if one of them is dead.

chapter ten.

Blaise.

The common room was silent, except for the cracking of the fire. Blaise sat on the couch, not letting anyone touch the spot where Lilith normally sat. He clutched a copy of Romeo and Juliet to his chest.

Mattheo sat across from him, a new necklace around his neck that Blaise could have sworn he saw Lilith wearing, and a bottle of beer in his hand. Lilith would have told him to not drown himself in beer. To try so many other things. She would have given examples.

Draco sat in the loveseat, snapping at Pansy Parkinson when she was about to sit down next to him. He was staring in the fire, not moving a muscle.

Blaise couldn't take the quiet, but it was so much better than if everyone pretended that nothing happened.

No one made a sound. The entire Slytherin house was in that common room. They all had been for hours, not making a sound. No one went to the Great Hall to eat dinner. No one was hungry.

"I heard that Professor Snape wants to start interrogations immediately," Tracey Davis says quietly to her friends, breaking the silence.

The three boys would have thrown something at her.

"His daughter just died, you insecure bitch," one of the younger Slytherins snapped, glaring at Davis. "She was our classmate."

"She was a bitch," Sally-Anne Perks muttered.

"Shut the fuck up, Perks," Draco snapped, his eyes not leaving the fire.

Parkinson rolled her eyes and scoffed. "Don't be mad that she's right."

"Would you all just shut the fuck up," Mattheo snapped loudly, glaring at everyone. Everyone went silent and he shook his head, taking a drink from his beer. "You're pathetic."

Blaise clutched the book tighter, staring at the spot where Lilith should have been sitting. It wasn't fair. She was his best friend. She was there for him through everything.

Every time he needed out of the house, she could somehow get there in five minutes. And she would take him places to get his mind off it all.

He never knew that the movie theater was that fun. He almost jumped out of his seat when the lights dimmed without a remote. Lilith had started laughing at him so much that one of the employees had to come over and tell her to be quiet.

He wanted hot chocolate. Hot chocolate was Lilith's favorite. But he couldn't bring himself to move.

"Who was the last person to see her?" Draco suddenly asked loudly, looking at everyone. No one spoke, just waiting for someone to answer.

"You should ask lover boy over there," Terence Higgs said, nodding to Mattheo.

Mattheo death glared him. "I don't need to explain what I do in my free time to any of you. But I definitely did not kill my girlfriend."

Blaise could see that Mattheo was acting calm, but inside he wanted to rip everyone in the room to shreds.

"Were you the last person to see her?" Draco asked, looking at Mattheo and raising a brow.

"I already said that I don't need to explain myself to you," Mattheo snapped. "Now all of you shut the fuck up before I sew your lips together."

"She wore off on him too much," Perks mumbled to the others.

This time Blaise really did throw something at her. He grabbed a book from the nightstand, tightening his grip slightly on his own book, and chucked the book at Perks as hard as he could.

It hit her in the arm and she got up to glare at him. "What the hell, Zabini?"

"Don't talk about my best friend like that, you fucking bitch," he snapped. "Now fuck off and put yourself in the fire." He turned back to stare at the couch, clutching the book tighter again.

"Well—"

"Perks, another goddam word, and I'll push you off the astronomy tower myself," a younger Slytherin snapped.

"Get justice for all the times she was a bitch to Lilith," another grumbled, slouching in their seat.

And they went into silence once again.

Blaise wanted to throw himself in the fire.

He was contemplating it.

But then remembered that Lilith would have probably told him to suck it up and read another Shakespeare play.

He wondered if there was any in the library, or among the books in the common room. Probably somewhere. Then again, he really didn't want to get up and move.

Draco shook his head and stood up. "I can't sit here anymore, I'm getting hot chocolate," he said, starting for the door.

Blaise grabbed his wrist when he walked by, stopping him. "Grab me and Mattheo a cup too."

Draco nodded and left for the kitchens.

More silence.

He hoped the hot chocolate was good. He hoped that house elf wasn't drowning herself in tears— if she even knew something had happened. Draco would probably say something about Lilith and the get the hot chocolate before the house elves yelled at him to get out.

When Draco came back, he handed the extra two to Blaise and Mattheo. Draco started drinking his in large sips, Blaise in small sips, and Mattheo just stared at his for a minute before he started drinking.

This was going to fuck with them.