This chapter contains mentions of self-harm. Please read with caution.

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'' The cabin.''

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Draco Malfoy.

Day 10.

I feel lost, but at the same time happy, does that even make sense?

It's as if I am lost in my happiness like I can't tell the difference between when I should be sad and when I should be happy.

Or even mad.

I think I should be mad. That's the reasonable thing to be.

To be mad.

But I can't be mad. I don't want to.

I just want to hold him. I wish to save and heal him.

I remember the night he showed me his scars like it was yesterday. That's the first time he had been vulnerable with me. The first time he let me see something human inside him.

I should be happy that he has come so far, that he keeps showing me his true self.

But why can't I stop crying?

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Draco let out a shaky breath as he thought of that night.

He had forgotten about that. That he once exposed himself to her, only to save her from hurting herself.

Flashback to that night.

She felt a wave of doubt lingering as Draco's face turned completely cold. " Why would you do that for me? Why would you help me? You don't even know—"

" What?" He snapped again, hewing her off as he strode closer. " What don't I know?" He rose a brow as Amelie pushed herself off the ground in a try to stand on her weak limbs.

He shook his head, huffing annoyingly, " Do you think that you're the only one who has someone that lectures you, Avery?"

" Don't you think I know how it feels when the cigar burns through your skin?" Pearly eyes still tore through hers, '' How you scream within when it's forced further because you don't dare to open your mouth.''

He had been through this.

" How every punch, every slap, every forbidden spell hurts a little less over time," She swallowed, staring back at him as he kept going.

" Don't you think I know that?" He threatened with his teeth gritted, " But I learned how to manage the pain, and so should you because this won't stop until you make it stop,"

Draco stood close, usually too close for comfort; as she searched his eyes, the honesty ripped through them like the wind at a mighty sea.

He was broken,

He fated the same variety as she did.

And she didn't know because, just like her — he kept it hidden inside.

" You have to make it stop, Avery. " He nearly shouted, and a dark chuckle escaped his throat, " Or you'll end up like this. "

Draco caught a step back, and without hesitation — he started to slowly unbutton his shirt.

Her eyes grew broad with each button. Her breaths missed as she stared at the marks fixed in his skin. The pale porcelain surface was ruptured by faded scars all over.

Cuts of knives.

Bruises of belts.

Burns of cigars.

All faded into a beautiful mess over his light skin.

She felt her eyes as they began to prickle in tears and the lump stuck in her throat increased, " Draco..." She stammered, struggling to glace away, to not stare at the truth standing before her, but she couldn't.

He knew pain.

He knew her pain.

And she knew his.

" You see, Avery—" He cleared his throat, " You're not the only one."

Draco buttoned his shirt back up before straightening his jacket, " I don't know how Adrian treats you, but this—" He seethed, tilting his head against her trembling self.

'' This is not the answer. Trust me.''

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He swallowed the mass blocking his airways. He couldn't think about this anymore. He couldn't let his weighty heart give in to his heavy mind.

She clouded everything for him at this point, and he needed to keep going.

His fingers fiddled with the pages, turning to a new one as his veins flushed in pain — there wasn't a day 11.

Draco stared out over the empty room, trying to remember what could've happened the night she decided not to write,

And when it came to mind that it was the night he had kissed her — his eyes shut close, his breaths hitched as another wave of tears burned in the corner of his eyes.

He placed the truth of that he never told her what his favorite book was. She asked him, and he refused to tell her — why was he so incredibly stubborn?

Why didn't he just tell her?

His head shook again, his hands clenched around the spine of the book,

Flashback to that night.

'' Did you find what you were looking for?'' Draco muttered as Amelie shot him a kind stare, studying him as his elbow placed on the armrest, his chin rested in the palm of his hand,

'' I did,'' She gently dropped down next to him with the book glued to her hand, '' Can I read you something?''

Draco looked shocked, almost agonized as he slightly nodded, ''Certainly,''

Amelie doubted herself at first, not knowing if she held the bravery to do what she wanted to do, to let her head fall onto his lap, just like Theodore always rested his head on hers.

Her eyes shut closed. Her breath hitched as a grimace shredded her features. Her head felt heavy on his thighs, feeling how his entire body tensed at her doings,

She dragged her knees up to the backrest of the furniture as she shifted around, looking up at him from below,

'' Is this alright?'' Amelie hushed, making his brows furrowed, his hands nervously fiddling with his rings,

'' Hm,'' He hummed, biting his own tongue from ruining this moment.

