The burn from Draco's touch on her neck lingered to her skin stubbornly. Athena had never felt so ashamed of herself yet at the same time, so utterly hypnotized by another.
As she fled to Gryffindor Tower, her thoughts raced with every emotion possible to the point she felt she could vomit. The anger, the shame, the guilt, the arousal and the temptation, all of which she almost succumbed to. It was beyond overwhelming.
She could not even begin to comprehend what had happened, but more specifically what she had almost allowed to happen. Truth be told, as crude as it may seem, she genuinely wanted him to kiss her. If Draco hadn't withdrawn, she would have kissed him and who knows where it could have gone from there.
It was wrong, so entirely wrong that it only made her all the more desirous of him.
But there was Cedric. He who, despite her close encounter with infidelity, she truly loved. It goes without saying, nothing had actually gone as far to happen. But that didn't mean it wouldn't have if Draco hadn't stopped it.
Looking back to that moment, she critiqued herself heavily with a mixture of embarrassment and cringe. However, in the moment, there was nothing she had wanted more than his lips on hers. But now the very thought gave her a strange, unsettling feeling with an undertone of intrigue which she pushed away.
What was worse was that she had almost proved everything Theo had been shaming her for earlier on. Everything Theo had said definitely crossed her mind prior to their conversation, so ultimately he hadn't said anything that she hadn't already thought about herself.
The passions she possessed for Draco seemed beyond reason. She could not make sense of any of it. Was she only controlled by damned lust or was there something else? Something more than she wanted to allow.
And because of the constant stream of longing thoughts that drowned her internally, she hated him so much for making her feel as she did. The frustration seared through her chest like a hot branding iron.
Athena bypassed the entrance that a crowd of students were using to return from the Quidditch match. The Gryffindors seemed disheartened whereas the Hufflepuffs were anything but. It had clearly been a victory for Hufflepuff.
She integrated into the midst of the crowd, following a few of her fellow Gryffindors to their common room. However, as she had caught up beside Parvati and Lavender who were discussing the events of the match, her name was called from behind and she immediately knew the voice.
Her heart sunk and an acidic bile emerged in her throat. She turned her head to see Cedric, messy haired and slightly muddy, approaching her. He looked unnerved, which only made her all the more anxious. The guilt was drowning her.
"You alright, where were you? I looked for you in the Gryffindor crowd and you weren't there," he asked, taking her hand in his and leading her away from the traffic jam of students.
"Um—I had a detention," she replied. "How was it? Did you win?"
"Oh yeah we did. What'd you get a detention for?" he furrowed his brows.
"Just—being out of bed after curfew," she explained, trying her best to sound nonchalant.
"Right," he said with an air of unsureness, but pressed no further questions about it. "And about yesterday..."
He stopped speaking when a few third year students ushered past them, from whom they received some stares.
Cedric then took a step in front of her so he was nearer and lifted her hand above her chest into a gentle hold of affection. When she looked to her wrist, she noticed something was off.
Shit.
Her bracelet was gone. She recalled the last time she had been wearing it was during Theo's interrogation, moments before...
'Shit,' the voice in her mind repeated.
"Will you come to my room with me? There are things to say," he asked, sounding slightly regretful.
She agreed automatically, dreading what was to come.
The Hufflepuff common room was filled with ecstatic students, all intoxicated by the sheer joy of their victory. As the two of them made their way to the dormitories, a numerous amount of Hufflepuffs called Cedric's name, congratulating and praising him.
Still led by his hand, they entered his room and shut out the triumphs of the celebrations. They walked to his bed and sat themselves onto the mattress. Her hand was still in his when he began to speak.
"I feel like such an idiot for what I did," he sighed. "I seriously never meant for any of them to know but I grew a bit desperate and needed some advice. I realise now I should've just spoken to you, but you were upset and I didn't wanna embarrass you further. Isaac and Aurora were the only ones I thought would understand without judgement but I would have never done it if I thought they would all find out. I'm so sorry for making you feel embarrassed—"
"It's ok," she cut him off, unable to withstand his apology for something which now seemed so ridiculous to her. Especially when the voice in her head continued to remind her that what she had been so close to doing was so much worse.
"Are you sure? I feel like an apology isn't really enough for what I did," he frowned with shame.
The aching of her heart increased when seeing his expression, she was forced to look away.
"Honestly Cedric, I'm over it. I don't want you to feel guilty about this," she said, sincerely.
"I don't know 'Thena. I just feel awful."
"Please, Ced—I forgive you," the words scratched at her vocals. Her disgrace riddled within, reminding her that he was not the one that should need her forgiveness.
"I love you so much," he smiled, gratefully before wrapping his arms around her and pulling her into him.
She rest her chin on his shoulder and uttered in a quiet voice, "I love you too," feeling abhorrent as the words escaped her mouth.
