An Art of Balance

Chapter 26: The Right Path

After dropping Lizzie off at the Transfiguration classroom, Orion had found Murphy in their Common Room. In a stark contrast to the days leading up to their match, the circular room was pleasantly silent. The older students were nursing their hangovers while most of the younger ones were outside soaking in the sunshine.

Orion and Murphy had retreated to one of the reading nooks recessed in the masonry. A scroll of parchment lay in front of each of them and both had their brows furrowed in concentration as they tried to transfigure them into quills without using the proper incantation out loud.

Nonverbal spells usually weren't a problem for Orion, the main thing required being a strong focus. But today the transfiguration didn't work, no matter how often he repeated the words in his mind.

It was no use, he knew his head was elsewhere; all the events of last night swirled around his centre in a vortex that was tugging at his concentration. Neither could he blank out the exhilaration that had coursed through him as he and Lizzie finally had kissed, nor could he ignore the sorrow he had felt as he had tried to soothe her through her bitter tears. Seeing her fall apart in front of him had cut through his heart, but he couldn't deny the sting of disappointment as he thought about Rowan's accusations as well.

He knew he shouldn't have kissed her again and he hadn't meant to, but his mind seemed to lose control of his body whenever she was near. With the way she had been looking up at him, equal parts hopeful and scared, his wish to hold her close had become overwhelming. It had been hard letting go of her, but he stood by what he had told her; if she didn't solve the conflict between her and Rowan and put her mind to ease, any connection between them would be overshadowed by the loss of their friendship.

McNully let out a small cry of triumph as his parchment finally changed its shape. It still looked a little bit too yellow and too brittle to pass for a proper quill, but contrary to Orion, he had at least managed to pull the transfiguration off.

His friend laid his wand aside and inspected his feather. "Do you want to tell me what's bothering you?" he asked nonchalantly.

"What lets you think I'm bothered?"

Murphy glanced at his non transfigured scroll. "You're usually much better at nonverbal spells than I am."

Orion raised an eyebrow. "Don't you have any numbers backing your observation?"

"Don't offend me, of course I have," Murphy shook his head indignantly. "I just don't think it's the time for statistics now." Ignoring Orion's sceptical look, he put his wand away. "It's about Lizzie, isn't it?"

It had taken McNully a good amount of prying and guessing to get last night's story out of his friend. Given Murphy's chattiness, Orion had initially wanted to keep it to himself, but Murphy just knew him too well. It was only after filling him in that Orion had noticed how relieved he was to have someone to share his thoughts with; talking about it with Murphy made it feel more real and less like a dream, both the good and the bad.

McNully took Orion's silence as a sign to go on. "Don't worry about her," he smiled encouragingly, "she and Rowan will be fine."

"I hope so," Orion sighed, "Lizzie has fallen off balance; I have never seen her so disconcerted before. I'm worried about her."

Murphy's eyes dropped to the table as he spun the feather between his fingers. "The rumours going around at the moment won't help either."

When Orion didn't respond, he looked up sharply to find a hint of confusion on his friend's face. "Don't tell me you haven't heard?" he asked in an astounded voice. "It's the talk of the school; I have heard five different versions of the story so far."