CHAPTER TEN
The battle lasted until the late afternoon. Fortunately, the group of hooded villains were ministry officials masked as Death Eaters. But even with the ministry taking precautions to ensure no one was seriously hurt, there were still muggle causalities. The muggles diversion was enough to create an opportunity for four wizards to be knocked down, but after the element of surprise was lost, a few muggles had met the same end as Jarvis.
The ministry had eventually been defeated by some mere fate of luck and those who were able, apparated away while more officials descended to retrieve the stunned, leaving the Hogwarts students to revive their muggle counterparts. Hermonie had been put in charge of that, and she soon had Jarvis, Ryan, Lauren and Matilda up and about. Everyone was accounted for except Georgia.
"Last time we saw her she was in cabin one helping us out the window." David said.
"Well she's not there anymore because that's the cabin we left Jarvis in and I went there to revive him." Hermione told them.
The group stood looking about at the area they had just done battle. Maybe she had been stunned and they hadn't seen her. Georgia wasn't to be seen, though, begging the question about where she could of disappeared to.
"Who was the last one to see her? I can't remember seeing her come out of the cabin." Baylie asked.
"I was the last muggle out, all that was left after me was Draco." Chelsea informed them.
They all turned to face Draco who had been doing his best to remain quiet. Now he was being placed under the microscope and questions on Georgia's whereabouts were being fired at him from every direction. Draco couldn't bring himself to tell them what he had almost done to her.
"Did you help Georgia out the window?" Harry asked, rounding on Draco in an almost threatening attitude.
Draco shook his head and stuffed his wand into his back pocket of the jeans he was wearing. The sudden appearance of it would certainly raise questions. Unfortunately, the sight of it was not lost on Ron who looked at Draco quizzically.
"So you finally found your wand, ey?" he asked, crossing his arms.
Draco nodded, "Yeah, I found it." He said, a little too defensively.
"Georgia would have had to tell you were it was. She was the one who took it and hid it. You would never have found it if you didn't know where to look." Hermione told Draco, "I was the only one she told." She added when it looked as though Draco was about to get angry.
"So she told me where it was. Who cares?" Draco said.
"What did you do to her?" Susan demanded angrily, quickly jumping to the conclusion that Draco had indeed done something to make Georgia disappear.
Draco was quiet for a split second, unable to decide what to say to the Kedron group who were now staring accusingly at him. It was probably better for his own welfare if he told a version of the truth.
"We had a fight. Georgia had my wand and I needed it for this task. Honestly, what would have happened if those wizards were Death Eaters and I didn't have my wand?" Draco said, knowing he sounded petty and his excuses didn't explain the sudden disappearance of Georgia. After all, they had had plenty of fights before this.
"So it's you fault she's run off," Lisa reasoned, "You need to go find her before something else happens. Stanley Park is huge and she will get lost before she makes it out."
Draco began to protest but they cut him off with menacing glares. Draco hung his head in defeat and went into cabin three, changing into a pair of comfortable shoes and grabbing two jackets in case he didn't find Georgia until after dark.
Without even a glance back at the angry Kedron residents, Draco marched purposely towards the forest where he disappeared between the clumps of trees.
X
The sun had gone down hours ago and Draco still hadn't found Georgia. He contemplated turning around and heading back to the Kedron community but decided against it. He could just picture the anger of his peers if he turned back without Georgia, leaving the girl out all alone in the blistering cold. If she must suffer, than so should he, that's what they would say.
Draco raised his illuminated wand, casting the beam of light into the blackness. He could have sworn he had gone past the same distorted tree three times. Everything looked so similar to Draco and he knew he was lost. Draco was ready to find a place to rest for the night, hoping that in the light of day he would have a better chance of finding the runaway Georgia, when he heard a noise.
Somebody was moving around in the darkness and Draco hoped it was Georgia so he could get the hell out of the freezing cold forest. Draco moved forward slowly, pushing back a branch of an old tree, wand at the ready in case he needed to attack. The precaution was unnecessary though, because past the old tree sat Georgia on a large rock, he knees brought to her chest and shivering uncontrollably. She was still crying. Draco breathed a sigh of relief and took another step forward. Georgia turned around, facing him, as the beam of light omitting from Draco's wand fell onto her.
Georgia stiffened when she saw Draco standing behind her, looking very unsure of himself or what to do.
"What are you doing here?" Georgia asked thickly, not moving.
Draco shrugged uneasily. Now that he had found Georgia he didn't know what to say or how he was going to convince he to come back with him to the Kedron campsite. All he knew was that an apology was in order for the way he had reacted earlier that day.
