Hell Heart ❤️‍🔥 Harry Potter [1]

xxiv ⟶ Thea's Path

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xxiv. Thea's Path
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THEA'S HAPPY THAT she manages to finish off her Transfiguration essay for McGonagall by eight o' clock that evening, so she shoves her things into her satchel before rushing off back to the Gryffindor Tower. Her pace and the beating of her chest speeds up when she remembers that Harry said he needs to talk to her.

She mutters the password to the portrait of the Fat Lady and scrambles through the hole, stumbling into the common room to find only Harry, Ron, Hermione and the fire.

"...I just think she knows more than she's letting on. You didn't see the way that Malfoy looked at her before, it was like...it was like they're friends or something."

A small intuition roars to life in her body, and she stays secluded by the shadows flickering against the stone walls, listening to her friends' conversation with bated breath. They're talking about her.

"Come on, Harry, are you sure you're not just...overthinking it?"

"Hermione, there's something between those four. Hedge, Strenegal, Malfoy...they all care about Thea, and I can see it in her eyes, she cares about them too."

"Harry, I think Thea's proven that we can trust her."

"I just...look, you both know I like Thea –"

"Understatement of the century, mate."

Harry sighs. "I just have a bad feeling in my gut...something seems off."

There's a pause. "Well, if you want to be cautious, you don't have to tell her about the lessons with Dumbledore, I guess..."

"Hermione, he's being a lunatic! Thea is trustworthy and I won't listen to you both talking shit about her behind her back! If you have something to say, just say it to her face."

"We're not talking shit –"

"Well you two carry on raising your concerns, or whatever. I'm just telling you I won't be a part of it, because I trust Thea, and she's my friend," Ron snaps, his tone harsh.

Thea feels a ripping flame soar through her chest, and she's never felt so sick in her life. She could scream her throat raw at Harry, but all the same she wants to hug Ron and never let go for having her back. The scarlet floor beneath her blurs to a flood of spinning colour and her head starts to throb, but she can't seem to stop herself from listening, clinging onto every pained word Harry speaks.

"Ron, surely there's a small part of you that doubts her! After everything, I just don't feel like I can trust anyone fully except you two," Harry says in a desperate tone.

Thea feels like her heart shatters.

"Well, I'd rather be wrong than two-faced."

"Two-faced? Ron, come on!"

"Harry, are you sure it's not just her friends you don't trust rather than her? I've seen you two together...and well, you look calm and...it's almost like you both forget everything else going on..." Hermione says timidly.

Silence. More silence. Harry doesn't fill it with a comeback, and she hopes, prays that he agrees with Hermione. She can't stay still anymore; her heart is working against her and her whole body feels like it's its own enemy.

Thea spins on her heel, not caring about the noise of the portrait alerting the three in the common room of her presence. Her entire body is shaking as she storms through the castle, her feet taking her in a direction that confuses her, needing the advice of only one person. It's not long before she reaches the gargoyle corridor, and then she feels like an idiot because she realises she'll need a password. She sighs, and thinks she'll have to write to Dumbledore to have a meeting with him, and turns to leave. She freezes when the grinding of stone fills her ears, and before she can change her mind, she leaps onto the top step. After a moment, she arrives in the Headmaster's office, and knocks on the door.