𝐍𝐚𝐢𝐯𝐞 | 𝐃.𝐌, 𝐓.𝐍

032 - ɴᴏ ᴍᴏʀᴇ ʟᴏᴠᴇʏ-ᴅᴏᴠᴇʏ

𝐂𝗼𝐫𝐚 𝐁𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐥𝐞𝐲

—

Does time really heal? Or is that an illusion too?

—

My ears were ringing, and the light burning behind my eyes gave me an instant migraine.

"Ms. Bentley? Cora, can you hear me?"

I moved my eyes behind my closed lids, squinting hard before slowly forcing my eyes open.

I tried to move my arms up to rub the blurriness out of them, but quickly found that they wouldn't move from my sides. Like they were stuck on something. I blinked a couple more times to see Madam Pomfrey standing over me. My heart immediately started racing.

"Ms. Bentley, everything is alright. You are in the hospital wing."

"What happened? What's wrong?" I started, pulling at my wrists. I looked down to see they were bound with some type of fabric, seemingly dedicated to bound but not harm the skin. I tried to move my ankles, but found those wouldn't budge either.

There was a thick bandage on my forearm, right where my mark was. I was in a short-sleeve, paper textured gown.

"Forgive me for the restraints. This is just standard procedure I must follow with a patient who's harming themself." Madam Pomfrey explains, as she holds her hands over mine.

"The fuck? What the hell happened?! I don't harm myself!" I shouted at her, overwhelmingly frustrated and confused, and not being able to move more than a centimeter didn't help me stay calm either.

"Ms. Bentley, I need you to stay calm, and I will explain everything." She took a step back.

I took a deep breath as hot tears bubbled in my eyes. I tried to calm my fight or flight, as I wanted her to explain everything to me.

"Mr. Malfoy brought you here a couple of days ago. You had drank so much you were unconscious. Your arm, which is bandaged, was gashed so deep it took several charms to heal it. I wasn't able to fully heal it unless I left a huge scar, which is why it's bandaged." Madam Pomfrey said.

I scowered my brain to find any memory I had of what she could be talking about— I drank myself to the point of passing out?

—

I sat in the eerily quiet Room of Requirement, taking another big swig of rum.

My left arm laid at my side. Thick and dark blood slowly flowed down my forearm to the tips of my fingers, dripping onto the floor below. It was so silent in this room that you could actually hear the droplets hit the ground.

I tried, once again, to scratch and carve the burning ink that slithered on my arm. Without fail though, it reappeared onto the open wound, sending even more pain with it.

I screamed and I cried until I simply couldn't anymore, grabbing the biggest goblet I could find out of the huge supply of antiques. I whispered Augamenti then said the incantation to turn water into rum, repeating this more times than I remember at this point.

I gulped down the rest of the contents, letting both of my arms rest at my sides and sighing, looking up at the ceiling.

"What are you doing in here? You missed lunch." I heard above the slight ringing in my ears.

I managed a half-smile, feeling the slow spinning of the room through my bones. "I'm wallowing in the self-pity that I've created for myself on this fine November afternoon. How about you, Draco?" I slurred, tossing the empty goblet onto the ground with a clink. My voice and the sound of the goblet echoed throughout the room.