This chapter contains violent actions, abuse and emotional trauma. Please read with caution.

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'' I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you.''

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Amelie Avery.

Three months.

'' Stop, Adrian!'' She screamed. Her lungs burnt out of exhaustion. Her throat hurt, '' Stop, please!''

Three long months.

'' I can't take it anymore.'' Her tears fell as her lips shifted in purple shades — she couldn't breathe, '' Adrian, I can't—''

Three months of pure torture and pain. 

Her eyes rolled to the back of her head, and she could feel how her soul merely left her body for a second.

He was strangling her again. Hurting her in ways he knew would traumatize her to a point where she could never live freely.

Adrian wished to mark her, to wound her, and to scar her in all ways possible. New scars as old ones. He wanted her to suffer — to hurt beyond reason.

He wanted her to feel as if she was dying only to be the one who brought her back to life, and then — he craved to do it all over again.

He wished to drown her with all of his cruel and sinful powers, and then he wanted to bring her back up, to save her from going under — only to push her down again.

That was his vengeance for all the months he'd spent, locked up underneath the Malfoy Manor. For every act of torture, Draco had brought upon him.

Adrian was punishing her because he understood that it would cause the boy she loved, far more hurt if Amelie was the one paying for Draco's actions.

Amelie knew this because he'd never let her forget. Adrian said it to her, all day, every day. Not once did he allow her to misplace that she was only being tortured, beaten, suffocated, burned, starved, violated, abused, and hurt — because of Draco.

It felt to her as if Adrian tried to plaster it into her head. Manipulate her to think and believe that Draco was the one to blame.

That this was his fault.

That Malfoy had hurt Adrian so severely that he had to seek his revenge on Amelie, and as the days shifted into weeks and the weeks blurred into months — she slowly, nearly unconsciously started to believe him.

That Draco is the reason, she's hurting so intensely.

At least, that was what Adrian thought — she made sure of that.

Amelie played along with his games, and to him, it looked as if she caved into his wicked mind, but she didn't — no. 

Amelie had been locked up in magic chains for months, and she could barely call herself human anymore. She didn't understand how much time had actually passed since Adrian shoved her in here and locked the door behind him.

One day, not too long ago, when he let her out to shower, she saw through the small crack of the bathroom window how the snow had faded and how the leaves upon the crowns of the trees — was slowly shifting into a green shade.

She understood that it was on the utter horizon of spring, but she couldn't quite be sure.

Adrian only allowed her to go out of her room once a day, and he guarded her like a hawk when he did.

The first weeks, he didn't let her take a step outside the four walls of the room she was being held in. He brought her food and everything she'd needed to stay alive — but not more than that.

When he left the room or even the house — he locked her in, and he cursed it with magic so that if anyone came looking for her, they wouldn't be able to see her, nevertheless hear her.

He was hiding her in plain sight, and one night — she was almost found.

Amelie barely remembers it because, at the beginning of being here, Adrian beat her senseless.

She wasn't capable of placing things that happened so early on, but she could, in vague, small, nearly tiny ways, remember Draco and how he opened the door to her room.

It must have been months ago now. She couldn't be sure — nothing was certain to her anymore, but she could still recall how Draco opened her door, and he shouted her name, but she couldn't move.

Amelie was too wounded even to say something back to him, so she watched as his eyes flickered through the room he believed to be empty, and then he walked away.

She had to see that.

She had to see as his skin paled, and his shoulder had sunken. He was here, not knowing that she was here too because she was hidden underneath the mantle of Adrian's magic.

It broke her heart, and that's why she fought so hard to believe it to be a dream because it hurt even more when she thought it to be true.

He really was here, and he stared right at her bruised body while calling her name. He just didn't know that he did.

She was invisible, and she cried in the dim reality of her worn mind.

Amelie knew that she could never tell Draco about that; if he ever came back for her because it would break him. Knowing that he was here, even in the same room as her while she struggled to breathe all those months ago — and he didn't realize that she was there.

'' Get up!'' Adrian shouted, making her flinch out of her thoughts as her spine was dragged across the floor, '' I said, get up!''

Amelie tried to inhale, but it was almost impossible by the stinging feeling in her lungs.

It hurt so much to breathe.

