🖇·˚ ༘ ┊͙[ chapter seven ] ! ˊˎ

╰─▸ lies, whispers, and breaking point

     DETENTION WAS THE LAST PLACE I WANTED to spend my Friday night and yet, I didn't hate it as much as I had thought. I still disliked it and would have much rather not have spent it that way, and that's important to note.

     We had watched the last few students vacate the library, Madam Pince had left long before that.

     Now, the halls were silent. Completely. Everyone had called it a night and the castle itself felt as though it was asleep; not even the prefects were roaming around this late. I strolled to the dungeons, yawning constantly as the sun sank lower in the sky, the light of day draining away, giving way to the velvety dark of night. And soon it grew to complete darkness, a close silence in the dim night light. I was exhausted and yet, seeing the halls so harmonious brought peace to my body and I could sense all the thoughts that were rooted at the back of my mind slowly fade away.

     I slumped down onto one of the leather couches in the very empty common room, by the fire and checked the green, metal clock on the wall that read 12:47 pm. My bed sounded nice, but so did aimlessly staring out into the black lake that was hidden behind the glass of the Slytherin common room. I liked to watch the seaweed sway and the squids fly by.

     "Took you long enough." I heard a voice say from the stairs that lead to the dormitories.

     "What's it to you, Marc?" I said, immediately recognizing the voice as he stepped out of the shadows.

     "I'm just saying, what sort of detention takes five hours?" he asked, slouching down next to me.

     "Re-shelving the library apparently." I rolled my eyes.

     "Were you alone?"

     "Does that matter?" I laughed.

     "No, I'm just asking. Can't have our Captain being distracted with boys, now can we?" he joked.

     "You're a guy," I said, questioning whatever point he was trying to make. "If you're worried about distractions, then you can relax. I'm not one for romance."

     "No of course you're not." he laughed.

     I was planning on staring into an abyss of murky water and watch my night slip away with my thoughts and I was planning on spending it alone. I liked Marcus. Of course, I did. We had both been on the Quidditch team since our first year. Sure, he can be a bit of a prick sometimes, but I can't exactly talk. Now he was here, I didn't see the point of staying.

     "Okay well, I've had a long night. Night Marc." I smiled softly and began making my way to the steps he had been on not too long ago, when I turned back to him, "and yes, I was alone." I lied. He smiled back to me and I walked into my dorm carefully and quietly.

     I'm still not sure why I lied and yet I didn't regret it. Marcus didn't need to know I smiled at a Hufflepuff or even that I spent my detention with Hufflepuff. It was nothing anyway, so why bother boring him with useless information that he would most likely re-interpret.

     What he doesn't know, won't hurt him.

' ੈ˚ ❃ 

     I HAD ALWAYS BEEN A MORNING PERSON.

     The curtains add an orange glow to the morning light and as I awoke I was met with the same perfect sunrise I did every morning. Too bad I wasn't in the mood to appreciate it. A new day had begun. As I dragged myself out of bed, feeling a little of those golden rays soak into my skin, I trudged to the bathroom; the two girls still peacefully sleeping. I felt no need to wake them, nor did they probably, so I thought it best to make my own way to breakfast.

     I didn't expect the great hall to be as lively as it was this time of day as I drooped down onto the bench at the end of the Slytherin table.

     I served myself some cereal and glanced up only briefly where I caught a glimpse of a brunette Hufflepuff, laughing away with his friends. For a second he looked back too and our eyes locked. I could still make out the alluring pools of brown even from the distance between us. A few of his friends did the same and almost immediately after they spotted me began talking to each other and finding whatever each other were saying hysterical. Cedric nudged one of them as if to tell them to stop. Their faces dropped almost confused and yet continued to laugh away about something else. Cedric then proceeded to look back where he offered me a tentative smile that was sweet in every way. Me being the awkward self I am, I sort of returned a pathetic smile back.

     I served myself some breakfast and watched as others laughed away together and more and more people showed up in the hall for their own meal. I didn't in fact feel sorry for myself as I stared into the nails and patterns of the wood carved into the bench I was sitting at.

