a christmas break | draco malfoy - 𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐏𝐋𝐄𝐓𝐄𝐃

41

My thoughts and prayers are with Helen's family. We lost another beautiful angel to cancer, unfortunately. Please be respectful towards the family and be kind to each other. Lots of love.
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It felt unusual to Luna how recently quiet Astera had been. How she picked at her food and sorted it until it could no longer be sorted into sections and how her water was left untouched. Her parchment was always crumbled when she handed it over and her handwriting seemed like she wrote it five minutes before class. She barely took care of herself in many ways, but mostly Luna finally noticed how she didn't sleep.

"Are you listening?" Elle's voice broke her out of her thoughts, snapping her back into this wretched reality.

"Uh, yeah, yeah," she nodded, blinking a few times as she put her fork down and rubbing her palms on her thighs, "I think you should do it. If you want, you know."

But when Elle continued talking she zoned out again, staring at the blank wall before her as she heard Luna's voice talk back to Elle but not fully registering it. The Great Hall around her was booming with chatter and laughter from students, clinking glasses and forks and knives against plates, but even with all that noise, it felt quiet and lonely around her.

Elle and Luna made effort to get even the smallest of smiles out of her and the quietest of laughs but even if they smacked their heads into each other, her face would remain the same; expressionless and cold.

From across the room to the Slytherin table, Draco's chin rested on his palm, barely looking alive as he stared right through Nadine, a girl sat in front of him who talked with Pansy. He barely heard the voices around him, completely shutting himself out from the world around him. He had managed to get the cabinet to barely work but enough for Snape to stop breathing down his neck for a while. He had gotten a letter or two from his mother, opening up to her about his mistake and second of happiness and receiving words of comfort that felt empty on the orange pages of parchment he so desperately clinged on.

Astera managed to take a sip out of her water and a spoonful of the soup next to her before feeling her stomach grumble and make her nauseous. She stood up quickly, almost too quick and felt her head spin.

"Where're you going?" Asked Luna.

"To the bathroom."

Her feet quickly dragged her away from the bright and loud Hall and all the way to the dark and lonely halls where she pushed open the doors of the bathroom and stood in front of a sink. Her mouth let out breaths as her body shook from the lack of energy and warmth in the bathroom. She was becoming sick and she didn't even know about it. Or, well, maybe she did. But chose to ignore it.

Splashing water on her face, she closed her eyes, letting the water drops roll down her face and neck in a very relaxing manner.

"Lilith?"

Her eyes snapped open, looking up in the mirror and seeing his reflection. She used the sleeve of her sweater to wipe away the water on her face, turning around to face him.

"Are you okay?"

"You don't get to ask me that." she harshly said, looking at him with the same eyes he once saw in the dimly lit library that night. He looked just like her, maybe worse with dark circles and a dried throat. He wasn't taking care of himself like she used to.

"Can you not be a grimalkin for just a second?" he said back to her, annoyed at her attitude.

"Can you leave me alone for the rest of my life, then?"

Draco stood there quietly, their breaths slightly echoing in the bathroom, "I don't want to talk to you, Malfoy."

"Please, for alls sake, don't call me that," he said, "You sound like the rest of them."