Innocence

Chapter 60

CAMILLA'S POV

My heart was beating out of my chest as I walked back to Gryffindor. Snape's words echoed in my head over and over and it wouldn't stop.

"You'll die."

"You'll die."

"You'll die."

There were so many questions. Why was my body rejecting the mark? Was there any way to fix it? How long do I have before my body stops fighting? Will I really die? I couldn't think straight. I walked into the common room and all my friends were sitting around the fire. "Hey Cam, is everything ok?" Ginny asked. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just tired." I lied. "Ok, we'll be up in a minute." hermione said. I nodded and walked to our dorm. I changed into pajamas and climbed into bed. I pointed my wand at my arm and whispered the spell. "Commulceo, Commulceo, Commulceo" I said. An ice cold soothing sensation covered my arm and I sighed of relief. I'm so glad Snape taught me that spell. The pain was bloody awful. I put my wand away right as Ginny and Hermione walked in. "Did you find Harry?" Hermione asked. "Yeah, you seemed a bit frantic." Ginny said. "Yeah, I'll explain tomorrow." I said. They nodded and we went to sleep.

The next morning, when we all sat down for breakfast, Harry and I told Hermione, Ron and Ginny everything. "What do you think it means?" Ginny asked. "I don't know." Harry said. "It's Nathan so nothing good." I said.

TIME JUMP: 2 WEEKS

"Has he said anything else?" Hermione asked. "No, I barely ever see him. I think he goes home." I said. "What about you Harry? The dreams?" Ginny asked. Harry shook his head. "The same. "Maybe Nathan was right. Maybe we can't figure this one out until they want us too." I said. "Speak of the devil." Ron whispered. Harry nudged me and I turned around to see Nathan standing behind me. "We have business." he said plainly. I immediately became nervous. "I haven't done anything." I said. He just smirked at me. "I know." he said smugly. "Why don't you just piss off Nathan? Leave her alone." Harry said. "Oh Potter, if only you knew. One day, you are going to wish you were never born." he said. Harry opened his mouth to speak again but I stopped him. "Don't. It's not worth it." I said. I walked out with Nathan and he took me to an empty classroom. "What do you want Nathan?" I asked. He stalked towards me and towered over me. "Lift up your sleeve." he said. "What? Why?" I asked. "Lift. Up. Your. Sleeve." he demanded. I lifted it up and he grabbed my arm. He twisted it as he examined the mark.

"You knew." I said. "I wasn't sure. I had a feeling you would reject the mark but there's no way to be sure until you have it." he said smugly. "Why do you care? Shouldn't you just be happy. I'm going to die." I said. He shrugged. "I wanted to be the one to kill you." he said. "Charming." I said. "I have a deal to offer on fathers behalf." he said. I looked at him with surprise and confusion. "What is it?" I asked. "There's a way to fix it. To force the body to accept the mark. There's a way to stop it from killing you." he said. I stared at him. "I don't believe it. Ever since I got this mark, I've thought of everything to get it off. I even wanted to cut my arm off. But I can't because of the spell that will cause my body to hemorrhage and bleed out." I said. "That's all true." he said. "So you really expect me to believe there's a way to force my body to accept the mark." I said. "Believe what you want. I'm just the messenger." he said. "Ok, then what's the message?" I asked. "If you help father the way you are supposed to, he will help you with your mark." he said. I glared at him. "No." I said. He grabbed my throat and slammed me against the wall. I coughed and gasped for air. "I'd say this is more than generous considering how unloyal you are to him." Nathan said. "You can choke me or threaten me, or do whatever you want. I will never ever help him again. In fact, I'm going to do everything in my power to make sure he loses this war." I said. His fist connected with my ribs and I doubled over gasping for air. I coughed and tasted that metallic taste of blood. He grabbed my hair and forced me to look at him. "You are going to regret this." he spat. Then he walked out, leaving me crumpled on the floor.