Downfall | Lestrange

Chapter Three

[Chapter Three]

A hissing sound escaped from the young woman as the cold compress came to rest on the side of her face. Instantly, Elizabeth jerked her head back away from Roderick's hand and the ice, causing the man to let out another heavy sigh. It certainly seemed to be a regular occurrence every time the cold seemed to touch her face, but she wasn't allowing anything else to be done in that moment.

"Hold still!" Roderick told her in a frustrated tone, but he already accepted the loss of the battle.Dropping his hand down to his side, he remained still until Elizabeth decided to look at him. "Are you going to let me help you or not?"

"It's cold," Elizabeth whispered to him, covering the side of her face with her own hand, but being careful not to touch the areas that were marked from her brother's handprint. It pained Roderick to see her in such a state, but she was being incredibly stubborn at the time when in reality, he was only trying to help. After giving Evan the final warning never to touch Elizabeth again, he returned to her outside to try and heal the mark on her face. But it was almost as if she wanted to carry her punishment for as long as the mark was to last as she refused to let his wand anywhere near her.

Roderick didn't have much of a choice but to turn to grabbing a bag of ice and hoping that the swelling would go down, even then, Elizabeth was giving him a hard time. Standing up, Roderick had just about enough of her stubbornness, placing his hand on his hips and standing before her where she sat on the steps.

"Well, yes, one would expect a bag of ice to be cold, Beth."

Every time she spoke to him, her voice was barely above a whisper to the point where he had to strain to hear anything she said. "I don't want something cold on my cheek."

"Then are you going to let me heal you?" He asked in a hopeful voice. "It'll only take-"

"No."

"Beth!" 

"Just leave it be, Roderick, it's not a big deal."

The man stared at her for a few moments, wondering how the matter wasn't a big deal? Her brother had no right to place his hands on her, she was fully capable of speaking and even if he didn't like what she had to say, it didn't mean he was in the right to hit her. Elizabeth claimed that it wasn't a big deal but if it surely wasn't, why was she making such a fuss when it came to the healing process?

"You keep saying that and it very well may not be a big deal to you, but it is to me," he admitted as he took to sitting down next to her again, this time, keeping the ice away from her. "It is very much a big deal to me."

"But why?" Elizabeth questioned giving him a curious glance. "Why does it bother you so? I'm certain my brother told you why he did it, do you not believe he was in his right?"

"Of course I don't!" Roderick replied surprised by the anger in her voice. "He shouldn't have hit you for having an opinion. Goodness, if that were the case in the world, everyone would be smacking each other around every time they disagreed with something. You don't see that, do you? It's not right, he didn't like what you said, but I am sure there are things he says that you do not like, but you don't hit him, do you?"