"Just go away Draco. Leave me alone." Georgia said, but her voice didn't contain a trace of anger, she sounded more tired than anything else.
Draco couldn't understand why she wasn't getting angry with him. She had lost control over much more trivial things before but now she seemed like she couldn't care less about Draco. She was being a little too quiet and that was unnerving.
"Listen, Georgia, I'm really sorry about before. I didn't mean to loose control like that." Draco told her, and, for once, he really did mean it.
"That doesn't make it alright," Georgia spat, "I don't care for your apologies. They can't take anything back... they can't change my past."
"I don't know what else to say, Georgia. I know I can't take back what I almost did. I know an apology doesn't change anything." Draco said feeling a slightly downcast at having his apology, the only thing he had to offer for his actions, rejected.
Georgia gave a hollow laugh, which made Draco fell a little uncomfortable and wary.
"You don't get it. I don't give a shit about what you 'almost' did. That doesn't matter to me. It's the memories that you brought back. You took away my security. I don't want to go back to my old life. Don't you understand? I'm not like you or anyone at that damn campsite...LOOK!" Georgia yelled and she lifted the back of her tee shirt, exposing a jigsaw puzzle of scars and burns.
Draco took a sharp intake of breath as he looked at Georgia's back. What he had assumed would be smooth, flawless skin was instead a disfigured mess. Draco moved closer with the idea of tracing a finger over the beaten back but Georgia didn't let him. She shoved down her top wit a venomous rage and turned on Draco. She was clearly about to vent all her hatred out on him and he braced himself for it.
"Look what you made me do!" she screamed, sending birds flying from the trees, "I should never have shown you that, I would never have shown you! I tried all year not to start this up again and you ruined it, you made me remember!
"Why did you have to get so mad? Didn't you realize there is a reason I keep my distance from everyone; I never let anyone get too close? When I came here I was looking for a new life. I thought I'd make friends that could help me. People not like him!
"My life was on the line and I didn't want to be the same foolish girl again. The last thing I need right now is someone to bring me down but you had to do it, you had to bring it all back to me!
"All I needed was somebody to lean on, somebody to wash away the pain! Instead I meet a guy who comes from a world where he didn't care for anything.
"You, Draco, are an instigator. You made me so angry with you that I had to get you back. Then I got you even more angry and look what you've done now!" she was rambling and she knew it but she wasn't finished, "I don't want to be the person I used to be, I don't want that life. I don't want to be anything other than what I've been trying to be lately. I don't want to be anything other than me!"
Georgia had broken down sobbing. There was so much more that needed to be said but she had screamed herself hoarse. She wanted to kick and scream and lash out but her energy was gone and with each tear that fell, her body grew weaker.
Draco, who had stood quietly while Georgia had ranted and raved, now moved forward with the spare jacket and placed it onto Georgia's trembling shoulders. He had never seen anyone so confused or abused in all his life. He wanted to help her.
"Tell me who did this to you Georgia. Tell me who caused you so much pain." Draco said, placing an arm around her supportively.
Georgia was keeping her secret closely guarded but as Draco showed a side of himself that no one had ever seen before, especially Georgia, she felt her wall start to fall down. Perhaps letting someone into the horrors of her life would do some good. Maybe it would be liberating. Georgia decided to tell.
"My foster parents, mostly my foster father." She answered quietly, using the sleeve of the jacket Draco had given her to wipe her eyes.
"Your foster parents? What about your birth parents?" Draco asked, not wanting to pry but compelled to find out more.
"Dead. Died just after I was born. I've been shipped from home to home all my life." Georgia informed him.
"Why did your family do this to you?" he inquired.
Georgia ran a hand over her shoulder, no doubt an area that was also scarred and burnt.
"Alcohol. They would always drink and all it took was one mistake and I would become a human punching bag... or ashtray." She replied.
They sat silently for sometime. Draco was imagining scenarios of Georgia being beaten and torched. He didn't understand how a family could inflict so much pain onto a person. Of course, the Death Eaters stood accused of implementing such things, probably much worse in some cases.
As Draco thought about it, he realized that being a Death Eater meant executing the same pain onto people just like Georgia and he discovered that he just wouldn't be able to do it, he wouldn't be able to stand by and watch people suffer, muggle or not.
"Draco," Georgia spoke up, "I don't want people to know about this... to know about me. I don't want people to know I'm weak."
In Draco's eyes, Georgia resembled more a tower of strength than a person who was weak. At the same time, he couldn't believe he was growing attached to the muggle who he had hated with such a passion upon meeting her.
