Guest - Oooh I've been waiting for someone to point this out... maybe not necessarily the GOT reference but certainly the incestuous undertones of Draco and Cornelia's relationship! They are straight up cousins and it's quite clear that there are some relatively un-cousinly like feelings floating around, although still quite innocent at this point. Marrying cousins is a pretty normal thing for pureblood families, particularly throughout history, but I'm sure it'll be frowned upon by more and more of the wizarding population in this day and age. I don't know! Keep hold of those vibes, see where they take us.
RedShirt1453 - I'm not sure if you've made it to this point in the story yet but I am thoroughly enjoying reading your thoughts on the chapters you're reading! Constructive criticism is always welcome, and I love to see that you captured the essence of Rosalind long before her true intentions were revealed. I hope you're still enjoying the story.
Slytherina.01 - I'm so pleased you're still here! It really is such a joy getting your super positive feedback (and your English is superb)! The abuse was difficult to write, and I was a little worried it came out of nowhere but I also think it was realistic that Lucius would have zero tolerance for Cornelia's teenage antics. To be honest I am planning a major hair change for Cornelia in the future if you're interested, but it may or may not be due to teenage angst!
A few days later the time finally came for Cornelia and Draco to return to Hogwarts for their third year. The night before they were due to leave, Aunt Cissy had visited Cornelia in her room, silently looked her over and healed any still visible cuts or bruises. She placed her wand to the still sore slashes across her palms last, and they shone a pearly white even after the healing spell had been cast. Aunt Cissy held Cornelia's hand upturned in her own as they both considered the results, before turning her gaze up to Cornelia's eyes and holding them. Her expression was unreadable, but her eyes didn't have that hard quality they had held so often that summer. After a moment or two, she rose wordlessly and swept from the room, chin high, and leaving Cornelia feeling puzzled but a little warmer.
However, no matter the time Aunt Cissy had spent healing Cornelia before anybody else could lay eyes on her, she couldn't magic away the weight-loss or sallowness of her skin, which Rosalind noticed the second she clapped eyes on Cornelia the next morning on Platform 9 ¾.
Cornelia had been sending letters back and forth to Rosalind all summer as Rosalind had insisted – taking and replying to her owls from the centre of the maze – and whilst she had told Rosalind that she was unhappy, she had failed to mention the physical abuse she had been enduring. As Cornelia watched Rosalind wade through the crowd towards her at Platform 9 ¾, her eyes alight with passion, her stride purposeful, Cornelia remembered why she hadn't said anything.
Rosalind was the type of person who got whatever she liked and destroyed whatever she didn't like, and she took no prisoners in the process. It was a trait that, despite everything Cornelia knew about Rosalind and her scheming, she admired. If Rosalind got wind even slightly of how Lucius had treated her that summer, she wouldn't hesitate in her attack. She was literally in the business of swooping abused girls out of their homes and Cornelia suspected she had been waiting for such an opportunity to arise with herself. As much as Cornelia dreamt of leaving the Malfoy Manor, she most certainly didn't want to be rescued by Rosalind and spend the rest of her life in her debt - she knew what that would entail.
So, as Rosalind approached with fire in her eyes, Cornelia attempted to communicate with her wordlessly, to plead with her no to make a fuss. It just took one look to see that it was pointless even trying to stop her, it was clear in the clench of her jaw and the furious slant of her eyes what her intent was. She was on the rampage.
Rosalind swept to a crouch in front of her without so much as a greeting and began inspecting her, tilting her head left to right, lifting her arms and turning her hands in her own. Her eyes were challenging, as if daring her to protest, but Cornelia didn't dare – Aunt Cissy, on the other hand, did.
"What on earth do you think you're doing?" She exclaimed, but she spoke at the same time that Rosalind found the thin white scars upon Cornelia's palms.
"How did you get these?" She asked Cornelia as if she hadn't heard Aunt Cissy at all, but Cornelia didn't know what to say. Her heart fluttered and her eyes automatically flitted nervously over to Aunt Cissy and Uncle Lucy, who she was surprised to see looked wary of Rosalind.
It was all the answer Rosalind needed, and now she turned her gaze onto Narcissa and Lucius, rising slowly to where she towered above them both. The transformation was incredible, and the air around Rosalind seemed to sparkle with danger. Cornelia wondered if she should just run for it now rather than watch what was bound to be an ugly and very uncomfortable scene unfold, something that she desperately didn't want to be in the middle of.
"How dare you lay a hand on this child?" Her voice was low and murderous, and Uncle Lucius actually took a small step backwards. Rosalind had a teensy tiny reputation of murdering even more powerful men than he, and, if the rumours were true, they never even saw it coming.
Aunt Cissy on the other hand puffed herself up to her full height too. "How dare you accuse us of such a thing?"