For the remainder of the day, she felt compelled to spend it with Cedric. Some of the Hufflepuff team were going to the Three Broomsticks for celebratory drinks so Cedric and Athena went along. Isaac, Aurora and Forester too joined them, though Isaac was rather displeased due to the Gryffindor loss.
They all ordered butterbeers and Cedric was adamant to pay for her because he still felt bad, but she insisted on buying it herself. They engaged in several conversations, none of them even mentioning the night before and it was moderately fun. But Athena's enjoyment of the outing was limited due to her writhing shame.
Once noon had long passed and they had gotten through three butterbeers each, they headed back to Hogwarts. Athena's social battery had drained away and she remained rather quiet. It was only on the walk back when Cedric noticed something off with her.
"Are you alright? You've been quieter than usual," he asked, giving her hand which he held a tight squeeze and caressing his thumb over the side of her thumb joint.
"Yeah, just tired," she replied with a small but reassuring smile.
He nodded and for the remainder of the journey, they walked in silence, only hearing the several conversations going on between the others as background noise.
When they reached the castle, Isaac, Aurora, Forester and Elias all headed to the Ravenclaw common room to immerse themselves in further socializing. Cedric and Athena however, made their way to the basement to go to his dormitory. In all honesty, she did not really feel like going and would have preferred to go to her own common room but felt obliged to follow him.
Still hand in hand, they strolled down one of the empty corridors that only contained storage cupboards and a few spare classrooms for study space. Not many students usually went this way because of the ghost that haunted the corridor, but it seemed to be clear as they walked through. Besides, it was a shortcut to the basement.
The exterior walls of the hallway were lined with niches which dipped with the windows that were positioned inside, and in front of them were huge ledges that could be used as benches. From far down the corridor, nothing could be seen in the booths unless someone were to walk right beside them and look in.
After they passed one of the few knight statues that decked against the walls, behind it, sat on the window ledge in one of the niches, was a figure clad in all black.
She flinched at the sight of Draco and her heart spasmed in her chest. Her breathing pattern was thrown off and she looked away immediately, desperately hoping that he wouldn't acknowledge them. Cedric too seemed to notice as he walked closer beside her and squeezed her hand tightly.
For a moment there was only silence as they passed him and she let out a sigh of relief when nothing had happened.
But her ease had come too soon.
"Greene," Draco called, standing from the ledge.
Cedric stopped in his tracks and Athena was forced to reciprocate. They turned to face him and he edged nearer. She noticed a bottle of firewhiskey in his right hand and the unfocused expression on his face. When he walked, he stumbled slightly.
Perfect. He was bloody wasted.
"Can we help you Malfoy?" Cedric asked coldly, piercing his eyes at the drunken boy.
"Sorrrryy..." he slurred, narrowing his eyes back at him but with a laugh said, "Didn't know you were Greene?"
"What do you want?" Athena spoke up, doing her best to ignore the hammering of her heart.
He dug into the front pocket of his long black coat and pulled out a silver bracelet with a transparent gem hanging from the middle of the chain. Her bracelet that Cedric had given her.
Her jaw dropped as she inhaled a sharp breath.
"You left something," he smirked wickedly.
He tossed her the bracelet but it was a sloppy throw and fell to the ground in front of her feet. The gem shattered and she released a gasp, frozen in place.
"Oops," Draco mocked spitefully with a grin.
Cedric's hand fell from hers and he picked up the broken bracelet looking entirely confused, as well as pissed off with Draco.
"What the fuck is wrong with you?" Cedric seethed, gaining in closer to Draco who didn't looked fazed at all. "You smashed it you pri—"
Cedric's eyes widened.
"Wait, where did you get this?"
"Ahh, that is the question," Draco enthused. "Ask your...girlfriend."
"Athena, what is he talking about?" he turned to her.
She stared between the two of them in a mixture of dread, guilt and upmost disbelief. She went to answer but Draco got there first, slurring obnoxiously and looking so pleased with himself.
"Go on Greeney," he smirked. "Tell him what we did."
Cedric completely disregarded Draco's existence, only keeping his eyes on Athena. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. The same guilt that had been affecting her all day worsened in an instance and arose in her throat.
"No Ced—"
"Oh and don't leave out any of the details," Draco grinned with drooping eyes.
She looked to Draco, instantly seeing red as rage blinded her.
"What did you do with him?" Cedric asked hesitantly, the effects of betrayal plastered behind his features.
"Nothing. We did nothing," she defended, biting back her anger.
Draco scoffed.
Athena stared at Draco with perplexity. She couldn't believe what he was doing. So cruel. So spiteful. And for what?
Her efforts to keep her anger behind the bars of the cage she had locked it in, were withering.
