The Broken Blonde

Chapter Seventy- Eight

I sat by the fire shivering trying to warm up before Draco dragged me along to another one of his many pitstops, I was able to clean the wound on my neck in the river ripping up a small piece of silk from my dress to pat it dry. Though as I emerged from the water, I looked down noticing some imprints left on my wrist, I paused for a moment bringing my hand closer to my face to inspect them, they looked to be marks left by nails. They were deep set and sunken and looked to be bruising, as I trailed my finger over them loud screams billowed through my eardrums as clear as day, I jolted covering my ears with my hands as I scanned the forest looking for where they may be coming from.

I soon realised that the screams weren't coming from the forest at all but they were coming from my head, they sounded familiar, as if I've heard them once on repeat. As I glanced back down at the marks memories of last night came flooding back, the marks weren't another form of torture from Bellatrix, they were made by my own doing. I forced myself to endured the pain knowing that I wasn't the one going through it voluntarily, they were Hermiones. The longer I stared at them they began to change, morphed into what looked to be letters spelling out the word 'mudblood', my heart sank when the realisation of what I had done kicked in.

My eyes began to water the more I looked at it now recognising it to resemble that of Hermiones forearm, I blinked not able to keep my eyes open for that long but found that it was gone and what was left was her trauma sunken deep into me. She wasn't the only one leaving with a constant reminder of what happened that night. I must have blocked out the memories knowing I wouldn't be able to fathom them, something came over me that I never thought I was capable of and I chose to forget it.

So, there I sat on the log, the fire no longer crackled but screamed mimicking that of Hermiones perfectly. My leg trembled bouncing off the floor my arms wrapped tightly around my stomach hunched over the fire staring into my arm. Draco obviously saw my wrist but didnt think to question it, I guess he just thought the same as me and didn't want to bring it up knowing I most likely wouldn't remember but god I wish he would have pointed it out earlier.

"Come, we haven't any time to waste" Draco's voice startled me, my head shot in his direction looking up at him, he was stood leant against a tree arms crossed as he peered down at me. I widened my eyes to try and wake myself up and nodded standing up still in a daze not saying a word, he clearly noticed my odd behaviour but didn't bother questioning me about it, after all he was just happy I wasn't causing a fuss I suppose.

I followed him up winding through the trees a few feet behind vibrating uncontrollably from how cold I was, I mean the only thing I had on was a small black slip dress trending barefoot in the middle of the forest in March, I was surprised I hadn't developed hypothermia by now. Both my hands and feet were numb not able to feel my fingers brushing against my arms in a desperate attempt to warm me up, the cold was now impossible to bare paining me more then the gash in my neck did, so I came to a halt.

"Draco please, Im freezing can we start a fire or something?" I asked timidly my bottom lip trembling as the icy air brushed against it, I was hesitant to say anything presuming we'd have apparated by now but here we are almost an hour later still fumbling our way through the forest. I looked down at my feet that were a stark shade of white with small cuts scattered all over them from the branches I trampled on, I rubbed my hands together blowing my hot breath inside them trying to give him the hint that I couldn't go on for much longer.

"Not now" He said bluntly not stopping once, he didn't even turn around to look at me he just carried on with his fast pace pushing past all the branches. I was a little taken back at first thinking I was overreacting but after I stood there for a moment I knew that this time was a step too far, if he had the decency to tend to my wounds and lay with me when I was hurt last night what's stopping him from doing that now.

"I'm in a tiny dress for fucks sake, I don't even have shoes" I yelled my voice echoing through the forest, I sped up trying to catch up with him who was now a fair few meter ahead of me, my wet hair hitting my back as I did so make me tense up at the touch.

"Shouldn't have worn a dress then" His bitter tone irritated me even more then he probably intended it to, at this point I was running shoving my way through branches almost tripping up on fallen trees.

"Oh my bad, if I knew you was going to apparate into the middle of nowhere I would have worn something a little warmer" He ignored me, but I managed to catch up to him now just a few feet behind, I only grew more agitated as I watched him take no notice of my complaints, shoving them off as another temper tantrum. I honestly wouldn't have bothered as much if he hadn't have shown that he at least cared for me in the slightest this morning otherwise he would have let me bleed out and just saved himself so the fact he's acting as if he's oblivious to my state now frustrated me even more.

"Where are you even taking me?" I shouted getting distracted by the huge twig I just stepped on making me jolt up but as I looked up to see how far behind I was now my nose was basically brushing Draco's who was up close to my face, I pulled back noticing how pissed he looked stumbling on a log as I reached a tree.

"Now is not the time to be moaning Ceradwin, I'll give you a reason too if you don't shut the fuck up" His witty words only made me want to piss him off more, after all he was standing smugly in a full suite when I may as well had been wearing a nightgown. I smiled sarcastically rolling my eyes as I looked down at his black dress shoes that were now scuffed and covered in mud."Must be nice having on a suite" I muttered in a sulk as I crossed my arms turning away from him, at this point I was ready to sit down and make a fire myself, I was sick of constantly relying on him.

"Would you prefer to be walking around naked? Honestly you need to get a grip of yourself instead of whining to me all the time" He tugged on the strap holding up my dress as he scolded me making his point very clear, I grabbed it just as he yanked it down off my shoulder and looked away from his snarky expression. He spun back around taking off his blazer in a huff tossing it over his head towards me, I smiled knowing that he'd give in eventually even if it took him a few narky comments before doing so.

We reached a small opening in the middle of the forest and he came to a sudden halt scanning around him before looking at me, I was once again looking down distracted by the small creatures that ran through the logs and across the stones. It was only when I bumped into him I realised he stopped, he looked down at me still frowning probably holding a grudge from before. I sighed presuming he was back to his normal self, his normal self being him constantly mad at me majority of the time but not having a specific reason why.

"Well? What now?" I sneered as I glanced around the forest confused to why we've stopped, he didn't say anything instead grabbed my wrist tight pulling me in close closing his eyes. I was used to the feeling by now, I've apparated a few times so I've grown to be immune to the sickly feeling you get in the pit of your stomach.

As I opened my eyes, we were stood in the centre of Diagon Alley, but the entire place felt off, it was completely deserted not a wizard or witch in sight, every shop was ransacked drained of every little thing that was sold inside. Signposts were on the verge of falling, the glass windows were shattered, and bits and pieces of items were scattered on the floor, I recognised a few of them from being books to advanced magic to Burtie Botts every flavoured beans.

The whole scene was depressing, I was used to seeing Diagon Alley bustling with people from all over all eager to nose around every shop but now it looked that we were the only people there.