slide away {lorenzo berkshire}

79. who's afraid of little old me?

"I've never been good at emotional stuff. Except anger. Anger, I'm good at."
- Hannah Harrington

~~~~~~~

Cassie Avery

"So... what happens now?".

I think it was Theo that finally spoke. My mind was spinning too much to know for sure.

Lorenzo's hand was still wrapped around mine.

I didn't look at him. I didn't trust myself to. If I did, I might see the moment he decided to pull away. Or worse, the moment he decided not to. I wasn't sure which would hurt more.

"We should move," Draco said quietly.

Just stating a fact, like movement was the only thing keeping us from thinking too hard about what we would have to do soon. About what was coming.

Theo nodded once. Mattheo rolled his shoulders like he was shaking off something invisible, then glanced down the corridor Blaise and Onyx had disappeared into.

I swallowed something sharp in my throat.

This was it, then.

Not a plan. Not a speech. Just forward motion into something irreversible. Into fighting people we'd grown up with. Into spells that wouldn't be practice anymore. Into blood that wouldn't wash off your hands just because you wanted it to.

"I need to, uh... I left my wand in my dorm," I said shakily. "I should grab it before... before we go anywhere."

Before everything broke completely.

"Lorenzo will go with you", Mattheo answered instantly, raising his eyebrows at me knowingly.

I blinked, caught off guard. "I- I can manage-".

"Nah," Mattheo cut in smoothly, a faint grin on his face. "He's not letting you wander the castle alone right now. Right, mate?".

Lorenzo shifted awkwardly, scratching the back of his neck. "Uh... yeah, okay. I'll... I'll go," he muttered the words hesitantly, like being near me was suddenly a careful balancing act he hadn't rehearsed.

I swallowed, nodding, trying to steady my racing heart. "Right... okay."

Draco, Theo, and Mattheo moved ahead, disappearing around a bend without another word. I didn't ask where they were going. It felt safer not to know. Like knowing might make everything more real.

I exhaled quietly, heart hammering. Lorenzo didn't say anything. He just walked a pace behind me, his presence solid and quiet, but it made my pulse pound harder. I could feel him there - close, aware - but neither of us had broken the silence. And the silence was dangerous.

The corridors twisted and narrowed as we moved deeper into the castle, the torchlight dimmer here, shadows clinging to the stone like they knew something we didn't. My wand pressed against my skin under my waistband as I slowed to avoid a group of passing panicked students. Professors hurried past us in the opposite direction, faces grim, robes snapping like warnings.

No one stopped us.

Part of me wished they would.

By the time we reached my dorm, my hands were shaking.

I stepped inside first. I glanced back over my shoulder, half-expecting Lorenzo to follow like nothing had changed.

He didn't.

I didn't take long.

I couldn't. Standing still felt dangerous, like if I let myself pause for more than a few seconds, the weight of everything would crush me.