"Did you sleep with him?" Cedric asked outragedly.
"No—"
Draco was sniggering to himself and it took everything within her not to throw her fist into his face.
"You did, didn't you," Cedric glowered with sad eyes.
"No of course not," she said pleadingly. "Cedric please, I promise nothing happened. Please believe me."
The words burned through her throat.
'That doesn't excuse what you wanted to happen,' her mind screamed.
Draco's laughter had died down but he still stood with a smug expression, looking entirely entertained.
Cedric's eyes widened. "That's why you forgave me so easily earlier."
"I—"
"Out of guilt."
She released a trembling sigh.
"Please believe me—He's lying to you."
Cedric glanced at her for a moment before shaking his head in disappointment and fleeting his eyes away as if he could not bear to be near her. He peered down at the bracelet in his hand and clutched it into a fist before trudging away from the two of them and when Athena shuffled her feet to follow him, he snapped, "don't follow me".
He walked with such haste and anguish, she had never seen him like it before; so angry, so betrayed. She had done that to him.
From behind, she could hear the irritating noise of Draco's sniggers and the anger that she had been battling, broke free in an instance.
She turned to him and gripped onto the front of his collar, before slamming him against the wall of the corridor with all of her strength. The back of his head smacked the wall and at first he was completely caught off guard, but this soon changed as he smirked enticingly.
To her distaste, her roughness had pleased him.
The rage dispelled from her like a phoenix bursting into flames. She snatched her wand out of her pocket and buried the tip into his throat, as if brandishing a knife to his neck. A part of her wished she had a real knife. The more force she applied to stabbing the wand into his skin, the wider his smirk grew.
"Are you going to hurt me, Greene?" he teased with a raspy voice due to the pressure of the wand.
He had a dreamy, amused expression plastered on his face and his eyelids were drooping, plainly due to the alcohol.
"I should do much worse than hurt you after what you just pulled," she raged.
"Oh...Kill me? To die at your hands...what an honour that would be," he ridiculed.
"God! Just shut up," she yelled, and he choked when she jabbed the wand into him too deeply. "What is wrong with you? Why would you do something like that?"
"Because it humours me," he enthused.
"Because it humours you! You told him we slept together for fucks sake. That didn't bloody happen. Nothing fucking happened you bastard!"
"I implied," he corrected snobbishly. "And it's not my fault that he assumed the worst of you."
She shoved her wand further into his throat, she could almost feel his windpipe. She grew desperate for him to feel her pain. But nothing she did was working.
"I'm not gonna lie Greene, you're really turning me on right now," he slurred. "Lord, the things I would do to you if you were mine."
She grimaced with disgust, feeling enraged at the flutter in her stomach and pulled her wand away from his throat. There was a vibrant red mark next to his Adams apple that was bound to leave a bruise.
He brought his own hand to his neck and rubbed, spreading each finger over the pale surface of his skin and released a deep sigh. She noticed a few additions of rings to his fingers. Before he had only possessed one silver signet ring but now there were several more, two on one hand and three on the other. She swallowed down the arising feel of craving with discomfort and focussed on her anger.
"You sicken me," she spat. "You really do."
"Sure," he scoffed. "You just don't wanna admit that you're fucking obsessed with me."
"Don't make me laugh."
She grew hysterical and restless.
"We both know how you melt at my fingertips, Greene," he pried humorously. "I mean, you were practically dying for me to kiss you earlier."
"How self assured of you to believe that. I don't know what kind of twisted reality you're living in Draco but it is certainly not where I am," she yelled, not even considering the fact that she was implicitly lying to herself. But there was no way in hell she would give him the satisfaction.
She went to walk away, taking her raging temper with her but he grabbed her wrist harshly.
"Get your hand off of me," she demanded but of course, he didn't listen.
His thumb caressed the inside of her wrist, stroking over the thin layer of skin which her veins were so delicately strewn under. Her stomach fluttered at his gentle touch, but she would not submit to such things.
"Look at that. Can already feel your pulse quickening," he muttered, snobbishly. "You are so desperate."
She retaliated impulsively.
"Incendio," she hissed, striking a flame to his hand with her wand.
He released an pained wince and snatched his hand back immediately, backing away from her.
"Argh! You insufferable bitch!"
Fury blinded her.
"Stupefy!" she yelled, tears stinging the brims of her eyes.
He was blasted far backwards to the other end of the corridor but annoyingly remained conscious.
"You're dead to me. I mean it. Don't fucking come near me again!" she yelled, her throat retching.
She didn't bother to hear his reply and dashed away hastily. She tried overly hard to bottle her emotions in and succeeded, except a few tears which escaped her but she bit back the lump in her throat with force.
'Don't you dare cry,' her conscious screamed.
-
thirty ninth chapter complete :)
thoughts?