"Looks like we'll have to turn around," Eden stated the obvious to her red-faced, out of breath running buddy, halting her run a few feet away from the gates to the grounds. Two winged boars stood guard against the the dark November sky. It wasn't even seven in the morning, and the sun had barely began to rise. The air was cold and damp.

Eden found like the bleak weather exactly appropriate for the current mood around school.

Two months had passed and she hated Hogwarts. No amount of cool magic castle could compensate for the daily injustice she experienced. Running had become her outlet. At first, they'd been little sprints and short jogs before breakfast; now she woke up to a dark sky and was out here for hours, some mornings until she vomited. It kept her kindling anger at bay throughout the school day. In the evenings she could try and learn magic (and French - she'd heard there was another magical school in France) by herself. And hang out with her friends, most notably Quinn. He was the first friend she'd made here and Hogwarts had provided them both with lots of shared trauma to bond over.

She'd invited him out for a run this morning.

"How are you feeling?" Because he wasn't performing very well. Eden had to slow down to keep up. These thoughts were unfair, and rude, but Eden wasn't a very gracious person, and she thought he had a lot of work to do. Her love language was being critical, okay? "We made it a pretty good ways out, ay?"