Take These Broken Wings | Kinsey & Riley

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The summer had been a lot more eventful than the Ravenclaw boy had hoped it would be. However, it didn’t start off that way. His family had taken a trip, on which, he had a fight with his sister, but that was hardly anything new anymore. However, his parents on the trip and been surprisingly cool, and now he knew why. They had set him up in an arranged marriage and they introduced him to her the evening before they returned to school. He had tried to find Kinsey on the train, but even if he had found her, he didn’t know what he would say, not to mention the fact that he had a younger girl hanging from his arm, despite the fact that he wasn’t so very into it.

He didn’t want to tell her in public, that would be awful and mean. He didn’t want to hurt her, which made telling her about this new development all the more difficult. But, as his parents plainly laid out for him, he didn’t have a choice. His trust fund, his life, and his families name were now depending solely on his behaving and keeping up his parents deal. Riley made his way to the pond later on the first night of school, after the sorting and the feast. He hoped to find Kinsey there. Whenever he was looking for he, he normally checked the pond first.

@kinsey

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She was going back to Hogwarts! Of course, that wasn't really a surprise, since she'd been counting the days for the last month or so, but Kinsey was still excited that it was time to go back to school. She'd be able to see Riley again, have her classes to keep her busy and she wouldn't have to worry about tiptoeing around her siblings. What could be better than that? 

The Hogwarts Express was busy, probably since there were so many American transfers joining them, and Kinsey couldn't find Riley, but she wasn't particularly worried about that. They always seemed to be able to find one another when the time was right. At her arrival, she saw him walking around with some girl, but thought nothing of it. Riley was nice. He was bound to have admirers, she was sure. 

She couldn't see him in the Great Hall and felt a little disappointed when he didn't come and find her, but she wasn't worried then either. Kinsey was confident when it came to Riley. She left the Great Hall shortly after the sorting ceremony, getting a headache from all the intentions around her. Without Riley there to distract her, she couldn't stay. She didn't mind that, she was used to not eating in there. She stopped off in the kitchens, which were busy thanks to the feast, and grabbed some food before heading to the pond.

As she sat there, Kinsey ate and then relaxed, closing her eyes and enjoying the peaceful atmosphere of her favorite place. She loved it here. When she heard someone else approaching, she already knew who it was. Kinsey turned around to see him, a huge smile on her face. "Riley! I'm glad you finally made it. Come on, sit," she encouraged, patting the bench next to her. Everything felt right, now that he was here.

@riley

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Riley walked over to her when she saw him coming and insisted that he come and sit. When he saw her, his heart did a flip. She was so pretty, he always thought that she was so pretty. But there was this pit in his stomach, sitting heavy there. The dread of having to tell her all of these things that happened just last night. All of the changes that were suddenly forced upon him. He didn’t want to keep it from her, mostly, because he knew that he couldn’t. She’d see the girl with him and figure out that something was happening. There was practically no way that he could continue dating her. It wasn’t fair to her, though, he knew. It wasn’t fair to anyone.

“Hey. I tried to find you on the express this morning but it was so packed.” he admitted with a sigh. He leaned in and kissed her forehead gently, lingering for a moment before pulling back into a sitting position. “How are you?” he asked her.

@kinsey

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Kinsey wasn't sensing anything weird with Riley's intentions, but after a few moments she realized that he wasn't smiling. He seemed a little more quiet than she expected as well. Maybe that wasn't the right word for it, but Kinsey was starting to wonder if something was wrong. He said that he looked for her on the train and she smiled, though she was watching him closely now. "It was really busy," she agreed, closing her eyes when he kissed her forehead. She felt, once more, his strong intentions of protecting her and ... being honest? He sat beside her and Kinsey turned to look at him, trying to figure out what was wrong. "I'm fine," Kinsey answered honestly. "Really glad to be back here. It's weird how this castle feels like more of a home than home does," she laughed softly, but figured he would understand. For one thing, he was here and that made Hogwarts much more appealing than her house. She loved being with him. "What about you?" Kinsey paused a moment and then added, "Is something wrong? You seem ... not yourself today." She wondered if he'd mind her asking, but then pushed those thoughts to the side. Riley wouldn't mind. 

@riley

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Kinsey told him that she was glad to be back and launched into explaining that the castle almost felt more like home than her home did and his heart raced as she spoke. He wasn’t going to be able to be there for her anymore, was he? He had promised her that he would always be there for her, he was protecting her, or so he told himself, he wasn’t sure how much protecting he had actually done besides the Diana thing. He felt like the worst person imaginable. But he didn’t know what else to do. “My family had a talk last night… the 4 of us all sat down. It was really serious.” he told her when she asked if something was wrong. He didn’t want to say it. In fact, every fiber of his being wanted to run.

