A/N - Hey everyone! I cannot BELIEVE how far this story is progressing, and I'm just speechless about all the support you've all given me 3 thank you so much, and here's Rose again!
Rose's Question
Rose felt half-responsible for a lot of the group, being the oldest girl left in the school. Besides, Victoire had always been a little too wrapped up in herself to notice the rest of them, so Rose had become a sort of contingency-mother for the girls.
She'd heard a lot of little confidences over the years – crushes, fights, mistakes – but Dom had never told her very much. All of Fleur's children were a little detached, she thought, what with Louis' quietness and Dom's secrecy and Victoire's self-centred nature.
But now she would have to tell them, would have to break the silence and break this sickness grasping her limbs and poisoning her pretty heart, and Rose was going to have to be the one to ask.
So Rose went and sat in the armchairs below Ravenclaw's tower, waiting for Dom to go back to her room instead of to dinner, sickly nervous and worried about her cousin's reaction.
It'll be fine, I'm sure…if she takes it rationally. But then again, she might not – that's actually more likely at the moment. I just hope she'll listen to me, that she'll sit down and talk about all this stupid stuff so we can sort it out and go back to normal. It's horrible seeing her like this. She's barely even herself, she's so thin and pale, and her hair has changed a lot too, it's not as shiny as it used to be.
She heard faint footsteps coming along the corridor, and rose hesitantly, looking down for Dominique.
Her cousin was trailing her frail hand along the stone wall, leaning on it a little for support. Her steps were slow, her knees buckling a little each time she leant on one. She was dressed in her own clothes – jeans that used to be tight hanging off her legs, a jumper that used to fit draped over her emaciated frame. She was looking at the floor, face set.
"Dom?"
She looked up, looked right at Rose, but there was no reaction in her eyes, no recognition.
"Dom, I need to talk to you – will you sit with me?"
Dominique looked at her for the longest moment, just stared blankly.
Rose was shocked at her eyes, how dead they were. Like great dark hollows in a skull – there was no light there, no life at all. The skin was stretched tight over her face, her cheekbones looking as if they might cut through at any moment.
"Thanks Rose, but I'm really tired. I think I'm just going to go to bed for an hour or so"
Her voice was a monotone, robotic and cold. She continued along the centre of the corridor this time, swaying a little from exhaustion.
"No, Dom, please" Rose entreated her, catching her arm. But Dom just slipped out of her grasp like a wraith, carrying on as if nothing had happened.
"Dom, please, you have to tell." she begged, her voice cracking with emotion. "Why?"
But Dom kept walking, the words sliding around her little form like raindrops down an umbrella, and Rose's question was left unanswered.
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