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-ADHARA FELT HORRIBLE. She felt truly horrible. She didn't want nor expect Ron to hear her. She didn't want to ruin Hermione's relationship. She wanted Hermione happy, no matter whom she was with.
Adhara almost punched the wall next to her in anger, but stopped herself. Instead, she took a deep breath and held onto the railing, looking at the stars in the sky.
She held onto the locket around her neck. The locket that had the moving picture of her parents. The locket that always gave her comfort, and in some ways, pain.
Adhara felt tears prickling her eyes, but didn't let them fall for the first time in a while. She merely held onto the locket tighter, eyes still on the stars in the sky.
"He left me," said a broken whisper behind her.
Adhara turned around immediately and let go of the locket, brows furrowing in concern. She hadn't heard the girl come up. She was too busy being deep in thought.
As soon as she noticed Hermione's red eyes, and the tears that were falling from them, Adhara opened her arms with no hesitation. "Come here," she said, shaking her head in pity.
Hermione didn't hesitate. She immediately rushed into Adhara's arms, holding the girl's waist tightly as she sobbed onto her sweater.
Adhara let her. She rubbed the shorter girl's back up and down in comfort, trying to stop the tears that threatened to leave her own eyes at the sound of the girl she loved being hurt by someone else.
And when Hermione slowly fell onto the floor, Adhara crouched down with her, their backs to the wall as the taller girl held the crying, shorter girl in her arms.
Adhara kissed the top of Hermione's head and whispered, "I'm sorry."
Hermione, now quiet but still having tears fall from her eyes, shook her head once. She had her head buried in the crook of Adhara's neck, just like old times. "It's not your fault."
"It is," replied Adhara, voice filled with guilt. She felt so guilty.
"It's not," denied Hermione, her heart skipping a beat when Adhara kissed her head again. "Addie?"
Addie.
Adhara froze at that nickname coming from her lips, but swallowed her emotions and replied, "Yes, Mia?"
Mia.
"Can you say it again?" asked Hermione with a small voice. It wasn't her fault. She needed Adhara to say it again, to know if losing Ron was worth it. But she knew it wasn't. Nothing was worth losing the people you loved.
But Hermione didn't love Ron. No, she did not. She liked him. But she didn't love him.
Hermione, in all her life, had only fallen in love once.
And that first love was the hardest one to get over. Especially when it didn't go so well.
Adhara knew what she meant. She shook her head, refusing the request. She only gave the other girl a small, plastered on smile. "I can't, Mia. Not when you're hurt over another person."
"You hurt me more than he ever did," whispered Hermione with teary eyes as she pulled away, looking at the other girl.
Hesitantly, Adhara reached out her thumb and wiped away Hermione's tears, guilt evident in her eyes as she looked at the girl. "I know," she whispered, her voice cracking. "I know and I've regretted it for so long."
Hermione pulled away again, pursing her lips when Adhara closed her eyes in pain and took away her thumb.
Hermione couldn't help it. She had gone through so much in the hands of the other girl.
But Adhara couldn't help it, either. She was going through so much during her relationship with Hermione. That didn't give her permission to take it all out on her, but Adhara still did that. Something she deeply, heavily regretted.
"Maybe you should take some time for yourself. Focus on yourself and heal from your breakup with him," Adhara thought out loud.
Hermione nodded in agreement, wiping her tears again. "I think so, too." She said, then crossed her arms and seemed to be in thought. After a minute of silence, she whispered, "I don't want to lose you, Adhara. Even if as friends. The love I had for you doesn't deserve to be wasted and thrown away like that."
Adhara felt her heart breaking, but managed a nod. "But I will give you space for a while, Hermione. Until you heal from everything and focus on yourself. Find yourself along the way."
The girl infront of her nodded, looking like she already had that in mind. That was it. She would take time away from everything and the people that hurt her, and would focus on herself. That was what Hermione was going to do.
"Will you wait for me?" She asked, looking at the other girl.
She couldn't help it. Adhara was her first love, after all. Her only love.
Adhara immediately nodded. "Of course, Mia. I'll wait for you as long as it will take. Do not rush it. I'll be here the whole time."
Hermione nodded and went to the spot she had left, right next to Adhara. She put her head on the girl's shoulder, feeling comforted when Adhara put a hand around her. "Can we stay like this for now?"
Adhara nodded, looking up, trying to stop the tears from falling while the other girl closed her eyes and slowly fell asleep. "Of course," she whispered, unsure whether the girl had heard her.
Whether Hermione did hear or not, she still stayed in that position. It took less than five minutes, but she fell asleep on Adhara's shoulder.
Adhara, with one arm around Hermione's shoulder, held her locket with her unoccupied hand. She did not look down at the girl in her arms, knowing that the second she did, she would start crying.
Instead, she turned to the left and looked at the stars in the sky again, fiddling softly with the locket around her neck. "I need you now more than ever, mum." She whispered to herself.
She did not mean Narcissa. No.
She meant Cecilia. Her biological mother.
Adhara loved Narcissa and counted her as her real mother, but that did not stop her longing for her biological mother.
And now, Adhara needed her biological mother more than ever.
