Smashed Glass, Broken Hearts PV Paracelsus

Serena ran a hand through her hair. Of all of the places to return to, she ended up here. In the same corridor that all of it began in. Sighing softly, she continued to walk down the corridor, dodging past the flurry of students that were chattering away absentmindedly. The Hufflepuff found herself outside the abandoned toilets after a few moments. She paused, looked down the corridor and sighed. The feeling of nausea hit her stomach. All of this pain and suffering was pointless. It was all because of some ridiculously stupid things that had happened. So many students had been tortured by the masked man. The variety of ways was insane. Most people had physically gotten hurt because of Ben and the mask that he had wielded. Serena was different. Her pain was purely emotional and psychological. The physical pain she had gone through at the time was linked to the famed Hufflepuff camp out, not to Ben and his mask. Her hands shook a little as she stared down the corridor.

Her eyes started to water once more, a mix of anger and sadness surging through her body. The whole situation frustrated her so much. It did not need to happen. It should not have happened. Everything had gone wrong and there was absolutely no one to blame but herself now. All of these rumours that were whispered as she walked filled her with more frustration and irritation. She had done nothing wrong... The actions, everything that had happened were the result of someone else's behaviour and actions. She did not initiate the kisses, she did not want them and yet the rumours titled her as the problem and source of all of this... It just constantly reminded her of her own failings. It was less the name and more the reminder that irked her. She had lost several good friends because of everything that had happened. This just reminded her of that. Not wanting to cry in front of everyone, she pushed open the door of the toilets that were in front of her and ran in. If Moaning Myrtle was chilling there, they could sob their hearts out together.

It was not until she was already inside, having flung the door open hard and probably almost hit someone in the face with it that she noticed that 'someone' was also present in the bathrooms. Serena spotted the figure, about to apologise for flinging the door open in their face. She opened her mouth to make her apology, almost automatically. However, no words came out of her mouth. Her eyes widened a little. The face of the figure was one she recognised... He had made her cry on a few occasions. The Gryffindor Prefect that started the rumours.

Oh, she had heard the rumours. About the Hufflepuff Prefect who liked to 'kiss' boys. The 'Kissy Prefect' they said. Her eyes narrowed instantly as she recognised his face, "You." Her tone of voice was surprisingly dark. There was a sharpness to it that she did not even know she was capable of. The tone was intense, full of bitterness and disgust. She could not explain her anger in a rational way but that was the speciality of one's anger, it was always irrational. Anger never paired with logic or reason. Serena's anger was mixed in with so much confusion. But it all started to make sense as soon as she saw his face.

The Parasite. He believed these rumours, did he not... She recalled meeting him in the Summer Camp, where he mentioned something about her kissing boys and looked afraid of her. He claimed she kissed people... Then at the Trick or Treat event that he had organised... There were a group of Gryffindor first years that he had sent to her, to give her a letter. They were whispering things about her, rumours of a 'kissy prefect'. Her eyes focused on the Parasite's face, her jaw clenched a little. There were so many times that she met this boy and the word 'kiss' appeared. Heck, the first time they ever met, he literally fled from the scene as though he was afraid she would do something to him when she approached. She was literally offering him a helping hand and he made it seem like she was going to devour him whole.

Serena's feet automatically turned as the memories came rushing back to her. She marched up to the Gryffindor Prefect, not hesitating for a second. She did not care that he had a Prefect badge attached to his robes that she no longer had. She had removed her own badge a few weeks before. She was no longer his 'boss' as such. But she did not care. If he wanted to give her a detention for her behaviour, he could. Consequences meant nothing right now. She had something to get off her chest and she was going to do it. Grabbing him by his clothing, Serena had a fistful of his robes, shirt and jumper. He was a little taller than her but it did not stop her from shooting him a look of anger. She grabbed him, preventing him from running away, "The 'Kissy Prefect' bullshit. You know about this right? Explain what you know about it. Now." Serena commanded him, her tone laced with so much anger as she stared at him with watery eyes. She wanted to know who coined the term, where the rumours originated from and why it was her. She did nothing wrong in this situation and yet, she got the blame from it. Both of the boys involved in it were prefects or former prefects and yet, it was still her that got the title and rumours.

Parcel straightened his tie when the door swung open with a bang. Not just a tiny swing, but the person was swinging it with that liberal art kind of confidence, making almost a swoosh more than a bang as it flung open.

Parcel twisted around almost as fast! Holy heck! Door swings like that made it feel like someone where trying to catch him doing something illegal. It wasn’t like he was brewing Polyjuice potion in here or anything! Chill out whoever you are! But to Parcels great dismay, it was not some professor trying to rise in the ranks by catching wrongdoers as they do wrongs. It was something much, much worse…

In the doorway was none other then his greatest fear, his Achilles-heel one might say, the Kissy Prefect! Oh the pain, she had finally cornered him! His eyes started darting to either side, looking for the closest escape route. But there was none! The only way out was that one door!

