Sweet Freedom (Riley)

[Deleted]

February 26, 2025

They were letting her out! Kinsey was more than excited to get out of the hospital wing. She didn't want to be the center of attention any longer. As nice as it was to know that people cared about her, she was tired of having tons of people visiting. Kinsey just wanted to get out and go somewhere with Riley where she didn't have to deal with anyone else. She just wanted privacy and to relax and breathe and not think about what happened with Priscilla yesterday. Was it only yesterday? It felt like a lifetime.

The healers told her to come back if she felt more pain or if something didn't feel right and Kinsey nodded, agreeing easily. Once they told her she was good to go, she stepped over to Riley and took his hand. "Hey, can we go somewhere we can be alone? I don't really want to run into anyone right now," she muttered, glancing up at him. 

@riley

[Deleted]

A day later they were letting Kinsey out of the hospital wing and said that she would fully heal in no time if she just took it easy. Riley listened to every word that the healer told her and took it all in, he would make sure that she didn’t do anything to further hurt herself. He’d even carry her if he had too. But he knew that was a little dramatic. She was doing a lot better. Once they left the hospital wing, she asked if they could go somewhere where she wouldn’t run into people. Riley was skeptical, he wanted to get her up to her dorm to rest, but he knew how stubborn she was, so he agreed and lead her to the pond. The place he knew she wanted to go. The whole time they walked, he stayed constantly alert around him, Hogwarts just wasn’t safe anymore.

@kinsey

[Deleted]

Riley didn't say anything when she asked if they could go somewhere else. Instead, he lead her away, guiding her to the pond. Kinsey leaned against him, enjoying the chance to just be with him. She could sense how tense he was, but Kinsey didn't know what to say. She could sense his desire to protect her. It was different than what she'd ever felt from him before. It was a little stronger than before, or something. She sat down when they got to the bench. "Are you okay, Riley? I'm ... sorry I let myself be alone with her." Kinsey looked at the water in front of her, hoping Riley was in the mood to talk, even if it was just a little bit. 

@riley

[Deleted]

With everything that had happened to her, Riley could hardly believe Kinsey was asking him if he was okay. She was the one he was worried about, she was the one that she should be worried about. He didn’t want her worrying about him. “of course I’m okay, Kins. You’re the one who we should be focusing on.” He admitted, sitting with her and taking her hand, letting his fingers rub around on her palm while she looked at the water. “it’s not your fault that this happened, I don’t want you to feel like anyone is blaming you.” he insisted. “I just don’t feel safe here. Especially not for you. Priscilla might be gone but she has friends here, Lydia… there are others who might…” he couldn’t even bring himself to say it.

@kinsey

[Deleted]

Riley insisted that he was okay and that they should be focusing on her. She smiled, feeling his concern as he took her hand and rubbed her palm. "I think I've gotten enough attention for a while," she said, though she knew it wasn't over. The professors were already trying to find more time to talk to her about what happened with Priscilla. She didn't want to think about it. 

She listened, leaning closer to lean her head on Riley's shoulder when he said that it wasn't her fault and he didn't want her to feel like it was. Kinsey shook her head when he said he didn't feel safe. "No one would do anything else. Not after all the trouble Priscilla got herself into. Besides, the professors and everyone are watching me way closer. And I don't really plan on going anywhere on my own anymore." She squeezed his hand, a tiny bit of her nerves showing through. "It's okay Riley. Just a few more months, then we'll be graduating and out of here." 

@riley

[Deleted]

Riley knew that Kinsey would say all of this. He knew her too well. He knew that she would say everything to him that he would say to anyone else who asked. Everything he would end up telling her little sister when she asked him if it was safe for them to be here anymore. He knew it was a lie. It was all wishful thinking. “the professors can only do so much to stop people who don’t care about the consequences. These people don’t care if they get expelled, Kins.” he explained. They didn’t care about school. They didn’t need school to do what they all planned to do in the future. All of them were already rich enough not to need to work a day in their lives. “I think we should leave…” He admitted.

@kinsey

[Deleted]

Obviously Riley was very upset about this. Kinsey wasn't surprised when he argued back, saying the professors couldn't stop everyone, saying that some people didn't care about getting themselves into trouble. She couldn't argue that, after everything that happened with Priscilla. Her hand tightened around his as he continued to explain what he thought. But ... that's why she wouldn't be alone, right? She'd stay with people so she couldn't get into that kind of a situation again. Wouldn't that keep her safe? 

