𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 - 𝐃𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐨 𝐌𝐚𝐥𝐟𝐨𝐲

30 - Delilah, Delilah

Nonetheless, I manage to desultorily get dressed, and as I came to wash my face, the slight feel of water left me in a shiver of memories of the black lake I had tried to suppress all this time. The memory of the sirens leaving me tied up at the dock, my wrists still aching from that pain. The memory of my cave in which I had the most equilibrium (looking at this peace now, it is merely artificial to me compared to the peace I am within currently). This was all triggered by the splash of water on my hands and face, so I could only imagine what another bath would do. Regardless, I shook this feeling off and made my way with Luna to our first class. 

"You've never taken Herbology at Beuxbatons?" Luna asked as she slid her feet on the cobblestone. I, too, had no shoes to wear because Luna had no shoes to wear. I thought this was a completely normal thing. Humans use their hands and arms daily, and yet they do not cover them- so naturally, this logic should apply to feet and legs, no? I, however, was deeply wrong. I knew I was wrong when I swallowed the deep glances at my feet, projecting back to my face as I made my way to the classroom- although, these people did not look at Luna in the slightest bit of concern, indicating this had been a regular occurrence for her, and I was just in the toes of meeting that threshold of regularity. I began to think maybe Luna was not the best at explaining human norms. 

"It wasn't a core subject there, I guess not," I said, as we made our way into the classroom. It was a long way from the common room to here, and my feet began to feel warm and cool all at once, however, I brushed this off to be a human specialty to get me to walk faster so I could eventually lay down faster. However, taking away this pain was not the sitting, oh no. It was the sight of Draco, sitting on one of the stools, looking at the entrance as if he were counting each student who walked in. I had not seen this at first, as I was admiring the glass ceiling and the plants that sprawled everywhere like grass on the soil. But when I did, it was a magnetizing sort of attraction that left my force and his in a conjoined sort of state, as if I could not walk back, and only further. 

The seats next to him were all taken by people I did not recognize, nor did I want to recognize, as I was too in awe of him to even begin the fluttering admiration of someone else. His gaze, oh how I truly do miss that gaze! The gaze tugged me from left to right based on the direction it ponders to. The gaze that made me big or small was based on the dilation of his pupil. I felt like I was melting in that sweet spring heat, however, my walls were back up when I felt myself being crashed into by a group of bodies as they were trying to get to their seats, realizing I should probably find one far enough from anyone else, and so I did. I managed to shuffle past all the students, my cheeks flushed- not because of my awkward stumbles and trips, for I have been swum on and slapped all my life. My cheeks, arms, thighs, and ears rose red due to that following gaze I could see creep from his periphery. 

Finally, I made my way to the very back of the classroom, with only a few students there, non who seemed to be too keen on recognizing me or wanting to be recognized. In my short time here, I have learned to pick up the expression of someone, whether it be bitter or pleasure. In a matter of hours, as I study each face in the great hall, I have learned the way that eyebrows can communicate a certain disgust, or how the slightly changed angle of pursed lips can shift between the thread of a pout or being serious. These people had thinly lined lips, dazed eyes, and eyebrows that rested heavily on their eyelids. I took my chances that they were not interested in my new, foreign-to-them face. 

As I sat down, however, I noticed a particularly vibrant face come near me. This boy had ruffled hair, and light, hazle eyes like the leaves that would lay dead on the pond during the season of autumn. He also wore a proud smirk on his face as he came to sit on what I thought would be a resting spot where I could lay my legs. And as he sat down, I could feel a shiver run done my spine and the hamstrings of my legs.  This, you might think, is a way of my body being anticipated to be next to this new presence, however, I felt somewhere very deep inside me, there was something superficially not-up-to-par with this presence. 

"Name's Theodore; Theodore Alexander Nott- but you don't have to call me that of course, just call me Theo," He said so confidently, it shattered any shred of egotism I had built up in the last few months. 

"I- well, I'm Delilah Eyre" He blinked his eyes in a bored countenance that expressed to me he was here to introduce 'Theodore Alexander Nott' and  'Theodore Alexander Nott' only.

"Delilah, Delilah. What a beautiful name. I once had a neighbor named Delilah, god she was whore. She might've fucked every man in that district. Never got around to me though, I guess some things are just best left in the past- Although, I've always wondered what it might be like for those guys to moan that name: 'De-lie-lah'. It fits perfectly on the tongue, don't you think?" 

My face fell at the casualty he spoke in, without bothering to look me in the eye, talking to the reflection of the glass vases rather than me. Additionally, his words were a maze and I was at a dead end. They were cryptic hieroglyphics that I only knew some letters of. Nonetheless, I nodded only making out the murmurs of 'my' name.  With this nod, his smirk only grew wider like a wolf's grin, and I felt myself shrunken to the corner.

"Well, Delilah, I think we're going to be very good friends, then."