Enlightenment PV Closed

interactions ⭒ @Lindsey Springhall

𝓐madea's eyes and thoughts were swirling as she made her way toward the lavatory. The end of semester exam study haze was heavy upon all of the students, and Amadea was not immune to the suffering. She had spent the entire day going over notes and reviewing old homework assignments for transfiguration, her historically hardest subject, and her mind was absolutely wrecked. She had barely had time to eat, drink, let alone hang out with any of her friends and she was certain that if she were to take a look at her reflection, she would look as though she hadn't slept in a week...which wouldn't be entirely too far from the truth.

As she pushed open the door to the lavatory, she noticed a girl standing in front of one of the mirrors. At first glance, she just smiled politely and headed over to a stall, but as she began walking, the stupor she had been in lifted momentarily and Amadea realized that the girl seemed to be in distress. She was muttering something about falling in love. Though Amadea had spent the entire day using her brain, it was still able to make the quick connection now that this girl was upset over some sort of heartbreak. The love kind. Immediately, Amadea felt a pang of empathy for her. While she herself had never been in a romantic relationship, Amadea knew plenty of people in her life that had been, and more often than not, it ended in someone heartbroken and crying in the bathroom. To be honest, Amadea couldn't quite see why anyone would want to bring that upon themselves, though she supposed it was a morbid outlook to assume that the relationship would end in heartbreak.

Amadea hesitated for a moment, unsure of what she should do. Clearly it looked like this girl could use a shoulder to cry on, but Amadea was unsure of her abilities to adequately comfort her based on the fact that Amadea herself had never been heartbroken. In the past few years, the most heartbreak Amadea had experienced was watching her two best friends experiment with their own relationship, but it had quickly ended as the two realized they were better off as friends; even though Amadea hadn't been in the relationship, she had to admit that it was a weird dynamic switch for a little while. Ultimately, she found her feet walking over to the other girl and offering a friendly smile. "Hey there," she said hesitantly, "No pressure or anything, but would you like to talk?" She hoped that the girl understood that Amadea was not at all trying to pressure her into talking about anything if that was not what she wanted, but rather that Amadea would be happy to lend a shoulder to cry on if that was what she wanted.

@Amadea Campbell

The pale figure in the mirror stared blankly at her, but strangely Lindsey didn’t notice any unusual sign on herself. Her recent days were exactly like what’s happening today, sulky and melancholy - when did the laughing girl who scarcely managed to come back fade away? She didn’t know, and she didn’t care. Two little personages were talking simultaneously in her heart: race after your true love no matter the obstacles, you deserve it; get out of it as quickly as you can, he isn’t worth it. Lindsey sank in the endless quarrels, and miserably found that she was already too deep to get out of it.

The silent personal confrontation was perhaps going to last forever if there weren’t some friendly, warm voice cut in. The Lavatory was empty and quiet, and the female voice with a bit hesitation easily surrounded her like a warm breeze, flowing sweetly like music, and tapped the doorbell of her heart - no pressure, you wanna talk? Normally Lindsey would certainly think that they were trying to poke their noses into her own affairs (and plus seeing her worst of times). But this voice with genuine sympathy was different. She could feel it. Her intuition wasn’t frequently used, but 99% times it was correct.

“I…” She muttered and turning around to face the newcomer. Lindsey knew that she was looking awful now, with black eye and messy hair and tears on her cheeks. But anyway, her reflection was probably already seen in the mirror. The only feature of the interrupter Lindsey caught from the mirror was her wavy red hair, but as soon as she faced the girl, she knew who she was. Amadea Campbell, one of the first generation of Hufflepuff Duelling Team as well as one of the captains, was certainly famous around students, especially in their house. Lindsey’s heart rather settled confirming the comer’s identity. She could just “talk” with some mere stranger wandering around the hall, but a senior of her house was much more trusty, especially one on her duelling team. Maybe she could give it a try…?

“Miss Campbell, um, I guess, hi.” Lindsey composed herself for three seconds, and chose an address that sounded alright enough. She could feel the anxiety and nervousness under her skins, but hey, if Amadea wanted to help, why shouldn’t she accept? It had already been proved that she would never, never walk out of the circle if she continued to put it in the depth of her heart and tried to deal with it on her own. “It’s okay…but, thank you.” She managed to squeeze out a smile. “I think I would indeed like to talk.”

Had Amadea heard her mumbles? Did the seventh year knew that she was going to help deal with some love issues? Had she herself went through such things in her Hogwarts years? All these about Amadea was unknown to Lindsey, but she thought she wouldn’t care much. Even if her senior was a newbie like her and couldn’t give any useful advice, that didn’t hurt, cause some kind comfort would already be enough for her broken heart. “It’s…something about crushes.” She started, hesitantly, while sparing an eye out to observe Amadea’s reactions. “I’ve quarrelled and ‘broken up’ with a boy, but he ended up as…not even a ex.” She smiled bitterly. “He had done all those things, and he told me we’ve never dated.”

