Love, Deryah | Blaise Zabini

27

a/n: surprise!! i'm not going to say that i'm back for good, but i just wanted to give you all a new chapter! hope you enjoy :) <3

{CONTENT WARNING: this chapter contains sexual material and alcohol use that may be unsuitable for some readers. if any of these make you uncomfortable, please feel free to skip over them, or exit the chapter all together.}

i present to you...

"120 hours"

draco's pov

pain; burning. maybe at least once in one's life, they could say these two felt like the same thing or it was difficult to tell the difference. it's hard to separate the two when it feels like you're being attacked by a swarm of angry wasps, or like your heart had been on fire. yet the way the flame of the fire burned hadn't been in a passionate, excited way, it had been tight and scorching; it felt like the pain or sting your lungs would take on if you held your breath for too long. it had all felt too similar and i was burning.

another thing people like to use is the five stages of grief. in my experience, it might've seemed as though i passed through a different stage each day. if i'm being honest, a lot of my stages had already been mixed with acceptance, but that wasn't enough to fully block it all out. i still felt every new crack as it appeared in my heart. the next week would be hell.

day one: though i had seen her yesterday, for some reason, it felt like i hadn't seen her in weeks. i woke in a sudden chill, and just like that, reality was like a crashing wave pulling me under. it was going to be weird seeing her in the arms of someone else, but maybe that's what i needed in order to move on. my pace was slower than usual, and i had no drive, motivation, or will to do anything at all. all i wanted was to lay in bed all day and wait for the storm to be over.

but i couldn't do that. if i stopped my world and dropped all my classes, everyone would be concerned, and the last thing i needed right now was pity. i knew i was supposed to be in shock or denial, but for some reason, i wasn't. there was no reason to deny what i had known to be real. why must i once again turn a blind eye? it hadn't helped me last time, so why try now.

i went to open the door, when a thought crossed my mind. if i left my room in that second, what good would it do me? yeah sure, i needed to get out and continue on with my studies, but at the same time, i could have just asked to have my exam proctored in my room. there is always a way out of everything. and for the most part, i was exempt from at least four exams. staying back today would have zero effect; or would it?

yet again, i was thinking of her. how was she? was she going to class today? was she even able to get out of bed this morning? yes, she most likely would. she was probably fine; i supposed. i mean, why would she have cared if i had missed a day of school right? she had other priorities. but what about the classes we shared together? when we were together, she was the first to notice if i showed or stayed back. i could only remember the time she came barging into my room because i hadn't shown my face in any classes.

the lock clicked open, and a small push came from the other side of the door as deryah peeked her head inside. "not sure if you decent or not, but we came to check on you because i noticed you hadn't been in class all day,"

opening the door softly, the entire pack mixed with slytherins and ravenclaws came walking into the room; some of them were straight-faced, and others looked somewhat annoyed as though they had been taken away from their daily activities.