He needs to sleep.
He's tried practically everything. He's taken a bubble bath, drunk warm milk, counted backwards, counted hippogriffs, forced himself to yawn, visualized one of his Great Aunt Mae's boring tea parties, read his History of Magic textbook, practiced deep breathing - hell, he even had his wireless on the Rest and Relaxation Station before the repetitive, supposedly calming music drove him mad and he ended up using Reducto on it.
But nothing's working, not now, not tonight, not when Lily Evans's just broken up with him and the only reason he hasn't completely broken down yet is that he's still in shock. As it is, he can already feel it sinking in, seeping through his shield of denial, threatening to wash away what little control he still has.
Sighing, he gets out of bed quietly, planning to get a Sleeping Draught from the Hospital Wing. He needs to escape for a few hours, needs to delay facing reality and a future without her. As he steps out of the dorm, he spots a neatly folded Gryffindor jumper sitting beside the door. He picks it up and runs his hand across the soft, worn fabric, recognizing it as the one Lily borrowed from him a few months ago.
And even though he knows it's sad and pathetic and quite possibly masochistic, he re-enters his dorm and lies back down on his bed, pressing his face to the jumper and breathing in the rain-and-lilies scent that can only be hers. The Remus in his head tells him that this kind of self-indulgence is probably going to make everything worse in the morning, but he doesn't care.
He can't find it in himself to care, not now, not tonight, not when Lily Evans's just broken up with him and the only reason he hasn't completely broken down yet is that her familiar smell is slowly making him drift off to sleep.
-&-
A/N: As my summer holidays have (finally) started, this is a celebratory piece of sorts. Although I didn't originally mean for it to be so, this is a sequel of sorts to drabble #23, drowning in your eyes. It's a little rough, but I hope you all like it. Please review! :)
Also, my updates won't be so frequent because our Internet connection at home's busted and I don't know when it'll be fixed. When I do add drabbles, though, I'll try to do it in bulk. :)