The Second Heartbeat

The Great Hall was always noisy before dinner, but that evening, the sky added to the commotion.

Wind raged outside. November gales swept across Scotland, hurling rain against the stained-glass windows in a dense barrage of dull thuds.

Dark clouds covered the enchanted ceiling, with flashes of a thunderstorm flickering deep within them.

Candles swayed gently overhead, and now and then, ripples crossed the surface of the Pumpkin Juice in the cups.

Plenty of students were complaining about the weather—

A few Ravenclaw girls said they had planned to observe wild Magical Creatures by the Black Lake.

Wood of Gryffindor was worried the Quidditch pitch would flood.

At the Hufflepuff table, Justin and Ernie were arguing over whether weather like this would affect Owl deliveries.

Gavin sat at the edge of the long table with a half-full cup of Pumpkin Juice in his hand, lost in thought.

Before dinner, he had felt a heartbeat.

It was faint, half a beat behind, slipping between the beats of his usual steady pulse.

At first, he had thought it was palpitations—

An old problem from his previous life. As a child, he had often been unable to settle down because he could hear his own heart pounding.

For a long time, he had assumed everyone experienced it. Only much later had he learned they were palpitations, a sign that something was wrong with his heart.

He had a different body in this life, and the old problem had never returned. For a moment, he had thought he simply hadn't slept well.

Perhaps his heart had skipped a beat.

Then he pressed his fingers to his wrist and counted for half a minute.

That was when he realized—

One pulse came from his blood vessels—steady, regular, a normal sixty-odd beats per minute.

The other