Can you still see the heart of me?
By: SelenesLegacy

The only thing I own here is my character Emma. Everything else is the property of J.K. Rowling.

Ch6: Days go on forever, but I have not left your side.

(EMMA)

My eyes opened as a warm hand trailed the skin on my back. I smiled as the rough skin caressed me, I knew those hands.

The sheets felt like running water against my skin, they cooled the fire he created inside me. Yes, he was there. Scabior. Who else would I have there? His eyes twinkled as I turned to look at him. "Slept well, angel?" I smiled and kissed him, first slightly hesitant. But my hesitance crumbled as he pushed me against him and kissed me back.

His tongue battled mine in a heated passion, he held me even closer than already possible. "What a minx you are, dear." I grinned and kissed him again.

"Shit." I hoped dreams like that weren't something that happened because of the soul-bond.

(SCABIOR)

Emma's presence in my dreams was something I found quite odd. If this was an effect of the bond between us, we were both in deep trouble. I hoped she would come back to me soon; the camp seemed so desolate without her.

An unsettling fear came over me, it felt like the kind of fear the dementors spread around them. What was happening? The memories came flooding back. I still remembered the screams which went on day by day. A crack from outside brought me back to reality, someone had arrived.

"Who is it?" I was not willing to take any chances on being killed. "Who do you think it is, you daft bugger?" She ran inside and threw herself into my arms. "Missed me?" I nodded and brought my lips upon hers.

We stumbled over to the bed in each other arms. I landed on top of her on the bed, but she stopped me before I could kiss her. "I need you to tell me why you were in Azkaban." Bloody wonderful. She sat up as I struggled to find the right words.

"When I was a kid, my mom and dad fought a lot. He was a heavy drinker, and she…I guess she was just trying to protect me and my sisters against him." She nodded gently, urging me to continue. "Every time I came back from Hogwarts, mom had a lot of bruises and injuries; they'd been fighting even worse when I wasn't there."

(EMMA)

I knew I shouldn't feel sorry for him, but I couldn't help the shock which riddled me as he told his story. "The summer I graduated, they both showed up. Things had gotten a lot worse then, and he'd started hitting my sisters as well. None of the professors saw it of course; mom was always vey good in hiding such things from the world." My eyes burned as he took. "Relax angel, it's all in the past now."

I eventually convinced him to continue, and so he did. "The first week after school went surprisingly uneventful, but that wouldn't last." Oh dear. "I came home from a friend one evening, mom was terribly quiet and told me not to go into the living room. " Your dad's been drinking again, and he's really upset with all of us." She sent me upstairs to my sisters' room, and told me to keep them occupied."

Hot, angry tears spilled from my eyes as I envisioned the story in my head. What a terrible childhood it must have been. "A few hours later, they started fighting. Brittany and Lily had fallen asleep; I'd placed a locking charm on their door. I went downstairs to check how things were, it sounded like they'd calmed down a bit, at least there wasn't any screaming anymore."

I already knew what was going to happen before he said it. "Just as I walked down the stairs, I heard dad scream "Avada kedavra" and I ran inside the room." He took my hand and held it against his cheek; I felt the tears on my skin. "He killed her. She didn't even have her wand to defend herself. He bloody killed her! When he saw me, he just grinned and apparated away."

My cheeks were stained with tears of sorrow for this poor creature. "I buried mom outside the cottage, before I woke the girls and apparated to Toby's house. He and his mom looked after them while I searched for dad." Scabior's eyes were wet, but his voice strong. "I found him in Wiltshire, at Malfoy Manor. He'd crept back under a stone with his death-eater friends and begged for their protection against me." He laughed, a terrifying sound.

"Lucius Malfoy wouldn't have him there of course, but his wife convinced him to, I could be of good use to them if they managed to catch me." His eyes gleamed with the fury from my own eyes. "I literally walked into their trap, but I knew what I was doing. I told them how he'd killed his own pureblood wife, who was defenseless against him at the moment. They didn't believe me of course, and told me my mom had literally asked to be killed by the way she behaved."

"They subdued me and told me what big plans they had for my sisters, how they would sell them to the highest bidder from You-Know-Who's inner circle. That made me snap. I wouldn't let any of them near my sisters, even if it cost me my life." He pulled me against him and kissed my forehead. "I cut the ropes and got my wand, they were too terrified to do anything when they saw me. I tortured my father for hours, just so he could feel the pain I was in." I trembled at the thought of his wrath.

"It was a very enjoyable experience, I tell you. He begged me for mercy after…five hours, was it? So I gave him a fitful eternal sleep. Officers from the department of Magical Law Enforcement arrived just minutes later and took me to Azkaban." He let me go and wiped his eyes.

"I was one of the escapees when You-Know-Who attacked Azkaban last year. He told me that if I didn't become a snatcher, he would kill Brittany and Lily." He pulled out a crinkled photo of two girls; they couldn't be more than 15 and 10 years old. I wondered where they were now…

"All this happened 10 years ago, and I have no idea about where they are now, Toby said they went their separate ways when his mother died 2 years ago." I hoped for his sake.

We went outside when his men arrived with some food. They all eyed me curiously, but Scabior told them he would hex their asses into the next millennia if any of them as much as glared inappropriately at me. "Scabior, what's your real name?" He hesitated few seconds, before a lingering whisper came: " McCulloch. Alexander McCulloch."

I felt this one turned out…okay, to say the least. I have no idea whether McCulloch is a real Scottish surname or not, I simply stole it from Hans Matheson's character in "Half-Light". Chapter title and inspiration from "Anthem of the angels" by Breaking Benjamin.