@kinsey

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He was quiet as she spoke, not making any comments or agreeing or disagreeing with anything she said and Kinsey felt the sense of foreboding rise within her. Something really was happening. Either that or Riley was overly exhausted or something, but she felt her muscles start to clench as she waited for the blow. After her question, he seemed to hesitate and Kinsey watched him, searching his face for some sign of what was coming. When he spoke, her eyes widened a little. Something serious happened with his family. All of a sudden, Kinsey felt a sudden urge to flee and get away from here. She wasn't going to like this, was she? She meant to just wait for him to continue, but instead she whispered, "What happened?" Her hands found his, though she didn't look away from his face, and Kinsey squeezed a little. It was the only indication she noticed that gave away the fact that her anxiety was increasing by the second. She wanted to know, but at the same time she didn't.

@riley

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Riley felt the hands of the woman that he knew he loved more than probably anyone in the world squeeze his and he felt himself get emotional. He wasn’t someone who cried, ever. But right now, he felt like he could cry. This was all so heartbreaking to think about, and even harder to say, which was why he took another pause, a slightly longer pause. “Well, you know Lydia told them about you when we were in Switzerland. And they didn’t say anything about it then. Well they did last night…” he told her, looking at her, but wanting to look away. “They have decided that I am not able to make these decisions for myself… and have… set me up with a fiancee.” he told her, his voice trailing in and out.

@kinsey

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He wasn't answering again and Kinsey fought to keep her emotions in check as she waited. Kinsey knew he'd tell her what was going on in the next few minutes, but the wait was agonizing. She wanted to know what she could do to help, if there was anything she could do to get a smile back on Riley's face. Her heart skipped a beat when he mentioned Lydia telling his parents about them while on vacation. She nodded, bracing herself for the fact that whatever happened had something to do with their relationship. She kept her eyes on Riley's as he continued. They didn't like his decisions, okay. Her body froze at the last word he said. Fiancé. Riley was engaged. Her mind couldn't process the idea and so it stopped completely. Kinsey felt as though she was drowning, staring up at the sun above the water but unable to reach it. She couldn't understand what just happened. She heard the word echo through her mind again and she unfroze as she took in a shuddering breath. "Fiancé?" Her eyes searched Riley's. This couldn't be happening. This was all some sort of a bad dream. Yet, even as her mind refused to accept his words, she spoke again. "You're engaged?" her voice didn't sound like hers at all. It was shaky and breathless and horrified. She was losing Riley, wasn't she?

@riley

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He was hurting her and he hated it but he couldn’t see anything he could do about it at the moment. Really, there was nothing in his mind that would make this better. “Yes.” he admitted to her in a whisper, squeezing her hands back, happy that she hadn’t pulled them away. “I don’t love her though… I don’t want to be engaged to her but right now it doesn’t seem like I have a choice. There are so many people involved and our families are already planning and paying for wedding things… There’s just so much pressure to make this work.” he tried to explain but he couldn’t think of the right words to make all of it make sense. “I hate having to do this Kinsey, I’m in love with you. You know that, or I hope that you do. And i hope that you believe in. And believe me, if there was anything I could say to my parents to make this stop I would but I think I’m...stuck right now.” he admitted, his hands shaking a bit too.

@kinsey

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He answered her question and Kinsey sighed, moving to look down at their hands as she tried to gain her composure. She wasn't about to cry, surprisingly, but she didn't want Riley to see all the emotions that she was sure were crossing her face right now. She didn't want him to feel the guilt because she already knew he felt guilty. He continued to explain and as she listened she bit the inside of her cheek so hard it drew blood. Kinsey didn't care. She was losing Riley. He was going to marry some pureblood girl, despite the fact he didn't care about her. It all felt so wrong. Why would any parents force their child to marry someone they didn't care about? It made no sense to her, but it hurt all the same.

She gasped in realization right after he talked about the pressure he was under. "The girl who was with you outside the train," she breathed, "and at dinner." She wasn't asking a question. Kinsey knew she was right, that this girl was going to be the one to marry Riley. It was strange. She never really thought about marrying him or anything like that, but before this moment she did think of Riley as hers. He loved her. She loved him. That meant they were supposed to be together, right?

He was talking to Kinsey again, saying he hated this and that he loved her. She finally lifted her eyes to meet his again as he spoke. She was trembling, a fact she didn't realize until she started to answer him slowly. "I know you love me and I believe you would change this if you could" She bit her lip before continuing, each phrase coming out more slowly than the last. "I'm in love with you too. I know that probably makes everything harder, but it's true." Kinsey closed her eyes, not sure what came next. Was he going to leave already? She wasn't ready for that. She decided to ask another question. "So what does this mean for us? I mean, no more dating, but are we still friends? Or do we go back to being strangers?" her stomach twisted at the thought and Kinsey hoped she wouldn't get sick right now. Please no. Not when this could possibly be the last chance she had to be alone with Riley.

