Lumos Maxima

[Qingying]

He almost laughed.

“It’s… difficult.”

[Young Lawrence Keelan]

Laurie's eyebrows arched. "What's difficult?"

[Qingying]

He turned away a bit as he thought, and then he raised a hand.
“Please don’t take this the wrong way or very personally but…
I can’t really… take such an offer without thinking ‘does the other person want something’… or because of some other reason, such as a need to extend oneself in such a situation…” He shook his head.

[Young Lawrence Keelan]

"I know the feeling," his lips twisted ruefully. "It's not about that, though. I guess, it just, it might be nice not to put an act on all the time. For, you know, for both of us. Nevermind, it's stupid." He laughed and waved his hand.

[Qingying]

He smiled.
“I don’t think anything is stupid.” His voice was soft and earnest.

[Young Lawrence Keelan]

Laurie pursed his lips, nodding. "So, you'll stay?"

[Qingying]

He sidestepped a little, long material of his clothing swishing.
“Is it anticlimactic to say I wouldn’t have left?” He asked with a very lightly teasing smile.

[Young Lawrence Keelan]

"You know what I mean," Laurie replied dryly.

[Qingying]

Qingying had a feeling this kind of exchange between them would be quite common in the future.

He smiled, eyes curving. “Thanks.”

[Young Lawrence Keelan]

"Any time," Laurie gave him a smile back, restrained as always.

[Qingying]

Qingying turned around and headed into the tree-room, pausing and turning in the doorway.
"Still don't want to come in?"
The amber orbs began to float towards the light shining out of the door.

[Young Lawrence Keelan]

Laurie shoved his hands into his robe pockets, fingers curling around his wand, and he rose to his feet. After a few seconds he followed Qingying inside.

[Qingying]

It was warmer inside, the cold unable to enter through the open door. Qingying went to tend to the items on the counter as the lighting orbs returned to their original places. Shuang followed Laurie and settled beside him.

“There were five of us,” Qingying said, his back to Laurie. “Two from Ravenclaw, one from Hufflepuff, one from Gryffindor, and one from Slytherin. Slytherin was more exclusive back then, and after the International Statute of Secrecy came into effect, many opinions on 'muggle-borns' changed, so Sabrina only joined us in second year, in this place we called the Treehouse.” He chuckled. “We spoke often before that, but it wasn’t very convenient for her – and having friends who were not of her house and even 'muggle-born' was looked down upon, so she usually only came when others didn’t know.” He returned a plate with his hand before turning back around and leaned on the counter, an amused smile on his face.

“We got up to quite the mischief here, after finding this place. We added all sorts of stuff, and kept adding charms as we progressed through the school. Even after becoming prefects and Quidditch captains, we still hung out here at night, secretly chatting and doing homework, and eating snacks.”

[Young Lawrence Keelan]

"It sounds nice," Laurie admitted, reaching out to touch the little fluff by his shoulder. "Like an escape."

[Qingying]

“Mhm,” Qingying agreed. “Many students find their own escapes at Hogwarts.” To some, Hogwarts was the escape. “Then I came back after a few years to teach and could come and go as I pleased, so I spent some time in here. It’s become a little sanctuary.”

The orb was still moderately warm, and Laurie could feel no texture when he touched it except the sensation that his hand was surrounded by softness – how a child might imagine a cloud would feel. There was no surface, but his hand still stopped at a certain point and naturally did not press down further; Shuang’s ‘body’ being present there.

[Young Lawrence Keelan]

"Yeah," Laurie nodded quietly, almost certainly one such person. He unconsciously petted Shuang.

[Qingying]

Shuang floated a bit closer to him at his touch.

The bed moved itself forwards as Qingying walked towards the wall beside the head of it, and then a panel of wall slid aside to reveal five miniature, arched wooden doors with decorations – one door for each of the students who used to occupy this tree.

“Your brother, Mahra…” Qingying looked over at Laurie as he gestured at them, and each door grew bigger (squishing aside the others) to become human-sized and then vanished to show what was inside before the next door’s turn. Even without entering them, Laurie could see they each contained open space but also neatly held all sorts of things, such as tables and piles and piles of paper and a variety of colourful crafting materials, a glimpse of a cauldron, lines of bookshelves, sofas, lit windows, small trinkets and artefacts, easel and canvas. Everything was organised and, unlike storage spaces, each room looked like somewhere one could stay and comfortably take part in activities. Either the students had a wide variety of interests, or Qingying did.
“Would he like some toys?” Qingying wondered, and then smiled. “I like to make things.”

[Young Lawrence Keelan]

Laurie grimaced at the mention of his brother, tensing up all over again. "You know about Mahra," he mumbled.

[Qingying]

"Yeah." He nodded.

[Young Lawrence Keelan]

"What do you know?"

[Qingying]

Qingying took a seat on the bed and lay his hands neatly on his lap.
“That he is currently at St. Mungos, and he likes small things to play with and look at…” He tilted his head, hair falling to the side. “And you care for each other a lot.”

[Young Lawrence Keelan]

Laurie gazed at the ground. "Yeah."

[Qingying]

Qingying extended a hand as a gesture to invite Laurie into the rooms.

[Young Lawrence Keelan]

It would have been impossible for Qingying not to notice Laurie was practically about to explode under the pressure of the tension keeping his body in a vice grip. He crossed into the room at a brisk pace, coming to a stop just in front of Qingying. He leaned against the wall, crossing his arms, and fixed him with a deliberately indifferent look. "Yeah, uh, Mahra, he, uh, he likes little stuff like, like that."

[Qingying]

The room he’d entered had a dark blue ceiling of moving constellations.
“Do you want to go back to the school?” Qingying asked him.