"You've served your time, Miss Parkinson. You're free to go." It surprised me more than anyone when I heard those words. Just like that.
They waved their arms near the opened cell as if it really was that simple. I wondered if the Dementors had enough of me, if they knew that they sucked me as dry as possible without actually killing me. I sat for another moment until a wizard grabbed me by my thin arms and dragged me out of the cell I had been in for the last few years. I had long forgotten the date, let alone the time of year, so the sun across my face as I passed by my first window in months startled me, and I drew back at the feel of it. It was so bright. So bright... Without warning, a tear fell down my face at the soft glow of sunlight I felt. The same wizard handed me my clothes and a cup of tea, wrapping my body in a blanket. I refused it, preferring instead for the sun to warm me. "Pasy Parkinson, charged with bewitching an innocent, attempted kidnapping, and running from Aurors, you have served your 4 years of time in Azkaban, and now may be released." I said nothing. I didn't need reminders of what I had supposedly done, and he didn't know anything. They only think it was bewitching and kidnapping, but I know she loved me. Whether she does now is something else entirely."You may Disapperate when you feel strong enough," he continued softly, though with autority, handing me a tray with more tea and a sandwhich. I would have refused anything this man had to offer me, but it was the first meal I had had. Before, it had been potions fixed to make our bodies think we'd eaten. I missed the tastes and textures of food so much that I could have easily become a glutton. I gave a quick nod to the guard, and with sandwhich still in hand, I Disapperated.
I popped into the woods in which I had run with her four years ago. My family was still serving their time in Azkaban, and I didn't know if the house was still ours. I was afraid to go look. I was afraid to go back. Slowly, I looked around, and I saw the fallen log we had once jumped over together. I sat upon it, looking around me again. I could clearly see our trail, the one we used to run from the Aurors. I saw the exact spot where she told me that she wanted to be with me, and the exact spot where I had betrayed her. I wondered as I ate my sandwhich where she was now, who she may have settled down with. She deserved that. In my head and in my heart I knew that, but it didn't make the pain and jealousy go away. She doesn't deserve to be with someone like me. She deserves so much more. I sighed and walked along our trail, and then something stopped me. There was a small ribbon on one of the trees near where I stood. I went to look at it, and I saw that it had my name on it. I put a finger to it, and suddenly it moved.
The ribbon wound around my wrist, and it was suddenly tugged gently, like a child being led by their parents through a crowded shop. I was forced to move where my wrist was leading me. I struggled a little bit, but something made me feel calm. It was as if her presence glowed from the ribbon and covered me, calmed me. I walked this way, with my wrist out in front of me for what felt like hours. Deeper and deeper into the forest I went. The journey through the woods this time wasn't with fear and breathlessness, but with curiousity and and lingering fatigue from being around Dementors. The sun remained high above me until it finally began to set. I began to feel worried, but the tugging was insistant now when I tried to stop. Then something in the distance caught my eye. A house. A small house stood in front of me, and my heart began to race. Could she be...? As if to sense this thought, the ribbon tugged harder. Faster I went, and I almost fell into a run. I wanted to stop at the porch, but I was tugged there even harder, one last push, and I stumbbled loudly up the stairs, almost falling headfirst into the door. I held up my other hand to steady myself, and the ribbon left my wrist. There was a red mark from where it had been. I watched as it unlaced itself from my wrist and floated carfully down to the mat by the door that said 'welcome', and it completed the picture of the girl with a ribbon tying into her hair.
I stared at the door in awe and fear. Before I could move away from the door or even towards it to knock, it opened, and she stood there before me. "Pansy," she breathed. She fell forward against me, holding me close to her, and I felt the tears form in my eyes. When I heard her sniffle, knowing that she was crying, those tears fell. "You came home." Those words struck me more than anything. I felt all of the emotions she made me feel whenever I was near her, those feelings that I had almost forgotten in the presense of Demontors. I rememebered the words we spoke to eachother, and how I had betrayed them. I thought she might hate me, but I was glad that she didn't. I moved back a little bit, but her hold on me tightened, just like the ribbon had, only I didn't fight very hard to begin with this time. "Please tell me that you're here for good."
"You... You deserve so much better than someone like me," I told her truthfully. She sniffled.
"You're probably right..." she said, and I nodded knowing that I was, "but I don't know how to love anybody else." She kissed my cheek and then led me inside the house. It was warm from a fire, and there was soft music playing on one of the wizard radio stations. She lead me to the couch and had me lean against her side, my head on her shoulder and her head upon mine. "Welcome home, Pansy," she murmured.
"Journey's end at lover's meeting." - Shakespeare