Verity was laying in the bed, the sun in the room filtering in and pooling around her. It was past 8. It was past 10. She wasn't sure exactly how long it was, but she didn't have the energy to get out of bed. Instead, her spirits broken, she just lay there and silently cried into the pillow. She'd been so sick for so long and her body was sore, feeling horrible. She no longer had energy, hope, anything. She was giving up. The pillow below her cheek was damp and uncomfortable and yet she just laid there.
In her mind she heard a speech from years ago- Professor Snapes voice ringing clear and sharp in her mind. It was the pep talk he gave their house every year on September first but even the encouraging words, the reminder that she was a Slytherin and therefore stronger than all of this didn't inspire her enough to move.