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She turned in horror only to find nothing. Astoria felt silly, paranoia had taken the best of her lately. The forest was beautiful and empty mostly in this part. If you went deeper – sure, something might attack you. But this was castle territory. |
"Elroy", a quiet voice spoke. |
She turned and saw three boys from Drumstrang approach her. They circled her like wolves. Oh god, she realized with fear that this was an ambush. |
The book fell from her hand, and she took out her wand. One of them laughed. |
"We just want to talk", he said as his steps towards her gave out the lie in his words. |
"I’m not what your Headmaster has told you I am", Astoria said, her voice suddenly rusts in her throat. |
"I think that only makes it easier", the boy in the middle laughed. |
They were only a few steps away from her. And she realized how much taller and stronger they were. Large frames. Muscles. They all looked like that, and she figured their studies required physical training as well. How could she be a match for that? |
Suddenly the spell Moody thought them came to her. She didn’t hesitate to think it through. Her wand pointed to the laughing boy in the middle as she stunned him. He fell on the ground. Knocked out. The other two boys looked surprised for a second, yet that was enough for them, and they didn’t hesitate no more. It got serious. |
The first blow landed. |
The tension between them was gone starting a domino’s effect. They both ran to catch her, and she screamed, turning to run away. A red light passed her. A spell. They missed this one. The next one got her. Imobulus, she heard with horror behind her as her limbs froze and her face crashed in the snow. |
They could beat her. They could rape her. They could kill her. She was, again, helpless, useless – |
Astoria tried to scream but a hand pushed those screams back to her throat. She could now see him clearly. He had a buzzcut, a scar on the nose, small but deep. He had blue eyes, dark blue, not like Draco’s. And he was smiling at her, grinning his teeth like an animal. Like a hungry wolf. |
"Stop, god, please", she screamed. |
He twisted her braid on his hand like a chain and pulled her hair as her whole body rose with it. A hard punch landed in her stomach and a scream got lost in her mouth. Air left her lungs forcefully. It hurt. Like Moody’s hit. That spell. She couldn’t remember and there was no point. |
"An Elroy", the boy with the scar hissed in her ear, "What a catch". |
"Do you know your ancestor, whatever he is to you, has killed thousands of my people", the boy who landed the punch squatted Infront of her. His eyes meet hers. |
He was blond. Again, a buzzcut. Again – taller and larger than she could ever be. His eyes were black, consumed by rage as he kept talking. Looking at her as she cried. |
"My grandfather lost all his family because of him. He burned them alive. He ate some, even", he said with disgust and spat at her. She tried to turn her face, but the other held her still. |
"I don’t know who those people are", she shouted, and another punch hit her body. |
Her vision got blurry. Everything was going dark like a sunset. Her mind somehow cleared, and a loud voice echoed. |
Astoria opened her eyes with surprise as adrenaline somehow filled her. The two boys were still holding her down. One held her arms, the other was still pulling her hair. The blonde one had his hand on her face, his fingers sinking in the hollow of her cheeks. |
"What?", she repeated confused. |
"I said you need to pay!", he screamed in her face. Spit landed on her skin as she closed her eyes again. |
Simple-minded creatures. Like animals. Punish them like ones – |
It was a man’s voice. It hissed at her. It sounded amused, excited. She tried to look away, to locate this man. Why wasn’t he helping her? She couldn’t see, her eyes flooded with tears. Simple-minded, she repeated to herself. |
A green light hit the blonde boy behind her. A scream came somewhere in the woods. She ignored it. The other boy was dragging her deeper between the trees. He pushed her behind a tree and put a hand on her mouth. His eyes met hers. |
Simple-mined, she realized and wanted to laugh. A smile crept onto her face, and he looked at her confused. |
She could feel him. It was a new feeling. Different. She could feel him as his skin touched hers. She could see in him. |
In this moment a door opened. It was like he himself invited her in. So easy. She walked through it. |
Astoria’s eyes rolled back. So did his. They both froze with blank stares. It was dark. She was in his mind. His name was Georgy. He had a sister that was dead. His mother was beautiful. He thought about them now as he was feeling terrified. She put that fear in him. |
Command him to release you- |
"Release me", the words echoed in their combined consciousness. |
Her body felt the warmth of his touch leave her. |
Tell him to kneel- |
"Kneel", she obeyed the voice who grew stronger, boiling with excitement. |
Tell him to kill himself- |
She felt two hands grabbing her by the shoulders. Someone screamed in her face. Astoria blinked and she could suddenly see. Harry’s scar, his messy hair, his skin on her skin. He looked afraid. What was he afraid of? |
She grabbed his hands as he pulled her up. She rose to her feet. Hermione was standing next to him, her hands resting on her knees as she struggled to catch a breath. Astoria looked around and saw fiery-red hair. Ron was standing next to Gregory that looked as confused as she was. |
Harry’s words were starting to reach her. |
"Did he hurt you?", he shouted at her. |
"No", she whispered. Her body was a bit heavy, but her mind felt like a sinking stone. |
"She hurt me! She was going to kill me! It wasn’t me!", Gregory shouted as Ron restrained him. |
Harry looked angry but not at her, Astoria realized. Hermione approached her, her finger touched the pulse on her neck. |
They don’t believe him, she thought with relief. |
"How did you-", Astoria lost her words. |
It was like her mind was putting itself back together. Organizing itself again like a shelf with books that was struck by an earthquake. |
"We saw a man lying on the snow and we went deeper in the forest. That’s when I heard you scream", Harry said quickly as he pushed her body to his. |
