TEACHER'S PET ━ 𝓡. Lupin

13. Personal tutor

—NOTHING HAPPENED for weeks.
From Natalia's perspective each day and each night were the same as those before, she had once again learned to bury herself in her usual routine, more than ever before, actually.

She desperately clung to every possible distraction, during that time period she had even regretted not considering the prefect role they'd always wanted her to take, if she hadn't been so vulnerable to stress and responsibility, by that time she would have been a Ravenclaw prefect, maybe even Headgirl, her life would've been so busy she most likely wouldn't have been able to find time to overthink that much.

After waking up, Natalia usually crawled to the Great Hall for breakfast, she was constantly exhausted but couldn't seem to be able to get some sleep. During the nighttime she usually read or did her homework until she eventually passed out, in order to avoid those unbearable minutes of consciousness separating her from falling asleep, minutes during which she would've started to think about every single disaster she had caused in those past few months.

She occasionally had meaningless small talk with her fellow Ravenclaws while mindlessly fidgeting with her first coffee cup of the day, she then proceeded to chug that bitter concoction, and off she was to her first class.

During lunchtime she usually grabbed a piece of toast, an apple or a cheese slice, but she never really stopped in the great hall, she avoided her friends during weekdays and only tended to spend time with them on the weekends, when the considerable amount of fire whiskey they shared helped her having significant social interactions without constantly zoning out.

At that time, avoiding everyone she had once loved appeared extremely easy. She often caught herself thinking about buying a new notebook to keep track of every stupid lie she had come up with during those endless late weeks of February, just so she could keep herself from meeting Charlie. Natalia perfectly knew she was hurting him, no one could have ever deserved that kind of treatment, let alone someone who cared about her like Charlie had proven of doing.
She should have worked up the courage to tell him how things actually were once and for all, but her cowardice seemed to be prevailing every single time. Ultimately, Charlie had gone back to Romania.

Their last encounter had been brief and definitely distressing for Natalia. Standing next to the train wagons full to the brim, surrounded by wizards and witches bidding their goodbyes to each other, Charlie had lifted her chin up with his fingers, making sure his girlfriend finally looked him in the eyes, as she had carefully avoided doing during those last few hours they had spent together.

His eyes were overfilled with concern. As much as Natalia liked to think she was exceptionally good at hiding whatever was on her mind those days, everyone would have been able to tell there was something extremely wrong with her. "You'll be fine, am I right?" He had gently asked, a faint smile on his lips. Natalia had simply nodded, deeply sighing, squinting her eyes just so she could break that exhausting eye contact, seriously worried she might have burst into tears right there and then.
"I'm gonna miss you", he had then added, wrapping her body in one of his usual warm and gentle hugs, kind of a trademark of his. "I'm gonna miss you too, you know that" she had mumbled, tucking her head into the crook of his neck, inhaling one last time his sweet and familiar scent that was once able to immediately calm her down, while in that moment it had only managed to hurt her more. She couldn't take it anymore. Charlie had gave her a small peck on the lips before eventually getting on the train, dragging his big, tattered, brownish trunk, embellished by a ton of different stickers, souvenirs of every one of his travels.
The train had then left at full speed,  leaving Natalia behind, alone and defeated next to the train tracks. She had finally broke down in a desperate crying she wouldn't have been able to suppress not even once she had got back to the castle. Everyone had assumed her bad mood was due to Charlie's departure, she hence had a good excuse to lock herself in her dormitory the whole evening.