The room was dark, and the lights flickered as he gripped her by her throat, and he threw her on the bed — usually, when he did that — he tied her wrists and ankles to the bed frame, and he poured ice-cold water all over her body, followed by steaming hot water.

All to make her scream and for her skin to rupture.

Later, when she calmed down and her surface cooled — he wished to violate her. He understood that Draco and Amelie had done things, been intimate with one another, and he sought to take everything Draco gave her, away.

He wanted to ruin her body for both her and Draco, but he couldn't. Adrian couldn't even look at her in that way after knowing that she'd been with Malfoy.

He despised that about her — that she gave herself to the blond in all the ways that she did.

Instead, he beat her more brutally.

Adrian tried to break her.

Still, she did everything she could to shut it all out, to think about Draco and Teddy. To not think about the sinful hands that continually touched her body.

He indeed tortured her, more than he'd ever done before, but she was stronger now. Amelie knew that she was, in fact, loved, cherished, and she was worth it.

Adrian could never take that away from her.

'' I fucking hate you,'' He spat at her before his palm struck her cheek, and he left her in that cold room, with her clothes soaked.

Amelie's jaws clenched as she shook.

Her entire body trembled, and with multiple yanks of both her arms and legs, the ropes started to loosen slowly as she slipped out of the coarse hold he'd kept her in.

Her mind and her thoughts always snapped to the girl who lost her life the night Amelie was taken away. She couldn't, no matter how hard she tried — get Pansy and her unborn child out of her head.

Somewhere, she still hoped with everything she had that Teddy and his greatness within healing would've saved them. That he was capable of at least rescue one of them, but she wasn't foolish — it was all wishes. No human with magic or without could survive what Pansy had to go through.

Pansy and Aimee were dead, and Amelie blamed herself for it.

If they would've left sooner, she and Hermione — if they didn't stay for Christmas, they would've been fine. Nothing similar to what happened could've occurred if they did.

But Pansy wanted to stay for Amelie, and now — in Amelie's head, she was to blame for her death.

Her skin sored, and her boned caved within, but this was nothing — nothing compared to the pain her heart felt.

She had, since the day Adrian brought her here, and since the day she could swear she saw Draco — kept that little diary she bought them, completely out of sight.

It was a crack, in the corner of the room, underneath her bed, where the wood had shifted, and she could hide it, underneath a floorboard, so that whenever it turned too heavy, and her life seemed to be blankly pointless, she took it out.

When she believed that the easier way out was to simply end her own life and take her most ruthless nightmare with her into the unknown — she read it, reminding herself that they were waiting for her.

That she had something, someone to come home to.

Tears streamed down her cheeks as she watched Draco's writing in it. She could feel what he felt. He was miserable, more than it.

He was numb, senseless — just like she was.

He was hurting, more than she'd ever sensed him hurt before. Amelie had studied his mind, and she knew what pain was to Malfoy. She understood all his deepest and darkest thoughts, but this, what he had to live through right now,

It was more torture than she'd seen anyone go through.

Her eyes flickered as she slid down along the wall, and she dragged her knees up to her chest. Hugging herself and she opened it.

It hurt.

It hurt more than any type of abuse ever could because she didn't get to say goodbye. She didn't get to kiss him again and to tangle her fingers into the blond strands of his hair. She didn't get to feel his scent and to breathe all that safety in.

He loved it when she did that, but she couldn't remember how he smelled like.

She couldn't remember how it felt when they last kissed each other.

She couldn't feel his hands upon her skin anymore.

All Amelie could do was watch as he wrote and as it entirely shattered him.

I love you.

''I love you more,'' She whispered to herself, nearly inaudible.

That was what she could do because she didn't have anything to write back with. Amelie tried to scratch her nails against the pages, but nothing.

I love you.

'' I love you more.''

I love you.

'' I love you so much more.''

I love you.

'' I love you, Draco.''

It was as if she said it so that he could hear it. She needed to say it out loud as the ink — his words magically appeared in her diary.

I will find you.

'' I know you will,'' Amelie whispered again.

Her lower lip quivered.

I love you, and I will find you.

I promise.

'' I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you.'' Amelie squeezed her eyes shut out of the ache she was feeling.

You are mine.

You are mine.

You are mine.

'' I'm yours, and you're mine.''

Her heart missed a beat.

Even if he wrote the same things every day, she read them. In precise order, just like all the days before — still, it struck her, like a flash of pure lightening every time.

