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The past couple of days had gone by rather quickly. Althea was doing everything she could to keep her head above water but she was struggling. Preparing for exams had been difficult, sleep had been nonexistent, her anxiety had been off the charts and on top of that, she had to deal with Sirius and his little gang. None of the Marauders had gotten the hint to leave her alone.
"Just leave me a lone."
All she wanted was to get some sleep and not worry about her upcoming exams but that clearly wasn't happening. She was on her way to Kazz's dorm room as he had his own room so she could get some rest away from everyone and their nosiness.
"What did you do to Regulus?" Sirius spat.
Althe rolled her eyes, "You know, I just don't understand where you get all of that audacity from. I didn't do anything to him. I saved him from the hell you left him in and if you can't see that, then you're worse than I thought. He's finally happy and feels like he has a future, why would you ruin that for him?" She for the life of her couldn't understand why Sirius was being like that. Did he want Regulus to keep suffering? Did he not care about his brother at all?
Sirius scoffed, "Because of you, he won't talk to me. Why won't he talk to me?"
"Maybe he's realised what a shitty brother you have always been? Maybe he's done being left behind? Maybe he doesn't want to be scared anymore? Maybe he wants to be happy? He has suffered for so long and you did nothing. You don't get to yell at me for doing what you should have been doing. He's safe and thats all you need to know." Althea spat back as she turned around to walk away.
"You're not going anywhere." James glared as he grabbed a hold of her arm. She could feel his fingers digging into her arm, causing pain and she tried to not whimper out loud.
Althea tried to get her hand out of his grip, "Let me go."
"No. You have taken Regulus from Sirius and Lily from me. Someone needs to put you in your place." James growled.
Althea didn't have a chance to answer as a voice yelled from behind them, "Let her go." She was able to release her hand from his grip during the distraction.
Lily had gotten worried when she didn't see Althea for their study break so she found Jace and Kazz, telling them of her worries and they both ran around the castle looking for her. Jace had been feeling off all day, like something was going to happen to her and when Lily came to find him, he was seeing red. No one hurts his sister and gets away with it. Kazz had noticed that she had been feeling off the past couple of days but wanted to give her space and wait until she was ready to talk, but the more he waited the worse it got and he knew he'd have to confront her soon. The last thing he wanted was for her to lose herself completely.
Althea watched as Marauders argued with her brother and boyfriend. She could feel the panic arising in her chest. She could feel her hands shaking, chest tightening and breathing becoming laboured. She tried, she really tried to breathe but before she could get a word out, everything became black.
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When Althea finally came to, she was in the hospital wing and Kazz was sat next to her. Her body felt heavy, her head hurt and her eyes burned from the bright light. She tried to set up when a hand moved to support her sitting up.
"Take it easy."
"What happened?" Althea asked softly as she looked at her boyfriend.
Kazz sighed before pressing a kiss to her head, "You passed out from a panic attack. why didn't you tell me you've been struggling?" He knew she had panic attacks but it had been a long time since she had passed out from one. He knew it was getting bad but he didn't know it was so bad.
Althea sighed, "I didn't want you to worry."
He sat down next to her, taking her hand, "Doll, I'm always going to worry about you, I love you. I want to help you because the last thing I want is for you to be upset. You mean so much to and you've been through so much, let me help. Talk to me please?"
"The pressure of our exams is becoming too much, the nightmares are back so I'm not sleeping and the bullying is tearing me down. I'm so tired but I can't sleep. I feel like I'm constantly having a panic attack and nothing is helping. I dont know what to do." She cried.
Kazz hugged her close as he let her cry. She had been bottling up her emotions for so long. She knew it wasn't healthy but she wasn't sure what to say. Kazz hated seeing her like this and was beating himself up for letting it get so far. Why didn't he help her sooner?
"I'm sorry. I should have been there for you." Kazz spoke softly.
Althea shook her head, "This is not your fault, it's mine. I was scared, I am scared. I didn't want to worry any of you with my problems. I'm sorry."
"Hey, you have nothing to be sorry for. You are struggling and we want to be here for you. We want to protect you and make sure you're happy but for that to happen, you need to tell us how you're feeling. I know it's not been easy but we love you. We want to be here for you." Kazz promised.
Althea wiped her tears, "I'm sorry. I promise I will get some help."
"Good because no matter what happens, I'm here for you."
"You have no idea how much I need that right now."