@riley

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“Yeah - that’ her.” Riley nodded. Kinsey probably knew the girl, at least by face. She went to school with them and was around their age. Riley hadn’t know her before last night, but he at least was able to recognize her and he knew her face when their parents introduced them over dinner. She was a nice enough girl, but she wasn’t someone that Riley would ever choose to spend a lot of time with. A casual conversation, sure, however, there was just something that didn’t click right. A puzzle piece that didn’t fit.

He was glad that she understood, but he was made that she had to try to understand. He was mad that he had to explain this to her. He was mad that he had to understand it himself. He was so frustrated that he had lost control over his own emotional life. He wasn’t allowed to feel love for the woman that he felt love for. He was forced to pretend or develop feelings for a person that he wasn’t romantically for physically attracted to. “We can still be friends… if you want. I’d like that. But I understand if you’re mad at me and you don’t want to see me.” the truth of the matter was, his parents had told him that he couldn’t keep Kinsey’s company anymore, and he knew this his new fiancee wouldn’t enjoy seeing her around, but he didn’t think he cared. She meant too much to him. "And my family doesn't want to see you around me." he admitted with a sigh.

@kinsey

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Kinsey swallowed hard, feeling like her insides were turning to ice when Riley confirmed her suspicions. He was engaged to that girl. Eventually, he'd be getting married to her. She didn't want to think about that, but how was she supposed to think about something else? She just found out that the guy she was in love with could never be hers. Everything was just so wrong. 

He said that they could still be friends, but that they didn't have to be if she didn't want to. She stared up at him, her eyes widening as her hand tightened around his. Wait. They were still holding hands? No wonder it was so easy to not be mad at him. She knew how sincere he was right now. "I'm not mad at you. This isn't your fault." Her eyes watered and Kinsey took a deep breath. She was about to say she wanted to be friends when he said that his family didn't want to see them together. "Maybe we could be secret friends?" Kinsey's voice was extremely quiet, but she didn't know if she could handle losing Riley entirely.

She glanced away from him, looking to the ground and biting her lip. "Can we pretend like nothing's changed, just until we have to go back?" Kinsey knew she shouldn't ask this, but she couldn't help herself. "Please. I just want to really be with you one last time." She just wanted him to wrap his arms around her one last time and pull her into a hug, but she didn't know how to ask him to do that. She looked up at him, desperate to know what he was thinking and what he would decide.

@riley

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He knew that this wasn’t his fault, but he still felt very, painfully responsible. He knew that his parents had gone ahead and made this decision without him, but he also knew that could have said no. He could have thrown some sort of fit and insisted that he wasn’t going to go along with it. However, by doing so, he wondered how his parents would react. He wasn’t sure that he was ready to make such a big statement and disassociate himself from his family. “Whatever you want.” Riley nodded when Kinsey brought up them being secret friends. He saw not reason, besides that fact that Lydia might not enjoy it, that he and Kinsey would have to sneak around with their friendship.

He looked at her as she spoke and he felt a small, soft smile come upon his lips as she asked if they could pretend that nothing happened until they had to go back to the castle. He nodded. “Sure.” He couldn’t see how anyone would get in trouble with anyone for this little request and, of course, he still wanted to be with her. He still wanted to be able to hold her and talk with her and b around her all of the time. He still wanted to be there for her and to watch out for her and to keep her safe. And he still would, though maybe just not as openly. He let go of her hand and opened his arms to her. He placed a gentle kiss on her head and just took in the feelings that she gave him.

(I think you can end it )
@kinsey

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Riley said he would do whatever she wanted and Kinsey could tell that he was trying to be as helpful as he could be. The problem was, she didn't want him to just go along with whatever she wanted. She wanted him to want it to. If he didn't want for them to still be friends, she didn't want to push it on him, but if he did she certainly wanted to be close. She nodded, but didn't say anything. Maybe it would be best for her to keep to herself for a while. At least, until she came to grips with the situation and what it would mean for her. She needed to find her own way to deal with it.

He started to smile when Kinsey asked if they could pretend nothing happened and the relief flooded through her. He opened his arms and Kinsey leaned in, allowing him to hold her and wrapping her own arms around his waist lightly. She was going to miss him. She would miss the safety she felt in his arms and the comfort and peace. He kissed the top of her head and she scooted closer, trying to memorize how it felt to have him so close to her. She was going to miss Riley so much.

When the bell rang, signaling that curfew was soon, Kinsey released him and pulled away. She looked up at Riley and forced a smile, though at the same time she felt as though her heart was shattering. "Thank you," she breathed. Then she stood and hurried to the common room, not wanting to cause him any problems by letting someone see them together. Once she made it to Ravenclaw Tower, she hurried to her dormitory and sank down on her bed, finally letting the tears loose.

@riley
(end? Or you can do one more if you want)