Forgotten

19 | Charming

"Bella!" Nobody's voice should be that cheery this early in the morning. Her body was still aching from playing quidditch; every time she moved her thighs throbbed. She turned her head slowly from where she sat in the great hall. Rodolphus stood there, a smile beaming on his face.

"What do you want, Rodolphus?" She groaned, her head falling into her hands.

"You look lonely, want some company?" Did she ever want company? No.

"Not really. But I'm not evil, so I'll let you stay anyways." She shuffled along the bench to make room for him beside her, and when he sat down his scent hit her like a brick wall falling down upon her. It was in no way a bad smell. 

"You know you have to deal with me for another hour right?" Why did he have to remind her? For merlin's sake. They sat together in charms.

"Yay." She muttered sarcastically, he pulled her against his side, wrapping his arm around her shoulders.

"You love me." He told her.

"I hate you." She told him.

"Uh huh, you keep telling yourself that Bella." He didn't let go of her, instead he grabbed a strand of her hair and started messing with it, it felt strange.. almost comforting, "You need to eat something Bella." He grabbed a piece of toast, buttered it and placed it on her plate, repeating the process for his own food.

"I'm not hungry." She quickly dismissed him, focusing on the way it felt to be held by him. He had done this the other day, and if he didn't stop she knew she'd grow attached.

"You sure?" He didn't push her, he wasn't that type of person. If she let her hunger get to the point where she was becoming ill and it was affecting her health he would interfere. But right now this was just breakfast, she would be okay if she didn't eat. When she didn't reply he continued speaking, "At least have a glass of water, I wouldn't want you passing out on me."

"Right.." She grabbed a glass and drank slowly, her throat burning with every swallow. The potion she had been taking was running out, which meant she'd be remaking it soon, but every time she remade it, it seemed to be stronger than the last time. She didn't know if that was a lie and just her mind playing tricks on her, or if she was subconsciously making it stronger to hurt herself more than she already did.

"There you go, that's it." He soothed her, it felt strange to have someone comfort her the way Rodolphus did. Nobody had ever taken the time to do that before.. His fingers kept playing with her hair as she drank, he waited until she finished the whole glass before he spoke again, "We should get to class, come on." 

He stood up slowly, pulling her with him, "I don't wanna go." She whined, but she didn't fight back when he dragged her along, "My legs hurt." 

"Awh poor thing, why do your legs hurt princess?" He was teasing her for whining so much. Little bitch.

"Because-" Her words caught in her throat as she heard whispering around her, coming from a table of three boys. Barty, Evan and Regulus. He was pointing at her, laughing. Turning her head away from him before he could say anything to her, she tried to fight back the tears in her eyes, the pain in her soul, the cracks in her already shattered heart. A voice broke through the tornado of emotions she was stuck in.

"Bella?" Rodolphus said beside her, he didn't stop walking, if anything, he walked faster. He could tell she was on the edge of a meltdown, "Come on love, it's okay." His arm squeezed her shoulders, keeping her close to him until they were out of view in the corridor, he quickly pulled her into a shadowy alcove, "You know, usually when I pull girls into places like this their hands are already in my pants." He laughed.