Tainted Love

Theodore

IRIS

It was rainy. Just warm enough that the droplets wouldn't turn to snow, but cold enough that each time one hit Iris's back she felt more and more like she might have to sit down and have a cry.

Everything was heavy lately, heavy and cold.

She had spoken to Draco on Monday and he hadn't said a word to her since then. She hadn't spoken to anyone, come to think of it, besides a couple of words exchanged with Tracey about plans for Friday night.

It was Friday afternoon now and she should be on her way over to Theodore's apartment.

Theodore's apartment was the nicest of the four of them. He lived on the North End of Diagon. Sort of near Draco. Iris supposed if she apparated straight to the front door she could avoid accidentally seeing Draco's building on her way in.

But she wasn't even sure she wanted to go out tonight.

The rain had gotten to her. She wanted to take a walk to clear her head, but it had started pouring five blocks away from her apartment. She tried to walk in the rain for a little but it was freezing. She apparated home and cast a charm to make some tea.

For the first time in a while, she found herself homesick.

Tracey, Theo, and Sebastian had adopted her into their little crew within a week of her arrival, and she liked them so much that she had never had time to miss the way things were at home. She sometimes wished she could see Simon and Sadie, but she talked to them often enough.

Today she just wanted to be in her bed at home - her real home.

Rain was different in London. It felt more gloomy, more pervasive. It felt like everyone was preparing for rain all the time. The clouds were a constant in the sky.

And the thought of seeing her friends was filling her with dread instead of optimism. Usually they cheered her up, but today she would have to tell them that she and Draco were no longer anything. That, according to him, they hadn't been anything in the first place.

She was sure that Tracey would try to comfort her and Sebastian would throw a couple of insults Draco's way, but in the back of their minds they would probably be thinking that they had warned her not to get into it anyway.

And Theodore. Theodore was always the angriest about it. Iris never mentioned Draco around him. Even if he didn't say "I told you so" out loud, he would be thinking it.

Iris hated being pitied, hating feeling childish. She wished she had never told them about Draco in the first place - it would be easier now, so much easier. She could deal with the fallout on her own.

She watched absentmindedly in the mirror as her brush hovered around her head, raking out her curls. She only straightened her hair when she was going out, so she thought doing it might put her in a better headspace.

But after she cast the charm and her hair cooled off around her ears she still felt just as bad.

Tracey and Sebastian were already at Theodore's by the time she knocked on the door. She pinched her thigh between her nails, drawing herself back to the present, and put on a smile for good measure.

Unfortunately, her facade didn't last for long.

"Hi, Iris," Theodore said as he swung the door open. He was all smiles, real ones. Dressed in bright white pants and no shirt. But his smile faltered as he took Iris in.

"Are you alright?" He asked, stepping further into the room and opening the door wider.

Iris walked in and Sebastian and Tracey leaned out of the living room. Tracey was wearing her favorite pink dress - and apparently Theodore and Sebastian were putting on some sort of group ensemble, because Sebastian was also in white pants with no shirt.