𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐞 | 𝐡. 𝐩𝐨𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫

𝟔𝟗 - 𝐟𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐮𝐭

𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙖𝙗𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙙𝙧𝙤𝙬𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙤𝙣𝙘𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙜𝙤𝙩 𝙥𝙖𝙨𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙚𝙭𝙘𝙧𝙪𝙘𝙞𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙥𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙨𝙪𝙧𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙥𝙖𝙞𝙣𝙚𝙙 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙨𝙪𝙛𝙛𝙤𝙘𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙡𝙪𝙣𝙜𝙨, 𝙞𝙩 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙖𝙡𝙢𝙤𝙨𝙩 𝙥𝙚𝙖𝙘𝙚𝙛𝙪𝙡.

As you sink further and further down and you realise that there was nothing left to fear from the surface as you were welcomed into the great unknown oblivion beneath you. It was almost soothing, as you sank deeper and deeper past where the light could no longer touch you, and you were alone in the black abyss, your pain was almost forgotten as you slipped into the darkness to be lost and forgotten forever.

That's what she would describe this pain like, drowning.

She was numb now, and unsure whether she had slept at all, her eyes hurt a tad when she blinked and she realised it had been the first time in a while since she had in fact blinked, had she dissociated that badly?

The Dorm Bathroom came into view, her head resting on the rim of the bath looking at the old tiles that had nothing particularly special about them, how long had she been staring at them for? her eyes felt tired and she felt insatiably exhausted like she ran a marathon with absolutely nothing to eat and no sleep at all. Then two familiar faces appeared in her vision, Vivian and Hermione who looked alarmed at the sight of her, Ophelia pondered in her delirium which part had alarmed them, the fact she was in a bath dressed in her own clothes, or the fact she looked partially dead... she imagined so anyway, her body was so numb from cold she imagined herself to be as white as a sheet.

Hermione was crouching beside the bath, one hand resting on top of hers that was dangling outside of the bath, while Vivian was lingering to Ophelia's left holding a towel.

Ophelia blinked a couple of times, swallowing she felt how dry her throat was and looked up to Hermione.

"Can I have a drink please?" she asked quietly, her voice croaky.

Hermione whipped to her feet so quickly to pour Ophelia a glass of water, handing it to her, Ophelia took a few gracious gulps, her mind refusing to think at all.

All she knew at that moment was that she was sitting in a bath of ice-cold water, that was as black as squid ink, still wearing her uniform she saw how truly pale her skin was from the sight of her bare hands, the knuckles and joints on her hand a pink tinge while the tips of her fingers had gone slightly purple.

"What happened?" she asked, looking at Hermione with tired bloodshot eyes.

Vivian and Hermione glanced at one another over the bath, before Hermione pressed her lips together as she quietly pushed some of the damp hair out of Ophelia's eyes.

"Last night you came running into the common room, Harry came running in behind you and the two of you argued... you broke up with him and you ran upstairs. I followed you up here and you were having a panic attack in the bathroom, I tried to calm you down but you were freaking out the others and I think you must've panicked. You pushed both me and Ginny out of the room and locked yourself in here, we heard screaming and tried to get you out of there but it was locked. We only just managed to get it open we didn't realise how strong you had charmed it. We were about to go get Madam Pomfrey but you moved-"

It came back to her in vivid flashes, forgetting her bag, opening the door, the mistletoe.

Them, kissing.

The water in the bath began to bubble around her as it became louder and louder.

The two of them fighting, louder and louder, angrier and angrier as Ophelia began to hyperventilate in the bath.