty anyway. Switching the plate of raspberries for a chocolate chip cookie, Kia yawned before blinking in amazement. “Wow, we really haven’t done this in a while. I remember when we could stay up until past 2AM before starting to yawn. It’s only ten past midnight and I already feel tired.” And they’d be exhausted for the first part of the day after staying up so late and giggling together, but Kia had always snapped back to her cheerful, active self after a few hours and dragged Maryn with her. Pulling herself out of past memories, Kia bit into the cookie and grinned contentedly. She wasn’t the same person she had been but, right now, she was pretty happy with whom she was at the moment. It wouldn’t last for long, she knew, because daylight would come and doubts and worries would surface, banishing her contentment to the recesses of her mind.

Kia’s face lit up happily when she saw Ciaran, waving at him enthusiastically before flushing slightly and darting a look at Maryn, reminded of what they had been talking about and wondering if Ciaran had heard any of it. “Kia the Prefect isn’t out of bed, but Kia the rebel Gryffindor is,” she retorted lightly, holding out a piece of cake to him happily. How had she ever thought that she could confess to him, Kia wondered. Their friendship was too great for her to give up if something ever went wrong between them. Not to mention that Maryn was friends with both of them and it might put her in a difficult position if they broke up. And that was just presuming that Ciaran felt the same way! “I should make you just watch us eat cake,” Kia mused laughingly. “If you want to join us, you must get up at midnight but you’re almost thirty minutes late. You’re lucky we like you, Ciaran Douglass, otherwise we’d make you get your own cake.”