Fictional Character One-Shots And Shorts

"End of a Life"

(TW: Suicide)

I strolled almost lazily across the courtyard, unafraid of being caught out past curfew. Everyone was either in bed or in their common rooms by now, a few most likely hiding from prefects and teachers in the wrong common room, and the main part of the castle was blissfully silent.

I often enjoyed spending my small amount of free time in the solace of the moonlit courtyard, away from homework, hormonal teenagers, and the stress of the daytime hours. It was peaceful, the way the soft wind rustled the permanent layer of dead leaves strewn across the concrete walkways, the occasional muffled laugh from another person sneaking around, it felt like another world altogether sometimes.

However, as it neared 1am I finally headed back towards the warmth and safety of my common room, the brisk Autumn wind blowing through my hair and clothes as if to ask me to stay just a little bit longer. Walking underneath the astronomy tower a random noise caught my attention, glancing up disinterestedly assuming it was just a creak of the old building or a small nocturnal animal on the prowl.

However, I was instantly stopped in my tracks, flinching back as an involuntary gasp left my throat and my eyes grew as wide as saucers. I felt my legs begin to shake and go numb beneath me, threatening to give out from under me altogether as my eyes remained fixed to the body of a young girl swinging by a rope only a mere few feet above my head.

Her face was obscured by dirty blonde hair, yellow accents on the school robes she wore indicating she was a Hufflepuff but I could not recognize her just from her house. For a long moment I could only stare upwards at the girl's lifeless body swaying gently back and forth in the night wind, the old rope creaking as it strained against her weight.

She had jumped right in front of me. I had seen her body fall, the moment the rope caught her and ended her life. I couldn't scream, faint, run, or any other normal response in this situation, turning my focus to my shaky breaths and racing heart as I tried to force my fuzzy mind to tell me what to do next.

I couldn't just leave her here until morning, letting someone else find her and pretending I hadn't seen what happened. What if a first year saw her? An innocent child. I couldn't pretend I hadn't just seen someone take their own life. I had to tell an adult. She deserved for someone to know what happened.

My feet numbly carried me forwards, unaware of where I was actually headed. The headmaster would be asleep. Most of the teachers would be asleep. But as my feet carried me deeper into the bowels of the ancient castle I knew exactly where my subconscious mind was taking me.

I rapped 3 times on the wooden door, the hollow sound reverberating throughout the silent hallways around me. A muffled 'come in' could be heard from inside, the potion's master still hunched over his desk grading papers even at this late hour of the night.

The man looked up with a grumpy expression on his face, eyes softening ever so subtly upon realizing who was creeping around his classroom at 1 in the morning. I shuffled forwards, towards my father's desk, procrastinating speaking the words knew I would eventually have to say.

"Y/n? What is the matter? It is well past curfew." He sounded accusatory but also a bit concerned. I wasn't normally one to be out this late, at least that he knew of, and I knew he must be assuming the worst. However, I could guarantee the worst things going through the man's mind were nowhere near as bad as the words I was about to speak.

"I, uh.." I started, voice shaky, thoughts jumbled, eyes darting all over as I avoided the concerned gaze of my father. However, I finally sucked in a long, deep breath, steadying my mind, and allowed my eyes to settle on the identical ones of the potion's master.