YEAR 7 | Draco Malfoy

23.0 the thunder

The next morning arrived faster than Claire would've liked.

She wished the teachers would've told the students about the aftermath of a curse, even a supposedly 'harmless' one like Imperio.

It had taken her a lot of hours to fall asleep and when she did, it was restless.

Upon waking up Claire her energy seemed to have drained completely.

The dark circles under her eyes spoke for her and she felt sore all over her body.

The feeling resembled being hit by a truck and the mental toll it took was even worse.

Her senses seemed to be heightened, it caused every sign of light or sound to hurt.

Luckily her first class wouldn't start till the late afternoon and Professor Slughorn wasn't one of the teachers she dreaded ever seeing again.

Claire slowly lifted herself from her bed and stumbled to the showers before freshening up.

She got dressed but refused to look at the state of her face.

"Claire?" Daphne's voice echoed through the dorm.

Upon hearing her voice, Claire couldn't help but let out a sigh.

She stepped out of the bathrooms and saw Daphne leaning against the door.

"Theo's asking for you." She said.

Daphne knew that Theo would be the last person Claire would want to talk to, but she couldn't turn the desperate boy away.

Claire barely cared anymore, the energy to get irritated or mad was nowhere to be found.

"I'm coming." She pushed past her lips while holding her forehead.

"Are you okay?" Daphne dared to ask.

"I'm fine, Daphne." Claire sighed.

Daphne took this as a cue to leave and headed down the staircase again.

"She's coming." She told Theodore who was eagerly waiting for Claire.

He too had trouble sleeping last night.

His mind wandered off to Claire's tired face and how fragile she looked.

Just like Blaise and Draco, he had the urge to protect her from harm.

He was unaware that his methods only pushed her further away from him and perhaps even into someone else's arms.

"What is it, Theo?" Claire asked while her tired legs took slow steps down the stairs.

"Can we talk in private?" He asked, his eyes wandering over her face.

She looked even worse than yesterday and his stomach turned at the sight of it.

"Fine." She responded.

Claire followed Theo to the dungeons and outside into one of the courtyards.

The months had flown by and they were approaching the end of November rapidly.

While the cold wind brushed through their hair, they came to a stop.

"Will you tell me what happened yesterday?"

"If that is what you want to talk about, you're wasting your time." Claire sighed.

"Why have you been pushing me away?" Theo sounded desperate. "I don't understand."

She rolled her eyes at him.

For everyone around her, it seemed as if she had begun to hate them all of a sudden.

With no leading up to it or real reason.