It was a calm night, the morning sun was nearing the tops of the mountains, but Walburgas, mine and probably everybodys sleep was disturbed by the screams. They were bloodthirsty, but at the same time sorrowful to no extent. They were unrecognisable.
I sat up in my bed, looking around the dark room. Walburga did the same. Screams came in loops, sometimes higher then before, sometimes quite and unheard. "Were is Druella?" I asked as seconds passed, she was not here. Scream could be heard. "Don't know, do you hear that?" Walburga asked. Another scream. "How could I not." I winced.
Another one.
Another.
And another.
Each one was coming from further away, and they became recognisable.
Druella.
Walburga knew it too, and for that reason we jumped out of our beds, our nightgowns were floating behind us as we hurried towards the exit of the common room. Student were starting to exit their rooms, sleep was still prominent on their faces, they were scared, so was I.
The hallway was lit by candles, they made shadows move, they were terrifying. A small figure was clutching on the floor next to another small figure as well. I could see faces of Professor Dumbledore, Professor Slughorn and Headmaster Dippet.
"Stand back students, stand back!" Professor Slughorn tried to make us stand back, but taking a glimpse at the body my own ached. "Drvella?" I breathed out, Walburga screamed beside me, going around the Professor and sliding down next to Druella.
I did the same, the coldness of the floor didn't bother me, it was the coldness of the girls body, her no rising chest, her blue lips and closed eyes. "No, no, no!" My words feel out like echatments, trying to mumble out a spell that would get the girl to breath again.
I feel into a complete darkness, so raw that it ate me in a second.
They were looking at her, the girl who was alive. When she cried there was rawness to it, like the pain was an open wound. She would collapse onto something for support, anything, a wall, another student or a table, and then her whole body would shake.
The sobs were stiffened at first as she attempted to hide the grief, then overcome by the wave of her emotions she would break down entirely, all her defences washed away in thoes salty tears. Then Tom Riddle looked at her; she was a picture of grief, loss, devastation.
It was the face of one who had suffered before and didn't know if she could do it again. Tom walked towards her, she was too much for Professors to handle. Professor Slughorn got most students to go away, only him, Druella, Professor Dumbledore and Headmaster Dippet were present.
He didn't mind them watch him lift the girl, wrapping his arms around her waist, bones, bones and only bones he could feel. It was making him sick.
Tom could only take her couple of centimetres away before she feel out of his grasp, on her kness and started to cry again. Tom Riddle was dumbfounding, never has he given somebody a shoulder to cry on, he never helped anybody. But seeing her so broken, his mind didn't think, he didn't know why he moved, why he dragged her away.
So he made a sacrifice, he sat on the cold floor and wrapped his arms around her once again while she sobbed into his chest. He was never this close to anyone and he didn't know if he enjoyed or despised it.
He held her in silence, rocking her slowly as her tears soaked his chest. A tiny laps let her pull away, blinking lashes heavy with tears, before she collapsed again, her howls of misery worsening. The pain must have come in waves, minutes od sobbing broken apart by short pauses of recovering breaths, before hurling her back into the outstretched arms of grief.
Then just when he thought the breakdown would come and she would trust him with her vulnerability, the shutters would come down, her emotions walled off behind the mask of coping.
She would just wear it until everything was right again, she didn't know another way.
It was uncomfortable getting back to reality, everything hit her immediately. Tom ; holding her, her ; having her own arms wrapped around him, Druella ; being taken away by Cygnus and Walburga ; sitting alone in the place when Drvellas body was before it go taken away.
I went to walk towards her, the blackness of her hair made it hard to see her face, but I know that it is not better then mine. I hugged her from behind, she slumped into my touch breathing slowly. "Why her, why Myra, why?" Walburgas voice was so small I almost couldn't make up the words, "I don't know Walburga, but we will get the killer, we will revenge her."
The killer was never found. The investigations took days, weeks, but they could not pinpoint anyone. That made me the angriest.
Walburga and I somehow managed to get better, we told ourselves that Drvella wouldn't want us to grief over her for too long, but we were lying to ourselves. I could hear Walburga crying at night, so did I. Druella was still in shock, loosing a friend really is a terrible thing, loosing a best friend is like loosing a part of yourself.
I made a promise to Druella. "We will find the killer and revenge her." I was holding her face in my hands, hot tears were picking at my skin. She smiled at me in that moment, it looked fake, it was fake, but it was the meaning behind it what mattered. Druella tried to forget, we tried to go on with our lives and somehow we managed.
Drvellas parents came for her stuff. The look of their faces almost made my knees buckle, I almost fell and once again poured my whole soul at the thought of the girls death. They were wrinkled, their shoulders were detached from their bodys. They looked like sorrow themselves. From a well-known and respected family of purebloods, they became forgotten.
Alongside all of that, Tom and I haven't spoke of that day. We didn't want to discuss our closeness that day. It made me happy, truly to have him comfort me, but I could see that he was having a battle with himself. Why did he do it? He couldn't find the answer even if it were prominent like the star in the night sky.
He felt something and that thought alone scared him and he couldn't take it as an answer.
Author's note :
Thank you for 20k reads lovely people! I hope you like this chapter and ones more to come. Have a nice day and be safe.