RP: We shall not cease from exploration... Date: 28 January 2021 Characters: Tad Fotherington-Smythe, Lily Potter Location: Slytherin Status: Private Summary: Lily drops off some books. Completion: Complete
Tad stared at his book, the page he'd been reading for an hour made no more sense now than it had at the start. He just wasn't getting anywhere with his essay and the gnawing in his stomach had returned; that had barely diminished since the day Lily had kissed him. Kissed him and ran away, appalled. A hot flush of shame swept over him for only the twentieth time that day, and he curled up around a pillow to hide his face from humanity.
He'd avoided Lily since then, eating late or not eating at all, keeping his head down in class and bolting for the door at the end of each lesson. That was safest - he didn't want to see the look of pity in her eyes, nor discover it to be revulsion. He had been gauche and inept, that much was undeniable, but, as a week had passed without Lily making any effort to talk to him, he had to face that fact that Lily found some aspect of him repulsive and had discovered this through kissing.
He wanted to go home. There'd been a letter from his mum asking him if he was OK; he'd not written since he'd got back to Hogwarts, it had been on his list of things to do last weekend. A few of her choicest rants on the matter of self-esteem and body-image had percolated through his gloom; he'd never really paid much attention before - neither of them had felt he lacked self-worth - they'd just been background noise that he'd absorbed. Now they were getting him out of bed in the morning.