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🥀 WRECK🥀 NINE: Narrative
Bright light blinds Juniper's vision as her eyelids flutter open. She immediately raises her hand to shield her eyes. It takes her a moment to notice that her hand was blackened, looking like someone had rubbed charcoal all over them.
Immediately, she brings forward her other hand—it too had dark veins swirling around it, like black vines around a wall.
With a start, she notices the familiar surroundings of the Hospital Wing around her. The windows thrown open with sunshine pouring in and rows lined with empty beds. Someone had carried her from the Slytherin common room after she'd nearly killed Atlas.
Juniper had nearly killed Atlas.
The thought swirled around her mind, making nausea rise up in her throat. She had nearly killed her best friend—ex best friend, because Merlin knows there was no chance of them reconciling now. Guilt and shame clutch her heart, making it burn as if someone had lit it on fire. Her throat burned and she had to gasp to take a breath of air.
Juniper had nearly killed Atlas.
It took a minute for her to realise that she was crying. Her head was lying on the soft pillows of the bed, making her tears slide onto the white sheets. The noise of her sobs soon filled the Hospital Wing, Juniper was unable to contain them. These were guilty cries, hiccups of regret and gasps of self loathing. What had she done?
Juniper had nearly killed Atlas.
"Erm, are you okay?" Someone beside Juniper's bed asks, making her startle. She had thought she was alone.
Juniper snaps her head to the side to see Mary Macdonald's hesitant face on the bed next to hers. Juniper's blackened hands were already stuffed underneath the bedsheets and away from Mary's curious eyes, but her tearstained face was not.
"I thought the Wing was empty." Juniper sniffs in a slightly bitter tone, tactfully avoiding the question. She looks away from Mary and back at the ceiling.
"Ah, no. There's me and another student—that one by the window." Mary informs in a mellow voice.
Juniper glances at the bed furthest away from her, but she can't get a look at who the person was because they had a screen covering their bed. Probably an injured Quidditch player.
"They got him in way after they got you in," Continues Mary. "He was howling in pain. I was surprised it didn't wake you up."
"I was stupefied." Juniper deadpans, still looking away from Mary. "The revolution wouldn't have stirred me."
"Oh dear, were you attacked?!" She gasps in shock, angling her face more towards Juniper.
Juniper closes her eyes. The image of her burning Atlas pops up. "No, I was not attacked."
