Curdling (Mercy)

Mercy rushed through the castle, Lyra's words still ringing in her ears. How could she have been so stupid? How could she have made things worse? She'd been trying to make things better!

What if it was too late now to fix it?

She shook her head and kept running, sprinting down the stairs and leaping clear over the last three steps, the cool air of the dungeons rushing past her face as she charged headlong down the corridor toward the Slytherin common room. She skidded to a halt as she came upon the secret entrance, the password already on her lips. She hoped it hadn't changed since the last time she had visited.

The entrance swung open, painstakingly slowly, and Mercy burst through it, finally slowing down enough to stand panting in the doorway, gaze sweeping over the common room. Mimosa wasn't there.

The rest of the Slytherins stared up at her in shock, but Mercy paid them no attention, turning instead to the first face she recognized.

"Catherine!" She paused. "What happened to your eyebrows?"

Before the other girl could answer, Mercy cut her off. "Never mind. Where's Mimosa?"

The Slytherin spluttered for a moment, then seemed to recognize the urgency in Mercy's voice. "She said she was going to ride her broom. Ji Hyun went with her."

Mercy barely stuck around to catch the end of the sentence, turning promptly on her heel and sprinting right back down the corridor and up the stairs, two at a time.

She found Ji Hyun just as he was exiting the castle, nearly crashing into him in her haste. Mimosa wasn't with him.

"Ji Hyun! Catherine said you were with Mimosa; where'd she go?"

He blinked. "Uh, she said she was going to the hospital wing. Why?"

But Mercy had already taken off again, down the familiar path to the hospital wing. When she got there, she pushed through the double doors and stopped for a moment to catch her breath, looking up to see the school nurse.

"Mercy!" The nurse looked surprised to see her, quickly checking her over with her eyes to make sure she wasn't injured. "What are you doing here?"

Mercy held up her hand, silently asking for a moment to gasp for air before she spoke. She used that moment to scan the room, finding it empty save for the nurse.

"Have...have you seen Mimosa?" she panted. The nurse shook her head.

Mercy's brow furrowed. Where could she be? She leaned her shoulder against the doorframe as she paused to think, her breathing slowly returning to normal. She's not in her common room, she's not flying with Ji Hyun, she's not here...where else would she go?

The nurse continued to stare at her with some concern. "Is there a problem?"

Mercy shrugged, then shook her head. "I just...need to talk to her."

The nurse nodded sympathetically. "Maybe try the library?"

Mercy shrugged again. Mimosa hated books, she wouldn't be in the library, but she appreciated the nurse's attempt at helping. "Maybe," she repeated, slipping back out the door.

She had no idea where to go. She sighed dejectedly, then slowly turned to trudge down the hall and up the stairs toward her own dormitory. Maybe someone there would know. She reached the third floor, passing the library on her way to the next set of stairs, and met the librarian coming out.

"Mercy," he greeted her with a friendly smile. He caught sight of her face. "What's the matter?"

"I'm looking for Mimosa," she admitted. "Have you seen her?"

She didn't know why he would have, but she knew Mimosa liked the librarian for some reason, even though she hated books. Maybe she had gone to see him.

The librarian paused for a moment. "Actually, I think she did just come through here." He looked over his shoulder into the library, then turned back to her, seeming to consider something for a moment. "I have to get to class, but...as long as you promise not to take anything, you have my full permission to enter the Restricted Section." He tossed her a slight smile and a wink, then continued walking past her down the corridor.

The Restricted Section? Mercy blinked, confused, but took the hint, stepping into the library. She slowly made her way past the rows of shelves in the main room, looking around for any sign of Mimosa in the library proper. Seeing nothing, she continued all the way to the foreboding door in the back.

Heart pounding, she gently pushed it open to reveal a lone Slytherin curled up in a chair. A sharp twinge of guilt shot through her. Mimosa looked miserable.

And it was all her fault.

She slowly stepped through the door and closed it behind her.

"Mimosa?" She swallowed, somewhat uncertain now that she was here. What if she didn't want to talk?

Mimosa wasn't really sure how long she sat there. All she really knew was that if felt somehow prudent to feel miserable with that many books around her, as if she could convince herself that they were the source of her misery rather than the fact that Mercy had suddenly decided not to be her friend anymore.

But, the witch told herself stubbornly even as she hugged her knees tightly to keep her tiny frame from shaking with unshod tears, she was not going to cry. Because her stupid crying was the reason this had happened in the first place. So from now on, no matter how much it hurt, no matter where it hurt, Mimosa Harrington would not cry.

She would however, bury her head in her knees, and if she felt something damp sliding down her face, she would ignore it. Because it wasn't crying if no one saw it! The child was resolute in erh decision to not cry, and she was not going to give up on that.

"Mimosa?"

