Phases (editing)

twenty six

AN: Chapter songs: Eleanor Rigby by Cody Fry and Angel of Small Death and the Codeine Scene by hozier

11th January 1996

Full Moon

I never considered death as an option—at least not seriously—until recent.

It has been exactly eleven days, five hours, seventeen minutes, and forty-eight seconds since Theo handed me the paper, and each day has been the same—if not worse—than the previous one.

So yes, I wanted to die.

Tremendously.

The skin of my left arm buzzed under my school robes and my opposite hand grabbed a handful and pulled it towards my elbow.

It hasn't happened yet, Draco. You're awake.

My lungs grew heavy with the air I held captive and found the relief in exhaling. Then the throbbing in my skull returned after creating a pile of empty vials in my waste bin.

Eleven days, five hours, eighteen minutes, and twenty-one seconds.

I dug my nails back over the scars that were almost completed in their task to bind and heal. Mutilating the flesh over my ulna. The pain was temporary , I reminded myself, and continued to slowly drag my nails down their path. Then my teeth sunk into the inside of my cheeks as I winced. But I wasn't done.

"Malfoy," a venomous voice sank into my back as feet stomped down the corridor.

I groaned under my breath and tug my sleeve back to my wrist, hiding my handy work. Just as the echoes of the feet grew closer to where I was, I glanced over my shoulder. Blue robes and a tuft of foul ginger hair.

"What do you want, Page." I rolled my eyes physically feeling how pathetic he is.

Just then a hand gripped my shoulder and halted me on my back against the wall. Page's face was tight and beet red, and the heel of his palm dug my shoulder into the stone wall. "What did you do to her?"

"You're face healed up nicely, Page." I taunted, remembering the many makeovers I gave him. "Pomfrey did wonders. Have you sent her a basket?"

He murmured something inaudible then took his free hand to force my head back into the stone. "Where is she." He growled.

"Isn't that the question of the day?" I said outwardly.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means you're not the only one looking for her, Grant ." I retorted. "Merlin, aren't you a Ravenclaw?" I flicked at the emblem on his chest.

Page grabbed two fist fulls of my robes to drag me from the wall and force me back into it.

My lungs went tight and I coughed. He thought he could rough me around and 'win.' "Thank you," I said with a smirk.

Did Grant Page really think he could get the better of me? When I asked for an alternate universe this wasn't what I was going for. It was laughable, truly. I'm sure I was laughing in his face as well, because Aspen has disappeared, and Grant fucking Page thinks he's roughing me around.

"Get down, Page," my eyes rolling with the words falling lazily from my tongue, "we wouldn't want another scrape on that ginger head of yours."

He reeled me back again to force me against the wall once more.

"Listen," he said, "what other reason would you have? There's no way you're capable of love, especially towards her. So what did you do to her?"

An iron taste appeared in my mouth, and I became consciously aware of the place in my cheek where my teeth sunk into. The world around me grew into a shade of scarlet, and my hand snapped to his neck and my leg swung to kick in the back of his knees, hurtling him to the cold floor.