This was bad, what was she going to do to him!? Was this when she would give him the Dementors kiss? Parcel could feel his death imminent! Crawling closer with every step the little girl took towards him. “Y- Yo-“But the girl beat him to it. And while the start of Parcels You sounded a bit scared, Serena's sounded darker, like she had evil plans for his lips on her mind!

She walked briskly forward, marching towards the uncertain Parcel before gripping his robe tightly in her hand. She talked, but Parcel didn’t hear what she said. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to hear what she had to say, maybe it was a way for him to escape her if he did, it was more that he couldn’t hear what she had to say.

Parcel was falling. The water on the ground and the push from Serena grabbing him had made him slip. Some say that in moments like these, things usually slow down and you see everything clearer, at least that’s what Parcel have read somewhere. That’s a lie! It was like everything went super fast. WABAM! And Parcel hit the back of his head on the bathroom sink before tumbling onto the wet floor. What had she tried to tell him? Was this her plan, beat him so he couldn’t escape. “oh god, please, you don’t have to kiss me, I don’t wanna die, so to kiss me is unnecessary, please girl, lets just be friends instead” This was what Parcel wanted to say… but its not what came out. His head was spinning, he was disoriented, he felt pain in his neck, his vision was blurry and he had a angry little girl standing over him. His words was mostly mumbles in his mouth, and only some of them was audible, so what came out was more like “ … please … you… kiss… me.. I die… to kiss… please… girl…friend instead…” Parcel was pulling at what he found, trying to get up, it wasn’t much to pull other then Serena's robe, making him look like he was trying to pull her closer to him. All he wanted was a quiet day, relaxing his sore muscles after practicing quidditch all week, and now he was beaten and disoriented on a bathroom floor.

A sudden gasp escaped her lips as she felt the fabric of his robe start to slip out of her grasp. Everything happened so quickly. Before she knew it, she was staring down at the Gryffindor Prefect with widened eyes. The boy was on the floor, with her standing over him. Did she push him? She had no idea what happened. She had tried to grab him but she did not intend to knock him over or hurt him. Instinctively, Serena bent down to offer her hand up. She stopped midway, noticing the red liquid that started to spread over the floor beneath him. 

"Sh-" She started, leaning closer and looking at his head. She had no idea where the blood was coming from but she could see it merging with the water on the floor and spreading out. Whilst Serena was busy internally panicking about his injury, the boy seemed to have something else on his mind. He started to tug at her robe, murmuring something. Absentmindedly, she listened to him as she quickly pulled off the robe that he was tugging on. She had an idea. Falling onto her knees, Serena peered closer to his head. She was attempting to work out where this injury was when it registered. 

It took a while. But the words that he said actually registered in her mind. She had heard them but she didn't actually recognise what he said until this moment. The moment where she was sitting next to his head, leaning over him. Her eyes widened as it dawned on her. He asked her to... kiss him? And be his girlfriend? Her cheeks started to turn a shade of red that they should not be.

Serena blinked in confusion, unsure of where this was coming from when she had no idea what his name even was. "What the hell?" She snapped at him suddenly, "D- Don't tell me what to do!" She continued, her voice stuttering slightly at the thought of what he was saying, "I- I- I'll do what I want!" The Hufflepuff continued, proud of herself for standing up for herself. She did not need do that to anyone. A Professor she had met during the Summer Camp told her that should smack the boy if he tried to force her to doing something she did not want to. So she was fairly confident that she ought to be proud of herself for standing up for her own wishes.

"J-Just shut up and stay still..." She mumbled, slightly irritated at the boy. Serena did not understand. In her eyes, she was hurt and he was still busy thinking about trying to kiss girls. How did she end up with the name 'Kissy Prefect' when he was the one going around trying to get girls to kiss him? She was definitely annoyed. She hated these rumours. It was like everyone thought that she was just going around kissing everyone! Even the Parasite was after kisses. It was outrageous. Grabbing the robe that she had taken off in one hand, "This might hurt a bit..." She said as she attempted to lift his head with the other hand. 

If Paracelsus allowed her to lift his head, she would examine where the blood came from and place the robe under it, pressing it against the tiny wet patch on his hair. It was not a lot of blood but a head injury was always worrying. Hell, any blood scared Serena. She had seen enough of it. Her heart was beating so loudly that the boy could probably hear it. She couldn't think straight. She was acting off pure adrenaline right now. The sight of blood made her fingers trembled a little. Serena did not notice it trembling but they shook a little. Blood reminded her of a memory that she wished she could forget about. For just one moment, she wanted to forget about it. 

