"So…"
Lying in a bed at St. Brigid's General Hospital, Vale felt the aching of his chest. Standing in the brunt of a gas explosion exacted a heavy toll on the body.
'Luckily, I've only been hit by the shockwave. My Obscurus self protected my more fragile mortal coil from the more annoying burns.'
Funny how that worked.
What was once a death sentence had turned into something else. Something more. Vale was now an existence of two parts.
A human and an Obscurus.
'This is a good start, if I may suppose to the community of transmigrators.'
A small smile played at his lips as a shadow stirred beyond the curtains dividing him from the others in the pediatric ward. Vale quickly replaced his grin with an expression of confusion.
He had to act the part.
"Oh!"
A pleasant gasp.
"Mr Windrow, you're awake at last."
A nurse had walked through the curtains, likely here to change the IV drip connected to his arm. Vale saw her expression of gentle sympathy, feeling calmer in his heart.
"Hello, Ma'am. May I ask where I am?"
Feigning ignorance as if his smokey visage hadn't been monitoring his body the entire way here, Vale made sure that there were no cracks in his façade.
Vale focused on the nurse, her light brown hair pulled back in a neat bun. He studied her nametag, "Nora." A kind smile danced on her lips as she approached.
"St. Brigid's," she replied, adjusting the IV line. "You've been here since the explosion. We were worried when you didn't wake up."
Vale let the words sink in, like a pebble dropped into a pond. The ripples of his earlier chaos lingered just beneath the surface.
"I remember…" His voice trailed off, uncertain of how much to reveal.
Nora glanced up from her task, concern etched across her face. "It's alright if you don't recall everything right now. Trauma can do that."
He nodded slowly, absorbing her empathy while feigning vulnerability. This was a game he could play.
"What about my—" Vale hesitated, allowing uncertainty to color his tone, "my family?"
"Your foster parents? They're being treated too," Nora said softly. "They're stable but unconscious." She paused, then continued in a hushed tone, "The authorities are involved since it was quite an incident."
Authorities.
Vale felt a flicker of dread coil in his gut. He knew what that meant; they would want answers he wasn't ready to give.
"I see," he murmured, trying to mask the sudden shift in his emotions with practiced indifference.
"Rest is essential for recovery," Nora said as she adjusted his blanket with gentle hands. "You'll be able to see them soon enough."
Vale watched her move about the room and felt an odd mix of gratitude and guilt swell within him. This nurse showed compassion for people who had hurt him so deeply. But Vale couldn't dwell on that now; he had to think strategically.
"Can I get some water?" he asked casually, feigning thirst as if it were simply a mundane request.
"Of course!" Nora brightened at the simple task and left to fetch it.
Once alone, Vale closed his eyes briefly and considered his next steps in this situation.
Footsteps echoed down the hall outside the room, breaking through Vale's thoughts like shards of glass against silence. He strained to listen; voices murmured low and difficult to perceive.
Just barely, he heard a single, pivotal name.
'Dumbledore…'
Vale swallowed hard.
'So they chose this moment to act…'
It was odd. There was still time before the summer before his supposed first year.
Feeling the smoke seeping through his skin, Vale opted for further suppression. Either way, the Obscurus and the Obscurial shared one soul.
His soul.
Vale was therefore, aptly in command.
He thus laid back against the pillows, his mind raced with possibilities as he awaited the arrival of that unfamiliar voice.
The air in the hospital room felt thick with anticipation, the lingering scents of antiseptic mingling with the faint undertone of fear that had accompanied him since his awakening.
'They'll want to understand me. But they can't—'
Vale's thoughts spiralled as he pictured Snape entering, cloaked in black robes like a spectre emerging from shadows. The Potions Master would not come bearing comfort; instead, he carried suspicion in every sharp line of his face.
'It seems like I must tread… carefully yet with clear intentions.'
A soft knock interrupted Vale's reverie, and the door creaked open slowly. Snape stepped inside, dark eyes scanning the ward before settling on Vale through the opened curtains with an intensity that made him shiver.
"Windrow,"
Snape said, voice smooth but edged like a blade. He crossed his arms, walking past the doorframe and appearing before him, inches away from his bed.
"I trust you've managed to gather your thoughts after your… outburst."
Vale straightened slightly, masking his unease behind an air of indifference.
"You mean my rescue attempt?"
Snape arched an eyebrow, unimpressed.
"…You are a child who knows not of the power you've utilised. The destruction you wrought has garnered attention — unwanted attention."
With a wave of his hand, something about the room changed. A silencing spell perhaps?
Vale took a breath and studied Snape's expression for signs of judgment or pity. There was only calculation — a cold appraisal that left little room for misinterpretation.
"Based off the aftermath, it seems as if your ability is not without consequence,"
Snape continued, his voice low and steady as if sharing a secret in a crowded hall.
"Can you… control it?"
Vale shifted slightly under Snape's scrutiny, recalling flashes of chaos—the mist swirling around him like an extension of himself during that moment of incoherence.
His transmigration had caused the mist to surge without warning… but it also felt instinctual, natural even.
"I have control,"
Vale stated firmly, though doubt clawed at the edges of his tone.
His act was perfect
"Control is relative."
Snape moved closer now, each step measured. as he regarded Vale with unwavering intensity.
"You'll be coming with me."