She sucked a harsh breath in, raising the book over her chest as she searched to find the page she needed,

'' Here—'' She called out, '' Okay, are you ready?''

'' What greater punishment is there than life when you've lost everything that made it worth living?''

Draco froze completely as she peered up at him, his teeth clasped, his nostrils flaring.

He didn't know what to say or what to do — she made him nervous with the quote she just read to him,

'' Have you ever felt that way for anyone, Draco?'' She asked, lowering the book to let it rest on her chest,

'' No,'' He spoke, severely, '' I don't get those type of feelings,''

She jolted up from her laying position, her legs over his as he cringed at the sudden move, '' What? Are you telling me that you have never been in love?''

Amelie's face sunk in question as her nerves ached at the look of his numb eyes — he hadn't.

He had never been in love. He had never cared for another person in the way you always dreamed of doing — he was alone, lonely in his misery.

'' No,''

Her head tilted as she sought to read the cold, mysterious boy in front of her, '' Have you ever cared for anyone?''

''No,''

''Do you want to care for someone?''

Her pushing made him snap his head to level hers, his heart pounded hard within, '' No,''

She felt the twisting feeling inside. The sinking sensation wavered her as his lips parted again — but not a word fled them.

The tension thickened as he leaned closer to her. His cold hand put pressure on her lower back, almost urging her to move forward, and she did.

She pushed herself onto him until she was straddling him on the sofa.

''But I do,'' Draco breathed out, his nose brushed against hers, and that made her breaths flutter, the kind, gentle heart she possessed hammered out of control in her chest.

'' I do care for someone,''

The corner of her mouth twitched as her hands moved slowly over his arms before she tangled her fingers together behind his neck,

The tips of her fingers played with the soft strands of his hair, '' You do?''

He looked at her — in a way no one had ever looked at her before, it was as if he could see all of her as if he wished to see more,

Draco's arms clung tighter around her as he pulled her just an inch closer, '' I do.''

And without another thought shared between the two broken souls they tended to be,

Amelie's lips collided with his.

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It stung in his chest — his lips ached at the missing of her sweet, soft taste against them.

How could it hurt so much? How could she make him break so much just out of the thought of her memory?

Draco peeled his eyes open, once again staring down at the pages she had written so beautifully,

Day 12.

I did it again yesterday and again and again.

Draco hasn't been here for days, just like the last time he got mad at me, but I believe he left home altogether this time. I couldn't hear his screams in the early morning or his steps hovering outside at dusk,

He simply left, and I was all to blame.

Narcissa kindly took after his act to bring me meals and new books to read, she even asked me if I wanted to join her for dinner downstairs last night, and I did.

I believe that she's lonely, that the absence of her husband and the continuance of Draco needing to serve the dark lord leaves her behind, nearly forgotten,

I enjoy her very much. She has always been so kind to me, even before all of this happened before Draco brought me here.

She told me more about him. She filled in some of the blank spots of knowing when it comes to him, her blonde-haired son.

But even if she tried to open up as much as she knew how it wasn't enough.

I know it will never be enough, and I know that I may never know him in the way I wish to do, but for now, it has to do.

If anything, I know how hard it is to let someone in, to let someone have a piece of you, to allow another soul to search yours, and I let him,

I did.

And now, I just hope that he will let me in as I let him in.

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He would. He would do anything if it meant that she never harmed herself in any way — ever again.

Even if it meant that he would have to let her within the hardened cages of his feelings, even if he would have to be honest to her about himself — he would,

Draco felt a burning urge whip throughout him as he stared down at his hands, where the book was placed, and there was just one day left,

One day of words remained, and if those letters couldn't tell him where she was — he would lose his mind completely.

Draco was almost scared, what if she never wrote anything — what if he would never find her again, and all of this would've gone to waste,

Because she was everywhere, except right here with him.

Day 13.

Today I'm happy, and I don't know why.

I just feel like things might be alright after all. That some things might turn for the better for me.

I miss Teddy more than ever today.

I was sitting on the ledge to my window earlier, with the glass slightly cracked open, and I felt the wind, and somewhere, it just felt as if he was here with me.

It reminded me of the times we used to sneak out of that little cabin.

In the early mornings, we used to run out of the house and sprint our way down to the lake without anyone knowing.

I miss those times. I miss the cabin. I miss Teddy. I miss his father and my mother. I miss it all,

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His head shot up. His grey eyes narrowed at the door in front of him as his mind spun,

The cabin.

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