[open!] just like a tattoo, i'll always have you.

[ríoghnán cían ó duibhir]

*

The evening was still and dark, the air quiet around the highest towers of the Hogwarts castle. In the pale glow of the moon there were crisp black shadows thrown across the worn stone body of the clock tower, high above the courtyard. Leaning against the railing above the ticking face of an ancient clock, a slender boy glanced at the silver pocket-watch nestled in the palm of his left hand and took another long draught of his cigarette, keeping in the tobacco-singed air for a moment, then exhaling as he felt the gentle beginnings of a world before him spinning.

Rí relished the feeling of his body tingling. For a brief moment, he wondered why he did this every day – smoking, especially in isolation. Then, he simply took another drag, and the exhalation was tinged with bitterness this time, woven with cursed memories, and…

Looking down at the courtyard, he heard the sound of deep, distant voices below. His heart skipped a beat, and he squinted slightly, hoping his sight’s adjustment to the darkness had left him able to see a little better… He could have sworn he had just heard… Please let it not be him… Fuck off if it is… he thought to himself, his right hand balling into a fist, white knuckles bathed in white moonlight. I can never escape him! Arsehole!

Slamming his fist down on the cold metal railing, Rí growled in frustration, the soothing effect of nicotine and mentol vanishing. He glared with contempt down at the flock of figures in billowing black robes in the courtyard far below his safe haven. He knew which of them was the one he held contempt for, the one whose face still haunted his heart-wrenching nightmares at the coldest depths of the winter… the one whose touch he could still feel tenderly brushing his cheek when he woke up in the mornings…

”FUCK YOU!” Rí screeched, gripping the railing with his pale fingers and throwing down at the group in the courtyard a look of fierce fury. ”TO ETERNITY!”

He thought he saw for a single, fleeting moment the face of the one he resented, and he bared his teeth and closed his eyes as his back arched and he felt the blood in his veins freeze, turning ice-cold. It rushed through his body like an arctic storm, coursing out to the tips of his fingers and toes, and he let loose from the depths of his heart a scream, one so piercing that glass would shatter.

Rí felt energized now. Rescuing from his pocket a wand of the smoothest ebony, he waved it gracefully through the air, eyes narrowing slightly as a mirror appeared out of thin air and hovered before him. He could see his reflection, with eyes now a sharp, vivid blue, teeth sharpened into fangs that sat comfortably at the corners of his mouth… This side of him had not come out in quite some time…

Oh, if Mam could see me now, she would be so terrified… Rí thought. But so proud. I guess being a banshee really does run in the family…

The figures in the courtyard below were gone now, except for one. Rí glanced down for a moment, taking care not to analyse who it was. He breathed deeply, taking another long drag of the cigarette perched between his fingers, and with a great effort calmed himself, feeling he fangs disappearing, the blood warming in his veins once more…

My word, I think I need to find a new ‘alone’ place… Rí pondered, realising his privacy and solitude in the clock tower was now, most likely, compromised beyong repair. And I need to find it soon…

He mumbled indistinctly, something indecipherable even to himself, barely more than a few gurgles of air, suddenly feeling that helpness that clutched and clenched at his heart every time the banshee half of him faded and retreated. He needed to find a new place, that was for sure… He knew nobody else came here for solitude and peace, because of all the little charms it took to weave one’s way through the clockwork and up to the little balcony with the dark metal railing. But if his ex-boyfriend had spotted him… No. He simply needed to find a new place… yet the reluctance of giving up this small, perfect space was almost overwhelming. His head spun with the possibilities…

Rí chose to stay there for a few more moments… There was no curfew to speak of, and as long as he kept to the small hallways and back corridors to get to the Ravenclaw chambers, he would be okay. It was a well-known fact, he knew, that most of the Hogwarts teachers would never question him about his late night roaming that had become so frequent the past year – after all, he was a seventh-year prefect. But he knew that the Slytherin teachers would ask questions, and he wanted to avoid trouble… He was sure his heart would not be able to take much more drama…

Rí took the last drag of his cigarette and flicked the butt over the railing, watching it float down into the dim confines of the courtyard down below. He would stay here for a few more minutes… Surely there was hardly anybody else out and about at this time of night, right?

Surely…

*

[andrew james cauldwell]

A heavy sigh of relief passed through Andrew's lips as his final lesson of the day drew to a close. Though he usually had no problem with his classes, that day had dragged on for what felt like weeks. Dragging his back up from the floor and swinging it over his shoulder, Drew started the long walk from Study of Ancient Runes on the sixth floor to the Hufflepuff common room in the basement. It was only as he passed a portrait of Anne Boleyn on the first floor that he remembered he had a patrol that evening as part of his prefect duties. As if he wasn't tired enough already. Despite this, he would still do as was expected of him. It would only be for two hours and he had a free lesson tomorrow in which he could nap if he needed to. He'd probably be fine once he woke up anyway.

Andy dumped his things beside his bed in the dormitories before making a start on his Transfiguration essay. He was at least half way through when he left it to attend the evening feast, taking his yellow and black scarf with him to save him coming back for it after the meal. It could get quite cold in the late hours of the day, especially in a Scottish castle, and so it seemed a logical thing to have on his person for the duration of the patrol. Even if it wasn't unbearably cold, it was comfortable. As soon as he'd eaten his fill, Andrew stood up from the Hufflepuff table and headed out of the hall. He had been one of the last to leave and so most people were back in their common rooms by the time he got to his starting point. With one of the earlier duties, his responsibility was more a case of hurrying people to their common rooms rather than ensuring nobody was out of bed.

As he passed through the clock tower courtyard behind a group of students, Andy hadn't been expecting the shouting from above. Though it startled him somewhat, he presumed it was directed at one of the individuals in front of him, seeing as he hadn't, to the best of his knowledge, angered anyone as of late. As they continued through the courtyard, Andy stopped to look up before an unearthly scream forced his hands to his ears for fear of going deaf. Once it had stopped, the Hufflepuff moved his hands away from his head and looked up again in an attempt to work out what had caused the noise. He could see a person up on the balcony but the current distance and angle prevented him from putting a name to the individual. Even so, a combination of concern and curiosity pushed him back through the large doors beneath the clock face to head up the tower and find out what was going on.

Of course, there was no guarantee that the person he'd seen and heard in the courtyard would still be there when he reached the top of the several staircases. Somewhat to Drew's surprise, there was still a boy standing at the balcony when he completed his ascent. Now that he was there, Andy didn't really know what to say. He hadn't made any attempts to be quiet as he'd walked up the stairs and so the seventh year was bound to have heard him. That eliminated leaving but he hadn't really intended to anyway, even if only because that would render his walk up there pointless. Instead, he decided to make an attempt at conversation or at least a short discussion that would assure Andrew the fellow prefect was alright. "Erm... are you okay?" he began weakly. After the outburst he had just witnessed, although he was as yet unaware that the scream was also to Ríoghnán's credit, it was quite clear he wasn't or at least not completely. "If you want to talk, I'm here." And how dumb did that sound? The two of them had spoken before but they weren't exactly close. Drew didn't expect to be regarded as someone the Ravenclaw could talk to, despite being a generally nice person, but it was worth a try anyway.