can you hear me?

Lawrence blinked at the figure, slowly becoming less blurry, but not making any more sense. “T-Tyler? Wh-what’re you-?”

“I came to say, you know, get well soon, bring you some things you might need. You like Bertie Bott’s? They don’t taste so good, but they’re a good way to pass the time,” Tyler smiled that forced, too-much-teeth smile he was becoming more and more accustomed to. 

Where am I? The cliche question barreled into his mind like a freight train, which, coincidentally, was what he felt like he was hit by. Healers have come in periodically, things have been explained to him more than once, but he still…where am I? Why? What happened? Why can’t I remember but some of it?

He groaned as the door creaked open - twice in one hour, huh? they must really be worried about his memory - and he turned his face into the pillow. He tried to snap at the healer, but could barely form a word without stammering or speaking as if he was a recording being played at 85% speed.

“U-unless y-y-y-y-y-you’re hhhere with s-some more p-p-pain potions, g-g-g-go away. I alr-ready know wwwwwwhat’s wrong with m-me. I know what a T-TBI  i-is. My f-father’s a neurosurgeon, h-he can explain…just s-st-stop.”

When the footsteps didn’t retreat, Lawrence looked to the door. “Huh?” He couldn’t see right, sometimes, and now was one of those sometimes. A person. Not in healers’ robes? Thank Merlin.

Tyler had only really heard bits and pieces about Lawrence’s disappearance, and, as bad as it sounded, he hadn’t been very alarmed. People were disappearing a lot, and Tyler hadn’t known Lawrence Yeaun well except that he had a lot of opinions about the Muggle world that Tyler regarded as misguided. But opinions Tyler thought were misguided were exactly the kind of opinions he needed to be seen hanging out with. So there he was, standing in the doorway of Lawrence’s hospital room, holding a basket he had owl-ordered and being probably a little louder than he needed to be. “How are you doing, mate?” he grinned.

She was surprised when the spell hit him and growing confident in her skills. Maybe she wasn’t as terrible as she thought she was, though little did she know how weak the curse itself was. “What are you trying to do? Do you think they’re that stupid? After Elektra?” She didn’t know what to do with Tyler being petrified, but she was so frustrated that he tried to make her be the bad guy that she wanted to turn into the bad guy, which she realistically couldn’t pull off, as much as at the moment, she felt unstoppable. Spells she only tried once during Defense Against Dark Arts class were all crossing her mind, but she couldn’t even remember most of their gestures.

She couldn’t recognize the boy she turned the opinion of about her upside down in one conversation and it frustrated her to feel this powerless on all grounds, but she didn’t stutter. She refused to be afraid of Tyler Alvarez, though she was wondering what he was going to do if she simply gave him her wand indeed - he had a reputation to maintain now, didn’t he? Yet, Lara didn’t feel reckless that evening, holding her wand still pointed towards him. “Stop yelling, Tyler. Nobody cares. Nobody is listening. I know what you think and what you are trying to do. There’s no point trying this with me. I’ll spare you the effort.” Taking a deep breath, she tried not to shake enough for the spell to hit its target. “Petrificus Totalus.”

It took her a minute to understand Tyler’s scheme, because despite all the news, she couldn’t for once swallow that his loyalty would have changed. With his hand pointed at her, it became clearer than ever, but his words threw her off, turning her even paler than before. Her palms and knuckles were white, squeezing the wand, but she held it right back. She wasn’t going to let Tyler Alvarez be the end of her. It just didn’t sound like the right epilogue and she didn’t want death to begin with. “Tyler, don’t be funny. Let me pass and I might not tell everybody what I know is true. I’ll be nice.” She didn’t want to give him more reasons to claim anything about her wanting to harm anybody, but she didn’t want to shoot second either, watching his hands rather than his face.

“You’re going to blackmail me because you think you know a secret about me? Nice try, Lara, but I’m not going to sell all of these innocent people for my own pride,” he replied, stressing the word “blackmail” extra loudly and hoping that people especially the aurors in the safe zone, would hear him. He would be lying if he said he didn’t enjoy this newfound sense of power when he had once listened to every word Lara said. “Now give me your wand or I’ll duel you for it.”

 The deja-vu clicked in her mind and brought tears in her eyes that she couldn’t afford, for the sake of the context. Last time this happened - and her chest turned spongy as the ceiling fell, breaking against her head at the mere memory - Evelyn was the one found breathless. The image was still fresh in her mind, but she knew that her only shot was crossing to the other side of the big ballroom and going somewhere where she could get protection from. It was difficult, sitting close to the stage where Allard performed just minutes ago, but she lifted her dress slightly to walk and tried to sprint to the safe zone, chin down to avoid any sort of eye contact. 

I guess it’s just easy to get one-track-minded. But I hope me being here helps show I really have changed.

Nah, you’re probably just waiting for the same fight I am.

You’re joking about it, but you’re not far from the truth. I’m into, uh, philosophy now. I realized there’s no point fighting the Ministry when so many people have good lives because of them. Including me, really. If Grindelwald had won, I’d be dead now, and doesn’t everyone want to be alive?

I’m glad you have reached the basic truth that people like being alive. I know I personally enjoy living.

Prison changes people. I’ve had a lot of time to think. I only wish the others had come to the same realizations as me.

Go on, eerie, zen, I found Jesus, Tyler. You have the chance to tell me more before I call bullshit.