A LITTLE TOO MUCH
Narrator
✩
While all the students were gathered in the Great Hall for dinner, oblivious to the havoc Mara had unleashed, Elysia was rushing through the corridors in a panic as she looked for Draco.
"Lys?"
She spun around, her heart deflating when it was only Blaise and Luna. She rushed over to them. "Have you seen Draco?"
Blaise looked at her confusedly, shaking his head. "No, we were just on our way to the Great Hall. He's not there?"
Running a hand down her face, Elysia exhaled heavily.
Luna's eyes narrowed on her friend as she read the panic behind Elysia's eyes. "What's wrong, love?"
"I-I can't explain," Elysia was shaking her head frantically, at the biggest loss she had ever been in. "I'm not sure myself, just-if you see Draco-"
"We'll let you know," Blaise said. "Is there anything we can do to help? You're worrying me."
Elysia closed her eyes to take a minute just to breathe.
Everything's okay, she told herself. Everything has to be okay. He's okay. There has to be a logical reasoning behind Enzo's-completely infuriatingly irrational thinking.
"Elysia."
When she opened her eyes again, she was sure she was about to explode. The three of them glancing over, Enzo limped his way towards Elysia.
"No," Elysia shook her head firmly. "Go the fuck away right now, Lorenzo. I can't-I can't-" She squeezed her eyes shut tightly as if that would somehow wake her up from a terrible nightmare. She couldn't look at Enzo right now.
What the fuck could he have possibly been thinking when he kissed her? Did he think that was okay?
Elysia could not fathom anything right now. All she knew was that she had to find Draco, she had to talk to him. She could deal with Enzo later, or even never sounded okay.
"What the hell is going on?" Blaise asked, looking between Elysia and Enzo. The sight of his beaten and bruised face was only causing more alarm.
"Why the hell are you here?" Elysia spat at Enzo who stared back at her blankly.
Enzo shrugged. "I don't know," he said honestly. His body had a mind of his own as he approached her. He didn't know what he was doing.
"Elysia, what is going on?" Blaise took a step towards her. "Tell me now."
Meeting his eyes, Elysia's shoulders sunk. "I-he-"
"I kissed her," Enzo said calmly. "Draco beat me up for it."
"What?" Blaise practically yelled, his gaze flickering back and forth between the two Gryffindors. "What the fuck? Why would you that? Where the hell is Draco?"
"That's what I asked you," Elysia grumbled as she tugged on her hair. Her head was spinning so much, she wanted to cut out her own brain and chuck it far far away. "I don't know where he is, Blaise. I don't know what's going on. I don't know what to do. I think I-"
Luna placed a hand on Elysia's shoulder to stop her panicked rambling. Someone needed to maintain calm. "Breathe, Lys."
Gritting his teeth, Blaise grabbed Enzo by the collar and shoved him against the stone wall. "What the fuck were you thinking?" He seethed. "We were friends, Silvius. You don't fucking do that to friends. What the fuck is wrong with you?"
Wincing as Blaise shoved him into the wall, Enzo still felt nothing but calm. The theta state the curse put him in made all his thoughts and anxieties non-existent.
"Blaise, stop." Elysia sighed wearily. She placed a hand on his forearm to pull him off Enzo. "He's received plenty from Draco already and-we're not going to turn into monsters and keep beating each other up."
Reluctantly, Blaise harshly let go of Enzo and took a few steps away from the boy. His jaw remained clenched, his eyes having darkened.
Luna watched silently, her eyes narrowed as she analyzed Enzo who slunk back against the wall to regain his breath. She stepped between her boyfriend and Enzo, her head tilting to the side as she peered at the Gryffindor who she thought was acting strangely.
"Lorenzo, why did you kiss Elysia?"
"My love, can we not do this right now?" Elysia pinched the bridge of her nose as the weight of exhaustion made her bones feel heavy. All she wanted to do was find Draco, crawl into his arms and forget everything that had happened.
