it all ends with us: ruins

036

Chapter Thirty-Six:

"Cause of death? A broken heart."

Sunflowers. When Atlas woke up the next morning her room was filled with her favourite flower. They were all over the floor, the desks, the bathroom and some were even hanging from the ceiling. The smell of pollen wafted through the air. Atlas tiptoed through the room while getting ready, carefully trying to avoid stepping on the flowers. From the corner of her eye she spots a note on one of the stems.

Hey love, hope you like the flowers. Might've gone a little overboard though ;) - Your favourite person ever, Theo.

Atlas stepped out of the room with a grin on her face. She looked around the common room for a familiar messy brown haired boy. She searched the common room and couldn't find any signs of Theo so she decided to head to the Slytherin dorms to go and find him. The second she stepped out of the door two figures tried to sneak up behind her.

"Boo!" Theo yells from behind her, making Atlas laugh.

"What the hell Theo?" Atlas laughs while Lorenzo walks to stand on the other side of her.

"What?" He asks innocently.

"All the sunflowers?" She tells him.

"You said they were your favourite flower." He answers confidently.

"I didn't need a thousand of them." She nudges him softly.

"Actually there's two hundred and sixty-three." Lorenzo announces confidently. "I counted them myself."

"Thank you both." She replies genuinely.

"Your welcome. Thought I'd mention I have a pollen allergy." Lorenzo grumbles.

"Shut up mate." Theo reaches over Atlas and pushes Lorenzo away.

This leads to a chase. Lorenzo, while slightly smaller, was definitely a lot faster than Theo. He ran in a zigzag pattern through the halls with Theo hot on his trail. The two tried to avoid the other students but managed to bump and knock over a couple of first years which meant that Atlas had to make sure they were alright and didn't need to go pay a visit to the hospital wing.

The three teens finally make their way to the great hall after a couple of detours. Atlas heads straight for the coffee that Apollo had placed near her plate. She takes a seat and picks up the cup of coffee before slowly sipping on it. Apollo passes her a waffle and she piles it up with fruit and chocolate before taking a huge bite.

"Atlas." Ren whispers.

Atlas looks up at the girl whose eyes were tinted red. Ren passes the latest copy of the Daily Prophet to the young Lennon who cautiously takes it. Her eyes skim over the paper three times quickly before she reads it again and tries to process the information she is reading. Her hands shake slightly and she's unsure if it's because of the coffee or nerves.

RUMOURS CIRCULATE ABOUT A HERETIC AMONGST HOGWARTS.

Atlas' heart dropped at the sight of the title and the contents of the paper. Apollo peeked over trying to get a look at what was written but as soon as he caught a glimpse of the title, his manners flew out the window and he snatched it from her hands. He grabs his wand before making it disintegrate.

"Apollo." Atlas scolds.

"You don't need to scare yourself by reading that. No one knows who you are." He whispers harshly.

"And when they find out? Then what?" She questions.

"We'll cross that bridge when it comes to it." He finishes.