Angry tears had started to form in Zach's eyes against his will. Cedric's death...Zach didn't really talk about it. He'd talked about it with Colin before, but that was a while ago now, and well...Zach wasn't trying to make Colin leave him anymore. And Colin had told Zach he wasn't a horrible person, which Zach wasn't sure he believed. But he hadn't ever yelled at Harry Potter before, the only person left alive whose fault it was Cedric died.
And it was close to breaking him in half, just thinking about Cedric's death so much. The anger helped, holding him together against it all. And he had expected to hear more fucking shite out of Harry's mouth, but there wasn't denial when the words came. And that shocked him, shocked him terribly. Potter...admitted it?
Then came the details, and well, Zach had generally pieced together what happened from seeing it without sound. But hearing the conversation - no, just about it, about the conversation - made it all the more painful, as if the words were being filled in in the memory that had burned itself in his mind, so that he never forgot it. He still remembered crisp and clear where all the scratches and marks were on both of them when they left and when...when Potter came back with Cedric's body.
Zach almost stumbled backwards, fighting the tears in his eyes. "He's dead," Zach repeatedly quietly, hand coming up to his face and wiping away any tears that came out, "I loved- I love him, and he's dead, and he never knew." Fuck, Zach hadn't counted on this happening.