At first, the redhead was sure she hand't heard correctly. Maybe this was just a result of being sad? Or missing Mercy too much. But... after a minute, it definitely seemed like someone else was in the room, someone close by. Their breathing still slightly labored, their voice slightly cracking... Their scent slightly like what Mercy's used to be but Mimosa couldn't be sure because it had been so long since she'd been that close to her best fiend. The thought made her entire body shudder once again even as she fought against the tears.

The Slytherin Beater didn't reply, not trusting herself to speak without giving away the fact that she was being a baby again. Instead, she merely tried to nod, as much as she could with her head buried in her arms and knees. Maybe it wasn't Mercy, maybe it was someone who wanted to check out one of those horrid books.

Or maybe it was Mercy, and she had finally come to tell Mimosa she didn't want to be friends anymore for real and forever this time.

Mimosa didn't respond. She didn't even look up. Mercy inched closer.

Ever since she had started trying to avoid the younger witch, she had become distinctly aware of a tugging sensation in her chest, like an invisible force trying to pull her toward Mimosa whenever she was around. It had taken all her willpower over the past few months to resist it, to fight back against what she thought must be her body betraying her. It hurt, which was one of the reasons she had tried to keep her distance. The further away she was, physically, the easier it was to ignore the tugging.

But now here she was, only a few meters away, and the tugging was back and stronger than ever. And finally, for the first time in what felt like ages, she stopped trying to fight it.

She let it pull her across the floor, her feet moving of their own accord, crossing the distance in a few long strides. She was next to Mimosa, just inches away, closer than she'd been in months.

"Mimosa," she repeated, her voice a little shaky. What if Mimosa didn't want to talk to her? What if she was angry? What if she wouldn't forgive her? What if she wanted her to leave?

As she watched her best friend's shoulders shake, Mercy felt her own eyes sting, angry at herself for causing this, for being so stupid. She had to fix this. She had to at least try. And if Mimosa decided not to forgive her...well, that was what Mercy deserved.

She took a deep breath.

"Mimosa, I'm sorry."

There. She'd said it. She wanted to say something else, but her throat closed up and she couldn't. She wanted more than anything to reach out and touch the other girl, to hug her, to stop her from crying, but she didn't. She waited to see if Mimosa would let her.

She could feel the new presence moving closer, solidifying into Mercy's familiar form even if she hand't raised her head to verify this. And the close the Gryffindor got, the more urgent it came to stymied the flow of tears. If Mercy was nearby, then Mimosa could not afford to make the same mistaken again.

She heard the telltale creak of the chair as Mercy sat down beside her, felt the warmth radiating from the older witch and still, still seh couldn't bring herself to look up because even worse than the notion of Mercy being ehr to tell her they were no longer friends... Would be the realization that there was no Mercy, that Mimosa had just been imagining things. Because if she was imagining things, surely she could afford to do so a little bit longer?

"Mimosa, I'm sorry."

And suddenly, the young Slytherin was off her chair, launching herself at the Chaser so she ended up half on Mercy's lap, half standing up by her chair, her arms tightly wrapped around the short haired witch and her face buried somewhere in Mercy's shoulder.

"Wh-wh-why,' she gasped, trying and failing to keep the tears at bay. "Why d-don't you want t b-be f-friends with me?' she subbed on Mercy's blazer, her fingers digging into the other girls skin for how tightly she held on. "Is it b-be be-cause i cr-cried. Because I p-promise never to cry ag-again, never ever ever ever." And she meant it to, no matter how much it hurt, she wound't cry in front of Mercy again if only Mercy went back to being her friend.

Of course, the irony of her sobbing about not crying was completely lost on the child as she clung to her best friend, only knowing that she couldn't let go. That if she let go again, this time Mercy wouldn't come back. So Mimosa did what she always did whenever she was unsure. She held on until someone soothed her, assured her everything would be okay.

Made her believe nothing would hurt her again.

Mercy's arms wrapped reflexively around Mimosa's slight frame, pulling her close and holding her securely but gently in place. And even though the Slytherin was crying, and the circumstances surrounding this moment were nothing short of miserable, the weight and warmth of Mimosa's body against her own felt so right and so good that Mercy almost sobbed. She had no idea how much she had missed Mimosa's touch until this moment.

And then she heard Mimosa's words, slightly muffled against her shoulder, and the guilt and self-loathing and remorse flooded back to her and suddenly she was crying too, sniffling and pulling Mimosa even closer as her own chest heaved. Was that really what Mimosa thought? That she didn't want to be friends with her anymore?

How could she have let this happen?

"I'm s-sorry," she whispered again, "I'm s-so sorry, I n-never meant to hurt you, I n-never..." she hiccuped, burying her face against Mimosa's shoulder and inhaling, remembering how Mimosa's shampoo always reminded her of summer. She didn't know what to say except to keep apologising, over and over again, for everything - for hurting her fingers back in September, for avoiding her, for not noticing until now how upset she had been.

