𝕿𝖗𝖊𝖒𝖔𝖗 - ʳᵉᵍᵘˡᵘˢ ᵇˡᵃᶜᵏ

Chapter 34: Facing The Music

[ March, 1978 ]

     MARCH FLEW by rather uneventfully for Theona. However, what should've meant relaxation ended up meaning a worrying amount of anxiety and a stress-induced migraine—which could also be attributed to the fact that she was waking up an hour earlier to get breakfast before any of the Marauders showed up, skipped lunch entirely, and ate her dinner so fast that she was up late into the night with stomach cramps and screaming thoughts. A lack of sleep and food was certainly taking its toll, but it was worth it to put off facing the music of her past invading her present.

     Her elusion didn't mean she hadn't been with her friends at all, if anything they had been hovering. Pandora and Sybill had taken to walking her back and forth from Ravenclaw tower every morning and evening—as to avoid another ambush from Sirius. Evan had somehow figured out all of the hiding spots that she used during lunch breaks, and found her every afternoon so he could resume his duty of walking her to potions.

     James and Peter had formed a weird habit of sitting and pretending to study with her in the library—she knew they were pretending because Peter never turned the pages of his book and James repeatedly took breaks to stare at her with wide, nervous eyes (she feared for their NEWTs grades at this point.)

      Lily and Mary had taken a different, but equally unnerving approach by giving her the space she so clearly needed—in the sense that they never hung around for too long. However, every time they saw her, Lily would come over to remind her of how much she loved her, and Mary would smack kisses on each of her cheeks and sometimes even a hand on her ass. This was only mildly more affective than James and Peter's silent company.

     Marlene had thrown a curveball when she'd flat out just told Theona to take the time she needed, and that she would be right there to hear all about her complicated life if and when Theona was ready. Overall it was a very thoughtful and well-put statement, however the glint in her eye exposed that she was just dying to know every detail of Theona's past. This was to be expected of Marlene, though—her love for her friends came first, but her love for business that wasn't hers was a very close second. Hence why Mary and her were best friends.

Dorcas had kindly informed her of where the kitchens were and how to get into them—knowledge she had because of her aversion to meals and love for snacking instead. They ran into each other every once in a while when they were both in search of something to eat, usually sitting together and discussing classes and quidditch and everything besides the elephant in the room. It was nice, but not all that helpful—Theona usually ended up too focussed on keeping the conversation light to actually remember to eat.

       Remus had taken up post as Sirius's handler. He'd steer him away from her in the halls, keep his attention during dinner, and overall just make sure there was at least fifteen feet of distance between Sirius and Theona at all times. This was truly the most helpful of all her friends' efforts, the only downside being that she and Remus hadn't shared a word in weeks.

And then there was Regulus.

They'd taken an unspoken break from closet make-outs and borderline frottage, not for any particular reason other than them just... not doing it. One might think this would mean positive things for Theona's debilitating crush on the boy, but unfortunately, their lack of touching had been replaced by talking. This was decidedly worse.

Their conversations varied in topic and seriousness, and unlike her talks with Dorcas, which were purely surface-level, or her brief chats with Mary and Lily, which were merely affectionate, Theona did not feel anything but entirely comfortable when she spoke to Regulus. Any time she could escape her friends, she was spending with him. She was drowning, but every time she was with Regulus she felt like she was coming up for air.