Magic? || Years 1-5

Tainted Romance: Year 4

The burning feeling in her chest was what dominated her thoughts.

The feeling of her heart shattering into a million pieces.

-=+=-

"Amisty," Hermione called, knocking on the door even harder. "Amisty, please unlock the door!"

"Go aw-way, Hermione!" Amisty sobbed, her voice muffled and broken.

She had shoved her face into a pillow in an attempt to hide her tears.

"Fine. Alohomora!"

And Hermione burst in, harried and concerned as she closed the door and hurried to Amisty's bed.

"I'm going to murder that prat," The brunette declared furiously, rubbing Amisty's shuddering shoulders in a comforting manner. "I'm so sorry, Am."

She let out a sort of choked laugh, turning away from the pillow, "It's all my fault anyway, I should've known it was just to humiliate me."

Her eyes were red and puffy, tear tracks staining her pink cheeks.

A wan smile pulled on her lips, but her bottom lip was trembling and her eyes were dull and dark.

"It's not your fault. It was never your fault," Hermione insisted passionately, squeezing her tighter. "Malfoy was a git and he hurt you, not the other way around, Am. Anyone would have fallen for that."

"But I did, and now Harry and Ron hate me," She mumbled.

Hermione didn't seem to have an answer for that.

"I should never have let this go on for so long. I knew it was a horrible, horrible idea but I still went and did it anyway, didn't I?"

"Ami -- "

"I let my guards down and started to fancy him, and now I've lost two of my best friends," She buried her face into her pillow, breaking out into tears once more.

"Amisty, they don't hate you -- " Hermione started to protest.

"I broke their trust, Hermione!" Amisty cut her off furiously. "I went off with Harry's rival and a boy who constantly demeans Ron and you!"

"He made you happy, at least when you thought it was real, and once they realize that they're not going to be mad. You're still you, Amisty River, even with this mistake you've made, and they'll remember that soon enough," Hermione countered, suddenly sounding very stern.

"If they were truly your friends in the first place they'll learn to forgive you, and once this all blows over, well, I'm certain you'll be the last person they'll be mad at."

-=+=-

Amisty was eating alone, not even in the Great Hall. She had tried, with Hermione's support, to try and talk to Ron and Harry to have them ignore her entirely.

So there she was, sitting alone in an empty classroom with a plate one of the house-elves had brought her.

It had been a miserable few days, even if she had somewhat managed to get over it.

Quite a few Howlers came her way, enough to the point she had a pile of ashes sitting at the foot of her bed and a constant ringing in her ears.

The ones that hurt the most were the ones accusing her of only being after him for his fortune, like some petty thief.

She had grown out of that stage of her life, she didn't steal anymore and she never would. It didn't help that there was a copious amount of people shoving her, tripping her, hurting her in the hallways.