"C-can you ever forgive me?" she asked weakly, afraid to hear the answer, afraid to let go, afraid that this could be the last time she ever held Mimosa this close.

"I'm s-so sorry, I n-never meant to hurt you, I n-never..."

"You d-didn't," the younger witch assured her, hiccuping as the last of her sobs died on her lips. It was remarkably how quickly things fell into place once Mercy's arms were securely around her. "You didn't hurt me, I'm just..." What, she was just sick? She had a medical condition which made her get hurt easily, it was no one's fault. Except the stupid doctors' who'd diagnosed her. If they hand't checked and told her, she wouldn't have this problem.

"You didn't,' she repeated, shaking her head and gently moving it from Mercy's shoulder to finally look the Gryffndor in the eyes. "You could never hurt me, Mercy, not even if you tried."

Adjusting her stance on the chair, Mimosa re positioned herself to be sitting properly on Mercy's knees now. one hand stuff carefully tucked around the Irish girl's waist while her other hand reached to wipe away Mercy's tears. Her brave knight was not allowed to cry.

When she was sure Mercy had stooped crying, she lay her head on he girl's shoulder once more, this time her grip more relaxed than clingy, her heartbeat finally returning to a rate resembling normal.

"Just please... Don't ever stop talking to me. Even if you get mad at me, or if we do soemthing bad. It hurts here when you don't talk to me." Raising her free hand to her chest, Mimosa indicated the left side of her rib cage, unsure what she was trying to convey but somehow knowing it was important to say it.

Maybe it was another medical condition, but this time the Slytherin knew better than to go a doctor.

As the Slytherin raised her head, Mercy gazed miserably into her eyes. This wasn't right. Mimosa wasn't supposed to be the one reassuring and comforting her. Mercy was the one at fault for all of this. She rested her forehead briefly against Mimosa's, breaking eye contact and looking down at her lap.

"You never did anything wrong," she rasped, sniffling once more and trying to stop more tears from spilling.

Mimosa shifted, and Mercy met her eyes once more as she felt the younger girl's hand against her cheek. She leaned into it reflexively, blinking away the wetness from her eyes as she moved her own arms more securely around her friend, one locking her legs in place, and the other coming around to rest against her back.

At Mimosa's quiet plea, Mercy's resolve hardened. She was never ever going to make this mistake again. No matter what.

"I promise," she said firmly, and she meant it. Without thinking, she turned her head to press a gentle kiss against Mimosa's forehead, in case her words were not enough. "I promise I'll never stop talking to you again."

"You never did anything wrong,"

It was easier to believe now, with Mercy sitting close to her and holding on to her as if the last few months hand't happened. Mimosa's natural confidence was slowly returning, bringing back with it the absolute assiduity that of course it wasn't her fault. nothing was ever her fault. But it wasn't Mercy's fault either. It was just a bad thing that happened and it would never happen again.

The Slytherin felt the kiss on her forehead before she saw it it coming. And the sensation was so familiar, so right, her worries began to evaporate almost immediately. The soft kiss, along with Mercy's promise, was enough to elicit a small smile from the young witch.

"And you have to be my partner in DADA again," she added, turning her face up to Mercy and gently touching her nose to the older witch's nose, nuzzling the other girl playfully." I need someone to help me hex Lilac into next week and Bushrah is terrible at it." Now that Mercy was back, Mimosa could catch her up to everything.

And they could forget this whole terrible incident had ever happened. "And you have to take me to Hogsmeade for ice cream." Yes, with every passing minute, normalcy returned to the young model, leaving her with a warm fuzzy feeling she was used to existing with.

For the first time since September, things felt right again.

Mercy split into a teary smile at Mimosa's first demand. Mimosa had forgiven her. Everything was okay again. A relieved giggle bubbled out of her as their noses brushed and Mimosa explained why she needed her in DADA.

"Of course," she agreed. Of course they'd work together again. That was the way things were supposed to be, the ways things should have always been.

She fought to contain her grin as Mimosa continued, returning to her normal self with every passing moment. "Okay," she nodded at the Slytherin's insistence on ice cream. Who was she to deny the witch anything she wanted? She'd spend the rest of her life making up for these past few months if she had to.

"We can get ice cream every week if you want," she offered, because honestly, nothing sounded better. Now that she knew how much it hurt to live without Mimosa, she would gladly follow the younger witch anywhere she went so long as they could be together. She felt a slight pang in her chest as it occurred to her that maybe she wanted to be more than friends, maybe even more than best friends, but Mimosa probably didn't feel the same. With Mimosa's lips so close to her own, Mercy thought about how easy it would be to just close the distance, and her heart skipped a beat at the thought, but she didn't move.

No, this moment was perfect already. She was happy being anything Mimosa wanted her to be, so long as she could be here with her. Everything she needed was already in her arms.