Emerson Wilmore was an exemplary Ravenclaw student, known for her unwavering dedication to academics and an unyielding moral compass. However, things took a twisted and deviated turn in her life after her boyfriend, Cedric Diggory, was murdered by L...
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Emerson groaned as soon as she stirred the next morning, her head throbbing so viciously she almost thought she might still be drunk. A dull, relentless pounding settled behind her eyes, and her mouth felt dry, as if she swallowed a mouthful of sand. She blinked against the dim morning light filtering through the dormitory window, lifting a hand to her forehead, pressing her fingers against her skin as if she could will the pain away.
As she tried to lift her head from the pillow, nausea curled in her stomach and settled in her gut, sending a sharp warning through her entire body. She shut her eyes again, willing the world to stop spinning, but the moment she let her thoughts wander, the memories from the night before crept in like a slow, agonising trickle, then all at once.
The Halloween party. The music. The way the drinks never seemed to stop flowing. Dancing with Olivia. Mattheo's outbreak of jealousy. Pansy's crude words. Adrian's voice in her ear. His hands on her waist.
The kiss.
A sickening lurch twisted in her stomach, and suddenly she was scrambling out of bed, barely registering the dizziness that followed. She shoved past her bed curtains and stumbled towards the bathroom, barely making it before she collapsed in front of the toilet.
The instant she reached the toilet, she dropped to her knees, gripping the cool porcelain as she heaved. When she finally stopped, she stayed there, panting, her forehead pressed against the seat, waiting for the shaking in her limbs to subside. Her body rejected everything with her stomach twisting with more than just the hangover: guilt and regret.
She didn't know if she was sick from the alcohol or from everything else.
When she was finally empty, she slumped back against the wall, her breathing ragged. She wiped at her mouth with the back of her hand, squeezing her eyes shut and trying to steady herself. But the second she did, Adrian's voice echoed in her head, clear as if he were still right in front of her.
"I just wanted to kiss you again."
Her eyes snapped open, her stomach twisting. She needed to get out of her head. She needed to feel something other than this gnawing discomfort and regret curling in her ribs.
Dragging herself up, she turned on the shower, twisting the handle far hotter than she normally would. Steam filled the room instantly, curling around her like suffocating hands, but she didn't care. She stripped out of last night's clothes and stepped under the scorching spray, barely flinching as the water burned her skin. She let it burn. She let it scald away everything, including every thought and every unwanted memory. She let herself sink down onto the tiled floor, wrapping her arms around her knees as she let the water pour over her, searing her shoulders and scalding her legs. She just needed to feel something, anything that wasn't this dull, churning sickness sitting in her stomach.
