Theo thought time would numb it. He really did.

But every time he sees you in the corridors, laughing like you’ve never known heartbreak, it feels like someone is twisting a dagger in his chest. And tonight—tonight is worse.

You’re sitting across the common room, talking to Pansy. Your smile doesn’t falter, not once, and it makes him feel sick.

“If what we had was real, how can you be fine?” he wonders bitterly, running a hand through his hair.

Because he’s not. Not even close.

His mind drags him back, unkind and sharp— To the night you ended it.

“I can’t do this anymore, Theo,” you had said, voice thick with tears. He remembers the way your makeup streaked down your cheeks, the way you didn’t even bother to wipe it away. “I need to let this go before it destroys me.”

You didn’t need the dreams, Theo thinks, swallowing hard. The ones we made together. The ones you left behind like they never meant anything.

His knuckles whiten as he grips the edge of the table.

Every single wish, every single night you spent whispering about futures—gone. Like you’d never believed in them at all.

Across the room, you glance his way for just a moment. It’s brief, a flicker, but it’s enough to send his heart tumbling into his stomach.

He forces his gaze down, jaw clenched tight.

“Move on,” Theo mutters to himself. “Just move on.”

But it’s a lie. He’s trapped in the memory of your touch, your laugh, the way you used to look at him like he was your whole world.

Now? Now you don’t even look at him like he’s there.

And that’s what cuts deepest of all.

“I remember the day you told me you were leaving,” he thinks, the words heavy and hollow in his chest. “And I’m not fine at all.”