mahogany ; d.m

33 - photograph

***

Blood, pain, fear: there was too much of it.

She was empty, there was nothing.

Nothing but a gaping void, waiting to be filled.

But there was no one. She had no one left. Everyone was gone.

Dead, missing, fled: they were all gone.

Emptiness consumed her being.

It hurt so much.

It was killing her.

She awoke with a startle at the cause of her recurring nightmare. The reminders of that day replayed freshly in her mind as she remembered every detail, feeling every version of her pain. But the visions had differed. There seemed to be a new development in the nightmare, one which pained her so much more. But she could barely place what it was without putting herself into shock.

Completely disorientated, she found herself lying on the couch with a blanket draped over her and noticed that despite the room being dark, there were slithers of faint light peaking through the window from the outside, as dawn broke.

Suddenly the door to the boys dormitories opened and she sat up in alarm, peering over to where and who the noise had come from through her lethargic state and saw Harry with Ron's arm draped over his shoulder as he clung to his side.

Ron had a drunken-like expression spread across his face and his eyes were staring off somewhere into the distance as if he was in a daze.

Harry seemed to be having trouble holding up Ron's lanky frame as he tried to drag him across the common room. Athena stood from the couch immediately, without knowing what had happened and approached the boys which made Harry look instantly relieved.

"'Thena! Thank God! Give us a hand will you," he said with a strained voice. Athena rushed beside Ron and slung his arm over her shoulder, helping Harry to keep him on track. Ron seemed to have no idea what was happening as if he was completely out of it.

"What the bloody hell is wrong with him?" she asked as they exited through the portrait.

"It was a Love Potion," he sighed. "There were a box of chocolates addressed to me which were left by Romilda Vane and Ron ate the lot."

"Romilda! Where?" Ron gushed, looking around with excitement.

"Oh gosh. So now Ron thinks he's in love with her," Athena said attempting to conceal the fact that she found this rather hilarious.

"Yeah, a bit too in love. I mean he ate the entire box," he groaned.

Every now and then Ron would sing her name and moaned incessantly about how he wanted to see her. Luckily, Athena no longer felt drowsy or light headed as she had done earlier that night meaning the intoxicants were hopefully out of her system.

"So where are we going? To Madam Pomfrey?" she asked. Ron stopped walking immediately, breaking himself out of their grasp.

"Pomfrey?!" he yelled.

"No no! We're going to see Romilda," Harry said reassuringly to Ron whilst pointedly bulging his eyes at Athena.

"Oh yeah, that's right...My sweet Romilda! oh I can't wait to see her! Do you think she smells nice Harry?" he exclaimed.

"Yeah she smells brilliant Ron," Harry huffed, rolling his eyes. Athena bit back her laughter with great difficulty.

"Of course she does!" he gushed. He continued to ask Harry and Athena questions about Romilda and enthused over every aspect of her, from her hair to her skin to her eyelashes. It was utterly hilarious.