The One In Which Everything Goes Wonderfully Wrong (Part Two)
TW : Panic attack
As he stared at his pale reflection in the bathroom mirror, Ron became very self-conscious about his heart...as if he couldn't trust it. He felt terribly hot and on-edge. His mind frantic and all over the place, to the point that it became practically impossible to focus on why he was there in the first place.
Suddenly, he felt hot and sweaty, so hot and sweaty that he stripped off his sweatshirt and shakily tried turning on the tap to run his face under cold water. But as he managed to get a proper grip on the sink, the hand trembling traveled down into his arms and legs, leaving him unsteady on his feet. His heart seemed to pound even faster, even harder. The redhead tried taking a deep breath to calm himself , but his breaths were sharp and shallow. His vision got darker and narrower and looked kaleidoscopic, like when one closes their eyes and presses down on their eyelids to "see stars."
"You're dying," a voice in his head said. "This is what death feels like, and you're going to die alone."
Was he going to die?
He was convinced he was dying.
What even caused this?
"I don't know...I don't get it... I don't know.."he weakly mumbled out loud.
Ron wanted to lay down on the cold stone floor and close his eyes, but he was scared that he wouldn't wake up.
His chest loosens. Stomach is still tied-up, but not as bad. Upon this realization , he suddenly takes a deep breath. For the past few minutes it felt like air wasn't getting all the way down into his lungs. Not a single breath was satisfying.
And then, he slowly sank to the floor. He's unsure about how much time passed before he was able to get up and steady himself - it could have been 30 seconds or an hour.
Ron crawled out of the bathroom to the bed and slept for the rest of the night, as though the life had been drained right out of him.
"...Weasley? WEASLEY? WAKE UP!"
"Huhn-?" Ron asked, startled awake by the yelling. He blearily peered up at the source.
"Oh.. it's you,"he grunted, rolling his eyes at Draco, who had already gotten himself ready for the day.
"Yes, it's me,"the blond replied with a sneer. "Be grateful I was kind enough to wake you up before Potter and posse finished up all the hot water."
"Uhm - thanks I guess?"Ron replied with a perturbed frown, jumping out of bed to get himself ready.
Draco clicked his tongue in annoyance and sniffed before stalking out of the room. Ron supposed that was the closest thing he'd get as a positive response from the Malfoy.
" You look like shite, bruv,"Tracey commented when Ron had passed her to join his dorm mates at the mouth of the Common Room. He shot her an aggravated look to which she responded by pulling her tongue out.
Hermione waited for him to be out of earshot before she slapped Tracey's shoulder with the Potions textbook she'd been reading. "Could you be any more insensitive?"
"What? I was making an acute observation!"she pouted. "No need for domestic violence!"
"Astute would be the better word,"Hermione shot back. Ignoring the brunette's last statement, she continued: "Besides, you can't just say something like that when someone's clearly not feeling very well. Be nice."
Tracey huffed, slinging her satchel on her shoulder. "Yes , Mother. Now let's go before Crabbe and Goyle eat everything, Daph and co can suffer by themselves. I already warned 'em."
"Rough night?"Blaise asked when he'd registered Ron's presence, a bit of concern bleeding through his tone.
The Weasley sighed. "You don't know the half of it."
"Wanna talk about it?"Harry asked as they all made their way to the Great Hall.
"I'm good."
"If you say so, mate. Just know I'm always available if you ever want to say anything,"he replied with a reassuring smile.
"I suppose I'm open if you need me,"Blaise added.
"And me as well,"Theo yawned, rubbing his eyes in an effort to shake off sleep.
Draco pursed his lips and stared straight ahead, as if he hadn't heard the little conversation.
The other boys shrugged, perplexed by Draco's surly behaviour so early during the day.
Location : The Great Hall
As they entered, Ron broke out into a cold sweat when he spotted his brothers at Gryffindor Table.
Percy waved at him and gave him a bright grin, mouthing a good morning before paying attention to a conversation one of his housemates had engaged him in.
His mouth went dry and the painful constriction of his chest returned when Fred and George merely stared at him with indiscernible emotion within their eyes before bringing their heads closer to whisper something to each other.
'Oh no...' Ron thought to himself, dread settling in with each passing moment. 'The voice was right...Mum'll murder me. What if the Twins poisoned my food? Is that why they're whispering? Did they ask the Elves to do it..? I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die , I'm gonna diediediediedie-'
"Aren't you going to eat anything?"Draco drawled from the seat across him.
Ron didn't even register sitting down at all - never mind having a plate of food in front of him.
"Yeah I am - just thinking,"he replied quickly.
"Huh? I didn't know you could do that."
Harry, who'd sat in the centre of the group between Theo and Ron flicked a grape at him.
"Ow! What was that for?"the blond whined.
"You were being rude,"Harry replied. "Besides, you still haven't gotten around to that apology I asked of you."
Draco sighed dramatically before trying to gain Hermione's - who was a bit father down and sandwiched between Tracey and Daphne - attention.
"Granger?" No response. "Granger, good Morgana look at me!"
With a startled frown , Hermione replied with an irritated "What?"
'How embarrassing. She's not even addressing me properly. Why should I even apologise? She's annoying and I was only being honest, Morgana.' Draco thought before steeling himself. With another loud sigh , he replied : "I wish to apologise for what I said to you on the train."
He slightly frowned when the girl didn't respond. "I wish to apologize to you for what I did,"he continued. "It was very wrong and I am very sorry. I just would like to move on and lead a normal life. you know, get a job and a partner and change my ways. I do hope this apology impresses you even though Potter made me do it and I don't really mean it-,"he drawled but was interrupted.
"You mean you do mean it,"Harry cut in coolly.
"I mean I do mean it,"he corrected himself, giving Hermione a strained smile.
"Er- well, I accept your apology. Forced as it is.."Hermione replied awkwardly.
"Good." And with that , Draco bent his head down and suddenly grew interested with eating the toast on his plate.
"Hm , seems like you're growing your own little squad here, huh Potter?"a lilting voice commented from behind him.
Draco's ears turned a rosy pink from humiliation whilst the others jumped, turning around to see the source of the voice.
"Jesus. Don't do that!" Harry snapped as he clutched at his chest when he made eye contact with a pair of minty eyes.
Delphinus merely giggled at him before stealing a strawberry off his plate and leaving without a word to return where the Third Years sat.
"That's a weird bloke- Oi what's that?" Daphne asked as her train of thought was interrupted, staring at the ceiling.
"The owls are delivering mail from home,"a Second Year answered her.
Ron wanted to cry when he saw Errol fly in with the flurry of owls. Instead of dropping the anticipated Howler in front of him, the bird crashed into his breakfast, effectively getting bits of food on his face.
"Blimey- Weasley'a got a Howler-!"Daphne exclaimed with morbid fascination.
"A Howler? What's that?"Hermione asked.
Ron tuned them out at that point , shakily untying the smoking red envelope. It floated up to eye level, forming a little mouth.
The red headed boy cringed , holding himself and digging his nails into his skin as he waited for the rage fest to begin.
"Ronald Weasley," his mother's voice said , the rather calm volume and demeanour shocking the boy. The others could barely hear what it said, despite straining to listen. "You should be ashamed of yourself."
And with that , the envelope tore itself into little pieces, Ron's heart following it's example.
1568 words
A/N : Welcome to another episode of the author projecting on a poor Weasley- please don't hate me yet- you may fix Ron but I can make him worse . Hopefully the panic attack scenario sounded realistic enough, I'm writing it based on what I can remember experiencing so er- oh well !
