Delirium

Chapter 52 - Context

a/n DOUBLE UPDATE!!! i'm fr on a roll.

i hope you all enjoy these chapters :)

CW// Physical abuse

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The Carrow Estate during Christmas holiday was always a pleasant, relaxing haven for Jolie; a wonderful polarity to the noisy hustle and bustle of Hogwarts' corridors in that final week before the break.

Despite her two maniacal younger sisters, Jolie always managed to find the calm comfort of being back in her home.

The three sisters had stepped off the Hogwarts Express on Saturday afternoon, each of them running into their parents' embrace. It was the first time ever that Jolie had gotten to reunite with her family along with her sisters.

But that was on Saturday. Now, it had been nearly a week since Christmas holiday officially commenced. Five days to be precise.

And it had been exactly seven since Jolie had last spoken to George.

Whilst still at school, she had been able to distract herself from thinking of their last conversation that Thursday evening; focussing only on her final examinations and packing up her trunk to return home. But after only a full two days back in the estate, settled at home with nothing left to do, Jolie had found herself struggling not to think about that conversation.

She couldn't stop recalling how much his presence had affected her.

Listening to him, speaking to him face to face, had been brutal. Utterly gut wrenching. But, from the moment he had grasped her hand in his, that constant tightness in her chest had suddenly eased. A feeling that only felt like relief.

And then, when Daphne and Theo had barged into the corridor, forcing them apart, Jolie had felt like her heart was being ripped out of its cage, leaving behind a hollowness that she felt in the very marrow of her bones. Like their brief proximity had begun to knit her broken heart back together, and being away from him tore it to shreds all over again.

It was the only way she could describe that wretched feeling.

Try as she might to forget it, the image of his face still haunted every recess of her mind even now—the look of pleading, the desperation in his voice, the absolute sorrow and regret that laced each word he spoke.

Still, Jolie reminded herself every time the memory resurfaced that he had aimed to hurt her by asking Alicia to the ball.

He might have said he hadn't, but he had. She knew that's why he'd done it.

Just because he was sorry for it now didn't change anything.

He had thought that Jolie was going to hurt him, so he had wanted to hurt her first.

He deserved to suffer through his own regret.

Upon her return from school, Jolie's parents had been stunned into silence for several moments after she'd told them of their breakup. They had only just landed back on the grounds of the Carrow Estate after Felix and Amélie had apparated Jolie and her sisters from Platform 9 ¾.

As they'd been walking up to the doors of the estate, Jolie told them simply that she and George were no longer together, keeping the explanation short and sweet.

Eventually, after their surprise had passed, her mother had kissed her cheeks and her father had hugged her, rubbing her back as he expressed his condolences. Jolie truthfully had wanted to brush both of them off, not wanting to talk anymore of the subject.