A Beautiful and Terrible Truth

Chapter 7

After showering the salt water out of my hair, I found Kam sitting on the full size bed in the room that I was staying in. Her hair was wet as well, and she was in jean shorts and a tank top. I cleared my throat and she looked up at me from what appeared to be a letter. I smiled at her and sat down next to her in my jeans and t-shirt.

“You seem,” she squinted at me, “different.”

I tilted my head to the side. “Different how?”

She shrugged. “I have no idea, but all that I know is you’re different. Has something happened? Are you getting any letters from Draco or something? You’re mood is all…weird.”

“No, I haven’t had one single letter from Draco,” I said, losing my smile.  

She stared at me for a moment as if she was waiting for me to say something. “Why do you think that is?” she asked, setting the letter down on the bed between us and giving me her full attention.

I shrugged. “Who knows?”

I wanted to say that perhaps he was busy or perhaps he couldn’t because he was being watched twenty-four seven. How could she say that though? If he truly cared about her, if he truly loved her, he would’ve owl mailed her by that point in time. She had no reason to defend him when he didn’t even have the guts to prove that he loved her.

“Liar,” Kam said harshly.

I looked at her oddly. “Kam, what-“

“Liar,” she shook her head. “What has happened to you over the last two months that you have honestly lost faith in you and Draco?”

That’s when Ron walked into the room. We both looked up at him at the same time, which caused him to blush a little. He cleared his throat, and I looked down at my hands and played with the blanket that was underneath us. Kam looked from me to Ron before getting up off the bed.

“What is it, Ronald? Do you have something important to say, or should I just shove you out the door now? We’re in the middle of a rather important discussion that doesn’t involve you, so piss off-“

“Kam!” I yelled at her and she spun around. “Don’t yell at him like that when he does have something to do with this conversation!” I had gotten off the bed as well and was approaching the two, who both were looking at me in shock.

“Court-“ Ron had begun to talk, but Kam punched him in the nose and cut him off before he could finish my name. “What in the name of Merlin was that for, Diggory?”

“You,” Kam said, breathing hard. “I knew there was something going on, but I chose not to believe it. You had always sworn that Courtney was like a sister to you and now that you don’t have a girlfriend and Court and Draco are not official, you decide that it’s a good idea to just move in on her? You’re more of a jerk than I thought.”

He shook his head. “I never would force Courtney into anything. I have felt this way towards her since the beginning of the year when she started liking Draco. I felt that I’ve always loved Courtney in that way, but I didn’t realize it until she fell for the enemy!”

“So, this is what it’s about? You can stand the fact that she’s with a Slytherin, eh? Well, I’m with a Slytherin. Why don’t you kiss me and tell me all your feelings about the man I love? And I’ll believe you because I’m so depressed from not being with him!”

“Kamrynn!” I yelled and stepped between her and Ron. “Stop this right now. You have absolutely no idea what you are talking about. It’s nothing like that, okay? Let’s just let fate decide because it’s going to win anyway. You can’t control you love.”

She shook her head at me. “You live in a fantasy world.”

“How am I living in a fantasy world when I am the only one accepting reality?” I asked her, and she looked from me to Ron behind me.

“What the hell did you say to her, Weasel? You sure did put a number on her,” she then looked back to me. “She’s always been so stubborn and believed in what she truly believed in.”

I shook my head. “That little girl didn’t accept reality. She had to be buried because she could easily be hurt in a world like this.”

“That ‘little girl’ – as you say – knew exactly where she belonged, reality or not. She fought for what she truly wanted, what she truly had faith in. You are not the real Courtney. You’re not my best mate,” she shook her head. “You’re boring. You’re building this safe little life for yourself brick by boring brick.”

“You’re the one who doesn’t know what’s real and what’s a fairy tale,” I countered and heard the door click shut behind me. Ron had left us to it.

She shook her head. “Well, I’ll go get a shovel and bury her then, same as you. Then perhaps I’ll be able to understand where you’re coming from, why you’re tearing the wings off of this perfectly good butterfly that did nothing to you.”

“You’re the one who used to tear the wings off butterflies, Kam,” I fought the tears that were already falling. “I never was able to hurt something so innocent.”

“That’s because I used to be like this. I used to believe that love didn’t exist because of what happened between my parents when I was little. I hid true feelings; I set my sights on someone that I could never have. That is until I met Blaise, my true love. You always believed in true love, and you never gave up on it,” she paused. “Until now.”

I shook my head. “I didn’t give up on it. I just chose to accept what fate has given me.”

“And it’s not right,” she shook her head, tears of her own glistening. “I never thought you would turn into..into…”

“Into what?”

She licked her lips and looked me straight in the eyes. “Into an empty soul.”

“Well,” I swallowed hard. “If you can touch it or see it, then how can you believe in it?”

“It’s worse than I thought,” she said, “and I can’t be around you.”

She bumped into me on her way out of my room. I stood there in shock at how my best mate had just treated me. I thought her of all people would understand that those relationships are over. Draco and I don’t stand a chance in Hell anymore, and neither did she and Blaise. I went over to my bed and saw that Kam had left her letter on the bed. I picked it up to see that it was from Blaise, who claimed to love her very much. Perhaps my ‘safe’ life as she called it was boring, but she needed to start building one of her own, brick by boring brick.