"You aren't weak, and you are not alone. You do have people here who care about you and would want to help you." Draco insisted, recognising that now was the time to boost Georgia's morale, "You were meant for so much more. You're a bloody soldier for god's sake! Trust me, the world has so much more to offer you. Life is what you make it, you just need to take the wheel!"
Georgia let a smile escape her and it shone through her tears. She hadn't thought Draco could be so sensitive, especially towards a muggle like herself. Yes, Draco had gone to hit her, but the difference was he hadn't and he had come all this way looking for her just to say he was sorry. Draco wasn't anything like her foster father. He was different.
"I am not afraid." Georgia whispered to herself as she smiled once more.
X
After conversing in the cold, it was time for Georgia and Draco to find their way back to Kedron. The only problem was, neither of them could remember the way they had come. As they passed the same rock on which they had been sitting five times, Draco decided to shoot red sparks in the air in a bid to get somebodies attention and hopefully provoke a search. Unfortunately, Draco had not anticipated another group of wizards, who happened to be looking for him, seeing the sparks.
Fifteen minutes after the red sparks had been shot into the air, Draco and Georgia heard a rustling of branches and the snap of twigs. Somebody was out there.
"Hey guys!" Draco called into the gloomy darkness, "It's us, Georgia and Draco!"
The pair waited for a reply but when none came, Draco stepped forward to investigate, telling Georgia to wait behind. Draco moved behind the trees, searching for a sign that something had been there but nothing was found. Draco shrugged and turned back to get Georgia.
When he found her, she was not alone. Four wizards with dark hooded robes flanked Georgia who was being restrained. Another stood with his back to Draco. It was Lucius Malfoy.
"You are a disgrace, Draco... helping a muggle." His father tsked.
Before Draco had a chance to reason with the Death Eaters and, more importantly, his father, they disappeared with a pop, taking Georgia with them.
A/N: This chapter is much longer and I have another cliffhanger. So please review and tell me what you think. I hope you all picked on the little bit of romance that has started to flourish. The next chapter should contain more.
Shout-outs need to be given to everyone for reviewing. Special thanks to Sarah for doing something out of the ordinary and I'm glad you find my story original! Eli (Drakey-Lover) for introducing the lovely malovent- dragon to my story
The battle lasted until the late afternoon. Fortunately, the group of hooded villains were ministry officials masked as Death Eaters. But even with the ministry taking precautions to ensure no one was seriously hurt, there were still muggle causalities. The muggles diversion was enough to create an opportunity for four wizards to be knocked down, but after the element of surprise was lost, a few muggles had met the same end as Jarvis.
The ministry had eventually been defeated by some mere fate of luck and those who were able, apparated away while more officials descended to retrieve the stunned, leaving the Hogwarts students to revive their muggle counterparts. Hermonie had been put in charge of that, and she soon had Jarvis, Ryan, Lauren and Matilda up and about. Everyone was accounted for except Georgia.
"Last time we saw her she was in cabin one helping us out the window." David said.
"Well she's not there anymore because that's the cabin we left Jarvis in and I went there to revive him." Hermione told them.
The group stood looking about at the area they had just done battle. Maybe she had been stunned and they hadn't seen her. Georgia wasn't to be seen, though, begging the question about where she could of disappeared to.
"Who was the last one to see her? I can't remember seeing her come out of the cabin." Baylie asked.
"I was the last muggle out, all that was left after me was Draco." Chelsea informed them.
They all turned to face Draco who had been doing his best to remain quiet. Now he was being placed under the microscope and questions on Georgia's whereabouts were being fired at him from every direction. Draco couldn't bring himself to tell them what he had almost done to her.
"Did you help Georgia out the window?" Harry asked, rounding on Draco in an almost threatening attitude.
Draco shook his head and stuffed his wand into his back pocket of the jeans he was wearing. The sudden appearance of it would certainly raise questions. Unfortunately, the sight of it was not lost on Ron who looked at Draco quizzically.
"So you finally found your wand, ey?" he asked, crossing his arms.
Draco nodded, "Yeah, I found it." He said, a little too defensively.
"Georgia would have had to tell you were it was. She was the one who took it and hid it. You would never have found it if you didn't know where to look." Hermione told Draco, "I was the only one she told." She added when it looked as though Draco was about to get angry.
"So she told me where it was. Who cares?" Draco said.
"What did you do to her?" Susan demanded angrily, quickly jumping to the conclusion that Draco had indeed done something to make Georgia disappear.