     "Dufftown? That's not far from here." I heard Granger tell a group of Gryffindors all huddled around a newspaper.

     "You don't think he'd come to Hogwarts, do you?" another said.

     "With dementors at every entrance?"

     "Dementors?" one asked.

     "He slipped past them once. Who's to say he won't do it again?" I think the Finnigan one said.

     The start of school had me annoyed that Sirius Black was all everyone spoke about. But now it had become too much. I had bottled up so many emotions inside of me that they came out to make me look as though I was unbothered by the fact my so-called 'psycho' of an Uncle had escaped the so-called most protected prison in the Wizarding world. But I wasn't. I was really bothered. It felt as though all the emotions I had so well kept trapped inside of me were about to blow. One more ounce of pressure and the volcano would erupt.

     "That's right. Black could be anywhere. It's like trying to catch smoke. Like trying to catch smoke with your bare hands." another said.

     It hurt the most when all of them turned to look at me, one by one. Normally my way to cope with these sorts of people is to scowl at them in hopes they would get uncomfortable and look away. Except I felt vulnerable and sensitive, so instead, I looked away, finishing my cereal as quickly as possible. I couldn't bear the stares any longer.

     I didn't know anything about my Uncle's whereabouts, and I didn't want to find out. If Will and I ever got involved in the Ministry, I wouldn't know what to do.

     Eventually, a few looked away, but I had finished my food. I dropped the spoon onto the rim of the bowl harshly, grabbed my bag, and sped out of the room.

     The magma was rising higher and higher and I could feel it as I paced around the corridor, a few times, unsure of what to do with myself.

     I was still hungry, but I couldn't face going back to the great hall again. I could go back to my dorm, but I didn't have very long until the first period started. I could go and find Ava and Spencer, but what would I tell them? I'm too coward to face all the stares because I just so happen to be the most wanted man in the wizarding world's niece?

     It was infuriating.

     Defence against the Dark Arts seemed like the most comforting place to be. My uncle talked about Remus Lupin a lot and I was dying to finally meet him. Maybe he could be the one person I could talk to about everything.

      I was heading across the courtyard, when I heard footsteps behind me. I sped up. I couldn't let them reach me. I felt as though any more human interaction could be the reason the eruption of emotions happened too soon.

     "y/n!" I immediately recognized the annoyingly sweet voice getting louder from behind me. I almost wanted to stop.  "y/n, wait up!"

     "Yes, Diggory?" I asked, sternly, trying to keep the fury at bay.

     "Oh, I see we're still on the last name basis then . . ." he mumbled.

     "Of course we are, we're not friends," I said bluntly. I didn't want to be rude. Just when I felt as though I could see myself possibly warming up to someone, I could see myself fucking it up like I always did.

     "Right, no of course not." he brushed it off. "Is everything okay?" he asked softly.

     "Oh, fantastic. Thanks for asking." I turned on my heels and began walking away when he grabbed my arm.

     "I heard about your uncle . . ." his voice sounded comforting and yet any mention of Sirius added to the rage and irritation and pain that I felt.

     "Oh yeah? What did you hear exactly?" I asked, trying to keep my composure.

      "That he escaped . . ." he trailed off, looking down.

     "Okay, great." I said sarcastically, "Is that all you wanted to say to me?"

     "I just wanted to see if you were okay." I furrowed my eyebrows, wondering where he was going, "I understand how it must fe-"

     "No, you don't!"

     The magma had risen too high.

     "You wanna tell me that your family isn't perfect? You wanna tell me that your future isn't all laid out in front of you because you're this impeccable student that everyone looks up to? And yet you have the audacity to come over here and tell me you can relate to what I'm going through? Because no. No, you don't know how it feels!" he looked slightly taken aback as I let my volcano of emotions spill out of me as the tears fell down my cheek. "People stare at you because you're good-looking not because your uncle has escaped from prison."

    "I-I n-no," he stammered, "you misunderstood-"

     "Just, don't. Please."

     Sometimes, it's okay to run away.