slide away {lorenzo berkshire}

57. some protector

"I survive off the idea that
One day
My rage will be witnessed by the men who poisoned me with it in the first place."
- Mya G. Wolf.

~~~~~~

Cassie Avery

The mark on my arm burned. Not like the sharp, cutting pain of punishment, but that subtle pulse - the call.

I sat up straighter on my bed, already knowing what it meant. It wasn't often we were summoned this late, and never without reason. My stomach twisted.

When I stepped out into the common room, Theo and Draco were already there, both standing stiffly.

"You felt it too?", Theo asked, his voice oddly careful, like I might break under the weight of a simple question.

I nodded, keeping my face neutral, though my pulse was hammering. "Yeah."

Draco shoved his hands in his pockets, eyes flicking from me to Theo like there was something he wanted to say but wouldn't.

They were both acting normal enough - same voices, same little habits. But it was the looks that gave them away. The glances they threw at each other when they thought I wasn't watching. The slight hesitation in Theo's voice, the way Draco stood a little too close, like proximity itself might stop me from cracking.

It made me feel sick. Like I'd suddenly become this fragile thing they had to tiptoe around.

Maybe I was fragile now.

Everything that had happened earlier played on a loop in my head. But I didn't have time to think about that right now. I didn't have time to be fragile. Because the last time I had been dragged out of bed to pay the Manor a visit in the middle of the night, I had come away with a shit tattoo and a lifetime membership to the most dangerous wizard in the worlds personal cult. I had a terrible feeling in the pit of my stomach that this news wasn't going to be any easier to swallow.

I linked into their arms as we Apparated, the common room twisting into thin air as we arrived in front of the Manor.

I hesitated for a moment. I didn't mean to. I felt them shift next to me.

"I'm fine," I snapped, sharper than I meant.

Theo blinked. "We didn't-".

"I'm fine," I repeated, softer this time, but it still felt like a lie.

Draco cleared his throat. "We should go. Don't want to keep them waiting."

I tried to focus on anything else - on the way the candles above swayed despite the still air, on the intricate carvings on the table legs, on how different this felt tonight. Summons usually came with reason. Orders. Punishments. But there had been no explanation, just urgency.

We opened the doors to the meeting room.

I hated this room now. I hated what they had done to it.

The Death Eaters filled the room like it was a celebration, their voices rising in easy chatter, laughter punctuating every conversation, like we'd just walked into some kind of fucked up dinner party and not... whatever this was.

I slid into my seat, Theo on my left, Draco on my right, their presence bracing but suffocating at the same time.

Across the table, Mattheo sat stiff and still, but for once he wasn't glaring at me, wasn't baiting me with that smirk that had made my stomach twist these last few months. No, he wasn't even looking at me. His gaze stayed firmly fixed on his hands, clasped tight in his lap.

Good, I thought, pressing my tongue to the back of my teeth. I didn't want his eyes on me. Not tonight, not ever again.

The heavy double doors groaned open, and silence instantly fell like a dropped blade. The Dark Lord swept into the room, his presence filling every inch of air like poison. Even now, after months of this, he still made my skin crawl.