"I hate you, too." - Draco Malfoy Fanfic

Chapter 5

"She was the type to fall in love with the moon,

and everything else that was beautifully unreachable."

-Santi d.p

----

Her feet bare, a book in one hand and the rock that Luna gave her in the other, Eden wandered past the orange glow of the dimly lit corridor. She wasn't sure why she'd brought the rough green stone with her, but she'd grown attached to it after her run in with the odd girl.

Beside her, the paintings snored quietly, every now and then one would stir in their sleep, and Eden worried they'd awaken and get her in trouble for being out past curfew. Though none did.

She had no idea why she'd decided to leave her common room so late. If she were caught, there'd certainly be punishment. It was well past 12am, and everyone was asleep--recovering from the lack of it due to the party the night before.

Eden hadn't stayed long. She'd left the bathroom after a short--and oddly intimate-- discussion with Draco, and immediately stumbled across Francesca. She'd dragged her drunk friend back to the staircase, meeting Faye along the way. She'd known she hadn't liked parties, but the fact that this party had met her already low standards only gave her a justifiable reason to deny any future invitations to social events.

The floor grew cold beneath her feet as she drifted patiently down the hallway, deciding that she'd visit the house elves in the kitchens. She hadn't brought them any desserts, but they wouldn't mind. She'd expected a chill breeze to roar past her, for strange voices to whisper through the cracks of the walls like they usually did, but the castle seemed to understand that tonight she needed the quiet. The peace.

She didn't entirely have a reason, but a lot of the time that was the case. She'd wake, feeling irritated for some odd reason, unable to sit still, unable to sleep. She'd think about her life, what was wrong with it, what she wanted. She wanted a lot of things. More and more and more.

It was a curse to never be satisfied. She thought perhaps everybody suffered under it, but something told her it wasn't as bad for them. Creatures moulded from the black didn't creep into their dreams, poisoning them, turning them dark and wicked.

It was more than not being satisfied, than wanting more than you could possibly give. More than the knowledge that the thing you wanted the most was impossible to obtain.

It was that chilling feeling of hyper-absence. That emptiness inside her that she could never fill. It was that guilt that consumed her when she decided she had no valid reason to feel the way that she did. Not with the education she had, the room she slept in, the food she ate, the friends she had, the mother who loved her.

"Master Eden." Winky, one of the house elves, stepped forward to greet her as she entered through the painting. She hadn't realised she'd opened it, hadn't realised she was even remotely close to the kitchens. "Are you hungry? There's soup, casserole, and a few danishes left." Winky smiled brightly up at her.

"Not hungry, just a little restless. Though I wouldn't mind some coffee, and you're surprisingly good at spinning the milk-- if you wouldn't mind?" Eden mirrored Winky's smile, and the house elf quickly dashed away to make her a latte.

When Winky returned with Eden's coffee, she didn't ask what had awoken Eden and lured her down to the kitchens—What had made her restless. She simply took a seat across from her. She was the only one other than Dobby who was comfortable enough to do so.

"It's good to see you're adjusting to working in the kitchens." Eden sent her an encouraging grin, remembering how horrified the elf had been at the idea of being paid to work. "Thank you, Master Eden." Winky dipped her head, and Eden opened up her book to read.