"I don't know," Enzo mumbled thoughtfully.
Luna nodded slowly. "Do you like her?"
Enzo pondered for a moment. "She's my friend, that's all. So is Draco."
Luna hummed as she turned to look at Elysia. "I may be wrong but I don't think Enzo is entirely conscious of what he is doing."
Elysia scoffed quietly, irritated and depleted. "No shit."
Luna looked at Enzo again and pulled out her wand.
"What are you doing?" Blaise's eyes widened.
"I have a suspicion I know what is going on here." Luna pointed her wand at Enzo and murmured a quiet incantation to lift the curse she believed Enzo was under. Her Ravenclaw mind had someone pieced together that Enzo would never do something like this, something that hurt his friends.
As the curse lifted, Enzo suddenly jerked forward. His eyes widened as panic began coursing through his veins again-the trance-like state crumbling to be replaced with sheer dread as his state of mind became lucid.
"What-what is happening?" Elysia glanced between Luna and Enzo, her mind whirling. She wanted to ram her own head into a wall to stop the overwhelming emotions that were coaxing her to just scream.
"He was under the Imperius Curse," Luna said quietly.
"How did you know that?" Blaise asked.
Luna shrugged. "He was acting strange and frankly, it didn't seem like something Lorenzo would do-kiss Elysia like that."
Enzo stared at Elysia with eyes saucer-wide. "I-Elysia-I am so fucking sorry. I didn't know what I was doing-I didn't mean to-"
Elysia gawked.
Enzo shook his head frantically, his eyes nearly glossing over. "I'm so sorry," he whispered brokenly.
"It was Mara, wasn't it?" Both Blaise's jaw and fists clenched. "She cursed you?"
Enzo nodded wearily. "Yes. I wasn't aware of what I was doing. It was like-I was hypnotized or something." He looked at Elysia again, his eyes pleading for forgiveness. "You know I would never do that. I tried to resist it, I really did, Elysia. I respect you and Draco and-I'm not-I didn't-"
"It's okay," Elysia exhaled. "You couldn't have helped it. You were cursed, you couldn't have stopped it." As better as she felt having learnt this, she still felt sick to her stomach by it all. She was at a loss on what to do or think.
Regret and remorse gnawed through Enzo from inside out, though he knew he couldn't have done anything differently. It wasn't his fault, was it? Regardless of whether he was at fault or not, he was wracked with guilt.
"What can I do?" He quaked. "I'll talk to Draco, explain it and-"
Elysia shook her head, sighing as she wearily pressed her fingers to her temples. "I need to talk to him first. I don't know if he'll even talk to me, he definitely won't talk to you."
"I'm sure he just needed to get away for some air," Luna offered sheepishly. "Maybe you should give him a minute alone."
Elysia nodded though she was unsure if she agreed.
Her heart ached for Draco. She needed him, she needed to see him and talk to him right now. She couldn't exactly wait.
"Come on," Blaise placed a hand on her back. "Let's get you some food. Hopefully, Draco will have had enough time to cool down by the time we're done dinner."
Sighing, Elysia followed Blaise.
Before the four of them stepped into the Great Hall, Enzo cautiously took hold of Elysia's wrist to stop her. "Can we talk for a second?" He asked hesitantly.
Nodding for Blaise and Luna to go on without them, Elysia turned to face Enzo. Her expression displayed exactly how spent worn out she felt.
"I'm sorry," Enzo said quietly, his eyes filled with dread.
"It's okay," Elysia shrugged, having nothing else to say or do. "You couldn't have helped it, Enzo. She put you under an Unforgivable Curse."
"I know but-"
"It's okay," Elysia repeated, cutting him off. She forced a small smile. "You're not at fault. There's nothing else to say about it."
Enzo sighed defeatedly but didn't feel any better.
"I'll see you later."
"You're not having dinner?" He asked when she turned in the opposite direction of the Great Hall.
She glanced at him over her shoulder. "Not hungry."
She walked away from him for the second time today.