Draco was quiet for a split second, unable to decide what to say to the Kedron group who were now staring accusingly at him. It was probably better for his own welfare if he told a version of the truth.
"We had a fight. Georgia had my wand and I needed it for this task. Honestly, what would have happened if those wizards were Death Eaters and I didn't have my wand?" Draco said, knowing he sounded petty and his excuses didn't explain the sudden disappearance of Georgia. After all, they had had plenty of fights before this.
"So it's you fault she's run off," Lisa reasoned, "You need to go find her before something else happens. Stanley Park is huge and she will get lost before she makes it out."
Draco began to protest but they cut him off with menacing glares. Draco hung his head in defeat and went into cabin three, changing into a pair of comfortable shoes and grabbing two jackets in case he didn't find Georgia until after dark.
Without even a glance back at the angry Kedron residents, Draco marched purposely towards the forest where he disappeared between the clumps of trees.
X
The sun had gone down hours ago and Draco still hadn't found Georgia. He contemplated turning around and heading back to the Kedron community but decided against it. He could just picture the anger of his peers if he turned back without Georgia, leaving the girl out all alone in the blistering cold. If she must suffer, than so should he, that's what they would say.
Draco raised his illuminated wand, casting the beam of light into the blackness. He could have sworn he had gone past the same distorted tree three times. Everything looked so similar to Draco and he knew he was lost. Draco was ready to find a place to rest for the night, hoping that in the light of day he would have a better chance of finding the runaway Georgia, when he heard a noise.
Somebody was moving around in the darkness and Draco hoped it was Georgia so he could get the hell out of the freezing cold forest. Draco moved forward slowly, pushing back a branch of an old tree, wand at the ready in case he needed to attack. The precaution was unnecessary though, because past the old tree sat Georgia on a large rock, he knees brought to her chest and shivering uncontrollably. She was still crying. Draco breathed a sigh of relief and took another step forward. Georgia turned around, facing him, as the beam of light omitting from Draco's wand fell onto her.
Georgia stiffened when she saw Draco standing behind her, looking very unsure of himself or what to do.
"What are you doing here?" Georgia asked thickly, not moving.
Draco shrugged uneasily. Now that he had found Georgia he didn't know what to say or how he was going to convince he to come back with him to the Kedron campsite. All he knew was that an apology was in order for the way he had reacted earlier that day.
"Just go away Draco. Leave me alone." Georgia said, but her voice didn't contain a trace of anger, she sounded more tired than anything else.
Draco couldn't understand why she wasn't getting angry with him. She had lost control over much more trivial things before but now she seemed like she couldn't care less about Draco. She was being a little too quiet and that was unnerving.
"Listen, Georgia, I'm really sorry about before. I didn't mean to loose control like that." Draco told her, and, for once, he really did mean it.
"That doesn't make it alright," Georgia spat, "I don't care for your apologies. They can't take anything back... they can't change my past."
"I don't know what else to say, Georgia. I know I can't take back what I almost did. I know an apology doesn't change anything." Draco said feeling a slightly downcast at having his apology, the only thing he had to offer for his actions, rejected.
Georgia gave a hollow laugh, which made Draco fell a little uncomfortable and wary.
"You don't get it. I don't give a shit about what you 'almost' did. That doesn't matter to me. It's the memories that you brought back. You took away my security. I don't want to go back to my old life. Don't you understand? I'm not like you or anyone at that damn campsite...LOOK!" Georgia yelled and she lifted the back of her tee shirt, exposing a jigsaw puzzle of scars and burns.
Draco took a sharp intake of breath as he looked at Georgia's back. What he had assumed would be smooth, flawless skin was instead a disfigured mess. Draco moved closer with the idea of tracing a finger over the beaten back but Georgia didn't let him. She shoved down her top wit a venomous rage and turned on Draco. She was clearly about to vent all her hatred out on him and he braced himself for it.
"Look what you made me do!" she screamed, sending birds flying from the trees, "I should never have shown you that, I would never have shown you! I tried all year not to start this up again and you ruined it, you made me remember!
"Why did you have to get so mad? Didn't you realize there is a reason I keep my distance from everyone; I never let anyone get too close? When I came here I was looking for a new life. I thought I'd make friends that could help me. People not like him!
"My life was on the line and I didn't want to be the same foolish girl again. The last thing I need right now is someone to bring me down but you had to do it, you had to bring it all back to me!
"All I needed was somebody to lean on, somebody to wash away the pain! Instead I meet a guy who comes from a world where he didn't care for anything.
