|In The Dark|

74

3 DAYS LATER...
ANNABELLE LUPIN-BLACK

"Anna!" a voice called out. Pansy and I were walking towards the stairs when I heard someone call out my name. "Anna! Pansy! Wait up!" We turned around and Theo was jogging over. Pansy looked at me and I sighed. "What's wrong, Theodore?" I asked. "His face faltered. "Are you seriously going to keep calling me Theodore?" he asked. "Yes, she is." Pansy snapped. He looked at me with sorrow. "You know I don't like to be called that. It's my fathers name." he said. My face fell. "No, no, no. You don't get to make her feel like shit. You started the name thing. She's doing what you asked. You don't get to make her the bad guy." Pansy said. Theo groaned. "Come on, Pans. I didn't want any of that. Astoria said-" he started. "We don't care what Astoria said." Pansy spat. I tugged on her hand and she looked at me. "Just let it go." I whispered. She looked at Theo. "What do you want, Theo?" she asked. He sighed. "I was hoping- maybe you guys would let Tori get ready for Slughorn's party with you." he said. Pansy started laughing. "No fucking wa-" she started. "Sure." I said quickly. They both looked at me quickly. "Really?" Theo said. I nodded. "Thanks Annabelle, I knew we could all be friends." he said. I forced a smile and nodded. "I'll send her by in an hour or two?" he said. "Ok." I said. He smiled. "Thank you, guys. She'll be so happy." he said. I nodded and he left.

"What the hell is the matter with you?!" Pansy exclaimed. I just started walking and she followed. "Why would you say yes? Why would you invite that bitch-" she started. "She's not a bitch, Pansy." I said. She scoffed. We got to my dorm and went inside. I shut the door and sighed. "I have no right to judge her. She makes Theo happy." I said. "No, you make Theo happy." she said. I shook my head. "No, I made him miserable. But now he found a girl that wants to live and wants to love and they are happy. She's not a bitch for picking up the pieces of something I broke." I said. "Anna, if Theo told you he loved you and wanted to get back together with you, would you say yes?" she asked. I shrugged. "Anna-" she said. "Yes! Ok, I would. I want nothing more than to be with him." I said. "I know. That's why you changed. You stopped drinking, you started eating, you made jokes, you pulled pranks, you went to parties. You changed back to the Anna he fell in love with." she said. "It doesn't matter." I said. "It does. IF it wasn't for Astoria, he would have come back." she said. I exhaled heavily. "He's happy, Pans." I said. "But you aren't." she said. I smiled. "I'm fine. Now let's just get ready." I said. She nodded. We got our dresses out and started to get ready for the party.

About an hour later there was a knock on the door. I looked at Pansy with pleading eyes and she groaned. "Fine." she grumbled. She opened the door with a fake smile on her face. "Astoria, come in." she said. Astoria smiled and walked in. "Hi, thank you so much for inviting me." she said. Pansy gave me a strange look and I shook my head. "We're glad you could come. Pansy is just doing my hair, feel free to use the mirror." I said. She smiled. Pansy continued on my hair and Astoria started doing her makeup. "Is this your dress?" she asked, pointing to my closet. "Yes. Pansy helped me pick it out." I said. She nodded. "It's lovely." she said. "Thank you." I mumbled. We continued to get ready and once I pulled my dress on and looked in the mirror, I was stunned. I actually looked nice. Since I had stopped eating and started drinking, I used to be scrawny and pale. There were always bags under my eyes and I looked sick. But I had put on enough weight to finally look healthy and I was getting enough sleep most of the time. What shocked me the most was the fact that the cuts and burn on my arms had faded. But still, I picked up my wand and waved it so blue sheer sleeves covered my arms. Pansy glanced over and gave a small smile. "Nobody would have noticed." she whispered. "I noticed." I said. She just nodded. I was feeling so confident, then Astoria walked out. She wore a strapless emerald green gown and her perfect blonde hair wand curled. She looked beautiful. I just stared at her. Suddenly, I didn't feel so beautiful. "Shall we get going?" Pansy said. I nodded. We walked to the common room and the boys were waiting for us. As we walked down the stairs, they stared at us. "Wow, you look amazing." Enzo said. I smiled. "Thank you." I said. Theo looked at me but I kept my eyes down as Astoria kissed him. "We should go. I want to get this over with." Pansy said. We all nodded and headed there.

ASTORIA GREENGRASS

He was staring at her. Just like always. His perfect Belle. We walked down the stairs and he should have been looking at me. I was his girlfriend. I spent hours trying to look perfect for him. I picked the perfect dress, I did my hair, I did my makeup, I did everything perfect. But it wasn't enough. He still couldn't stop staring at her. I kissed him and I watched her eyes grow sad. His face faltered and I kissed him again and grazed his bulge with my hand. That got his attention. He looked at me and smiled. "You look pretty, Tori." he said. I just smiled.