Hell Heart ❤️‍🔥 Harry Potter [1]

xii. Echoes

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xii. Echoes
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IT SEEMS TO Thea that she's left her concentration and ability to think straight in Hogsmeade on Valentine's Day. Ever since she found out about Jude wanting to join the Death Eaters, and wanting to help her join, she hasn't managed to shake the nausea from her body, or the fear from her mind. She also suspects this is why he's been so persistent about 'getting to know her', but there's a huge blank in her mind about why he chose her. As she walks to Transfiguration alone, it's as though stone has settled in her chest, making it harder to breathe, to think, and like every step is a painful effort.

She takes her usual seat next to Dean at the front, and keeps her eyes fixated on McGonagall at the front, who's talking about counter-spells and telling them to get their books out. As Thea reaches into her bag, she smiles weakly at Dean.

"Thea, are you alright? You look pale," he says, frowning a little at her.

"Yeah, yeah –" her lip trembles a little as she speaks. "I – uh, do you have any water? I'm feeling a little light-headed actually..."

"No, I left my bottle in my dorm room. Do you want to ask McGonagall – Thea!"

Her mind spins far away, as the classroom around her fades into nothing, and blackness takes over.

Once she wakes up in her dorm room, she makes her way down to the common room. She finds Dean sat on the sofa with his head in his hands, and she guesses it was him who carried her out when she'd fainted in Transfiguration. She still can't stop thinking about how heavy it was to move to get her book out of her bag, and it's already been hours...

"Right, that's it!" Dean exclaims, startling her more than usual. "Who in the name of Merlin are you and what have you done with my tiger?"

Suddenly her mouth is dry, and it feels like all the words she knows have evaporated from her mind and her tongue. She just wants to go back to sleep.

"You're wasting away, T. This isn't you –"

"I'm fine, Dean," she says firmly, leaping to her feet and shaking his hand off her arm.

"Well, quite clearly you're not! I'm not going to sit here and let whatever the hell is going on with you just destroy you!" he says back, his face hard and full of concern.

Her heart erupts into flames and she has to sit down again.

"I just – I don't know what's happening to me," she says, tears leaking from her eyes.

Dean's face softens and he takes the seat opposite her, taking her hands and staring her directly in the eye.

"Hey, tiger," his voice is quiet. "I'm here for you, you know that, right? I'm not going anywhere, no matter what."

"Of course I do," she says back, squeezing his hands and returning his gaze finally.

She can't keep secrets from him.

"Jude is becoming a Death Eater," she whispers.

"What? How do you know?" Dean gasps, fear now mixing with sincerity.

"He told me – and he asked me to join, said we could be powerful together," she says, quieter still.

"And what did you say?"

Thea thinks this answer should quite obviously be no, but then she realises she never actually responded to his question.

"I didn't give him an answer," she tells him honestly. "I was too horrified."