i. BOUNTY fleur delacour

19

NINETEEN
[warning: suggested sexual assault]

" everyone has
a chapter
they don't
read aloud. "
- anonymous

"WHAT ARE you doing?" kosta stood in the doorframe of mari's dormitory.
she looked up at him from her position on the floor, where she sat with a wand and a glass cup. "practicing transfiguration."
"why?"
"well, i don't really have any friends anymore, so i'm bored a lot of the time and i figure you can't ever have enough practice..."
"of turning a glass cup into a plastic cup?"
"okay, so i'm bored, sue me."
kosta laughed. "karkaroff wants to see you in his quarters."
mari sighed and stood up, placing her wand down and smoothing her skirt down. "why?"
"i don't know 'ms champion', go find out."
"okay, lose the attitude." mari brushed past her friend with a laugh.

walking down the the dimly lit hallway, mari wondered how many residents of the boat had been informed by ingrid of her circumstances. would ingrid have told everyone? she told olivier, but the three of them had been like sisters... ingrid had been so ashamed, so disgusted—would she want to be known as ever associating with someone she seemed to no longer view as human?
karkaroff's door was ajar. mari knocked lightly and waited.
"mckinnon? come in!" the professor shouted her permission. she slid into the door. karkaroff was sitting at a desk, rummaging through papers. mari felt uncomfortable standing in her teacher's quarters, it felt improper to be seeing where he slept.
"you wished to see me?" mari stood with her hands clasped behind her back, her chest pushed out in confidence.
"yes, yes... how are you going with the clue for the second task?" karkaroff looked up from his papers, his eyes raking over mari's body before landing on her face.
"if i am to be honest, professor, i am struggling to solve it. i've tried all of my ideas so far, but none seem to work."
karkaroff smiled; a smile out of place. "i have figured it out."
feeling odd mari nodded. "okay? would you care to help me?"
"of course!" boomed karkaroff, "you're my champion!"
"well... sir... what is the clue, then?"
"oomph," karkaroff stood. "i don't know the clue, but i know how to solve the egg so that you can discover the clue."
mari had grown impatient. "professor, how do i solve the egg? please."
karkaroff smirked. "i can't just tell you..."
"you just said you would help me—you called me in—"
"all the other champions, mckinnon," interrupted the headmaster, "had or will have to work for their knowledge. it is against the rules for me to give you the answers, so i must get something in return."
feeling uncomfortable, mari's hand flew to her pocket, where she kept her wand. her breath caught when she remembered she had left it in her room. "what do you want in return?"
"i've known you for a long time, mari, and i have groomed you to be the witch you are today. i've watched you grow. how you've grown..." his eyes were no longer on her face. he approached her.
all of mari's survival instincts fled her, and she found herself frozen. "what do you want from me?" she whispered.
karkaroff waved his wand and the door shut behind mari, the locking audibly clicking. "i think you know."
mari whimpered. she did know.

☇ ☇ ☇

mari was cold all over. she wore only the skirt and shirt she had been earlier.
the ground of hogwarts never got less beautiful, she thought, as she looked out over the great lake. she felt delirious as she walked up to the castle, pain spitting through her with every step. she leaned against a wall of the hogwarts castle, feeling the cold stone through her shirt. looking down at her wrists, she saw bruises in the shape of hands had already began to develop, and the pain on the inside of her thighs told her similar bruises would be visible there, also.
"ms mckinnon?" the unfamiliar voice did nothing to pull mari from her state. a figure came into view. "are you all right?" the voice was coming from ludo bagman.
"i am well, thank you," mari's voice was barely audible.
"you ought to button up your shirt, love," mari looked down, completely unaware her shirt had been buttoned down halfway, exposing part of her bra. "and pop a cloak on, you must be freezing! take mine—"
"no, thank you. i must be off now."
ludo stammered, "i—" he looked down, mari followed his gaze. her skirt was sitting high, as she hadn't pulled it down, blood was visible on her legs. "mari..." the sound of her first name from an authority figure no longer sounded pleasant, she had heard it repeated so many time in the past hour she wished never to hear it again. "what happened?" his whisper was horrified, mari's stomach tightened. her eyes filled with tears, she blinked them away furiously.
"my personal life isn't your business."
he face contorted, "let me take you to the infirmary, let me help you—"
"no!" mari snapped, "i want no help!" the idea of help had become tainted. "i don't know what you think your talking about, but i'm fine and i wish to go back to my dorm, so you'll have to excuse me." she pushed past the man.
"did someone hurt you—"
"no! i just— i'm on my period, if you must know, and i have a boyfriend and we were—must you make me say it?" she hoped her lie was convincing, and that the mention of menstruation and underage sex would be enough to deter bagman.
he was silent, his eyes and face still as horrified as before. mari gave him one last look, a pleading gaze, before she walked off, leaving ludo bagman swallowing his own sickness in fear and worry.

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