thirteen

After some time chatting and laughing with his friends, Castor comes back to reality. Suddenly he realises, that he’s surrounded by so many people, not only Blaise and Elliot, just like when they came here. There have gathered a lot of other people as well, everyone eventually gets their breakfast. Once Castor starts observing all the people around him, he’s relieved, that no one is looking directly at him, until he sees someone starring just a couple tables further away. Jasper Perry. He seems to be starring for a while now, and doesn’t bother taking his eyes away once Castor catches his eyes. This freaks the young boy out, and soon his thoughts come back once again. They consume him, eat him alive, just like they did the past few months. This time he can’t push them away, he stands up abruptly and leaves the dinning hall in a rush, without saying another word. Outside the doors Castor starts running.

***

Castor has been running for what felt like ages. No idea where he is any more, because his vision is getting blurry. Right, he forgot, challenging your body like this on an almost empty stomach won’t go well. The young boy stops once he reaches a quiet corner. It doesn’t take him long to do so, since he reached the part of the castle, which no one uses any more. Dark, destroyed walls which are overgrown with different kinds of wild plants surround him. Castor has never been here before. It’s at the complete opposite end of the castle, so he isn’t surprised at how strange all of this seems to him. The fact that all of this is so new to him excites him, it’s thrilling and comforting. Once the boy got his breath back he looks around just to take it all in. The green ivy vines surrounding him reflect the only light in the hallway, which is coming from the broken windows and holes in the roof. Other than that the hallway is empty. Walls build from grey bricks and floor covered in grey tiles. Besides the ivy vines everything seems dull, even Regulus fits in perfectly with his dark clothes and pale skin. No one would find him, so why not stay here?

“Castor!”, a voice calls from right besides him. His eyes must’ve fallen shut for a while, because suddenly his whole body jerks up, and the young boy is sitting up straight. Now that he’s fully awake again, he sees who has woken him up. Jasper Perry.

“Perry.”, Castor spits the name out with more disgust than he was meaning to, but he doesn’t care. “What are you doing here?”, he grumbled.

“I found you laying here, thought you weren’t breathing any more.”, concern breaks across James’ face.

“Great heavens, Jasper Perry came to save me. What a pleasure.”, Castor rolls his eyes. “See I’m breathing, now leave me alone.”, he adds.

“I won’t.”

“You will. How did you even find me here in the first place?