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'' What did he do to you, Amelie?''

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Amelie felt as her fingers stroked over something silky — something she hadn't felt before. Her heart struck her chest lightly, and for the first time in months, she didn't wake up in a panic.

Her elbows against the mattress, and her eyes slowly peeled open.

She froze completely.

Amelie sought to keep her eyes focused on the blonde boy, who was hunched over his desk chair with his head tucked into his palms.

The veiny, large hands were coated in blood. His knuckles were bruised.

She didn't remember much from before the darkness swallowed her, but the look of that — the witnessing of his hands all wounded made her breaths hitch.

Draco flinched, forcing himself off his seat as he stared down at her. He looked shocked. His eyes flicked down to her shoulder, where her shirt had slipped down, and it revealed everything she was meant to hide.

Amelie leaned forward, dragging her knees up to her chest as her breaths shifted heavier by every memory of what happened last night. Draco stepped up to his bed, dropping to his knees next to it.

'' Are you—'' He rose but instantly hushed himself down, his eyes stung into her skin as he carefully watched her.

'' Am I in your room?'' Her tone airy, her vocals weak.

The blonde nodded, his jaws clenched as Amelie dragged the fabric of her shirt back over her shoulder, '' Why am I—''

She nodded as Draco's eyes fled over her, clocking every bruise she held on her arms, and the look he possessed — that heartbreaking, almost sorry look, made her panic.

Amelie jumped off the bed, standing next to the blonde as he blinked quickly by her sudden move.

She felt disgusted, ashamed, mortified that someone else than her had to see the horrible truth carved into her body.

Amelie had never seen much of Draco before. Adrian always kept her to himself, but even if she didn't. She knew that this look on his face, the fallen, beaten, almost terrified look, wasn't him.

Draco Malfoy was a known soon-to-be Death Eater, a heartless beast — not someone who would seem upset over the abuse she lived through.

'' What can I do?'' Draco mumbled with his eyes locked on her.

She couldn't think. Amelie didn't know what she wanted him to do — she didn't even know what she wanted to do herself, but the second her mind started to pound, it reached Adrian.

Her veins iced, and her chest felt heavy by the thought of him. The demon, constantly feeding on her innocent soul.

'' Draco—'' Amelie's voice burst, her mouth dry by the taste of blood, '' May I ask you something?''

His head tilted, making the blonde strands of hair fall over his eyebrows, '' Go ahead.''

'' What did you do? Where is—''

'' What did I do?'' Draco snapped at her, annoyingly, '' What did he do, Avery?''

His cheeks flushed in anger as hers drained in fright.

Amelie gulped. The way he always addressed her by her last name was intimidating.

'' Nothing.'' She lied, feeling the guilt of lying as it drowned her, '' He didn't do anything.''

Draco's grey eyes shifted darker. His fingers frustratingly clenched into fists.

'' Don't.'' He hissed, his voice hoarse.

'' Don't lie to me. I thought I told you that lying isn't your best quality.'' His teeth gritted, '' You don't have to defend him, Avery.''

'' I can go to the headmaster, right now, and I swear to God that I will have that pathetic excuse—''

'' Don't.'' Amelie felt the corner of her eyes shredded in tears, '' You don't know what he'll do. Please, you can't—''

The hurt in the back of her head scored through her senses as her chest caved. The stinging pain made her whimper.

She needed to do what Teddy had taught her.

Breathe in.

Breathe out.

Breathe in.

Breathe out.

Her whole being winced by Draco's cold hand on her back, and it made her stumble as he pulled his touch away.

He noticed that the simple touch he just granted her scared her to death — her spine struck against the wall behind her,

It became quiet.

Draco didn't know what to say — and neither did Amelie. They simply stared at each other as the quietness shredded around them.

'' My apologies. I didn't mean to—'' Draco rose. His jaws clenched.

'' It's alright.'' Amelie hushed, " I should go."

She was terrified that he would hurt her. She was scared to death that he would touch her. She didn't want anyone to feel her.

'' So you're leaving, and I'm simply supposed to forget what I saw?'' Draco's arms crossed over his chest as he stared at her.

'' You don't know what you saw, Draco.'' Her breath held unsteady, '' That wasn't... he didn't mean to do that.''

'' He didn't mean to—'' His tone shifted louder, '' Do you even hear what you're saying right now?''

He sounded frustrated with her lack of understanding.

'' I have to go,'' Amelie said again, and her sight grounded as her skin paled. She felt sick — nauseous.

