A/N: House: Hufflepuff | Category: Drabble | Prompt: Torn out pages | Word Count: 322
Cho Chang sat cross-legged on the cold, hard floor of the Ravenclaw girls' dormitory, staring blankly at the journal that rested on her lap. Her vision blurred and her throat constricted painfully as she recalled the memories, thoughts, and dreams of Cedric that lay within it. She had written in it every day that they had been together, and though it had brought her comfort in the weeks following his death, she now only felt bitterness when she flipped through its pages.
A wave of frustration surged through her as she lifted the leather cover and began tearing the pages out, one by one at first, then in sections. She watched with satisfaction as the pages ripped unevenly, the jagged edges disrupting the flowery words that were written there. Soon, the journal only contained frayed strips of paper, and the floor around her was littered with its crumpled former contents. She gathered the scraps into a pile and pointed her wand at it, wordlessly setting it on fire, only feeling mildly surprised by her first successful nonverbal spell.
Cho looked dispassionately as the orange flames engulfed the mass of paper, slowly dissolving it into ash. She briefly thought that one day she might regret destroying the journal, but it was no use worrying about that now. With a flick of her wand, the flames vanished and the ashes settled on the floor, the last tangible evidence of Cedric destroyed. She thought that perhaps she ought to feel something, but she felt strangely removed from everything, almost as if nothing around her was real.
Cho pushed herself up off the floor, waving her wand once more to vanish the ashes before climbing into her bed. The light coming in through the windows had long faded, and she expected her dormmates would be coming up to bed soon. So she drew the curtains around her and stared at the ceiling, her mind blessedly blank.