mahogany ; d.m

11 - suspicious

The rays of sunlight sliced through the curtains that draped over the ancient window, a few feet from Athena's bed. She awoke with heavy caution to the undesirable brightness of the room on this fine October, Sunday morning.

She shifted up in her bed, resting her back on the headboard, rubbing her eyes immensely. It took her a moment to gather her senses and surroundings, attempting to place her early thoughts.

The only thing she could hear was a faint racket coming from the small bathroom in their dormitory. She had figured out where Hermione was.

Reaching over to her bedside table, she grabbed her watch, which had been given to her by her step dad one birthday, and checked the time. It wasn't as late as she thought it would be. Luckily she hadn't missed breakfast, and Hermione still hadn't gone down.

Fortunately, her head wasn't pounding from her intoxicated evening, but she still felt a benign grogginess. As well as this, it was hard to ignore the constant thoughts which stubbornly continued to crop up into her head.

Consequences.

"Morning," Hermione yawned, slumping out of the bathroom, looking extremely tired. Athena greeted her in return, while tying back her hair.

Hermione stopped aghast, staring at Athena. Her expression was one of a laughable matter, a smirk curling on her lips.

"I can see you had fun last night," she smirked. Athena stared at her in complete and utter confusion. What could she possibly know?

"I'm sorry?"she asked, her heart pounding. She couldn't think of anything worse than her friends finding out the truth of her late night affairs. Hell, she hated herself for it.

Although somehow she knew that if Hermione did in fact know already, this would definitely have not been her reaction.

Hermione let out a small giggle before turning away to fold her pyjamas.

"What is it?"Athena asked, now panicking slightly. She couldn't think of what it was that was giving her away.

"'Thena, I know a hickey when I see one," Hermione chuckled, facing her again.

Shit.

Of course. How could she be so clueless? Draco had been extra persistent on leaving his mark on her last night.

"Oh—haha—this?"Athena replied, rubbing at her neck.

"You mean 'these'?" she smirked. "You should tell Cedric to be a bit more careful next time. He's made a right state of your neck."

Athena could feel the surface of her cheeks beginning to warm. She didn't know whether to feel relieved, that Hermione suspected the wrong thing from the revolting truth, or guilty that she was lying to her best friend.

"Well I'm glad you two are finally together," Hermione said. "Right, I'm off for some breakfast. Do you want me to wait downstairs?"

"No, no you go ahead. I don't know how long I will be."

Hermione nodded, leaving Athena alone in the dormitory. 

She progressed into the bathroom for a shower. She stepped in front of the mirror to study her appearance.

It was hard to ignore the pigmented blemishes scattered down her neck, and only to find a few more on her chest when she undressed from her pyjamas.

'Did he have to be such a leech?' she thought, trailing her fingers over the marks where Draco's lips had once been.

Oh, how she wished it hadn't happened. Now she only had more to cover up. And now Hermione thought that Cedric was the artist of these. What if she said something to him? How awful that would be.