Her voice trailed off, with a slight hint of pleading. “The worst thing is, I put all my heart into it…”

interactions ⭒ @Lindsey Springhall

𝓐s the girl turned around to face Amadea, she was struck with the horrible realization that she had absolutely no idea what to say. The first thought that flashed through her mind as the girl turned around was jeez. Whoever had broken this girl's heart had clearly done some damage, based on the tears glistening on her cheeks. The second thought that Amadea had was that she knew this girl...somehow. She looked familiar, but for the life of Amadea, she could not place the name of the girl. Unfortunately, it seemed like the girl recognized her as well but also remembered her name and took up Amadea's offer to chat.

Amadea simply offered a kind smile and gestured for the girl to continue, sharing whatever she felt comfortable with. As the girl explained the situation with vague details, explaining how the boy she had been hanging out with had told her they were broken up...but hadn't even dated? Amadea had to admit, it was a confusing situation especially given the very small amount of context that had just been provided, but she knew that fully understanding the scope of the situation was not important at this time.

"Gosh, I'm so sorry," Amadea said when the girl had finished, hoping her tone sounded as sincere as she felt. "Relationships are so tough...no matter the kind, and I'm sure you cared about him very much." Amadea paused, thinking about what she would say next. She didn't want to just spew some cliches and call it a day, but at the same time, Amadea herself had never been in this situation and while she could empathize with the pain, she could not fully grasp the breadth of what this girl was feeling.

"I can't say I know what it feels like to be heartbroken," she said, "But I do know what grief feels like. All of your emotions are valid in this situation. From what it sounds like, this guy never even deserved you in the first place, doing all of these things but not considering you his girlfriend. If he didn't want to be with you, that's a reflection of him not meeting your standards, not the other way around." Amadea placed a hand on the girl's shoulder, continuing. "You were able to open up your heart and give your all to someone who wasn't able to appreciate that for the gift it is," she said. "That in itself is incredibly brave. And imagine how incredible it will feel when you are able to give your heart to someone who gives theirs back to you in return. I can only imagine how painful it is now, but this experience will only make you a stronger and wiser person."

Amadea smiled again encouragingly, hoping that her words helped the girl. While she felt a little bit like an imposter giving this speech about heartbreak having not been through it herself, Amadea knew that at the end of the day, pain was pain, and trying something was better than saying nothing at all.

@Amadea Campbell

For a moment Lindsey was quiet. Her eyes lingered from the ceiling of the girls’ lavatory down to the waterlogged floor, the scene of that horrible day repeating itself in her mind like an endless movie. Jones’ cruel words were also joining in beside her ears, before Amadea’s sweet and thoughtful voice took advantage and chased them away. Realising her rudeness of shifting her gaze away, Lindsey looked up and smiled apologetically. Tough…? Yeah, to be sure. Cared about him…? Yeah, that’s pretty obvious. She had been deep inside it before she could ever drag herself out, him caring for and coaxing her. That was a way different feeling, unlike any crushes she had had before. To trace back all their way (though short as it was), Lindsey could swear that she only thought about developing their relationship after he showed his special affection - or, at least, she thought so. Lindsey was speechless when she found out that everything she had been constantly dreamt of for a couple of weeks was only illusory bubbles. And…

She smiled bitterly. “Thank you.” Lindsey muttered, when Amadea put forward those comforting words. “If he didn't want to be with you, that's a reflection of him not meeting your standards, not the other way around.” Upon hearing these words her eyes began to swell again, and tears seemed to flow again. Lindsey sniffed to force the liquid back into her eyes, feeling the warmth being passed into her body through Amadea’s hand on her shoulder, magically infusing her with strength. Maybe her housemate was right. He didn’t meet her standards, that’s all. Why should she continuously let her mind linger on somebody who didn’t even fit her?

“Thank you so much…” Lindsey repeated, softly yet earnestly. Brave, strong, wise…she hadn’t thought so. Those good, good qualities, were they used to describe her who was helplessly weeping and seeking support from others? There was a moment when she was doubtful, but when Lindsey looked into Amadea’s genuine eyes and her supportive smile, the shaking statue was put back into its place. “I think I can understand.” She finally nodded. “It’s been like…a dream. I know I look somehow feeble now, but, oh, if I can get through all this…you know, that happened around March, and all these days I’ve been pondering, pondering if I had chosen a different path and hadn’t mingled with him at all. This was the first time that I’d decided to make it official, but as you can see…yeah, I guess you are right. I know he can’t coax me into it again if he stands here now, neither can some other guy.” And she smiled, the first time when there was some sort of relieve in it.