Riddle Me This

Chapter 63

Catherine's POV

I must have fallen asleep in the alcove, or at least dozed off, since I awoke to a hand on my shoulder, shaking me gently. When I opened my eyes, it was to McGonagall.

"Catherine, what are you doing here? You've missed all of your morning classes." She sassed firmly. I just stared at her for a few more moments before looking down to the floor. "Granger came to me and told me that you left breakfast with the guise of getting your things for class, and she was worried when you didn't show up." I nodded slowly before getting up.

"Right sorry." I said, wiping the dirt off my skirt. McGonagall looked worried, but I ignored it. "What time is it?" I asked.

"Lunch. Come." And McGonagall lead me back to the Great Hall. I ignored all eyes as I walked to the Eighth year table. Draco wasn't there again, and neither was my appetite. But Pansy and Blaise still had a plate ready for me, probably with some help from Hermione.

"Cat, where were you?" Hermione asked.

"Asleep in an alcove." I answered, picking at my food slowly. "Sorry for worrying you." I added.

"Draco was in class." Blaise said, looking at me with a cocked eyebrow. "He's not completely out of it, but he seemed worried when you didn't come." That made me perk up a little.

"But once classes were done, we don't know where he went." Pansy finished, causing me to just frown again. She sighed. "I swear, if this is going to be what happens every time Draco shuts down, I'm just going to start hexing people. You're no fun when you're like this." She motioned to me as if to make a point.

"I think Cat shut down too." Ginny said as she watched me with a slight frown.

"I think that's only to be expected. Draco is Cat's world. When he's upset, she's upset. When he's happy, she's happy. When he distants himself, her spark goes with him. So until her spark comes back to her in the form of Draco returning to his usual self, Cat's going to be sort of souless." Luna explained. I hummed as I continued to pick at my food.

"Can she be gloomy somewhere else? It's sort of ruining my appetite." Ron said, getting elbowed in the ribs by Ginny.

"It's your fault she's like this because you let your Gryffindor temper take over your head and mouth!" She sassed.

"He called Hermione a mudblood!" Ron tried to reason.

"You said Cat was tainted with dark magic first! And Malfoy at least tried to explain why he had said it and was attempting an apology, even if it wasn't directed at me!" Hermione snapped. Ron groaned, hating that he was being ganged up on, but knowing that he was also in the wrong.

"I'm done." I said, standing and leaving before anyone could say anything. I ended up wandering again, until I found the Room of Requirement and walked inside. It was set up as bed chambers again, as it almost always seemed to be when I went into it nowadays. I just flopped down onto the bed and stayed there.

I fell asleep, and when I woke up, it was with a scream on my lips. I sat up, panting as my body was covered in a cold sweat. I cried as I tucked myself into a ball. Nightmares of the manor were worse than nightmares of the Battle of Hogwarts. I cried as an image of Draco lying on the ground, dead and decaying stayed etched into my mind. The image only getting worse and worse and more vividly real as I stayed in the room, alone.

I got sick over the edge of the bed, apologizing to the room as it went about cleaning it up. As I curled back on the bed, shivering with emotions that clouded my mind, the door opened. I turned to see who it was, but my vision was blurred with tears and they stung so badly, I just gave up and put my head back down on the bed.