Chapter seventeen
"How is she?" Ginny asked nervously, trying to peek through the small crack in the doorway into her brother's room at her friend.
"She still hasn't said a word." Harry said, equally as nervous. Ron didn't speak he just sat a Crys' bedside holding her hand.
"What could have happened that was so bad as to do this?" Harry asked Ginny.
"I don't know. Neither does Hermione," she responded, "I mean, they beat us. They beat us til near death. But they treated her different. And somehow, somehow, she managed to convince Draco to let us go."
She hadn't done anything since they had returned two days ago. She just leaned on Ron, dazed, and collapsed on his bed, where she still lay, staring at the ceiling, her eyes looking scared and lost. She hadn't eaten a thing, despite Mrs. Weasley's desperate attempts to sit her up and force a bowl of hot soup into her system.
Ron had hardly eaten a thing either. He always sat at the side of his own bed, watching her hopefully, sometimes talking to her. Occasionally he would look at the spot on the ceiling that she continued to focus on, but he found no comfort. Now he was again talking, telling her she could tell him anything, anything at all, that no matter how bad it had been he was here for her, they all were. It didn't matter. She didn't move. She didn't blink. Nothing.
Ron has been telling me about how much support they have for me for two days now. I can't tell him what happened. It was awful. Terrible. That man is brutal. If you can even call Malfoy a man. More of a fiend. I have never been with such a brutal man in my life. Everything hurts. Everything. Especially where no one thought to check me for wounds. I'll be damned if I ever have sex again. God this is terrible! My boyfriend is sitting next to me. The one I love. Even after I swore I'd never love again. I can't even tell him. I can only lay here, staring into space, seeing every memory I had ever hoped to forget. Every image I thought I had forced out of my mind.
I see Draco's ardent eyes reflecting all that I have ever despised and hated. In his ice cold eyes I see snow melting into muddy puddles on the other side of a screen door. I see my mother's casket lowering below the ground. I see my father yelling, whiskey at hand, forcing me to pack my bags and go to England. I see my aunt's scowl as she finds me on her door step. I see my hair being pulled away from my face as I empty my stomach into a toilet after another tough breakup. I see Chad and that girl together in my bedroom. I see the cold face of Voldemort as I suck up to that wizard who made my friends' life hell. And I see Ginny and Hermione beaten with different objects from around the Malfoy Manor as Draco has his way with me.
Tears start to stream down my face and Ron reaches over to wipe them away, but I still cannot speak.
Harry sat at the table in the Weasley's kitchen that evening with Ron who he had finally convinced to leave Crys' side for an hour so he could eat. Ron pushed his food around on his plate without bringing a mouthful near his lips.
"Ron you have to eat."
"I am."
"You are a terrible liar."
"I know." there was no emotion left in Ron's voice, "I wish I knew what they had done to her, the dirty bastards."
Words started playing through Harry's head like the final pieces to a puzzle.
Are you an actress? Well, when I want to be.
The way she uses her hands, it's like she's...I don't know, she's just...really good with her hands.
And somehow, somehow, she managed to convince Draco to let us go.
It all made sense. The only thing Harry could think was She wouldn't. but he knew that she would. She would do anything for her friends. He stood up suddenly and mumbled to Ron that he was going to the loo and left the room for the one at the top of the stairs.
When he reached Crys' bedside he spoke softly.
"Crys, I know what you did."
Her eyes widened slightly but she still didn't speak.
"Can I..." he cut off and lifted her shirt slightly so he could see her stomach. It was covered in cuts and bruises and small unwanted lovebites. He thought for a minute before he spoke.
"Crys, how did you get him to let you go? Even Malfoy isn't dumb enough to just have his way and kill you. What did you do?"
She spoke in a hoarse and barely loud enough to hear tone, "Promised more."
"You promised him more? Like you would do it again?"
She nodded twice.
"Oh my God, Crys." he said stunned and hugged her as close as he could without hurting her, "We will never let him near you again, NEVER." Crys started to cry but her tears were absorbed into the black of Harry's t-shirt as he hugged her.
Ron sat with his head in his hands at the table. Harry had just told him what he had learned from his last conversation with Crys. Ron ran his hands through his hair again before he ran up to his room to see Crys.
He stopped just outside the door, this may be a sticky subject. He slowly opened his bedroom door and closed it the same way after he stepped inside.
He stood beside her. Her eyes were no longer on the ceiling but on him. On his face. His every move. He ran his fingers through his hair again.
"Did I ever tell you how sexy it is when you do that?" Crys smiled at him lightly. He grinned back and layed down next to her, wrapping his arms around her tender body, protecting her from all harm. And as the snow became to fall onto the cold world, Ginny sat in her bedroom alone on Christmas Eve, trying to figure out why she was so madly in love with Dean.
