Hierarchy of Need [t.r]

Chapter Twelve

  She paled at the thought.

  What if she messed up the timeline up so bad she was never born? 

  All her memories, her childhood, pushing Harrison from that tree house, her grandfather's funeral, getting her acceptance letter from Hogwarts, getting sorted into Ravenclaw, meeting all her friends, throwing Draco into the lake, spilling a potion on Harry, dancing in the astronomy tower with Luna, her first kiss with Blaise. She blushed, she had a lot of her firsts with Blaise.

  They'd be gone. No one would remember her. No one would remember Delilah Meddows ever existed.

  Sirius' death, gifting Dobby a sweater, Dumbledore's funeral, being trapped in the basement with Luna and Ollivander-

  Delilah almost blacked out.

  No.

  No she promised herself to never think about those few months. Those dreadful, nightmarish long months. She was so close to forgetting. Her back ached all the sudden, there were uneven gashes of scar tissue, stretched in an odd arrangement.

  Bellatrix Lestrange wasn't human. She couldn't be, she might bleed red, but there wasn't an ounce of sanity or humility in that woman. That's why Delilah flinched every time Pyrrhus was called by his last name.

  Delilah didn't think she was capable of torturing someone to the point of death, but there was a special place reserved in her heart for Bellatrix. She would never act on it, she had no right to. If anyone were to take her down, that belonged to Harry. She killed Sirius, his godfather, her cousin, the only parental figure Harry had left in his life.

  Of all days, why did those memories decide to resurface?

  Tom noticed her rosy skin lose the warm hue, her breathing became shallow, and Delilah appeared to be trembling. What really have it away was royal blue fading to crystalline. Surely a Yule Ball wasn't the cause of her anguish. Tom opened his mouth, paused, then continued.

  "Are you alright?"

  Every cell in her body told Delilah to scream at him to go away. Tom couldn't see her like this, this was possibly the lowest she could reach. Those months in the basement at Malfoy manor had been the worst of her life, how she had the endurance to get through it was beyond her.

  If Tom saw her break, really break, she had no idea what he'd do with such information. He certainly wouldn't comfort her, that was a notion lost on him. Delilah didn't want his comfort if it was feigned. She didn't want anyone's pity. Would he mock her? Tell her she was weak for letting the past affect her? Weak for even letting herself be put in such a situation? Use it against her?

  Delilah knew he wouldn't tell anyone unless he got some benefit out of leaking the information. He wasn't the type to spread rumors just for the fun of it.

  However, he did hate her.

  But if the roles were reversed, would she do the same to Tom? No, she couldn't. She hated him, yes. With every inch of her being. But Delilah would never stoop so low to inflict pain on others just to appease herself.

  "Yeah." She breathed, tying her blonde locks into a messy knot. "I'm alright."

  Tom sighed at the lie.

  "And no." 

  He was observing his wand, the only indication that he heard her was the quirk of one brow. "I can't go with you- with Elio to Avery's manor." Tom turned to her, the sheets strained with the movement. 

  "Tell him I said thank you for the offer, though." Delilah wanted to move away from Tom, but when she tried, she hit the headboard.

  He didn't miss the notion and his lips pulled up. She was afraid of him and he hadn't the faintest clue why. He was intimidating, he knew that, and he had the ability to hurt her, Tom proved that when they dueled. And she proved she had the capability of not only wounding him, but nearly killing him. Admittedly, he did let his control slip that one time when he pushed her into a classroom and pinned her to a wall. But that was the least of what he could do.