Bruised & Broken // D.M.

Chapter 84

Eighty-four
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Amara leaned her head against the window, watching the white landscape roll by at a fast speed. It was supposed to be her favourite time of the year but Amara struggled to remember the last time joy sparked inside her.

Pain and anger was all that was left in her mind.

"You should cheer up-" her brother stung her, "It's Christmas," he pressed his lips into a tight smile, letting his hand rest on his sister's thigh. He had been watching her and the blur that grew behind her green orbs for the past hour.

"I'm not really in a festive mode," she mumbled, her eyes still focused on the moving lands outside.

"We'll go out and have a snowball fight- like old times," he tried to cheer her up, give her something to look forward to.

"I'm not in the mood Theo," Amara muttered, pulling her leg away from his hold. She doesn't want to talk or think about anything that once filled her body with joy. Every colour disappeared from her sight since she last spoke to Malfoy.

"Amara-" Theo sighed, taking her hand in his, "It will get better," he paused, bringing his lips to her temple, "eventually," he mumbled against her skin and his sister forced a tight smile on her lips even though he saw the pain in her eyes while she still stared into the outside world.

He knew the day she didn't come back into the common room after Blaise told them about Malfoy, he knew when neither Daphne nor Pansy had seen her for the rest of the day.

Being her brother for 19 years he knew exactly where to find her and he did. He found her in the back of the library with her knees pulled to her chest, crying silently all by herself — in the darkness.

She didn't need to tell him what happened, he knew.

He always knew.

As the landscape outside slowly changed, Theo still held her hand. He held her hand all the way to King's Cross and he didn't let go when the train stopped.

"Theo, do you-" she suddenly spoke and Theo's head snapped to hers. Her eyes were wide and her lips parted. His eyes, so similar to hers, followed her gaze and landed on the petite, brown-haired woman with a kind smile, waving at them.

"I see her too," he whispered in shock and her hand left his.

"Mum!" she shrieked, running over to their parents and falling in an embrace with their mother.

"Why didn't you tell us you were back?" Theo asked, quickly joining his sister's side again.

"We weren't sure if something would happen again," their father said, his hand on Bethany's lower back.

"Oh, my sweet little girl what happened?" Bethany asked, taking her daughter's face in her hands.

"Nothing," Amara mumbled, avoiding her gaze.

"Don't lie to your mother, Amara," Bethany scowled but got distracted when her husband placed his large hand on her shoulder, "Beth- Let's go."

"Wait- what about Daphne?" Theo asked, hectically looking around. He searched for her blonde head and he swore she walked right behind him but now she seemed to have vanished.

"Your girlfriend is going to stay with her parents... where she belongs," his father said.

"No, she will not!" Theo protested.

"This is not up for discussion," Gregory growled.

"Father-" Theo wanted to protest but his mother placed her warm and soft hand on his cheek, calming his anger immediately.