Forgotten

16 | Reunited

Bella's legs shook as she walked through the train, pushing past people in her way, terrified she would collapse. Evan had disappeared somewhere ahead of her, through the mass of students. Her grip on the walls faltered as she took another step, each time her body moved she seemed closer to falling. But when she made it to the compartment, nobody but Evan was inside so she sat opposite him, leaning her head against the wall and closing her eyes. 

There wasn't much time until the train would be leaving which meant it wouldn't be long until Barty and Regulus turned up. Her pulse thumped in her ears until it was the only thing she could hear. Her eyes were still closed when she felt the seat dip beside her. A hand touched her shoulder and her body coiled in on itself in fear. No sound made it past the ringing in her ears. Somebody shook her, taking hold of her chin and turning her face towards theirs and although she couldn't open her eyes, she could see.

She could see her mother in front of her again, holding her by the hair and pulling her from the ground. She could hear her chant the curse... 'crucio'. 46 minutes her mother said she lasted, that couldn't be safe, to be under an unforgivable curse for such an extended amount of time. She had been attacked with it before but never for that long, or at least not conscious. She didn't know how long it had lasted afterwards, but from the state of her body it was far longer than it ever should have been.

Voices were whispering around her but the loudest was by her ear repeating her name over and over but she couldn't bring herself to discover whom the voice belonged too. Every shake of her shoulder sent her further into the spiral she knew that she was entering. The person stopped shaking her and instead pulled her into them, not in the way her mother would pull her from the floor but in a comforting manner. They held her against them until her breath evened out and the rapid beating of her heart slowed to a mostly healthy level. 

Only then did she allow herself to look up. 

Barty stared down at her, still talking to who she could only assume was Evan and Regulus. Nobody else would be in their compartment this early into the train ride, if at all. Her body was pressed against his side with her feet tucked underneath her. In an attempt to put some distance between them, she tried to detach her body from his. However, she didn't make it far before he was pulling her back to him, this time with her simply sat beside him and his hand on her knee where Evan couldn't see it. 

Nobody was staring at her or laughing like she'd prepared herself for. Instead they were talking to each other about the lessons they would have tomorrow. It was the same as any other day for them. Just another journey back to school but Bella still shook and her leg was still bouncing on the floor.

"Do you want to talk?" Barty asked her, quiet enough not to disturb the others. But Bella wasn't in the right state of mind to talk to anyone so she just shook her head and leaned back against the window.

 Every single part of her body, from the tips of her toes to the end of her hair, hurt. Every single movement, even ones as simple as twitching her fingers, hurt. There was no way to escape the pain, the only option was to embrace it. She had done this far too many times before, allowing her mind to succumb to the physical pain as a means to escape the mental. No thoughts could survive in the fiery hell consuming her. It felt as if flames had erupted on every inch of her skin but to anybody else, to anyone other than her, she was fine.

Her jacket and gloves hid the bruises and bandages from prying eyes. The only skin visible was her face and neck, but makeup could fix those. It was perfect, once they got to Hogwarts it wouldn't be perfect any longer. She would have to change into her robes, they would still protect her arms but her hands would be visible and considering they were almost entirely purple and black, it was rather obvious that she hadn't had the most relaxing holiday.