━━━━ · 。ﾟ☆ .☽ .* ☆ﾟ. ━━━━

(adj.) beautiful or creative;
divinely-inspired; peaceful and perfect

THE GREAT HALL HAD ALWAYS MANAGED TO ROB LOUIS OF HIS BREATH. The overall composition of the dining hall had always left him in complete awe––from the bewitched ceiling, the elongated tables, to the warmth the light held and bounced off of the walls to create a glowing atmosphere. If he could, Louis would stand at the entrance and just stare at all that was going on in wonderment because the Great Hall truly was. . .magical, as cliché as it sounded to one's ears. It was the one part of the ancient school that made him feel truly at home within Hogwarts.

"Elysian," Louis mumbled, nodding, before making his way for the Ravenclaw table and taking a seat next to a familiar-looking pale blonde, a few wavy kinks in her hair to show that it hadn't been properly brushed and a few flyaways were to show for that, as well. When it came to Luna Lovegood, she was nothing short of a sister to him. Louis had taken a particular interest in the girl's antics, taking note of the thestrals that had brought him onto Hogwarts grounds a year prior, along with being told about something called "Nargles", and helping her with whatever art projects she had going on whenever he wasn't studying or didn't have his head stuck in a cloud.

Luna was one of the few people Louis had grown closer to throughout his years at Hogwarts, amongst the sea of crimson, sapphire, emerald, and canary. She was easy to hold a conversation with as she was always animated about whatever topic was at hand and made quite the partner when they both had Herbology together in their fourth year. He didn't know how to put it, but if he had to believe that comfort was a person, all softness around the edges and quiet rain on a cloudy day, it'd be Luna Lovegood.

"Louis!" Luna perked upon seeing him, beaming from ear to ear, radish earrings shaking as she bobbed her head, "how was your summer holiday?"

"Oh, you know the usual, moon girl," Louis smiled, "mostly spent it writing what I haven't and trying to find whatever star I haven't found yet. But there's just something about a night sky full of stars that never gets tiring. It's absolutely beautiful every time I look at it. You?"

"I helped my father with The Quibbler," Luna answered simply, her eyes wide and dusted over with their usual, routine starriness, always taken with everything they came into contact with. Louis nodded at that, smiling, and waited for the ceremony to begin, continuing to make small talk with the witch beside him. Clearly, it was going to be quite different from the other ones as there was a darkness looming overhead this time around. Nevertheless, they persisted.

Sitting somewhat idly at the Slytherin table, Draco was plagued by distraction as Dumbledore's speech droned on in the background, muddling sound between his ears as he had his chin in his palm, contemplating. . .something. He found himself stuck in his head, bound by his own intellect, and he didn't know how to get himself out of the labyrinth that made up his psyche. He didn't even know what had gotten him stuck there in the first place.

Draco's sight then wandered over to the other tables and he managed to pick out the boy from the train sitting at the table designated for the Ravenclaws, despite the amount of sapphire that swamped him—it was the light bouncing off of his brassy head that made him easy to point out, creating a halo of some sort that crowned his hair. He was conversing with Luna Lovegood about Merlin knows what and then his mouth broke into a smile, eyes crinkling at the edges in true happiness, the look of someone who wouldn't have it any other way. Draco didn't quite know what happened then—his chest had constricted and it had been hard to breathe for a moment, as though the world had run out of oxygen for that one, fleeting second—however, he knew that it had taken him a moment to tear his eyes away.

Louis couldn't tell if Draco had been staring at him or not during dinner, the juvenile deity's sight aligned with him, a mere mortal by comparison. He stole a glance over at the Slytherin table where he could see Draco lost in all of his thoughts, the complicated sort in which one would have to spend days picking apart due to how intricate they were. His eyebrows were creased as though he were concentrated but Louis could tell by the way his eyes had looked a little hollow that he wasn't, the grey of his irises a little flatter than normal. He was then quick enough to look away when Draco finally decided to come back down to Earth and have a look around only to see that nothing's changed.

Louis sat in his bed later that night, his wand in his mouth—enchanted with the Lumos charm—scribbling away the prose that had rattled off around within his head during dinner, finally having the chance to get it all down.

There were moments of an ethereal being who had a boy's shadow and an army of stormy clouds rolling over a thrashing ocean, coming together and causing the most extraordinary chaos. Although, the odd thing was that it never rained. No matter how grey the clouds got, the tears never came. It was always one over the other with nothing to connect the two. Never really together, however, never all that apart, as well. Always within reach.

And then one night, there had been a storm and lightning had struck, electrifying the water below. The rain came pouring, tears flowing freely, finally merging the sky and the sea.

The following morn, Louis found himself situated in the library during his free period after breakfast. Situated in a squishy bean chair and curled up as though he were a cat, he flipped through the pages of the book he had in his lap, feeling the parchment between his fingers as he thumbed through the novel. He always had a hard time reading in the dining hall due to all of the noise and overlapping conversations that were to be had, so he found comfort and solace in the quiet corners of the library.

Reading had been one of Louis's favorite pastimes, along with all the other hobbies he enjoyed, but more often than usual, they had all begun to feel like something used to fill an endless void, whether he wanted to admit it or not. He had been only a year old, still new to the world with so much to offer it, a newborn star brought into the cosmos when his father decided to no longer be a part of his life before his life even had a chance to start.

He wasn't sure why it had affected him this much, so much to the point that his absent father had been made into the boy's boggart. It wasn't his father that Louis was afraid of, per se, but the fear that he wasn't good enough that was rooted in his father's leaving. That was the reason as to why he kept to himself for the most part—people he knew (or didn't even get to know) would leave him eventually. It was the one thing he couldn't control, something he could pick up and put down at his will when it got to be too much to handle.

Louis sat with himself for a bit, truly realizing how lonely he was while there were tears that burned at the rim and threatened to escape past his eyes, the ocean in his irises on the verge of draining itself a little bit. He only had twenty minutes before his next class and it took him ten to get the correct wing so he got himself together and made a break for the exit, wiping his face on the way.

     Just as he left the library, he passed by Draco, whose eyes had widened a little in befuddlement as he caught a glance at Louis's watery ones. Louis then moved out of Draco's way before he could even get a word out, not that he had anything to say to him in the first place because his chest constricted once more, leaving him at a loss for words, the ground crippling beneath him a little bit more.

This had been the third time that seeing the copper-curled Ravenclaw had made Draco's chest tighten and constrict for absolutely no reason, as though there was a snake wrapped around his lungs, cutting off his oxygen for a moment before letting him regain it the next. It confused him when he didn't have time to be confused as he was on a mission that could potentially cost him his life. He had to keep whatever it was that he was feeling in check as to not distract himself for what was to come. He didn't have the time to sit idly by and watch stars fall into the thrashing sea below, dying and burning out on their way down, especially when he could be the one amongst them all, dead before he even had the chance to hit the water.

𝐀𝐔𝐓𝐇𝐎𝐑'𝐒 𝐍𝐎𝐓𝐄 .｡.:*
well this was. . .depressing
but now we know why louis is such a loner
someone give this poor boy a hug