Everything in this world is temporary. Good and bad weather, peace and fear, luck and bad fortune. Therefore, clutch on every single peaceful moment. Saturate yourself in it and never take the world's benevolence as given.
That's what Elfy thought, sitting on the dirty stone floor, trembling fingers clutching tattered clothes, trying to even the breathing. Her lungs burned, skin ached. Demian's notebook felt like the last beak of hope, which she hugged to the chest.
The memory of the whole week flew behind her eyes, making her curse her naivety. Ever since the ball, she noticed Nott's unpleasant gaze while he looked at her with provocative intensity, how he shadowed her in corridors, how he pressed his body tightly on her back while they walked in a crowded room. Why has she not paid attention to it? Why she didn't get scared? Why was she walking in the corridor so late, alone? Why?! Why?!
At first, she thought Demian sneaked on her, but when unfamiliar hands grabbed her painfully, she knew she was in trouble. Her vision went dark when she was smashed against an empty, dark classroom's stone wall. When she managed to see again, Slytherin's student's repulsive smile was hovering only millimeters away from her face.
"Finally caught you. Your Ekrizdis wouldn't help you now." He grabbed her neck so tightly, little more, and Elvein would have fainted.
"Please. Don't!" The girl managed to wheeze.
Young man's robust body has not flinched. On the contrary, he pressed himself even tighter.
"Come on! Fight me! I'll like it even better! Do you know for how long I've been thinking of you? I fuck blonds only, to imagine you instead of them. I ask them to fight me too." He painfully squeezed the girl's palms in his one hand, spreading her thighs with his knee, sliding his teeth on her neck. "Why do you smell like this?! On purpose, right? To get inside my head. To make me crave dirty Squibb's offspring! That's what you're trying to achieve, right?!" He tore her shirt and bit down on the collarbone, muffing her screams with his second hand. "Why do you dress like this? All buttoned up. Trying to hide from me behind clothes, right? Now, what are you going to do, huh?" Bite marks went down to her breast while his hand slid up.
As soon as Theodor's fingers painfully grabbed her tender flesh, Elvein was torn out of her stupor. Not realizing what she was doing, she pushed his chest with all she had. A Slytherin student was smacked against the opposite wall. Angry burns marked his face and hands. He stood up, leaving the room with painful groans, staggering on his way out.
She still sat on the stone floor. She did not quite analyze what she did, but she felt filthy. She clawed on her skin, where minutes ago, hateful hands and lips were sliding. She opened her notebook. Last spark of hope. Demian's part, which was always with her. Pages were already marked with Ekrizdis' handwriting:
"Elvein, what's going on?!
Are you ok?!
The watch showed me you are in danger!
Why aren't you answering?!
I'm on my way!"
Elvein would have never thought she could experience fear even greater. But Demian was returning from Bulgaria. And he will find her this way?! What will he do then?!
"No! I'm fine. I fell. Don't come." She almost slapped herself for last words.
"You fell and flew for the whole three minutes?! You are lying! I'm in Hogsmeade. Where are you?!"
"Demian, stop!"
"WHERE! ARE! YOU?!"
"I'm in the shower!" She ran at neck-breaking speed, writing almost unreadable words. "I'll see you in the old transfiguration classroom."
"You've got 5 minutes!"
She ran directly into the shower, taking off wet clothes right under the water, scrubbing and washing her skin with trembling hands. At last, she washed away the unbearable smell. She ran to the mirror. She was all black and blue, angry teeth markings all over her body. Using every possible magic she knew, she covered marks, put on the first dress she found, and ran to the classroom.
She had not fully stepped inside the room when Demian's hands grabbed her. Vermillion's eyes were studying her.
"What happened?"
"I'm fine!"
"Elvein!" His voice was stone-hard. Then he froze, looking at her limbs. With one movement of his fingers, he made all her charms disappear, exposing her marked skin. She closed her eyes but felt how spasm ran through Ekrizdis' hands. He moved to her neck. Seeing bite marks, he roared so eerily that Elvein covered her ears.
"Who?!"
"Demian, please!"
"WHO?!"
"Please listen to me!"
"Look me in the eyes, Elven." He grabbed her chin, facing her with his flaming eyes.
Terrible experience once again whirlpools in her head, making her body tremble.
"He's alive! He is still alive!" He let Elvein go, running towards the door when an unearthly, loud, and low voice thundered.
"Ekrizdis!"
Anyone else would have been stunned in fear, while Demian only turned a curious face. Elvein stood with her eyes shut, head down, breathing heavily.
"You will stop and listen to me! Or else, you'll step foot out of this room, and never, do you hear me? Will never see me again!"
Demian squinted his eyes. Rage took a step back, giving way to curiosity. He saw Elvein's dark side or, maybe, true color's blinks. He approached her, once again, facing her.
"I don't know how, but I've hurt him severely. I've heard them speaking; he is in hospital with deep burns and broken bones. I almost killed him."
"I'll fix the "almost" part of it." Demian once again tried to leave the room.
"You would not even lay a finger on him!" Unearthly voices resonated from the walls. "You will promise me not to harm him. He already received what he deserved."
"You really believe that I will let it slide?!"
"You will! Or else, you'll lose me forever! That's a promise!" She took several deep breaths, and old Elvein was back. "You promised, Demian. You promised to try! The time for the first try is already gone. Prove to me I have not made a mistake. Prove to me; I must not regret." Girl's pleading gaze was on Demian's face.
This time, Ekrizdis was one struggling to breathe. Instead of a man, a wolf was facing a young girl. Overcoming himself was hard, but the choice was obvious. Himself or her. He did not take long. Demian clutched his fists and nodded his head.
"Take me to him." He said with a low, terrifying voice.
"Demian!"
"I will only talk to him."
Elvein studies his eyes for a long time. Then nodded her agreement, taking his hand and leading to the Hospital's wing.
