Bleeding Heart | REMUS LUPIN

Chapter Thirteen

For the next few hours, Ivory was only half asleep. She would doze off for only about fifteen minutes at a time before waking once more, her notebook still in her hand. After writing until her left hand was sore, she had decided to put away her wand and writing materials and was simply reading through her notebook, trying to make out the words in the dark. She'd done so until her eyelids had begun to droop, then had hastily closed the book so that the lock clicked shut.

When the sunlight finally began to trickle through the closed curtains, Ivory had decided it was time to actually get out of bed. She sat up just as she saw Alice getting up as well.

Alice rubbed her eyes sleepily. Her eyes swept across the room, but as soon as they landed on Ivory, she jumped out of bed and ran over to her, throwing her arms around her. Ivory was taken by surprise, but she slowly melted into Alice's hug and sighed dejectedly.

"You didn't get much sleep last night, did you?" Alice asked her knowingly after she had pulled away. Her eyes immediately cut to the notebook that Ivory still clutched tightly in her hands.

"Nope," said Ivory.

Alice didn't say anything more and for that Ivory was very grateful. It may have been because the brunette knew that Ivory didn't want to talk, or it could've been simply that she didn't want to wake the other two sleeping girls; but whatever the case was, Ivory was glad that she didn't have to talk.

"I'm just going to shower before they wake up," Ivory whispered, pointing to Lily and Marlene's beds. "Then we can go to breakfast."

"You're... you're coming to breakfast today?" Alice asked her, eyes wide and caring. "If you don't want to, we can always just bring it up here to you."

She shook her head in response. "No, I have to... And in any case, I was planning on going to class as well. McGonagall already gave me my day off. Besides, we have Charms today. I like Charms."

With that, Ivory left to take a shower. The longer she remained there, the more reluctant she became to ever leave the dormitory. She took her time as much as she possibly could. She took a long shower, brushed her teeth extra slowly and avoided opening the bathroom door at all costs. She needed to be alone for a while.

Ivory heard the sound of shuffling feet on the other side of the door that meant Marlene and Lily had woken up and were getting dressed. For the longest time, after she had finished getting ready and had her uniform on, she sat slumped against the closed bathroom door, hesitant to go down to the Great Hall and face the rest of the school.

Finally, she pulled herself together and turned the knob of the door, opening it only to be nearly knocked over by Marlene.

"Marls!" Ivory gasped in shock as she felt the blonde girl's arms tighten around her.

"Marlene McKinnon!" said Lily in a scolding tone. "For goodness sake, don't break her!"

Marlene ignored Lily completely. "Need me to kill a bitch for you?" she said forcefully to Ivory.

A sad chuckle escaped Ivory's lips. "Yeah, Voldemort," she told Marlene.

The name left her lips so easily now, whereas before, she had always been fearful to say the name, just as everyone else was. When they heard, however, Lily and Alice both flinched.

"Done, I'll get him," Marlene responded angrily, pulling back from the hug to get a good look at her friend. Her blue eyes grazed over Ivory's face. "Don't take this the wrong way, Ivory, but you look horrid."

"I know," said Ivory, shrugging indifferently. "Let's just go to breakfast, shall we?" She looked to Lily for help, afraid that Marlene would start bringing up certain things that would reduce Ivory to tears.

Lily picked up on the hint and was soon at her side, linking her arm with Ivory's. Ivory grabbed her bag from the floor and slung it across her shoulders.

"Yes, let's go," Alice quipped. "I'm hungry and I can hear Mar's stomach growling from all the way over here."

While Marlene pretended to be offended before jumping on Alice's back and bringing them both to the floor, Lily turned to Ivory. She cocked her head to the side, her emerald green eyes full of concern.

"You all right, Perks?" she asked softly.

"Just fine, Evie," Ivory replied, averting her gaze from her best friend's. Though it was a lie, there was no other appropriate answer to such a question.

Lily and Ivory had taken to affectionately calling each other these nicknames, which were shortened versions of their surnames. They'd been trying to figure out more creative nicknames for each other back in first year and had eventually come up with the idea of using last names.

"C'mon," said Lily, keeping their arms linked as she began walking towards the door.

"Wait!" said Ivory suddenly, retracting her arm.

Lily gave her an inquisitive glance as she watched the other girl run over to her nightstand. Her fingers closed around her notebook and she quickly shoved it inside her bag, cramming the little burgundy book between two textbooks.

She then moved back to stand next to Lily. "Now let's go."