"You, Draco, are an instigator. You made me so angry with you that I had to get you back. Then I got you even more angry and look what you've done now!" she was rambling and she knew it but she wasn't finished, "I don't want to be the person I used to be, I don't want that life. I don't want to be anything other than what I've been trying to be lately. I don't want to be anything other than me!"
Georgia had broken down sobbing. There was so much more that needed to be said but she had screamed herself hoarse. She wanted to kick and scream and lash out but her energy was gone and with each tear that fell, her body grew weaker.
Draco, who had stood quietly while Georgia had ranted and raved, now moved forward with the spare jacket and placed it onto Georgia's trembling shoulders. He had never seen anyone so confused or abused in all his life. He wanted to help her.
"Tell me who did this to you Georgia. Tell me who caused you so much pain." Draco said, placing an arm around her supportively.
Georgia was keeping her secret closely guarded but as Draco showed a side of himself that no one had ever seen before, especially Georgia, she felt her wall start to fall down. Perhaps letting someone into the horrors of her life would do some good. Maybe it would be liberating. Georgia decided to tell.
"My foster parents, mostly my foster father." She answered quietly, using the sleeve of the jacket Draco had given her to wipe her eyes.
"Your foster parents? What about your birth parents?" Draco asked, not wanting to pry but compelled to find out more.
"Dead. Died just after I was born. I've been shipped from home to home all my life." Georgia informed him.
"Why did your family do this to you?" he inquired.
Georgia ran a hand over her shoulder, no doubt an area that was also scarred and burnt.
"Alcohol. They would always drink and all it took was one mistake and I would become a human punching bag... or ashtray." She replied.
They sat silently for sometime. Draco was imagining scenarios of Georgia being beaten and torched. He didn't understand how a family could inflict so much pain onto a person. Of course, the Death Eaters stood accused of implementing such things, probably much worse in some cases.
As Draco thought about it, he realized that being a Death Eater meant executing the same pain onto people just like Georgia and he discovered that he just wouldn't be able to do it, he wouldn't be able to stand by and watch people suffer, muggle or not.
"Draco," Georgia spoke up, "I don't want people to know about this... to know about me. I don't want people to know I'm weak."
In Draco's eyes, Georgia resembled more a tower of strength than a person who was weak. At the same time, he couldn't believe he was growing attached to the muggle who he had hated with such a passion upon meeting her.
"You aren't weak, and you are not alone. You do have people here who care about you and would want to help you." Draco insisted, recognising that now was the time to boost Georgia's morale, "You were meant for so much more. You're a bloody soldier for god's sake! Trust me, the world has so much more to offer you. Life is what you make it, you just need to take the wheel!"
Georgia let a smile escape her and it shone through her tears. She hadn't thought Draco could be so sensitive, especially towards a muggle like herself. Yes, Draco had gone to hit her, but the difference was he hadn't and he had come all this way looking for her just to say he was sorry. Draco wasn't anything like her foster father. He was different.
"I am not afraid." Georgia whispered to herself as she smiled once more.
X
After conversing in the cold, it was time for Georgia and Draco to find their way back to Kedron. The only problem was, neither of them could remember the way they had come. As they passed the same rock on which they had been sitting five times, Draco decided to shoot red sparks in the air in a bid to get somebodies attention and hopefully provoke a search. Unfortunately, Draco had not anticipated another group of wizards, who happened to be looking for him, seeing the sparks.
Fifteen minutes after the red sparks had been shot into the air, Draco and Georgia heard a rustling of branches and the snap of twigs. Somebody was out there.
"Hey guys!" Draco called into the gloomy darkness, "It's us, Georgia and Draco!"
The pair waited for a reply but when none came, Draco stepped forward to investigate, telling Georgia to wait behind. Draco moved behind the trees, searching for a sign that something had been there but nothing was found. Draco shrugged and turned back to get Georgia.
When he found her, she was not alone. Four wizards with dark hooded robes flanked Georgia who was being restrained. Another stood with his back to Draco. It was Lucius Malfoy.
"You are a disgrace, Draco... helping a muggle." His father tsked.
Before Draco had a chance to reason with the Death Eaters and, more importantly, his father, they disappeared with a pop, taking Georgia with them.
A/N: This chapter is much longer and I have another cliffhanger. So please review and tell me what you think. I hope you all picked on the little bit of romance that has started to flourish. The next chapter should contain more.
Shout-outs need to be given to everyone for reviewing. Special thanks to Sarah for doing something out of the ordinary and I'm glad you find my story original! Eli (Drakey-Lover) for introducing the lovely malovent- dragon to my story