Narrator's P.O.V.
Chapter Twenty-Nine.
A feeling of artic cold had coiled her spine as the thought of her long-lost friend had infused mentally into her brain. Tears are welling up in her eyes as Amber pushed Draco away. She perched silently on the armrest, feeling the cold blow of irony rushing through her bloodstream.
"Katheryn…" she mumbled inaudibly, clutching her chest.
Amber can picture her standing in front of the hearth. Fragile yet resilient in stature, she'd appear happy and never sad.
Her eyes are a sparkling green while her skin is fair and pink.
Amber remembered how she usually liked her red brown hair knitted into braids…
Absorbed into the warm and crispest memory, Amber felt a sharp tug on her jumper. The warmth she had felt just now had turned automatically cold. The girl standing by the hearth stepped back while her presence begins to fade.
"No, don't leave," she choked desperately, trying to grasp the little girl's fingers. She vanished.
"Charlton!"
Amber nearly jumped and didn't see that Draco was sitting close this close behind her.
He watched her back while his eyes are still fresh with inconsolable tears. "What's wrong?" he asked.
Suddenly, this imaginary timer had started ticking in her head. Those simple words had made her strategize carefully of the situation.
"Should I tell him now that Katheryn was my very close friend?"
Amber had leaned on this idea to just tell Draco the truth…
However, that wasn't the case-Amber chose to consider Draco's feelings…or more thoughtlessly her own.
"Hmm, I don't think I should tell him yet- I don't want to rub salt into his unpleasant wound,"
Amber took a small breath and faced him. "Er-I'm sorry Draco…I was just selfishly thinking about my ex,"
"Really," Draco probed quizzically.
Amber had insouciantly looked over her shoulder. She frowned inwardly.
"I mean well- it's just not like you to be crying over something so fickle and boring,"
"Hmm, I guess it isn't like me-maybe I didn't get closure or something..."
"You don't need no effing closure— it's his loss,"
Amber furrowed her eyebrows for a split second. "What does he mean…'it's his loss'"
"Hmm, okay I think you got the point but it's just from a time where an innocent girl in pigtails had got shot down…"
Out of nowhere, Draco had burst out in stifled laughter and looked at Amber like she's comical jester. "Why are you laughing at me for?" she asked impatiently.
Amber simply demands out rightly on why she's the butt of joke.
However, Draco still couldn't get his word out of edgewise as he began to wheeze like a distorted bagpipe. He eventually stopped laughing, looked at her and said:
"Hah, I'm sorry-but you wore pigtails?"
"Erm, maybe they weren't fashion forward, but my mother likes them." Amber looked down coyly.
"Hmm, I bet she dresses you in those puffy dresses and top it off with a tacky straw hat," he snickered, visualising her in that funny get-up.
"Okay, Draco, I think that's enough," she pouted while her cheeks are glowing red.
"Pfft, C'mon-I'm only teasing you a bit,"
"I know-" she mumbled.
"Well anyway, that guy is a total loser to see past the pigtails,"
Amber nodded though went deep in thought. "Draco…"
"Yeah, Charlton,"
"Do you think there is such thing as destiny…"
Draco scoffed and shrugged at the idea. "What are you on about things like destiny?"
"Well, like-you know…we are born for a reason."
"No, Princess we are born because our parents can't keep their hands off each other," He answered sarcastically.
"But it's still destiny-"
"Jesus, Amber-destiny is another word for a freak coincidence?"
"Well, I-er just thought that destiny is just something that the universe had put us here," she shrugged, nit-picking the fuzz off her sweater.
"Yeah, but in my opinion- this destiny thing is just fictitious," said Draco, rolling his eyes. "And why would the universe care for something so trivial?"
"Tch, okay- I get it we have different matters of opinion," hissed Amber, getting up from sofa. "Let's just leave it at that."
"Hey, where are you-"
"I'm heading back, I need to fix the mess Blaise had made," Amber blurted awkwardly, leaving the common room.
Draco tagged along behind her.
"But-er…are we you know…okay?" he asked as they stopped by the threshold.
Despite this light disagreement with him, Amber peered from her shoulder and gave an affirmative nod. "Ah, so I'll see you tomorrow then," yelled Draco, his slight glance towards dungeons entrance.
Amber observed him and turned her head towards the entrance. Someone is coming…
"Is that alright, gorgeous?"
Amber looked at him with a mix of elation and uncertainty. This certain bliss in her brain had worn off as she caught on with his plan.
"Yes, that's okay," she responded chirpily. However, Draco was raising a quirk eyebrow. She can guess that this wasn't' enough to convince Mason. "Okay! I need to say something compelling!"
Time ticking, she gone to say something out of the top her head.
"I'll-er look forward to it, Draco-bear,"
Amber had suddenly cringed and turned pink. "Draco-bear?" he mouthed, watching her absurdly.
"I'm not good on giving pet-names!" she mouthed back.
"Well, I guess we need to work on it, we're not toddlers!"
"Shut up, that's all I can think at short notice!" Amber muttered, still utterly mortified.
"Dracky-boo!"
"Crap, I'll er see you tomorrow…"
"Mhmm," she murmured agreeably.
"Dracky!"
"Tch, I wish this bitch will just get over me," he grimaced. "You better go Charlton, I still want my 'girlfriend' back in one piece,"
"Draco-hey what is she doing here,"
"For gods sake Amber, just run!"
Not thinking twice, Amber wily escaped from Mason by shooting out black oil from her wand. Mason had skidded and nearly hit a statue before her face slammed against the wall.
Amber winced and yelled a thousand of apologies to an unconscious Mason and left the dungeons immediately….
Later that night, Amber couldn't sleep as she gazed groggily towards the starry night above her.
"Katheryn…" Amber mumbled, searching for her in the dazzling stars. "Is this really true."
"The girl he mentioned his dire love for…is it really you?"
Silence had taken over her room as she sat up from her bed. "You think I might be lying but I really do miss you a lot…"
Amber hugged her knees to her chest. "Why are my memories of you are fading?"
Wretched and unfair sadness had impacted her lungs as she cried thirdly towards the night…
"Good morning, Amber-Woah you don't look so good-" said G. Harrison, already waiting at her door.
"Yeah, I've been crying," Amber replied feebly.
"Huh? I thought you are back with Malfoy?"
"We are, I resolved my differences with him,"
"So why do you look you've been hit by the Knight bus?" Grace wondered, walking beside her as they depart the common room.
"I'll tell you later, can we grab some breakfast,"
Not wanting to push her for answers, Grace gave her a reassuring smile and fixed her make up. Amber sneezed terribly and told Grace to stop doing her make up. She reached for her blue handkerchief and dabbed the irritant water from her eyes.
"C'mon, let's go and eat," G chirped brightly as they go down the Grand Staircase.
"Don't think about him…Don't think about him," Amber had bluntly repeated in her head. Knowing she can't jeopardise the relationship between Draco and his lost dire love for Katheryn…Amber had made the blunt choice to simply forget her romantic attachments towards him.
But it's never that simple when Amber had entered the Great Hall and see Draco sitting at her table…