The dark is better than the light

Chapter 24

"Isadore, do you hate me?" Harry asked suddenly making her look at him surprised. He was not looking at her and was looking at the black lake in front of them. He ignored the glares sent towards him by the twins and gulped slightly. "I know what I did was unforgivable, I can't ask you to love me. But it hurts, everything hurts. Please don't-"

"Harrykins, did you know that-"
"-your mummy dearest used to hit-"
"-Dora with your dad's belt?"
"And also when she's older-"
"-a lot of spells which hurt even more?" The twins interrupted him and Harry bit back a sob. 

"I know she hurt you. I know you didn't deserve that and most of the times it was my fault. I didn't know that she hurt you like that. I always thought she used to scold you or lock you in your room. I swear, I didn't know." Harry hurried to explain. "You have to trust me. I really didn't know."

"Harry, you can't force me to accept you like this. I can't do it." Isadore didn't understand the real meaning behind Harry's words and interpreted it wrongly. She thought he was talking about her accepting him as her brother. 

"It's not that-" 

"Harrykins, don't force her." The twins snapped at him making her look at them confused. 

"I'm sorry." Harry said running away from there not able to take it anymore. The twins were really ruthless in their pranks and he even broke his arm this morning from slipping in the bathroom. He wanted to go to Madam Pomfrey, but they stopped him saying he deserved it and he should know the pain that Isadore went through when she was living with them. He never hurt her like this. He would never hurt anyone physically. Even when he was bullying Draco, he never hurt him and he didn't even let Ron cause any harm to Draco. Once, Hermione slapped Draco and Harry didn't talk to her for a whole month. He only talked to her when she apologized to Draco even if he didn't accept the apology. 

"Watch where you are-" Harry bumped into the one and only Severus Snape, but he didn't care and ran away to the nearest bathroom. He locked himself in the stall at the end of the bathroom and curled into a ball. He buried his head between his knees and sobbed silently. 

He can't take it anymore. His arm hurts and his whole body hurts from various injuries that he got in the last week. There were bruises from when he got hit by Ron, Hermione and Ginny. There were bruises from when he fell down or hit himself to a wall or something like that trying to escape the pranks by the twins. He even fell down the stairs as he was tripped by some device they set up. 

He still remembers how he landed in front of Draco who left without even a second glance. Romulus told him about the letter and how Lucius replied that the Malfoys are accepting his apology, then why is Draco not talking to him? He didn't understand. He had to cancel his meeting with Romulus as he can't go with a limp. Romulus asked the reason and Harry had to lie about not feeling well and he wanted to rest. 

Romulus sent a few more letters asking about his health constantly. Harry didn't know if he was really worried as he can't believe someone would really care for him after everything he did to everyone around him. Everyone hates him and he doesn't think Romulus can like him and worries about him. Why would Romulus care about someone like him? He didn't even talk to Sirius these days for more than 2 minutes as Sirius can easily see he is not well. 

Sirius tried to call multiple times everyday which he ignored and always tells him that he is busy or some other excuse as this is his OWLs year. Harry jumped when he heard someone knock on the door of his stall. He held his breath wanting the other person to just leave him alone. He waited for the steps to move, but they didn't and he frowned. 

"Potter, I know you are in there. I saw you running here." Draco's voice was heard from outside and Harry bit his lips stopping himself from responding to it. "Come out, Potter."