She felt as if he was dying without her, and she was drowning without him too. Her eyes fell upon the pages in path with the tears rolling down her cheeks.

Mine.

Mine.

Mine.

Mine.

'' I'm yours. I'm yours. I'm yours. I'm yours.'' She nearly sobbed out, and the longing for the blond ripped her apart.

All she wanted was to be with him, to be with Draco, to feel safe again.

I love you, Amelie.

My Amelie.

'' My Draco,'' She couldn't control it anymore. Her tiny sobs leveled in a loud cry.

I love you, and I will find you.

Mine.

I'm yours, and you are mine.

I promise.

'' I love you.''

Her tears drenched the paper, and it held crinkly.

Amelie missed him so much that it started to get to her, and she missed Teddy too.

Her Teddy. Her best friend, and the one who always saved her.

She couldn't possibly imagine how he was feeling through all of this. Even if Amelie knew that he would never say it out loud — he blamed himself so greatly.

Teddy always did, blame himself.

She slammed the book shut quickly the instant she caught the slight vibration going through the wooden floor.

Amelie had been locked up in the same room, and she learned how to feel it all in the darkness.

She could hear the tiny clinking as the door rocked, invisibly against the doorframe, and it usually meant that Adrian had walked up the stairs and that he was storming through the hallway.

He was coming back.

She mastered catching onto the little things, and it saved her from a lot of trouble.

'' What are you doing?'' Adrian growled, ripping the door wide open, '' I heard... noises.''

Amelie made it back to bed just in time; with the wind stuck in her throat — she nearly choked on her own words, '' I was just—''

The green eyes scanned her, trying to figure out what she was up to before his gaze studied the room, and he frowned — it looked to her as if he was deciding what to do with her this time.

'' Adrian, please—'' Her throat hurt, and her mouth sored by the taste of her own blood. It hadn't even been an hour since he was last in here, '' I wasn't doing anything. I promise—''

''Muffliato.'' He hissed, loudly and her veins iced.

Adrian never grew tired of hurting her. He could spend whole days tormenting her beyond despair.

She knew that without that spell, the neighbors would hear her heartbreaking scream, and without that magic — everyone would hear her from miles away.

Not that she even sought to shout anymore. It was to no use.

No one was coming for her either way.

'' Next week,'' He said, and his face twisted in pure evil, '' I know I said it would be too kind to take your memories of Malfoy away...''

Adrian's eyes bored through her as shivers fled down her spine, and she prepared for the pain. She distanced herself from reality — it made it easier.

'' But I think it's the best thing to do because they are not fucking quitting it.'' Adrian was shouting, taking dangerous steps up to her.

His fists curling.

'' Malfoy just keeps going after every single Death Eater he can find, and the Dark Lord is growing impatient with him.''

Adrian had threatened her for months to erase every trace of Draco from her memory, yet he had failed to do so. He believed it to be too kind for her to forget about the blond boy who stole her heart and made it his.

Amelie's mind clocked back to being as she trapped Draco's name, '' What?'' She said in a whisper. Her face fell into a cloak of confusion, '' What did he—''

His balled hand struck her jaw, and it caused her down into the mattress, breathless.

'' This is your fucking fault. Yours and his,'' Adrian yelled as he climbed on top of her, one knee on each side of her body, '' And to what cause?'' His hands wrapped around her throat again.

Her skin hurt, and her face blasted in pain.

'' You're not worth any of the lost lives, even a useless Death Eater weights more than you do—'' He put pressure upon the grip, and he started choking her, '' I wish that Voldemort decides to kill him.''

Amelie didn't have time to space herself, and stars rose to prickle in her eyes along with the hot, burning tears rolling down her chin.

Her hands grasped at his, and she couldn't breathe again.

'' But either way—'' Adrian grinned, enjoying the look of her fighting for her life, '' I'm taking him away from you.''

The thought of it made her panic, and the anxiety of not having the memory of Draco with her came overwhelmingly.

Amelie needed to remember him.

It was all she seemed to have — everything she could hold onto, all that made her human.

'' But for now, let's play a little game—'' Adrian dragged a knife out of his pocket, and he held it against her cheek, '' And feel free to scream all you want, darling.'' He chuckled darkly.

'' No one can hear you anyway.''

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