Of Doves and Dragons

Chapter Thirty-two: Alone Together

"I don't know where you're going, but do you have room for one more troubled soul?"

-Fall Out Boy, Alone Together

They managed to get a few hours of sleep between them before rising from the bed and dressing in their best walking outfits. It had been debated whether they should try apparating from their room or try to sneak out the mansion and apparate near the lake. They agreed that even though the bang of disapparating might alert someone to their departure, it was safer than trying to sneak through the house and being caught before they had even had the chance to fly.

With the backpack slung over Draco's shoulder's and his wand gripped tightly in his hand, he laid his left arm in Ember's waiting hands.

She studied the dark mark, hoping beyond hope that she hadn't fooled herself into believing that she could heal this irreversible blemish. Her index finger traced over the curved lines once before squeezing his wrist and his elbow. She focused intently on the mark, singularly concentrating on the depth of the black lines. It happened gradually instead of all at once. Blue suddenly seeped from her fingers and into his skin, wrapping entirely around his arm with a violent chill until it met the mark and embraced it. The lines of the brand grew warm until it blazed against his skin, causing him to hiss, before becoming blindly illuminated in a white glow.

Then it was gone. As if it never happened.

She smiled brightly, proudly, up at him but didn't waste a moment before beginning the same process on her own. It took much longer than his had, the wrinkles of her disfigured brand refusing the blinding white glow. She didn't give up and slowly the mark embraced the resistance and grew dimmer and dimmer until it too was gone.

Draco smirked, only slightly amazed that she had actually been able to do it. Not knowing what repercussions this might have caused on Voldemort's side of the mark, they hastily took a deep breath and prepared to leave.

So, with one last glance at his childhood home, Draco took a terrified gulp and grabbed Ember's hand in his. She squeezed it tight, revealing her own fears or trying to comfort his, was unclear. He gave her a sideways glance before nodding and turning on the spot, leaving nothing but a thunderous bang, and the shattering of their chains, behind them.

~

The walk along the rickety cobblestones is a quiet one. It was still early enough that there was scarcely anyone about the streets of Diagon Alley. Only a few wizards were around hoping to beat the conglomerate of bodies in their commute to work. But even then, no one took notice of the couple that leisurely made their way towards the large leaning grey bank.

They hadn't needed to say any words, holding hands was enough. Both of them were in a decent amount of shock; that they had actually managed to escape without a cloaked figure apprehending them and had the guts to abandon everything they had ever had. Not that it was much in retrospect, Draco thought, no longer disillusioned to the careful manipulation he had been placed under his entire life. No, he thought, whatever they left behind will be nothing compared to their future.

When they were just a block away from Gringotts, Draco paused on a corner; away from the odd passerby's stares. "I'll need to go in alone. It will be less suspicious that way." He told her, staring at the bank and thinking that everything should be fine. He was of age, there was no real reason for them to refuse him. Still, goblins were goblins and even more paranoid than he was.

She stared up at him with eyes that betrayed her calm exterior. She understood that, yes, logically the general public still didn't know who she was and that goblins were notoriously skeptical creatures. She understood that it was best for Draco to go in by himself. But none of these logics settled the fear that suddenly took her heart.