Isla stayed silent, her eyes closing as she did everything possible to focus. She'd been lying to him.

She knew that.

This was her fault.

She couldn't argue back or be mad at him for reacting to what she admitted.

''You were with him?'' His shoulders sunk, and his features shredded in disbelief, ''When you said you weren't?''

She didn't see a point in lying anymore, so she simply nodded, her head bowed slowly.

''You lied to me?'' He hissed. His teeth gritted, ''You fucking lied to me? When I was honest with you. When I fucking—'' Theo's hand flew to his own jaw as his fingers brushed along it, scratching it doubtfully.

''I was fucking honest with you,'' He yelled, throwing his arms out, feeling more than defeated, ''I was fucking honest with you, every fucking time! And you lie to me?''

It ripped through her, and she couldn't look at him anymore.

Feeling how the bodies around her moved, yet she couldn't. Isla felt utterly numb, and it was all her fault — she knew she made a mistake in lying to him, not being honest with either of them.

''I wouldn't have fucking cared. I hope you know that—'' He spat, growing impatient with her quiet self. He took another step back, ''I hope you fucking know that I wouldn't have cared if you fucked him before me. I asked you to be honest, and you lied.''

''No—'' The panic rocked within her, feeling her body weaken as her bones were kept on the tipping point of caving, ''It wasn't like that, he was using me—''

''Like I used you?'' Theodore seethed, his eyes darkened, flashes of evil in his pupils as they'd blown. His every muscle tensed, ''Like you accused me of using you? Because it looks to me like you used us.''

She stepped forward, desperate for him to listen to her. Her eyes glinted in tears, ''Theo—''

''Don't you fucking dare try to make me feel guilty right now,'' He rasped, his fingers tugged at his collar, and his face held a snide look. He tried so hard not to show it, but it indeed hurt.

It pained him to know that she used him too. That he truly believed that he was the one in the wrong and the things he'd do to make it right with her when it was her — her lying to him.

''Theodore, please—'' Isla gulped. Her hands grasping at his as they were constantly nudged by people around them, ''Listen to me, I didn't—''

Shaking his head at her, he looked away. He couldn't look at her anymore.

Perhaps it was the alcohol running through his veins, intoxicating his clear mind, or maybe it was the simple feeling of him using other people, to begin with, only to be the one being played with.

''I can—'' She didn't know what to say. All she knew was that she had to say something. He'd leave her if she didn't, and she couldn't have that.

She couldn't let him leave.

''I can explain, please—'' Isla was begging him now, pleading for him to show her a bit of mercy in the coldness he brought, but he couldn't. He didn't want to.

Theodore couldn't risk getting hurt.

His hands wrapped around hers as he pried her off him, bending her arms down between them and staring blankly at her. Not wishing for her to touch him at all.

''Does he know?'' Theo kept his stare hooked on her, woefully, studying those small twitches in her expression and her heart as it beat out of control in her chest, ''Does he fucking—''

''No!'' Isla shouted back, her hands moved to her hair, tugging at it as she shoed back, ''He doesn't know anything about us.''

Theo laughed, maniacally almost, his white teeth showed, ''So you lied to him too? Because I'm damn sure he asked.''

The silence trickled them again. The music blasting wasn't heard. Nothing more than that frustrating trimmed noise echoed in her head. She could barely hear him.

''You know what?'' Sharpening his jaws as he sighed loudly, ''I'm done.''

It shot through her. Even if the room surrounding her had faded, it still bolted — hit her like lightning from a clear sky, right into her chest. It stung, burnt as she tried to keep her wasted self together.

Rolling his shoulders as he cracked his neck, ''We're fucking done,'' Theodore growled, towering over her as her skin numbed more for every second that passed, ''I don't know what the fuck this was, but I don't want anything to do with it. I'm fucking done with you and your little games.''

Her sight grounded, her chin dropped.

''And to fucking think you were one of the good ones? I'm pathetic for doing so, so fucking weak for giving you a chance,'' He didn't touch her. Not once did his body collide with hers, yet it felt to her as if he was stabbing her over and over.

Driving a weapon through her with his words, making her head spin and her ears pound.

It was her fault.

It was her fault.

It was her fault.

She knew that.

''I'm done, Clarke,'' He was on the aim to walk away. To keep that bitter look on his face and leave her in pieces on the dance floor she'd dragged him onto.

Yet it bothered him, doing so. He wasn't this person — far from it.

He was nothing like this, nothing similar to what his best friend was, still he acted exactly how Draco would've, and it made him sick, nauseous.

Theodore didn't want to leave her. He didn't want to walk away from her in the dimmed room and let her handle herself. She wasn't capable, he'd know. He was the one to tuck her into bed after she got in over her head the last time.

But he couldn't look at her. He couldn't bear to see her in front of him in that dress and with that angelic face of hers. It made it all too hard, knowing that she'd lied to him, broken his trust even if he gave her a chance to be truthful.

