Chapter XXXVII: a Devastating Reality

                                    

                                          
Oakley didn't say a word as she approached her family on the platform. She stood in front of them for just a moment, scowling with tears in her eyes before apparating back to their house. She instantly went to her room, magically locking the door and falling onto her bed. She didn't even attempt to suppress the tears, for they would never subside as long as she was kept from Cedric. Her dad had knocked, but when he received no answer aside from Oakley's audible sobs, he decided knocking would get him nowhere, so he took out his wand, and unlocked it himself.
                          
"Oakley," Andrew sighed, walking over and sitting on the edge of her bed. "I'm sorry. I tried. Last summer, I could only get five thousand galleons out of our vault to put into your own, but Hogwarts tuition is ten. Your mother has control over the vault, th-there was nothing I could do," Oakley didn't reply. She merely lay there, facing away from her father as she felt her body deteriorating with every passing second. "Come on, Oak. Talk to me, please,"
                          
No answer. He waited for a few minutes, occasionally apologizing and trying his best to get any sort of conversation out of her, but all that could be heard was the sniffling and wincing of her quiet cries. He eventually gave up, walking out of her room as tears began to fill his eyes. 
                          
Oakley wasn't going to try to argue with anyone tomorrow. She knew it was too late. There was no point in trying to see if she could muster the energy to yell at anyone, even her mother. She had never felt so helpless, so drained. 
                          
For the next 12 hours, she lay awake in her bed, not moving a muscle as tears fell onto her pillow. She thought about all of the time she spent with Cedric. The first time they kissed in the astronomy tower, the night of the Winter ball last year, all of the times in the room of requirement or one of their rooms or the library or the court yard or by the black lake. It was no where near enough. He was the love of her life and she had barely a year's worth of memories to last her a lifetime. 
                          
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Cedric was doing no better. He sat in his room, a bottle of fire whiskey quickly emptying in his hand align with his being. He felt like, without Oakley, his life had lost all purpose. He had finally found what he was missing, and just as he got it he lost it again. How he was going to go back to Hogwarts and see her everyday, he didn't know. 
                          
She would have a ring. She would legally be with William. He didn't know if he could even bare the sight. Watch as the only girl he wanted to be with, the only girl he'd ever loved remained in the hands of someone else once again. If only he could put money into her account. He would give any amount of money if it meant he got to be with her, but if her parents weren't going to lend her money or allow money to be put into her vault, he couldn't think of any options.
                          
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"Oakley," her mother started as she stepped into her room. "It's time to get up! It's 11:00, we need to start getting you ready,"
                          
Oakley didn't move. Her mother watched as she stay completely still, blinking more tears at the wall. She felt a strong force behind her back, pulling her out of bed. She looked up to see her mother pointing her wand at her. She did not just use the imperious curse on me, Oakley thought. She didn't say anything; once she was up she did exactly what she was told. She sat in her desk chair as an enchanted makeup specialist did her makeup and hair. 
                          
She felt completely empty as everything went by in a blur. She didn't know how long she sat in that chair, but by the time her makeup and hair was done, it was starting to get dark out. All she knew was she had been left alone again as she still had an hour before she was expected to be in the bathroom her mother had magically turned into a huge dressing room where her dress remain. She sat in her windowsill, miserable, when she heard a soft knock on the door.