NEMESIS || Draco Malfoy

54

For the next few hours, I just sat in the library– tried to distract myself by concentrating on that dying hand of Dumbledores.

And it worked— for a while.

It worked until it didn't anymore.

Lighting was scarce, eyes tired and dry from the constant oncoming wave of tears I had to blink away every too often since I saw what had happened to Gwen. That, and I didn't even have my reading glasses with me.

It was all too much effort, reading books and using brain cells after my entire life had just gone to shit. The thought alone made a shudder crawl down my back, not wanting to imagine what He'd do to my family if He found out I had messed up again.

My eyes trailed along the shelves of the library, lingering on one of the torches illuminating the corridor. Two closed books beside me, my head rested in my hand, half of my hair falling out of the messy bun on top of my head.

The red strands tickled my nose slightly, though I didn't even bother doing anything about it.

"I heard you really went in on Malfoy the other day—" My head shot up at the words, eyes wide as I stared back at Kai just about to take a seat opposite of me. He had cut himself off, taking me in with a worried look on his face.

I hadn't looked into the mirror yet, but I assumed he had good reason to look at me like I was on the verge of death.

I felt like it, so I wouldn't be surprised if I looked like it, too.

He abandoned his original plan at the sight, ditching the chair on the other side of the table and instead came rushing to sit beside me, brows knitted together and a frown on his face. "—Are you okay?"

His question coerced a dry laugh out of me, the sound rattling through my chest as I sat up straighter, leaning into the back of my chair rather than slouching over the table.

Swallowing thickly and shaking my head, I ignored his inquiry. Instead asked, "Where did you hear that?" as my eyes roamed the rows of books stood in the shelf I was looking at.

Though I could tell he wasn't convinced by my distraction, in defeat, he sighed, "Montague."

"Of course," I muttered, the words accompanied by a snicker as I rolled my eyes simultaneously.

A longer silence hovered over us, one in which I didn't dare even glance at the boy sat beside me. I knew if I did, I couldn't guarantee myself to stay away from him.

And I knew it's what I needed to do. For his own sake, his family's sake — two sisters and his mother. Probably for my own sake, too. Because I knew, if anything ever happened to him, I'd never forgive myself.

"Adreanna."

His words snapped me out of my thoughts, head itching to turn towards him— follow the sound of his voice. But, instead, I continued to stare at the book-filled shelf, knowing only few of them had even been moved in the past century.

I hummed in recognition of my name rolling off his tongue, nodding slightly to let him know I was listening as my fingers played with the sleeves of my robe on top of the table.

I could feel his eyes burning into the side of my face, knowing the disappointed look currently playing on his features all too well. After all, I knew it was there without ever looking at him.

Another minute of silence hovered over us, broken by Kai's deep sigh as he himself leaned back in the chair he had claimed. He followed my own gaze, eyes squinting.

"Alright, what is it about that shelf over there?" He asked, a mocking tone in his voice he knew would coerce an amused huff out of me at the very least.