He felt like a fool, more than it — he'd been with her for a few weeks. Their tension had only grown for a few months, but it was intense. He couldn't deny it. Theo felt as if he was drawn to her, pulled into that pure embrace surrounding her.

Isla truly was addicting, but he needed to cut the supply off before he became dependent.

''Please—'' Isla pleaded again, her hands desperately grasped at his shoulders, trying to make him stay. She didn't want him to leave before she could explain herself, ''Theo, please—''

''What the fuck is going on here?''

Not recognizing the voice at first as she stumbled back as Theodore withdrew from where he was going. His head thrown back, groaning so loud that it crossed the blasting music.

''What do you want, Malfoy?'' Theodore shrugged, standing tall in between him and Isla, ''What can you possibly want now?''

Draco scowled, narrowing his eyes at his best friend as he shot him a dangerous stare, ''What the fuck is this?'' His teeth gritted, tilting his head to watch her stand behind the brunet, ''Is this what you do, Clarke? Fuck around and make us—''

Theo's head cocked to the side, slightly as he sucked his lower lip between his teeth, ''So you know, yeah?'' He spat, rambling the words now, ''You know that we fucked—''

Theodore stumbled back, nearly right into her as Draco's fists pushed into his chest violently, ''What the fuck did you just say?'' Draco shouted, positioning himself to shove his friend back yet again, ''What the fuck did you just say to me, Nott? You did what?''

Theodore kept his lip sucked in, biting down on it as he smirked, dragging a ring-clad finger through his hair and his chest flexed underneath the unbuttoned shirt, ''What?'' He grinned provokingly, ''She didn't tell you I fucked her?''

Isla gasped behind them, pinching her lashes shut and taking in a deep breath. Her skin shivered as she felt stars around her as they prickled.

''You fucking—'' Draco aimed again, his fingers curled into fists, and he sharpened his jaws, taking it into consideration that Isla was standing behind them, ''You know she was a—''

He faltered, his eyes snapped to hers, and he noticed the panicking flash within them, how struck she looked out of what she knew he'd say, but her lips parted, meaning to speak against, to say something — not a word fled her throat.

Piercing his stare through Theodore again, watching his brows as they knitted and his lips falling parted, ''You knew she was a fucking virgin, right? How stupid are you—''

Theodore's veins iced. His breaths hitched in the back of his throat, and he, without a second thought, stretched an arm between him and Malfoy, gripping him by the collar of his shirt and shoving him back into the crowd around them.

Turning around, Theo paralleled her height, arching his spine to be at her level and his palms cupped her jaws, bending her chin up to face him, ''Yeah?'' He gritted, fury flourished around him, ''You were a damn virgin, and you didn't say anything—''

''I shouldn't have to!'' Isla yanked her head back, shaking it as his arms dropped to his sides, ''What I do with my body should be my choice. If I am a—''

It was a slight pause in her talking, filled with the bolting music around them.

''If I haven't done what we did with someone else, it's not your business, that's up to me and for you to just—'' Nearly as she came to a realization of something, she took a step back, ''You said you used me after we slept together, and then you try to seduce me as if nothing happened, but I'm the only one in the wrong?''

Isla's head cleared if so only for a minute.

''You're no better than me, Theodore. You used me, and then you find something to be mad at me for, justifying yourself and your actions and I don't—'' She heaved, out of breath from speaking loudly, ''I know that I lied and I shouldn't have, but you used me—''

''Get out,'' Theodore hewed her off, making her head snap and her eyes broad, ''I said get the fuck out of here, right now.''

''You can't just—''

Isla flinched as he moved closer, and he peered around before locking his eyes at the target he'd been searching for. She didn't leave, she simply stood in front of him, petrified, and he groaned below his breath.

''Well—'' Theodore spat furiously, ''If you're not leaving, I will.''

Storming away from her, she watched how he pushed himself through the mass of students still dancing as if nothing happened around them, and her lower lip quivered, seeing as he snatched the girl he said he wouldn't be with anymore, by the arm.

Theodore dragged her out of the common room heedlessly.

Isla couldn't move, alcohol soared through her, and her eyelids battled the pearls of tears she felt. It felt as if her sanity left her body. She couldn't possibly feel more betrayed or confused as she did now.

Not knowing how everything could go so wrong within the short time it did, she winced back, feeling a hand as it yanked at her shoulder.

Her hues flickered, snapping up the blond boy hovering behind her, and he looked at her as if he could lose it.

His sight gazed, followed the brunet, drawing the Hufflepuff girl with him out the door, and his teeth could shatter right there and then if he didn't know better.

''Clarke,'' Draco mumbled, still having a harsh hold of her as he pressed his chest into her spine, lowering his head to level the shell of her ear, ''You don't have to be here. Let me take you back to your room—''

''You knew, didn't you?'' Isla whispered, airy, and he almost had to guess what she was saying, ''You knew he was using me, didn't you? You warned me about him, so you had to know he'd do this.''

The grey eyes looked away, and he stared vacantly out over the moving bodies. He didn't understand why, but a lump began to form in the back of his throat, ''Clarke...''

