Effervescence | h.p.

i | xxiv. exhaustion is a bitch

Walking into Potions, Ly felt quite a few pairs of eyes that belonged to her peers. Their questioning gazes were enough to adorn Lyra's pale cheeks with a light pink flush of embarrassment.

One concerned pair of eyes that bore into her belonged to her Sol.

Draco had been waiting anxiously for Potions, looking forward to it more than normal. He was always excited for Potions class because then, he would be able to talk to Lyra — now Indu. But today, he wasn't necessarily excited, per say. He was just desperately wanting to check on her, which meant talking to her.

Her sickly pale appearance, which held a slight tinge of green, and her slight sway worried him more than he would usually care to admit. But he had taken to the girl, who he had considered to be some kind of angel.

She had a sense of hope for his future that he couldn't help but notice; she saw good in him and she had made it known to many. She had somehow allowed him to enter her life and she was making him be better as a person.

As she walked over with Harry supporting her as he had done when they were in their Muggle primary school, Draco couldn't help but notice how tired and sunken her eyes were — she looked utterly exhausted.

Draco felt a bit angry that Harry had his hand on the small of her back, pushing her in the direction of her seat, but Lyra was obviously comfortable with his hands placement. If she had seemed uncomfortable in any way because of what Harry was doing, Draco wouldn't hesitate to hex him and save his Indu from the other boy.

Draco knew he couldn't get too defensive and jealous of Harry's and her relationship — they had grown up for eleven year together, after all. But he couldn't deny his feeling that he was loosing his only genuine friend to another boy; his least-favorite boy, no less.

Nevertheless, as Harry gently pushed Lyra into her seat, Draco gave a curt nod of respect. No matter how much Draco may hate the boy, he was so careful with Lyra that Draco had to be thankful for what he was doing.

"What happened to you?" Draco asked lightly, but it came out more harshly than he had expected.

"Gee, thanks, Sol. Really making me feel the love," Lyra replied sarcastically, but it was more of a mumbled response.

"Sorry, it wasn't supposed to sound like that," he cringed. "I meant to ask, how are you feeling?"

"Oh, I'm bloody brilliant — can't you tell?" she continued to use her sarcasm against the boy. Her lack of sleep was a big cause of her low amount of patience.

"I'm worried about you, Indu. I just want to know how I might be able to help, but I can't do that if I don't know what's happening."

"Well, I'm nauseous, exhausted, and in pain," she stated bluntly. But, then she sounded quite serious and tried convincing him, saying, "Honestly, I'm fine, Sol. I know what's wrong and I just have to wait it out; I have a weak immune system so this happens quite frequently." She had decided to use one of her father's excuses he said that he had used during his time at school for a little while.

She was already tired from her lack of sleep, but needing to cross almost the whole length of the castle to get from one class to another — that was taking its toll on her body. Just going to the dungeons, alone, was difficult enough with all the stairs she needed to travel.

"If you really think you know what's happening . . ."

"I do, trust me, Draco."

Then Snape walked past, ready to assign the daily Potions assignments and set the students to work. Today was a double-Potions block, meaning the lesson would run three hours instead of just one and a half, like it normally would have.