'' Then go.'' He muttered, bowing his head at her because somewhere in his mind, he understood that she wouldn't give in.

Amelie would never tell him what Adrian did behind closed doors, not because she didn't want to, but because she didn't grasp what he was doing.

She couldn't possibly understand how Adrian, a boy who had promised to love her and who did love her — would do this to her without cause.

Her mind was controlled, formed into what Adrian needed it to be. He had taken advantage of her, and he had been manipulating her for years to believe that what he and she had — was true love.

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Amelie didn't see Adrian for the rest of that night; a few of his friends had found him beaten and hurt in the locker room where she last saw him. He had asked for her while being in the hospital, but Theodore didn't allow it.

He let her stay with her in his room as he kept his wand close. He would never show it to her, but he was scared too.

Adrian had hurt him because he knew that Theodore was Amelie's greatest weakness. Nothing could come between the two and the friendship held between them.

They understood each other, Theodore and Amelie — they always had. Their benevolence for one another was more potent than any bond of magic. Ever since they were kids, they had been connected — tied to each other in a way that couldn't be explained.

Theodore was her anchor, and Amelie was his happiness. She held his heart in her hands, and he held her — they completed each other.

Soulmates aren't just lovers, and he wasn't. He was her everything, and she — well, she was his beyond.

'' He asked me to be there.'' Amelie looked over her best friend, '' When he's given the mark.''

Theodore laid flat on his back, his chest exposed in between the green sheets.

'' Already?'' He asked as his head tipped to watch her, '' Do you know when?''

Her eyes fluttered close as her head felt heavy on his pillow, '' In a month.'' She huffed, feeling her body caving into the mattress.

'' And how do you feel about that?'' Theo shifted in his position, lying on his side next to her.

Amelie didn't quite know how to answer the question he'd asked her because she wasn't sure. The fact that Adrian would eventually turn into a Death Eater was inevitable. He would become a slave to the darkness, and that frightened her, but at the same time, it would grant her freedom — the ease of her worn mind that she didn't possess these days — due to being one of them, the dark side, he had to leave for tasks, or business, as he called it himself.

That meant that he'd leave her behind for months at a time, and nothing had sounded more relieving to her.

'' I'm happy for him. He wants this.'' Amelie's lips stayed parted as if she was going to say something more, but she didn't know what to say.

'' You're too kind for this world, you know.'' He smiled at her, gently placing his hand on her arm, and that seemed to be the only touch she didn't flinch of. He was always so humble to her.

'' So are you, Teddy.'' She smiled back, looking softly at him as he pulled her closer. Amelie turned, the t-shirt he borrowed her hugged around her chest, and his arm wrapped around her shaking figure.

She played with his fingers, intertwining them, before untangling them again as she felt his breaths shifting heavier behind her.

Amelie loved sleeping next to Theodore — it was comforting having him beside her.

The two best friends fell asleep next to each other — his nose buried into her neck and her gripping tightly at the arm he held around her, safe and sound. It was always them.

Just as she slumbered into the sleep she needed so badly — her body coiled at the hushed knocks on his door.

Someone's knuckles hit the wood over and over, at an eager speed, almost as if the person behind it was desperate.

Amelie peered back at Theo, only to see that he didn't notice anything. He was numb into the dreams she believed he had. His eyelids flickered, and his breath unsteady.

Her feet felt cold as she stumbled through the darkness in his room, hesitating a slight second, but the knocks kept coming.

She swallowed the despair before her fingers shakingly winded the metal of the doorknob — her eyes widened.

'' Pansy?'' Amelie breathed out by the beaten look of the girl standing before her, '' What are you doing here?''

Her eyes swollen red, her mouth hung open in disbelief as her thumb wiped a drop of blood off of it,

'' Can I—'' Pansy's eyes glinted in tears, and Amelie shoved the door open for the girl to step inside.

The sob clearing her throat made Theodore, who still rested in his bed to jolt up.

'' What is going on—'' He scratched the back of his head before he clocked the two girls in his doorway, '' Pansy?''

The girl bit down onto her blood-drenched lip as Amelie's eyes dragged over her. She looked worn. Her clothes were ripped into shreds — her face ghastly.

'' Amelie—'' Pansy whimpered, her hands grasped around her stomach, '' I need your help.''

Amelie nodded, swinging back to shut the door closed before she turned on the lamp on Theo's dresser, and as the selfless girl Amelie lived to be,

'' Anything.'' She said as her bones caved at the broken girl.

'' Amelie, I'm pregnant.''

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