Please Wake Up . Blue Raven Artworks

"Please Wake Up"

August 2023

“Miss Nichols?”

Liana’s wide green eyes darted to the open doorway.

Madam Pomfrey appeared like a statue dressed in white linen and maroon fabric. Her face, too, was solemn and unmoving. There was no lightness in her eyes, no smile upon her lips.

“You may come in, now.” The words held little compassion.

Liana winced and stood. Her hands were balled against her stomach, over a gray camisole under a cropped black sweatshirt. A fingerless black glove adorned her wand hand, torn black jeans covered her legs, and dark brown boots, scuffed and still muddy, protected her feet. She hadn’t changed since the mission, unwilling to leave the hallway near the hospital ward until she had heard something—anything—about Talbott.

She followed behind Hogwarts’ matron like she was part of a silent procession—made more dismal by her mostly black ensemble. They passed bed after bed, each sitting vacant within a square of light from the sheer-curtained windows behind each one.

Her eyes found Talbott as they were still two beds away. Her heart dropped into the pit of her stomach. Her legs trembled, and she stumbled the rest of the way to his bedside. She concluded by dropping to her knees, her hand scarcely reaching for his arm before she lost all strength and collapsed on the ground.

Poppy Pomfrey’s years of working in the medical field prepared her for seeing the unthinkable, facing undeterminable odds, and viewing even the most gruesome injuries with the same steadfastness as any other. But with one of her prospective healers now bound to a hospital bed—and another now collapsed in grief—she found herself more uniquely pricked.

Liana felt the woman’s hand upon her back. She was gently coaxed from the floor and slipped into the chair she had fallen beside. All the while, her eyes were glued to the unmoving form of Talbott Winger. Her hand slid from his plaid purple shirt and grasped his hand. Her pale fingers surrounded his deep amber skin. He was warm. He was breathing. But his eyes remained closed as if he were in a very deep sleep.

She shuddered as tears stung her eyes.

“It will take some time to know if he will recover,” Madam Pomfrey offered gently. “But I will be watching him closely.”

Liana nodded in acknowledgement, though the tears were already running down her cheeks. The mere thought of Talbott never recovering was almost unfathomable. Her mind couldn’t imagine a world without him. He was everything; everything she wanted in a friend. Everything she wanted in a partner.

And, he was everything she would hope to have in a husband.

She and Talbott had been dating almost two years, but the last few months had brought them far closer than they had ever been. They stayed up long hours in the Ravenclaw common room, studying, talking, or reading together. They stole away and had candlelit dates in the courtyard. She had been the one to comment he looked good in purple, which prompted him to wear his plaid purple shirt almost exclusively outside of class. Similarly, it had been his idea for her to try magically dying the ends of her hair blue—with Badeea’s help to make it happen. And, bringing them both out of their prospective comfort zones, they had even had brunch at a stiflingly floral tea shop in Hogsmede—but being with him made anywhere the greatest place to be.

Recently, Talbott had begun talking to her about his ideal place for a proposal. It would be quiet, simple, away from others, and deeply personal. She didn’t think much of it at first, but soon, the realization of what he was asking hit her.

“Are you... planning to propose?” She asked, the hint of a grin playing on her lips.

Talbott’s cheeked reddened. “Not yet—I mean—we’re still students. But, that would be the next logical step in our relationship,” his hazel eyes met hers, “wouldn’t it?”

The grin grew. “It would.”

He glanced aside. “Maybe it’s just graduation coming up, but I’ve been thinking of the future more than I usually do. It’s a lot to process; what we’ll do outside of Hogwarts. We have to find a flat, get jobs, adjust to new places and people...”

“‘We,’” Liana repeated, snuggling closer to him.

“Yes, ‘we,’” he looked at her, gently taking a strand of her dark brown hair and smoothing it behind her ear. He curled the blue ends around his finger as he rested his hand on her shoulder. “I don’t fly solo anymore.”

She beamed as she took his face into his hand and cupped her hand around his face. Her fingers slid behind his ear into his tawny hair while her thumb rested upon his cheek. “Neither do I.” She said, almost proudly. “Wherever you are... I want to be.”

Talbott smiled. It was the sort of smile no one else would see; the one he only found when he was in her presence.

Liana blinked, and Talbott was lying motionless in the hospital bed before her.

She squeezed his hand.

“I should have never asked you to come with me,” Liana hissed under her breath. “I know I want to be everywhere with you... but...” She huffed through a sob, shaking her head. “I put you in danger. And now...”

She grit her teeth and rose from the chair. She leaned over him and cupped her hand around his face. Her fingers slid behind his ear into his tawny hair while her thumb rested upon his cheek.

His face remained still and unmoving.

Her lips trembled. She shut her eyes, spilling the tears within them, as she leaned forward and kissed his cheek.

“Please... wake up soon.”

I got to a pretty powerful spot in Hogwarts Mystery (yes I still play this game) and I got inspired to write a little more into it. The game never gets too deep into your romances... but I will do it for them :D

Tags: Liana Nichols