𝓢𝓸𝓾𝓵𝓶𝓪𝓽𝓮 // 𝓱. 𝓰𝓻𝓪𝓷𝓰𝓮𝓻

005 - 𝓣𝓱𝓮 𝓗𝓸𝓰𝔀𝓪𝓻𝓽𝓼 𝓔𝔁𝓹𝓻𝓮𝓼𝓼

That night was very tense.

Hermione and Alara did not speak. they did not look at each other, or acknowledge each other at all.

Hermione didn't know what to do. Of course, Alara was mad. She'd just forced her to confess some deep things. However, Hermione just wanted to hug the girl. She wanted to comfort her and make her feel safe. Alara made it clear she didn't want that.

Let's just say things were awkward the whole night. Ginny immediately caught on and wished the girls goodnight awfully early. She likely didn't want to have to deal with the pettiness of it all.

Alara showered, and then Hermione did. By the time Hermione came out of the shower Alara was asleep. They lay as far away from each other as possible.

The next morning, Alara continued with the silent treatment, refusing to even look Hermione's way. She talked to everyone else, happy and energetic for some reason. She ate a little bit of food; Alejandro had threatened to shove it down her throat. Of course, Alara knew he would never do that, but it gave her some motivation.

"D'you want to go upstairs and play some chess?" Ron asked Alara while swallowing his toast. Chess was something the two bonded over. Alara loved winning and Ron loved a challenge. They spent many afternoons playing chess, taking turns with Harry.

The group was now in Harry and Ron's room. Fred, George, and Alejandro were off doing God knows what. Ron and Harry were now playing chess after Alara had beaten Harry and had been beaten by Ron. Now the green-eyed girl lay on her stomach, observing the guys play with a lazy smile while Hermione read a book, sitting on the other bed with Ginny.

Alara could feel Hermione's gaze on her more often than not, but she never turned around to face her. She now knew her secrets. Not even Alejandro knew the full story.

After her ex, Alara refused to tell anyone anything about what happened. Alejandro would've killed him. Literally.

Keeping it to herself was the worst thing she could've done, it slowly consumed her. Her anxiety grew, her panic attacks and nightmares began, her disgust of physical touch came, and most importantly her unwillingness to eat.

It all was slowly killing her, whether she liked to admit it or not.

She dwelled on memories for a long time while Ron beat Harry twice. She wondered what Hermione thought of her. She probably saw her as some fucked up girl who kept all her problems to herself. If she did believe that, she wouldn't be wrong.

Hermione, however, wanted to hug Alara and tell her everything would be okay. Even if she couldn't assure that. She wanted to talk to her and make her feel better. But Alara wasn't going to allow that, and she didn't want to overstep any more boundaries.

"D'you reckon Harry's good-looking then?" Tonks asked Alara as they sipped tea in the drawing room. Alara nearly choked on the hot liquid, coughing.

"No! What the hell," Alara exclaimed, shaking her head vigorously. Tonks chuckled, sipping her hot tea. "He's an added brother, you're crazy."

"I was just checking," Tonks murmured, giving Alara a sympathetic smile.

"Doesn't Ginny fancy him?" Alara questioned, looking out the window and focusing on the sway of the trees outside. She saw Tonks nod out of the corner of her eye.

"D'you find anyone else good-looking?"

"No," Alara lied, turning her attention back to her tea. "Do you?"

Tonks hesitated.

"Nah."

They stayed chatting a while, cozied up in the drawing room. They would spend moments in silence, then laugh loudly. It was nice.