way to go, tiger | Lorenzo Berkshire

࣪𖤐 Y4 | 24 . Grief is the thing with wings

LOML — TAYLOR SWIFT
'And I'll still see it until I die, you're the loss of my life.'

Cassie wakes up in a pool of her own tears. Enzo stayed with her all night, even when she screamed and pleaded for it to stop. Every time she closed her eyes she saw Cedric's lifeless body. She couldn't escape it. In the morning, her eyes are rich with pain from the lack of sleep and constant sobbing.

Cassie forces herself out of bed and to the bathroom. The girls are still sound asleep but Enzo is awake and sitting on the bathroom counter. She closes the curtain on the shower and turns it boiling hot.

"Please, Cedric!"

So much blood. So much screaming.

Dumbledore whispering, Fudge panicking. They tried to take him away. They covered him up.

Cedric.

'The body'

Cedric is dead.

The thoughts hit her like a train and the grief swallows her up— she lets it happen. Cedric isn't coming back. When she goes down to the Great Hall, he won't be there. Cassie will never hear his beautiful laugh ever again, or study with him in the library after a long day of lessons. He'll never ruffle her hair again.

She'll never get a response on her bracelet ever again.

The tears come uncalled for but come nonetheless. She slides down the shower wall, gasping for air. "Dead. Dead. Dead." she whispers, her voice shaky and pained.

Enzo immediately jumps off the counter and rushes to the shower. He pushes open the curtains and doesn't even think twice before turning off the shower and grabbing a towel. She rocks back and forth, her eyes wide with tears. "He's dead." she whispers.

He rubs her arms around the towel. "Come on, baby. You need to get up." he says softly. Enzo is nothing if not patient with Cassie.

"Cedric's dead."

"Cassie."

"Cedric's not coming back."

Enzo draws in a long breath. This is going to be a hard process, but he's going to be there for her. Grief is not an easy task, especially by yourself. Enzo will not let Cassie fall apart.

Once he gets her out of the shower, Pansy wakes up. She grabs Cassie some clothes for her and does her hair in the bathroom while Enzo gets dressed himself.

Cassie feels empty— hollow, even. If you'd cut open her body it would all be rock hard. Numb isn't quite the right word, she knows what happened last night and isn't numbed by that, she just feels completely and utterly empty.

When Pansy and Cassie walk up to the common room, the boys look at Cassie with low brows. Even Draco looks sad for the girl, and everyone knows he's heartless.

"How're you holding up?" Mattheo asks when she sits next to him on the sofa. She shakes her head, afraid that she'll cry again if she speaks.

"Where's Enzo?" she croaks.

"Getting dressed still." Blaise says. Cassie nods and twists her bracelet around her wrist. "Will you be staying the last two weeks of school?" he asks.

Cassie shrugs, "Depends what Dumbledore decides."

"We've got you, Cass." Theo smiles sympathetically.

"Thank you."

By the time Enzo comes back up, they head down to the Great Hall, where the overall mood is a strange one. People stare and whisper at Cassie as she walks in, her hand squeezing so tight she might've cut off Enzo's circulation. Pansy and the boys glare at anyone that stares, managing to make it that bit easier for Cassie.