𝙢𝙚𝙚𝙩 𝙢𝙚 𝙖𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙖𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙤𝙣𝙤𝙢𝙮 𝙩𝙤𝙬𝙚𝙧

chapter 34

talia didn't see draco at all the next day. no one really knew where he was, so she figured he was in the room of requirement all day working on the cabinet.

she thought it was weird he didn't invite her to join him. usually, he did, and he enjoyed her company. she didn't think much about it, though, assuming he just wanted to try and get as much done as possible.

she didn't hear from him until her and pansy were about to go to sleep again later that night. but, she saw draco's owl flying towards her and pansy's window. in its beak was a note.

meet me at the astronomy tower
-d.m.

"sneaking out?" pansy asked, a smirk on her face.

talia grabbed quickly grabbed a light jacket from her drawer, throwing it on.

"i'll be right back." she said.

she left the room quietly and tiptoed to the astronomy tower, slightly nervous to see draco. for some reason, she felt like something was wrong. maybe she just anxious to see him, but something was definetly...off.

tal's walk to the tower felt like an eternity. when she finally made it there, she saw draco sitting on the edge by the railing, his legs dangling off. he sounded like he was sniffling.

"hey..." talia made her presence known. draco jumped and got up quickly, staring at talia. she didn't mean to scare him.

"are you okay? i didn't see you today." she chuckled.

draco didn't smile. he didn't even smirk. he just stared at her blankly.

"we need to talk." he said, monotoned.

talia furrowed her eyebrows and crossed her arms over her chest. if draco was upset, something wasn't right.

"is this about the cabinet?" she wondered, thinking of what was most likely to be wrong. draco sighed shook his head, looking away up at the sky.

he couldn't bear to look at her.

for a second, he thought maybe he shouldn't do what he was about to do. maybe it wasn't the right decision. maybe there was some other way he could protect talia from this mess.

but there wasn't.

"no, talia. it's about us." he said.

talia walked further into the tower where draco was standing, a confused look on her face. things in their relationship have been going so well. what could have possibly gone wrong?

"what?" she mumbled. draco didn't answer at first, deep in thought. he didn't know how to do this. there was no way to do it right.

he continued to stare at the sky looking at the stars for a distraction. there was no backing out now. he had to just say it.

"i can't keep doing this." he whispered. a small part of him hoped talia wouldn't hear him, but she did.

she heard every word.

"doing what, exactly?" she asked. she thought that he would say something about the cabinet, or something about his task she still knew nothing about.

but the next word he said broke her.

"this."

talia let out a laugh. her and draco were fine. they just had sex for the first time, for crying out loud.

but she didn't see him smile or laugh. she just saw him continuing to stare out into the distance, not looking at her. she tried to look into his eyes, but it was useless.

"i don't understand. i thought we were fine. i thought everything was fine." tal said, shaking her head.

draco heard her voice slightly crack, so he turned around fully and leaned onto the railing.

"i don't want to be with you anymore. all i wanted was to get into your pants and snog a bit. none of it was real." draco said through gritted teeth.

"no. i don't believe that." talia responded.

she shouldn't, because nothing draco was saying was true. he loved talia more than he loved himself, and this was the last thing he wanted to be doing.

he just wanted to assure talia that this was only to help her. that's all.

"then your an idiot." he said instead.

talia let out a breath. she wasn't going to let herself cry, because this wasn't really happening.

"did i do something? i'll fix it." tal said with determination.

draco had to bite down on his lip so talia wouldn't hear him cry. he let out a sigh as quietly as he could, and choked down a few tears.

"you should go. i never want to see you again."

"no. you're not gonna push me away like you do with everyone else. i won't let you." talia tried.

she walked up to him and put her hand on his shoulder, about to hug him. but, draco flinched under her touch and moved away from her in disgust.

still, he didn't look at her. he couldn't. he knew if he did, he'd take everything back.

talia put her hand down, tears starting to roll down her face. he was disgusted by her. he wanted nothing to do with her.

everything was a lie.

she took a step back, staring at herself. she felt ashamed to be in her own skin. why did she have to be the way she was? why did she have to ruin it?

the worst part of it all, was she didn't even know where she went wrong.

"please, draco. i need you. i...i love you, okay? and i'm sorry for whatever i did, i'll do anything to fix it. because i love you. i don't believe it was all a lie. i reuse to." talia cried and begged.

draco cried as well, and he closed his eyes as his head fell toward the ground. when he looked up out to the lake, he sucked everything in, pulling himself together.

"leave. i can't even look at you." he said.

it was true. he couldn't, but not for the reason he was saying.

talia scoffed thrugh her tears, sighing heavily. she started taking a few steps backwards, praying draco would turn around and say this was some kind of sick joke.

but he didn't.

just before talia left, she looked down at her chest. there, the necklace of draco's ring layed delicately.

she ripped it off of her neck and threw it at draco's feet. it almost fell off of the tower, but he stopped it with his heel. talia didn't notice.

she wanted to say something like "rot in hell", or ask him why he would do this to her. but she didn't. she couldn't.

so, she turned around and ran as fast from the tower as she could, wiping her tears as she did so.

draco turned around and finally saw she was gone. he let out a breath and kicked his foot on the ground angrily, then violently slammed his hands down onto the railing. he blamed voldemort for this, and he blamed his father. he hated them, and every deatheater that ever lived.

and he hated himself for falling in love with her.

pansy heard talia coming, hearing the running footsteps. she opened the door just as talia got to the door. both girls froze.

pansy looked at talia and saw the tears running down her face. she looked at her chest and saw the necklace draco had given her gone. then, she shook her head.

"oh..." she sighed, putting the pieces together.

she held out her arms as talia hugged her friend, pansy letting her cry into her shoulder.