Skill and Seclusion [2] || Harry Potter x OC x Draco Malfoy

170. Hi Dad. Hi Mum.

DISCLAIMER

I do not own Harry Potter ... but if Bel was real, and I met her, she would have every right to punch me square in the face

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There's a saying that claims one doesn't have to be alone to feel lonely.

Bel could not agree with it more.

As school started for another year, and classes began again, Bel was surrounded by people almost constantly.

Sure, they were people who barely spoke to her and made it very clear that they could hardly stand to breathe the same air as her, but she was not alone.

Even when the days came to an end and Bel withdrew to her room, Gus was always there, perched on his ivy-covered stand, waiting for her.

But even with Harry, Ron and Hermione all taking it upon themselves to find her during breaks and forcing her to sit with them at the Gryffindor table for meals, even with her loyal owl and taunting wand and the students and professors ... she felt lonely.

How could she not?

It was the only thing she had felt in three days.

The only time she came close to a smile was when she curled up on her plush bed and read through the streams of letters that Remus, Gus and Sirius had sent her.

Most were checking up on her, asking about how the year had started out, purposefully avoiding all mentions of the Order and the duties she had yet to return to.

With Umbridge now working at Hogwarts, who knows what other precautions Fudge had taken.

So they kept their letters short and light, and that almost made Bel happy. It gave her enough willingness to respond at the least, to lie and say all was well and good to avoid receiving words of pointless pity in return.

But they were not with her. Not present enough to rid her of that empty loneliness that had become her new normal.

Bel knew she should get used to it. Suck it up like she had done a hundred times already and focus on what an important day today was.

However, she didn't want to get used to it. She didn't enjoy feeling like this one bit.

But what had hope gotten her already? Misery and rejection and heartbreak, that's what.

So she wasn't going to hope that things would change so quickly, but she could still focus.

She had always been good at focusing. On pouring her emotions into logic and duty.

So as Bel left her room that morning to start a day of numerous important things, she kept her mind sharp and her emotions at bay.

The hallways were empty. It would be eery were it not for the fact that everyone was in their respective lessons already and Bel had a free period considering she was still skipping classes in favour of her tutorage with Dumbledore.

She could have spent it in bed, wallowing in her loneliness. But that is not what her sharp mind told her to do.

It told her to finally return somewhere she had not been in a long time. Somewhere she would feel welcome in. Somewhere she would not feel alone.

Her clearing.

So that is precisely where Bel headed on Wednesday morning.

She had no concerns about entering the Forbidden Forest. Given Hagrid's current leave of absence, she had the excuse of taking on some jobs there as she had always done.