CHAPTER TEN
❝sectumsempra❞

⋆

PHYSICAL PAIN NEVER STAYED. The scars would fade and the wounds would heal, the person would get right back up and go back to whatever hurt them. Children who scrapped their knees skateboarding would stand up, clean themselves, and go back to the thing that had hurt them. A never-ending cycle that continued into teenage years and adulthood. Bruises would go away, you can learn to forgive and forget. It's only a temporary pain, nothing permanent.

Psychological pain is the one that never leaves; that's the one that manipulates the brain and causes a pain that will never end, a prison with escape. People are less likely to forget that, though they could still be conditioned to forgive and forget.

The dark girl looked out the window. The trees were swaying, so careless in their movements, so free and fun – wild and young forever – whereas she felt herself growing so terribly old with every move. She was not careless, she couldn't afford to be, so she envied the trees before her.

There was never a time in her life that she behaved like the trees. The swings on the playgrounds weren't fun, weren't a sense of flying for her, they were where she went to cry and hide from her home. The laughter of other children was not shared by her. Always the outcast, always the freak amongst them. She was the wailing children, she was the sad ghost, the girl who didn't quite look like the rest of them. So they never approached her, never asked her why she had so many tears streaming down her face, only stared at her and called her names, but never venturing to laugh in her face.

Now her teenage years were stolen from her as well. Given away would be more accurate. She had traded them for some future power and potential, a legacy for herself, and now she found herself regretting the promises she had made. This was not a legacy she wanted; this was a legacy she wanted to forget about. Yet, it was too late to burn back. She could only go forward and not speak of her legacy, not speak of the disgrace she had presented herself with, and accept it with a brave face.

She didn't want to look down at her tea leaves, didn't want to see if they had prophesized her life as a murderer or one of the guilty party. And the person before dared not to reach for her cup and tell her the future she had forced upon herself; her partner didn't talk to her at all, not that she minded. They were not friends and the person didn't want to even give her acquaintanceship. Not that she would take it, anyway.

"Did you hear that Draco Malfoy is in the hospital wing?" a girl near her whispered.

Rosalie frowned, though small as to not make it seem like she was upset or had heard what they were saying. Still, she turned her head slightly to hear the girls' words better.

"Really?" the other one whispered back, "What happened?"

"I heard that he was attacked by another student, but I haven't been able to get anything else," the first girl told her friend.

"It happened in the boys' bathroom," another voice broke in, "I saw Harry Potter leaving the bathroom before Malfoy was found. I think that he did it."

"Of course he would. That makes so much sense. Potter is so hot-headed. Like, one insult and he's hexing you and no one riles him up more than Malfoy," one of the girls whispered back.

Rosalie leaned back in her seat a little, mind assessing what they had said. It was true that Draco hadn't showed up to the Room of Requirement last night and hadn't told her about it before, but she had just assumed that he was too busy with schoolwork and couldn't find her during the day. Never once had it crossed her mind that he could've been hurt.

And the boy's story would make sense, as the other girl had agreed to. Harry was always so suspicious of Draco so it would make sense for him to attack, but what had brought it on? What had happened in the bathroom that had caused Harry to actually hex him?

After class she had to go find Draco and ask him before she did something so incredibly stupid (and cover-breaking) like hex Harry Potter continuously until the boy was near death for hurting her...friend. Yes, friend. Draco was surely her friend, they were close and he knew her greatest secret. Of course they were friends.

They helped each other, they held each other and whenever one of them broke down, the other put them back together. Because that's what friends did, and if she refrained from blushing whenever he rolled up his sleeves...it was just a friend appreciating the other.

°°°

ROSALIE WOULD have to admit that she had only been to the hospital wing two other times in her six years at Hogwarts. The first took place in her second year when she had been on the end side of a hex meant for someone else. It had made her practically spineless and she had to stay overnight. The second time was when she had gotten sick, the flu had been going around, and she had to stay in a secluded area for days. It was horrible.

But this third time had to be the worst. While it wasn't her in pain, it wasn't her needing to go there to treat herself, it was her going there to see a friend who was in pain. A friend who had been cursed or hexed, hurt by another student, and she didn't know what spell was used or how it was affecting him.

When she arrived, Madame Pomphrey was nowhere to be seen, which was good for her as she did not want to waste time by giving a lie as to why she was there. She looked around the facility until she found the blond boy lying in bed staring at the ceiling.

"Draco?" she asked him, though quietly as she found her way to sitting in the chair beside him. His eyes widened in surprise as she sat down.

"Rosalie, what are you doing here?" he asked her, looking around to see if there was anyone else around but she rolled her eyes.

"The hospital wing is empty, don't worry. But I don't know where Madame Pomphrey is so I can't stay here long," Rosalie assured him, "And I heard that you were attacked in Divination, of course I had to see you."

"You have to understand why I didn't tell you about this," Draco began and she nodded.

"Of course I do. It's too dangerous, but you're my friend. Above anything else, you're my friend so obviously I'm here for you. And besides, I'm curious as to what happened."

Draco went silent for a moment at that, looking away from her and to the curtain on the other side. "Katie Bell's been cured," he told her and she felt her heart plummet.

"Isn't that good news?" she asked him, seeing as her being cured and walking again meant that he wasn't a murderer or life ruiner.

"It is," he agreed, looking back at her, "But, well, when I saw her...I couldn't take it. She lost months because of me. So, well, I ran and Potter saw me."

He said his name as if it were a curse, so bitter and raw that she knew what the boy from Divination had said was true; Harry Potter had attacked him.

"I went into the bathroom and I was just...I was looking at myself and I was crying, there was water and then I saw him from the mirror. I turned back to shot a spell at him but he got me first and I went down. I don't, I don't really know what happened, I had never heard of the spell before," Draco recounted for her.

Rosalie frowned, "What did the spell sound like?"

"Secta-Sectumsempra, I think. It was weird, but then there were all these cuts on my body and I was just bleeding everywhere and there was so much water flooding around me. I was just breathing for air when I saw Professor Snape standing over me," Draco continued.

"Is Potter being punished for this? I mean, he attacked another student!" Rosalie cried, thinking of the supposed savior of the wizarding world. How could Dumbledore build Harry up so high and yet Harry attacked another student who hadn't done anything wrong? Well, shooting a spell at him would be wrong, but this...this wasn't just a simple spell to knock someone out or knock the wand out of the opponent's hand. This was like Crucio; this one was meant to hurt the other person.

"Snape has him in detention, but there's no other charges," Draco told her, "He came in earlier to tell me everything."

"Dumbledore isn't getting involved?" Rosalie asked him and Draco shook his head.

"Not that I know of, but I doubt his precious Potter will be anything worse than the detention," Draco finished off.

Rosalie couldn't argue with him. Harry was Dumbledore's golden child; his ticket to ending the war. He would do nothing to jeopardize that or anger the boy in an unrepairable way, and siding with Draco (because Harry was in the wrong and should be punished for this) would definitely make Harry think differently about the headmaster. Dumbledore couldn't have that, so nothing would happen. Draco would be hurt and all Harry would be getting was a few detentions, which was practically nothing.

It wasn't fair, but it was never fair for them. Rosalie was the tricked girl, clouded with glory in her brain that would never come true for the ways she had imagined, and Draco was the forced boy. He had no choice in choosing this, and she had chosen for the wrong reasons. It was never fair for them.