the girl with all of the choices

n i n e t y - t h r e e

8485 words

september twenty-fifth-  two minutes and thirty-seven seconds

~ Draco ~

When I imaged myself carrying my witch bridal style, I always figured it would be at our wedding. We would have an outdoor ceremony and there would be a puddle, or a pile of dirt, or something that she wouldn't want to have to cross for fear of sullying her dress. I would pick her up and carry her until we reached a clean area. She would be my princess, and I, her prince.

I never thought I would carry her bridal style to the hospital wing.

I had been walking back down to the Carrow's torture chambers with Snape when I saw her. I stopped dead in my tracks.

She looked like a living corpse.

She wasn't even walking in the end. She had started out walking but then had to resort to sitting, and sometimes crawling when her legs gave out. 

There was blood everywhere.

Her blood.

As soon as she said my name and her form completely hit the ground, my paralysis was lifted. I was on my knees at her side, trying to figure out what was wrong with her.

"Addie?" I shook her a little bit, gently. "Addie?"

Snape was instantly at my side. He grabbed her wrist and placed two fingers on the inside.

"She still has a pulse," he exhaled, seemingly thankful about the fact. "Cruciatus, I'm guessing. Maybe Legilimency considering the blood from her mouth. We need to get her to the hospital wing." He pulled out his wand and pointed it at her. "Wingardium leviosa."

Her body immediately hovered into the air as if she was lying on an invisible stretcher.

Then she started to move.

Her face contorted into the most agonizing expression. She started to wail for a moment as every muscle in her body tensed with the remaining magic of the curse. Her hand shot out from where it rested on her chest towards me, so I took it and squeezed, trying to comfort her, to let her know I was there.

"Draco," she whimpered, tears streaming from her eyes.

"I'm here, I'm here," I said, trying to wipe them from her face.

Then, she went limp. Snape grabbed her wrist again and checked her pulse.

"It's barely there, we need to go now."

"I'm carrying her," I said definitively, wrapping my arms underneath her and pulling her into my chest, severing the magic levitating her.

"What? Why on Earth-"

"She needs me," I argued, staring daggers into her soul. "She needs to know I'm here and that she's not alone. So, let's not waste time."

He nodded curtly and started off, me following closely behind.

So I was carrying my witch bridal style, her barely-there pulse thrumming through her body with every step I took. Her head and bloodied hand were resting against my chest, her fingers seeming to spasm with almost every step I took.

I only knew she was still alive because she would whimper with the impact of my strides. 

"I'm sorry," I mumbled into her forehead, tightening my grip on her and pulling her form into me further in an attempt to dull the shocks.