|| Star-Crossed ||

78

Shell Cottage

HARRY POTTER

"Who's there?!" a voice called out. Then Bill and Fleur walked in with their wands drawn. "Bill, it's us. It's just us!" Ron said quickly. He lowered his wand and sighed in relief. "Ron," he said. Ron hugged him and Hermione hugged Fleur. "I was so worried. I had no idea if you were ok, I thought you were dead," he said, his voice was shaky. "I'm not." Ron said. He nodded. Then his eyes wandered over to us and their faces dropped. "Is she-" he started. "No. She's fine. She'll be fine. Right?" I asked. Tears pricked at the corners of my eyes. I looked at Hermione and she nodded. "She's going to be alright," she said softly. "There's a bed upstairs, I'll get my healing bag," Fleur said. I nodded and brought her upstairs and laid her on the bed. Bill handed me a shirt and I pulled it over her body. Theo just watched. I could see the tears in his eyes. I glared at him. "Why the fuck are you upset?" I spat. He looked at me quickly. "What?" he asked. "You think I didn't hear what those death eaters said? You think I forgot? They said you raped her too?!" I yelled. "Harry-" Hermione started. He was backed against a wall and I grabbed his collar. "No! Did you? Did you rape my sister?" I said. He flinched and tears fell to his cheeks. "Answer me!" I yelled. "Yes," he said, his voice barely above a whisper. I lost it. My fist connected with his face and I could feel bones crunching. Blood splattered across my face and I just kept hitting him. As I landed punch after punch, I noticed he wasn't fighting back. He was just taking it. Then Ron and Bill ripped me off him. "Harry! Enough!" Hermione yelled. I looked down and Theo was unconscious. "What did you do?!" she said. "He deserved it!" I spat. "You have no idea what happened. How could you do that?" she said. Bill knelt down and picked him up. "I'll put him in the other room. Fluer can heal him next," he said gently. Then he walked out. "Harry, you need to breathe. Caroline is here. She's safe. You got her back. You can take a breath now," Hermione said. I looked at her and nodded. I wiped the blood from my fists and sat down. I sighed as I buried my face in my hands. "May I begin now?" Fleur asked. I nodded. She ran a diagnostic and began to review it. "Would you like me to tell you what I've learned or should I just heal her?" Fleur asked. "Tell me," I said. "No," Hermione said. We looked at her. "No, you are upset enough as it is. You don't need the specifics to push you over the edge," Hermione said. "Maybe she's right, mate. Do you really want to know?" Ron asked. "Yes. She's my sister. How would you feel if it was Ginny? Would you want to know or would you want to let your mind run wild with the worst case scenarios?" I asked. Ron sighed and nodded. "Tell me," I repeated. Fleur nodded. "First off, as you can clearly tell, she is severely malnourished and dehydrated. If you look at her left hand, you'll see a tremor. That's likely from the extended use of the cruciatus curse. I counted 3 ribs currently broken but there are 5 ribs that were broken that healed. She has a concussion and blood loss. There are deep ligature marks on her wrists and ankles, I believe it could be from restraints. You can see she has bruises and cuts on almost all of her body. But she's lucky, there's no internal bleeding-" she started. "Lucky?" I spat. Her face fell. "I apologize. I meant the bruises and cuts will heal. Even the broken ribs. But internal bleeding or damage to her organs, that would be much more difficult. Especially since I'm not a healer and we can't bring her to St. Mungos." she said. I nodded. 'I'm sorry, I didn't mean to- I'm sorry," I mumbled. She nodded. "Is that all?" I asked. She looked at me with sorrow and shook her head. "It shows sexual abuse. She was raped." she said softly. My stomach sank and I felt ill. I just stared at the floor and felt tears roll down my cheeks. "Thank you, Fleur. If you could begin now," Hermione said with a soft smile. She nodded and began to heal my sister. Hermione crouched in front of me and looked at me. "She's alive, Harry." she said. "They had her for 7 months, Mione. 7 months," I said. "Don't think about that." she said. "I can't. How many times did it happen? How many men? Did they hurt her? Did they torture her? I keep imagining it. I didn't save her, Mione." I said. She held my hand. "It's not your fault. You can't blame yourself," she said. "Well, I do. I do blame myself. This is my fault." I said. "Harry- you didn't-" she started. "It's my fault. I should have protected her. I let my guard down and trusted her with Malfoy. I was more focused on horcruxes than my sister. I wish Malfoy bled out on the floor that day I hit him with the Sectumsempra spell." I snapped. "You don't mean that," she said. "I do. He took her the night Dumbledore was killed. I don't care why. He took her. I should have stopped him instead of going after Snape," I said. "Caroline needs you right now. She needs you here, in the present. Not in the past, blaming Malfoy and yourself." she said. I nodded. I watched Fleur pour a blood replenishing potion in her mouth and wipe her face gently with a cloth. Then Caroline stirred. "She's waking up," Fleur said. I rushed to her side and knelt by the side of the bed. Caroline's eyes fluttered open and she looked around. "Draco," she gasped. My heart sank. She's going to be heartbroken when I tell her we left him behind.