Short, Spunky, Stubborn. All words that had once described her in her youth, during her years at Hogwarts, still held true to the young woman she had recently become. But there was one thing that had changed in the past few days. All in a matter of moments, the man she had loved and pined after for the past few years, the man who had proposed to her, her fiancé… he was ripped from her grasp. Didn't they get it, he was no longer the idiotic death eater that he had once been… but to them, that didn't matter. Nothing mattered except for the fact that He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named had been taken down and they were after those who had aided him. The fact that she, a member of the order, had claimed his change of heart before the council and the whole ministry, they wrote it off as the hopeless attempt of a love struck girl.
Merlin, did that get her temper boiling. A love struck girl? Ha, she was a young woman, thank you. She was almost 21, and she was one of the wisest witches in the bunch. She worked for the goddamn order, and they didn't take her word for what it was worth? Damn them, damn them all. In a matter of seconds, her heart had been crushed in ways she had believed to be impossible. It just seemed so unfair. Life was no fair, she was a victim yet again. But by Rowena, they had such horrific timing. Had they taken him away only a week ago, things would have been that much easier. She wouldn't have seen the man she loved change, see the truth she'd been presenting him with all along, the only reason she'd never let their relationship go too far before.
But he just bloody proposed! He was her fiancé and now she was alone again. All alone… Back to square one, a very hopeless and lonely square indeed. Most of her friends had been killed in the war, any she would have had hope in pursuing at least, and so it looked as though she were doomed to be alone, not that she would have really considered taking anyone else as her husband. No, there would only ever be one man that she truly loved, and she could never have him.
He was doomed to spend his life in Azkaban and she could do nothing to save him. Heck at this point, the young witch would have done just about anything to get him back. Even if that meant taking his place. She was so desperate… and she was not one to despair over anything, not with the way life had treated her growing up… but this once, it seemed her life had come to an abrupt end. Without the man she loved beside her, it seemed she had lost the strength to keep up the fight that every day life posed… going to the ministry for work every morning, only to know that they had taken him from her… it was like she was killing herself slowly from the inside out.
And it was true, life had never been just fun and games for Emmeline Rose Vance. In fact, it had been the exact opposite; it was no wonder she was wise beyond her years, a Ravenclaw through and through. When life treated her rough, she just came back tougher, but this time, it seemed all but impossible for the spunky brunette to bounce back, and everyone had taken notice, at least all those who knew her well, mainly members of the order and those that worked closely with her at the ministry. Her deep brown eyes had lost the familiar sparkle of happiness that had lighted them over the past few months, despite the war going on around her.
There was that one time that she had almost been caught, killed, done for. But that's when he stepped up and protected her, and that was when he vowed he'd never leave her side, that he couldn't go around killing innocent people any longer, most of them defenseless muggles. Sure, he hadn't left the ranks of his death eater friends, but that was only so he could protect them… right? She was sure, Augustus Rookwood was a changed man. Emmeline had seen it in his eyes that night.
His breath was heavy upon her skin as he held her tightly in his arms, blasting back her attacker with a strong curse. The fear was so clear in his eyes, shining with tears at the thought of losing her. She was all but dizzy from the battle she had been fighting against Augustus's fellow death eater, a death eater unsuspecting of his deep love for her.
"Emmeline, darling, please tell me you're okay." His voice was shallow, his breathing too rapid to support himself as his heart raced, rising to a near panic as she lay there, still and quiet in his arms. The blood was rushing from her wounded forearm, maybe that was the cause of her dizziness, the feeling that she was going to pass out in a matter of moments. She hated to frighten him, but she was afraid to speak, for fear of leaving him completely. "Emme, say something. Anything…"
Still, she laid there, closing her eyes and focusing on her slow, forced and unsteady breaths. Emmeline couldn't bear the fact of losing Augustus, but he never left her side. In fact, in the middle of the fight between two of his fellow death eaters and a few members of the order, he had lifted her from the ground and apparated from the deserted street and to a familiar place, even if all she could see were mere shadows of the room, dancing before her eyes. And before she knew it, Emmeline had fallen asleep in the protection of his arms.
Hours later when she awoke to the sun creeping through the blinds, she felt a chill run down her spine as her eyes slowly fluttered open. She was alone… had Augustus really left her?
"Auggie…" She had murmured, more for her own benefit than his, knowing he was far away, that he could no longer hear her whimpered little cries to be held and protected, not that Emmeline felt the need to be protected really, she just needed him. -
But then she heard the light footsteps, they were coming from the next room, hurried as if the person were running through her small cramped apartment, a space she barely seemed to be able to maneuver through. And then his face, his hair, his eyes… oh his beautiful dark eyes… Augustus was here… He hadn't left her.
"Emmeline." Relief flooded his voice as he knelt beside the small couch and wrapped his arms around her. "I… I thought I'd lost you." He bent over and gave her a soft, desperate kiss before leaning back and allowing his face to relax into one of those easy smiles of his. "I'm so glad you're alright."
"Auggie, you really didn't have to stay you…"
"I know, Emme. But I wanted to." His eyes grew more serious, and all traces of anything but solemnity and seriousness were gone from his face. "And while you slept, I was thinking. If this is what I'm doing, I don't want part in it anymore. I almost lost you. I can't bear to go through that again…"
That night felt like it had happened ages ago, like some distant dream. But it was all simply that, part of the past, a part of the past, she could only cling to in memory. And why had no one else backed her up, because they all thought the same thing. Emmeline was simply delusional out of her love for the man. But he had made her promise not to tell anyone of that night, not even Dumbledore… so there had been no other witness, no other to stand by her… and his simple request had caused her to lose him.
Nobody would ever know that the idiotic Slytherin from back at Hogwarts, when he was still a boy, the one that had thought of nothing but claiming power as a death eater, the one who thought of nothing and no one but himself, had become a charming and handsome young man, one with a heart of gold. It was too bad there was no way to change his fate, there were no redoes like there had been before, before they graduated from school, before the war erupted and took so many casualties, before He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named was killed by a child… There was no way to change his mind, to go back in time and stop him from ever joining the death eaters in the first place. Let's face it, this was their destiny. Because Emmeline had learned long ago, life, especially where Augustus Rookwood was concerned, allowed for no second chances.