His jaw tensed with each word of arguement on her end and as suddenly as he'd decided that he was going to outargue her and get her to see just how much she was turning her back on her true self, he felt nothing so much as the desire to apparate from her room and leave her to it.

"Leave, now."

"Fine." It was all he said, though he watched her with barely hidden pain in his eyes for a heartbeat longer. A heartbeat in which time her pearl necklace broke and scattered on the floor. He knelt. His his hands reaching for the rolling semi-precious stones. He halted before he touched one of them and, with a grimace of disgust with himself, he stood. Slowly.

He watched her. Watched as she scrambled to gather up the pearls, his Auror mask firmly on his face: utter and complete indifference. Each move she made was logged away. The flutter of her heartbeat pulsing through at her throat; the panic that had cast an almost feverish glare to her eyes. He wanted to reach for her and pull her close to him. Tell her that he would be that pillar for her; that he would let her weep and tremble.

He would let her body mold, slack, against his own. Caress her and hold her. Press soft, undemanding kisses to her brow. Fingers ached to feel her against him. He forced himself to remain standing, the pearls utterly impossible for her to gather all of them before some escaped under the wardrobe, some under the bed, and even a few bounced haphazardly into the fire, their own destruction sealed as the flames engulfed them.

A whisper.

"You can't do it on your own."