Kurumi’s eyes widened to the point where they most likely resembled two large purple full moons as she looked at the parchment. She was screaming at herself to stop reading it, for each word stabbed her like a shard of ice that pierced into every fiber of her being. Okay, so maybe that was being a little too dramatic, but the world around the small third year seemed to be both closing in and crumbling at the same time.

It was all happening again. And a flood of emotions came rushing back to her like a tsunami that threatened to wash her away.

Kurumi blinked through the tears that were forming in her violet eyes and she just barely heard Treyen’s exasperated ‘Oh, no’ before she felt her knees lock and she felt as though she were about to collapse. But the, her eyes glanced over at Treyen who looked just as sick to his stomach as she felt. The question though was…why? Was he ashamed that he had been caught with his hand in the cookie jar so to speak? Or was there something else?

Kurumi forced herself to look away from him and to the parchment in her hands, squeaking loudly when she read such hurtful things as coward, cheat, and liar…that were then all pinpointed to a Mr. Gilderoy Lockhart who Kurumi owned a few books including Marauding with Monsters and The Travel Trilogy. Sure, the man had gone down in history as not being the most trustworthy of wizards, a trait Kurumi despised, but even she had to admire his Memory Charm work. She looked back at Treyen when he spoke again. “T-Treyen….” she whispered feeling very insecure at the moment. “Y-You know that I don’t believe in stereotyping people..and you aren’t anything like…”

But her words were cut off when Treyen confirmed that some of the things written were true and she felt her stomach tie in knots when he was once again at a loss for words – but not in a good way. The air between them was suffocating and she felt like a fish that had been throw onto the deck of a ship in the beating sun as she waiting for Treyen to speak again.

Yet…she already knew what he was going to say before he even did…but that didn’t make hearing it any harder.

She felt faint and her hands searched for any part of the chair that Treyen had summoned. The back, the arms, the legs, it didn’t matter as long as it would help her stand.

He would rather she didn’t like him…

It didn’t matter to her that perhaps other boys were interested in her, not that she would know if they were or not considering how insanely dense she was when it came to this stuff. She still believed that the stork delivered babies in soft fluffy towels after all. The one that DID matter to her was the one who would be thankful if she didn’t have feelings for him. That, itself, made the hole in her heart that had FINALLY begun to heal after Adam left was ripped open.

He didn’t want to hurt her? Well, too bad Treyen Lockhart…you have.

Kurumi felt herself slipping off the chair she was leaning on, and her hair was most certainly turning a graying-blue color now. She couldn’t look at him and if she did, she would only cry. Instead, she kept her gaze at the ground – somewhere around his shoe just to make sure that he was still there.

All the handholding, soft kisses on the cheek, comforting embraces, heart-to-heart conversations that had meant the world to her…had they really meant nothing to him?

“…oh…” she said after a few long moments of silence. She suddenly felt the urge to revert back to Japanese to express what all she wanted to say, but that wouldn’t do any good. Japan…maybe she had been better off there. Sure, she had gained so much coming here. Her first friendships and people, well, people like Treyen who were able to show her the value of her existence.

However, she also experienced the worst sort of pain – pain that was the worst because it wasn’t felt by the body, but by the heart and the spirit.

“Can’t…or you won’t?
” she asked in a soft whisper, not even realizing that she had. One implied that he wanted to, but wasn't allowed...that he had no choice...the other, well, it was different...

Her hands flew to her mouth, ashamed that she had said something so direct to him. It wasn’t fair and she wasn’t the sort of person that should beg. She had done so with Adam, begged him to reconsider his choices, and that had only hurt her more in the end.

Now, she found her resolve at its breaking point and tears began slowly trickling down her face and she tried to hide whatever part of her porcelain features were showing with her now grey-blue bangs.