He hugged her. They hugged once, before. During second year. Lockhart revealed himself. Hermione was gone. Ron was going to follow Harry to find Ginny. They thought they were going to die in the Chamber of Secrets. He didn’t let her come. He hugged her then. |
"Where did he hurt you?", Harry shook her a bit. |
That’s when the pain struck. She let out a scream. Finally, the realization came to her that there was blood dripping from her mouth. |
"He punched me in the gut", she said in one breath. |
Hermione pushed back Harry and quickly did a diagnose on her with her wand. |
"Internal bleeding. This could be bad. We need to get her medical help immediately", she said at Harry. |
Astoria felt his hands around her. Her feet left the ground. Her mind was still a mess. |
"Did you find him? The man?", she asked. |
"Yes, Ron will report them", Harry said through his teeth. |
"Not them", Astoria said quietly but had no strength to explain. Her eyes never landed on him but she heard him, felt his presence. |
There was someone else. |
They let her go after three days before the ball. She felt fine. The nurse told her to avoid too much physical activity, to not lift heavy things, and to sit down if she got tired. Dancing was allowed, she specifically asked. |
When she got back to class no one asked her anything and she left before someone could. Dumbledore wanted to see her after the ball. They had a scheduled meeting. Finally. |
Apparently, there was a scandal. None of the boys from Drumstrang continued following her and stalking her. They were forbidden to come near her. Victor Krum did once on the hallways and simply said "Sorry". They never spoke again. |
She had nightmares constantly. In fact, she was going mad but if she told someone, they would put her in a white room or force her to stay in the nursery for months and she wouldn’t go to the ball. What a selfish and stupid reason to keep a secret, she thought. |
But Astoria remained loyal to her desires. |
The voice would speak to her in her mind. Telling her she needs to grow stronger. Telling her they all hate her and would kill her if given the chance. She shivered in fear more often now then before. |
Theo Nott stopped her in the corridor. He looked sad as he looked at her. Her braid was messy. She didn’t have the time and her hands shivered still. Astoria knew she looked tired and sad and beaten up. |
"Are you feeling better?", he finally said, looking at her with those big eyes that shined between charming brown curls. |
She hated the feeling of being pitied. It filled her with so much rage she wanted to scream. |
"Yes", she said coldly. |
"They got what they deserved", he said with a smile, "I want you to know it was taken care of". |
She blinked at him. |
"A few of us talked with them about the incident. They will never even look at you again", he said and came closer to her. |
She flinched back as an instinct. Her books fell from her hands. He picked them up and hanged them to her. People watched. |
"I’m sorry, I know you probably need time", he said and pulled back. |
"I don’t", Astoria hissed. |
Theo swallowed as he didn’t know what more to say. He was going to leave when she looked up to find his eyes and grabbed his hand. |
"What did you do?", she asked. |
God, she wanted to be the one hurting them back. Revenge felt like a forbidden desire that slipped in her mind more often than she would ever to admit. |
"We take care of our own, Elroy", Theodore’s eyes darkened. Astoria felt as if she saw him for the first time as he really is, "I think you’d like to know that". |
She didn’t say anything. She just nodded and moved away. She didn’t want to know that. |
Astoria spent every night looking at the window in the castle’s ceiling. She was sure if she looked hard enough, she could find the place where they ambushed her. She didn’t want to admit it, but she took a liking to the voice inside her head. It made her feel powerful and that helped to heal her pride from the humiliation she suffered. |
Whispering horrible propositions to her. |
Harry appeared one night. It was a risk but after their fallout Astoria did not expect him even though he rescued her. |
"I didn’t call for you", she said surprised to see him. It was unusually late for their meetings. Tomorrow was the Yule Ball. Everyone was probably asleep, so they’d look fresh the next dat. |
"I couldn’t sleep", he said sounding tired. |
"Me neither", she sighed and then added, "I suppose I never got to thank you for saving me". |
Harry sat next to her. His jaw tightened and he looked angry, she feared it was her fault again. |
"I’m sorry I didn’t come earlier", he said bitterly. |
"It’s okay", she lied as she hoped this would make him feel better. He looked at her, his eyes still sad. It didn’t work. |
"I heard you had your own battles to fight with some magical egg", she said, trying to change the subject. |
"Yes, Cedric told me as I told him about the dragons. It was a fair exchange. He’s taking Cho to the ball", Harry said. |
Astoria remained silent. She was afraid he’d remember her betrayal, and all would be ruined. That seemed to be the case because he did seem angrier now. |
"I don’t know why you agreed to go with him", he finally said the damn words. |
"He wanted to go with me and it seemed genuine", she said sincerely though she actually had doubts in that statement. |
Malfoy did give her looks of concern in class but kept a distance. Pansy circled around him but that wasn’t knew. And it was the least of her cares. It was the fear of being played and humiliated tomorrow that bothered her. |
"Maybe it is", Harry said softly. Astoria looked surprised at him. |
She didn’t like this. He accepted it and this only meant Harry now saw her as a true Slytherin. As someone different from him. And she wasn’t. She was just like him. An orphan. An unfortunate child. An Elroy. No – |
"Are you okay with that?", Astoria said and then quickly added, "It’s just a dance for one night. It’s not like me and him are close". |
"I can’t stand him", Harry replied, maintaining his control over himself, "But I know he found the boys that hurt you and he hurt them back. Him and others. Then he made it all go away. I suppose that’s not my style, but it was right by you". |
Violence will only bring more violence, she thought bitterly. There was an even scarier phrase a caregiver once told her – "Put your sword back in it’s place, for all who draw the sword will die by the sword". It was biblical, from a muggle religion. |
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