''Stop it!'' Isla choked out, forcing her elbows back to create space between them, ''You knew he was using me, but why? Why would he do that—''

She turned around, comprehending what all of this was about, ''He said last time...'' She stared right through him, and that flicker in her eyes pained him, ''He said like you did last time, taking his seconds, he—''

Squinting as the green lights came upon her, ''You took Pansy from him, didn't you? And now, when we talked, he wanted to make you jealous, didn't he? He... he used me to make you jealous.''

Draco didn't say a word. His hands in his pockets as his shoulders straightened.

''The astronomy tower, did he know you'd be there? With Pansy that night? The kitchen? He knew you'd run after, didn't he?'' Her voice crackled, and she shook her head, hair spilling all around her, ''I'm so stupid...''

Ache shot through her, and she began to step back, her body trembling, ''He knew all of it, all along, and that's why you warned me, wasn't it?'' Her chest tightened, ''You knew he'd do this to me.''

''Clarke—'' Draco reached a hand out, trying to get a hold of her, but Isla simply jerked back, escaping the touch he brought, ''Clarke, for fucks sake—''

''Don't—'' Isla hissed, moving further away, ''Don't, just leave me alone, both of you.''

Dividing his lips as he meant to speak back, to stop her from running away, but he couldn't. He knew what she said was right, and he couldn't argue that. It wouldn't matter to her even if he did.

She had her mind set. She was clear that this was how she wanted it to be, she didn't wish for him to be close to her, and he didn't want to invade her privacy even more.

He scanned her body, head to toe, as she marched away from him, tripping between the moving shoulders of students around her until both of her palms struck the drink table, gripping a bottle and leaving the common room altogether.

Isla didn't want to be there anymore, near anyone, as she stormed down the dimmed hallways. Her chest felt so heavy, restricted almost as she stopped, her spine collided with a rock-covered wall, and she let herself slip down it.

Tearing the stopper of the flask open and pouring the liquid down her throat as her head tilted. It felt to her as if she was being trapped in a faint reality — she couldn't understand a thing as she slackened in her position, and the world around her slowly faded.

''Clarke...'' Malfoy mumbled, finding her sleeping self as she still leaned against the stone, ''Oh for God's sake, Clarke, how much did you drink?'' He growled out disappointingly. His note stern, ''Clarke, look at me.''

She didn't.

Her head fell back as he caught her jaws, bringing her up to match him, ''Clarke, do you even—'' He shook his head, and a sickly waver of doubt rushed through him, ''Damn it.''

Draco gazed around, not noticing a soul in sight at the late hour, and he cursed to himself, severely underneath her breath.

She had no possibility to feel the chilled hands as he wrapped his arms around her after searching for her when she failed to return. Her head heavy and her eyes blurry as she tried to focus on the blond strands holding in a mess over his forehead.

Draco carried her back to her room, gently placing her in between the pearly sheets as he tucked her in. Isla sat up unconsciously, and she dragged the fabric of her dress over her head, throwing the material straight at the floor without hesitation.

Gaping at her wide-eyed, he looked away awkwardly. He didn't quite know how to react as he bent back up, but she was quick to counter his restrained movements.

''Don't go, please,'' She said, bluntly, her voice lacked sense, ''I don't—'' Gulping on a hiccup, as she tipped her head to the side, ''I don't want to sleep alone tonight.''

Her hand around his arm loosened as she fell back over her sheets, patting her mattress, ''Please, don't go.''

''Clarke, I don't think—'' He hushed himself, hearing her breaths as they slowed, and he couldn't understand why she wanted him to stay. He'd done nothing but hurt her, along with the fact she slept with his best friend and lied about it.

Malfoy craved to be mad about that — furious to say at least, yet he couldn't. In no right mind would he blame her for being dishonest. Even if he had the capabilities to watch her mind, he'd never hold it against her.

It made his blood boil and his skin fume, knowing that Theodore had her in ways he didn't, but that wasn't her fault.

She lied, indeed — but he could choose his battles. Draco didn't need to bring more harm upon her. He'd mocked her about Cedric, the person she'd once loved, and he'd treated her terribly.

He wasn't a fool. He was fully aware of what he'd been doing to her. How he'd treated her, but he couldn't manage the thought of letting someone in.

It caused him to despise himself, nauseous within the coat of his own skin, but he couldn't — to him, it was as simple as that.

His face mantled a cold cloak as he felt her hand slip off him entirely, ''I should go, Clarke, it's late, and you're drunk.'' He spoke with severity, ''I'll check up on you in the morning.''

''Okay then...'' Isla huffed out a whisper, tucking her hand underneath her pillow as her leg wrapped around the covers, exposing her soft skin.

He could crumble right there and then by the look of her skin, knowing what it feels like — taste similar too.

''Okay then,'' It took everything off him to clench his jaws and turn around, not giving into the girl on edge to sleep.

Draco walked out, closing the door and locking it with magic so that no one she didn't wish to enter — could.

_____