Then he said he thought they should leave. Kinsey turned to look in his eyes, frowning. "Leave? Leave ... Hogwarts?" Her eyes widened as understanding dawned. "Riley, but what about the rest of the year and exams? Where would we even go?" Her mind was racing as she tried to think through what he was suggesting. 

@riley

[Deleted]

Kinsey was confused by his suggestion and wanted to try to make sense of it. But that was just it, Riley was through with trying to make sense of anything. All he needed to make sense of was how he felt about Kinsey and what he was going to do to protect her. “I don’t care about exams, Kinsey. I care about you. We don’t need exams, we can still get jobs without the NEWTs.” he insisted. She asked where they would go and he shrugged. “Anywhere. Where ever. Hogwarts just isn’t safe. Even with Priscilla expelled...she’s not the only one who could come after you for this. The only way I can be sure that you’re safe is to take you away from here.” He sighed. “Run away with me, Kinsey?”

@kinsey

[Deleted]

Kinsey could hardly believe what Riley was saying. Since when did he not care about school? Or ... was he saying that he cared more about her than he cared about school? She wasn't entirely sure. He insisted that they could get jobs without taking the NEWT, but Kinsey frowned as he continued. She liked the idea of going away with him, of it just being the two of them, but the practical side of her rebelled against his suggestion. Their final exams were just months away. Getting a decent magical job would be much harder without the test results and ... she didn't quite want to leave. Despite what happened with Priscilla and how jumpy she felt now, she didn't want to leave Toby and her other friends. Then Riley asked her to run away with him. 

She sighed, "Riley, you know I want to be with you. I want to be safe with you and know that everything will be okay, but leaving school feels like the opposite of that. You ... don't have your family's wealth to rely on anymore. We'd have nowhere to go, no way to take care of ourselves." She turned to look at him, her eyes searching his. "Can't we just stay with one another as much as possible? And when we have to separate, I'll go with people we both trust? It's just a few months. Then, once we've finished school, I'll go wherever you want to go and we can find ways to take care of ourselves." That sounded much more logical to her. 

@riley

[Deleted]

Riley didn’t want any of that - he didn’t want to just stay as close to Kinsey as possible here at school and let her go with friends otherwise, he wanted to be as far away from everything and everyone as he could be. He wanted to go hide in some basement flat with an old muggle woman living on the main floor, or something. He wanted to avoid all things having to do with magic and this world until he knew it was safe for them again. He could work as a muggle, that wasn’t beneath him anymore. He didn’t need school, he didn’t need to be a part of this world… but she did. “There’s not changing your mind, is there?” he asked, defeated.

@kinsey

[Deleted]

Kinsey could see the disappointment on Riley's face. She could understand what he was saying, how it would be much safer for both of them if they weren't at school, but she just couldn't imagine leaving. She loved Hogwarts. Even with the terrible year she'd had, she couldn't imagine leaving the school before she had to. Her friends were there, not to mention that she really did want to take the tests. She wanted to succeed and prove that even though she was muggleborn she was good at magic and deserved to have it. That wasn't quite something that Riley could understand though. 

She leaned back from him, looking up to meet his eyes as her own softened. "Riley, I love you. I want to be with you for the rest of my life," she raised her hand to cup his cheek as she looked up at him. "But I also don't want to run away. I've spent so much of my life running and being scared. School is something I really care about, and I don't want to stop before I have to." She forced a smile as she looked up at him. "Please don't be angry at me for that. I just can't imagine leaving early ..." Kinsey trailed off, her mind going to Toby and Ana and the other friends she'd made, as well as her sisters. She didn't want to lose them before she had to either. "We can make it to graduation, then I'll go wherever you want, I promise. Is that okay?"

@riley

[Deleted]

Kinsey said that she didn’t want to run away and she wanted to stay at least until graduation and then she would do whatever he wanted, she said. He didn’t want her to just do whatever he wanted her to do, he wanted them to do what they wanted to do and he wanted them to be making this decision together. And he realized that he wasn’t letting her have any say and he was just trying to control the plan. He wanted Kinsey to be his life partner and right now he wasn’t being very good at being in a partnership - even if he was doing what he was doing with good intentions. “Okay Kinsey. We’ll make it until graduation.” he’d be on guard the whole time. But if that was what he had to do, he’d gladly do it.

@kinsey

End