CHAPTER ONE
( indescribable grief that tears from the inside out )

               SMARAGDINE FLARES ENGULFED her encephalon as she peeled the dampened shirt from her skin. The air remained sultry in the confined room in which she inhabited. The emerald curtains were drawn over the faux window and the fireplace lit in magnificent vermillion and rich golds, the two mingled as if old friends against the coals of what had been lively logs. Now turned to ash.

               Delphine Diggory fully emerged from the bed in which she slept when it dawned on her why she had awoken, a nightmare. Though it was much different than a nightmare, more so a memory than that of an ephialtes. She remembered the horrific amount of dread it brought her, along with the deepening wound it carved into her heart. Her body numbed as the images flashed through her mind.

               It had been torture, observing the magnificent maze shift in silence, though the occasional chatter would arise they mainly sat in the still of the approaching night. As the sun sank below the uneven horizon a chill pervaded the tense atmosphere. Many had become querulous, awaiting the moment the labyrinth would reopen to reveal the triwizard champion.

               Luna Lovegood, Neville Longbottom, and Cho Chang sat adjacent to the brunette girl, who fidgeted wickedly as she anticipated her brother's arrival. It no longer mattered to her if he won, the looming darkness of the remaining task settled upon the rest of the schools. Both Fluer Delcour and Victor Krum had been pulled from the malicious maze, and there was no telling what had happened to both Delphine's brother and Harry Potter. The intrusive notions floated from her mind as Cho spoke for the first time since the champions entered their last labor.

               "Don't you think they should have been back by now?" Her soft voice reverberated in Delphine's ears, it was foreign to hear such a sound as someone's speech, it had been hours since anyone had really rejoiced and even then everyone was still, "Do you think something's happened to them?"

               She meant well, and Delphine knew that, but it was difficult to be exuberant or benevolent when someone such as a sibling was submerged into a deadly maze in which the only ones to return were either cursed or maimed, "I appreciate the observation Cho, but maybe don't talk about incidents when my brother is somewhere inside a massive network of paths riddled with deadly creatures."

               "Sorry," was her short answer as the quietude ensued.

               Her despair thundered and clawed inside her, ripping its way out of her head and into the world through guttural screams.

                A distraction from the magnitude of her torture would have been nice, however not even Neville felt the need to ramble on about plants. And Delphine so desperately wished he would, just to fill the void in which her encephalon thought up malevolent concepts of death and torment.

               After an eternity immersed in her own psyche, there was a clamor. The students of three wizarding schools rose in an uproar of ebullience, shouting with glee as two boys appeared from thin air in a flash of cerulean light. Loud music developed in the wake of their arrival.

               Delphine felt pure ecstasy course through her veins as she caught sight of the golden tufts of hair that were her brothers. A great sigh escaped her mouth and past her lips into the dewy spring air, relief pleasuring her unsure heart as she rushed toward her father. The overwhelming sound of thousands of teenagers still hadn't quite reached her ears.

               Not until the severe scream encased her entire being.

               Her oculus' cut to Harry Potter, struggling to breathe with cochineal blood flowing down his arm to his dirt stained hands. Beneath him— Cedric Diggory, face static and grey eyes now bereft of their usual vigor. The sight elicited malaise and infinite convoluted emotions to detonate inside her heart. The sound of her peers wailing in dismay and terror lashed at her ears, as waves of tears thrashed her eyes.

               The hush of the world wrapped its poignant arms around her body in the form of Minerva McGonagall.

               She was pulled, like the deteriorating twine that held her heart together, out of her reverie and laid back into her bed of thorns. The door was no longer locked, but stood ajar and the face reflecting her own was disconsolate. Remus Lupin had never looked worse, the fire only adding to the deformation, his face was shadowed with abysmal scars that were evident in the light of the room which he now occupied.

               "You were screaming," he said softly, motioning to the middle of the room, "May I?"

               Delphine's face blotted with red, feeling like a spectacle instead of a human as vulnerability overwhelmed her in swells. Nonetheless, she nodded in return, letting the man enter her residence.

               "Bad dreams?" his eyes were soft, but she saw how he fiddled with his hands, treading on eggshells. The green of his irises were pooling with emotion, as Delphine's like ones were pooling with tears of despair. She could no longer withhold her pungent and ever present suffering.

               "Dreams," she scoffed, "More like a souvenir of my torment. They never leave, no matter how hard I try— no spell or incantation can take them away."

               Her mind was blazing with infernos of past grief, while she immersed herself in the study of the fireplace. Her brother's inert eyes embedded somewhere within the flames that charred the wood in which it engulfed, they studied her wretched features. The tear stained cheeks and the crimson eyes, even the aloof manner she conversed with. She envisioned his dead orbs following her in disapproval, what he wanted for her was so much more than weeping in a small room, drowning in herself at the thought of his warm smile. The images of a decomposing corpse rotting in the midst of summer, By this time he's probably filled with unknown fungus and revolting insects, and you'll never see him again. Her mind moved over to his imaginary eyes, their sockets now filled with writhing worms and his hair pulling from their follicles, leaving his once golden curls lying at the bottom of his coffin—

               "Del," Remus was still opposite her, perturbedly grasping her arm, "Here, this might help your discomfort," His arm outstretched, at the end of it, between his cold fingers there sat a bar of chocolate. A rich brown that matched his sweater vest and Delphine took it. Her hesitation was absent as she slipped it from his fingers, putting it up to her wet, salty lips.

               A woman's voice could be heard from somewhere below them, her tone indicating that they were to descend into the kitchen. Remus stood, a placid smile reached to the corners of his eyes, "That would be dinner, would you like to join us tonight?"

               The previous times, Delphine had sat alone in the same room she had occupied during her stay, rarely enjoying what was on the dish and instead just ate to fulfill the constant tumbling of her stomach. However, that night she felt as if she required the company of the others, even if it ended in sorrow, she needed the contact of those who cared for her.

               A gentle nod from the brunette was all Remus needed before he left the room, gently shutting the door behind him. Everything was gingerly done when it came to the man, his gestures were kind and his hands soft, he had no malice in his body, nonetheless he felt as if he was consumed with darkness. And after the weeks of being alone with the man, Delphine so achingly wished to inform him of his delicacy.

━━━━━

               The outrage that poured out of his body was fiery and bitter on his tongue. An emotional affair with his own acrimony was residing in his mind. Harry Potter was aggrieved, his mentor, a man he trusted so blindly— deceiving him and leaving him to his own devices. And to no avail, his aggression was outspoken by even his friends. Though what his foul mood rooted from were the horrific screams echoing throughout the house, ricocheting off the walls. His mind had recognized the agonizing wails, however he was defenseless as Ron and Hermione advised him against going to see her. And even after his eyes followed Remus Lupin gliding up the stairs he still stood weary on the carpeted floor that stunk of mold. Because even if Lupin could do something to ease the girl's pain he would never truly stop it.

               He struggled to suppress his loathing, toward his entire being, as his mind wandered to the girl above him, quietly weeping over her brother's death. One that he could have prevented, though hadn't.