Serena was too busy thinking about the memory of the Hufflepuff Camp out and trying to help Paracelsus that she had no idea that her actions and words could easily be misunderstood by him. In her mind, she was just trying to prevent another injury in this school. She did not mean to hurt him. That was it. She just wanted answers. Poor Serena had no idea what was running through his mind. She had no idea that he might have thought she was getting closer to him to do something she did not want to do.

Serena frowned as she stared intently at the back of his head. There was a definite feeling of guilt as she tried to help him. It was her fault that he had somehow hurt himself. But she was still very angry at this creepy child who kept spreading these rumours about her and then asking her to kiss him. She pressed her robe tightly onto the back of his head. The second year may be young but she had studied a lot on this 'first aid' thing that muggles do after the incidents of last year. It led her to picking up a few small tips, though she probably was not experienced enough to actually save any lives. She had to stop the bleeding, at the very least.

As the girl contemplated what to do, she heard his voice. "Wh- No!!!" She barked back at him, frustrated that he would even ask her this. She had already said no to this, why did he keep trying to convince her otherwise? Annoyed, she decided to tell him how she really felt, "Of course I'm not! I don't want to k- uh do that. You're just gross! Boys are gross! I am not going to... do that to a stupid ugly gross boy like you, okay?!" She continued, annoyed at him, "Now can you just shut up and sit up so I can bloody stop your bleeding head, you idiot?" She asked him, her voice laced with anger.

Serena continued to talk, without really giving him much chance to even move, "Sit up. And hold this tightly against your head. I need to secure it..." She instructed, trying to look around for something she should secure it with. Perhaps she could wrap the sleeves of the robe around his head tightly so that it would not fall off. If there was string or something, she could have used that but she didn't see anything nearby... Serena fell into thought, trying to figure out how to wrap it around properly.

"If you sit up, then there's less blood flowing to your head and uh I guess that means it will stay in? I think." She explained, mumbling a bit as she was not actually sure if that would work. It might make him dizzy or lightheaded if there was no blood left in his head... She pondered for a moment. If there was no blood in his head, wouldn't he die? She frowned, worried that she might accidentally do more harm... If she secured the robes properly though, the blood would stay in... right?

The Indian girl was genuinely unsure of what was best but... she tried to do what she could to help him... She was struggling to think with the pounding pain at the front of her head. It was like all of her frustration and anger was hurting her more than it was hurting him. It clouded her brain, making it more difficult to think calmly and rationally.

"Ahh I'm sorry!" She replied, as if by impulse when he said that it hurt. Serena did warn him fairly but she still apologised nonetheless. She hesitated a little before continuing. Even though he hurt her, she did not necessarily want to hurt him back. This was entirely an accident. This was for his own good now, but she did not like the idea of hurting him to help him. This whole thing was really rather out of control.

She blinked as he explained his logic of blood being in people's feet only when they stood. It confused her. "N-no no, that's not what I meant." Serena replied quickly, shaking her head as she tended to his injury. That would not make any sense either. "I mean uh, doesn't it- wouldn't be it like... harder for the blood to come out if you sit up? Cos of like... gravity and stuff?" She continued, trying to rationalise her thoughts but he was starting to confuse her a little. She rubbed her nose with the back of her hand roughly in thought. "Ah I don't know okay? Just like don't die!" Serena barked at him, still annoyed.

Whatever happened, she did not want him to actually get hurt. That was what this boiled down to. Her eyes started to water, as the worry coursed through her body. In truth, she was so confused as to what was happening and how she felt that she could not explain it in words. "Ewwww that's disgusting!" Serena replied as he insulted her, disliking the whole concept of 'snogging' and being a 'snoggerworm'. They both sounded disgusting and grim. "I- I'm not a snoggerworm, you- you- you gross poopyhead!" Serena cursed back him, unsure of what else to say. 

She hated him. She really did. Nonetheless, she pressed her robe tightly on the top of his wound, which probably was not as severe as she was making it out to be. But panic overcame her. With her near death experience still fresh in her mind, even the smallest bit of blood was too much. She stared at the robe, trying to figure out how to suppress the blood. Gasping softly, she pulled out the sleeves of the robes and attempted to tie them around his head, trying to secure the robe in place on his head. "I don't think this will hold long... You should go to the hospital wing before it uh falls off..." Serena said weakly as she finishing tying it up. Normally, she would have accompanied the injured person to the wing. But she had learned her lesson. The last time a Gryffindor boy had gotten injured because of a sick, she had made the mistake of trying to help him to the wing. He fell onto her, unable to support himself because of the blood loss and... well, that was how she became the 'kissy prefect'. Serena had no desire to make the same mistake twice. The Parasite could walk himself. She would stay far away from him.