"Oh come now, it is clear to anyone with eyes that she has been starved!" Rosalind's voice was getting louder, but not in a shrill way, it boomed instead. The people closest to them were beginning to stare, and Cornelia noticed that the Weasley family was amongst them. She felt a hand on her shoulder and turned to see Blaise, he had the same threatening glint in his eyes as his mother. She shrunk into him, hoping against hope that the ground would just open up and swallow her whole.
"We have done no such thing!" Aunt Cissy shrieked, her cheeks colouring.
"And which one of you whipped her?" Rosalind continued in her interrogation, unmoved by Aunt Cissy's denial. There was an outbreak of muttering around them and Cornelia saw a woman who must have been Mrs Weasley put her hands on her hips with an expression that she would very much like to join in the argument. Blaise's grip tightened on her.
"That is enough." Finally, Uncle Lucius found his voice, and he stepped forward, his eyes flitting to the crowd that was gathering around them. "This child is in our care, you neither know nor have the right to question our disciplinary techniques."
"Oh, is that what you call child abuse?" Rosalind scoffed but Uncle Lucius had found his confidence again.
"Cornelia, I have no doubt, will tell you herself of how she has taken ill this summer. And those scars, though I shouldn't need to explain myself to you, are marks of old that she picked up from playing up a tree with Draco."
"Lies!" Rosalind cried, but it seemed the crowd (other than the Weasleys) weren't so sure judging by the murmurs breaking out amongst them.
"Cornelia?" Uncle Lucius had turned those icy eyes to her now, as did Rosalind and, so it seemed, everyone else on the platform.
Cornelia's heart was racing, she could hear the dull thud of it in her ears, and her stomach lurched, she seriously thought she might throw up. She couldn't handle everyone looking at her like that, pitying, worried; she didn't need or want their sympathy. The whole thing was so humiliating she could barely breathe. So, she nodded, keeping her eyes turned firmly to the ground, it was the easiest thing to do.
She could practically hear the triumph in Lucius's voice when he addressed Rosalind then, and she hated him for it. "Now, because I'm sure you meant well, I don't expect an apology, but I do need you to step away from my children. Now."
"Cornelia?" Blaise whispered in her ear, but she just shook her head minutely. She wasn't going to do this here, not for Rosalind, not for Blaise and not even for herself. She just wanted to get on the train, get away from here, and pretend it never happened. His hand slid from her shoulder and despite her confidence she had made the right choice, it felt like he left a hole behind as he moved from her side and back towards his mother.
"Come along." Uncle Lucius said briskly to Cornelia, Draco and Aunt Cissy, and the crowd parted as they made their way towards the train, Cornelia refusing to look up as they walked.
It felt like there was a waging of war inside her, one half behind her with the Zabinis' and the other half right where she was, where she had grown up and what she knew with the Malfoys. It was miserable, bleak and violent, but she knew where she stood with it, and she couldn't turn her back on it just like that on Platform 9 ¾. Still, she felt sick when she thought of the bridges she may have just burned whilst she essentially protected the Malfoys.
Before they could climb aboard, Uncle Lucius leant down and under the guise of a hug, he whispered in her ear "If you have any contact with that woman, I will find out and you will regret it. Understood?" Cornelia nodded, feeling oddly like nothing that was happening was reality, and Uncle Lucius stood with a shark like smile. "Have a good term you two. We'll see you at Christmas."
When Cornelia stepped onto the train, heaving her luggage behind her, she was pale and shaking and when she dared to glance up, she saw that Draco looked much the same. They were amongst the first on the train and were quick to get settled in a carriage, drawing the curtains and sitting in shocked silence. That was how Theodore found them, sliding quietly into the carriage and absorbing the atmosphere immediately as he took in Cornelia's quivering, weak smile. He hadn't witnessed the stand off between Rosalind and the Malfoys, but he didn't question Cornelia, he just took the seat beside her and placed a small hand on her arm, ignoring the shivers that were running up and down her body.
"Did you have a nice summer?" Cornelia croaked in an attempt to start a conversation, and Theodore smiled encouragingly at her.
"Terrible as usual." He didn't bother to ask her anything in return, and they lapsed back into silence.
It wasn't long after the train began moving that the carriage door slammed open and Blaise swung in. Cornelia cringed automatically; she had been waiting for him to show up.
"What the hell Cornelia?!" He began immediately, his voice louder than she had ever heard it. Theodore bristled beside her.
"Blaise!" He gasped.
Cornelia couldn't look at him, her eyes instead falling upon Draco, who was watching Blaise with an odd expression on his face.
"You just completely humiliated Mother, in front of everyone!" Blaise ranted, stepping closer to her position by the window. Suddenly Draco was on his feet and blocking Blaise's path to Cornelia.
"Your Mother just humiliated all of us in front of everyone!" He spat back and Blaise's answering fury seemed to fill the whole carriage. He sized Draco up, tensing as if he was about to swing a punch in his face.
Cornelia darted up and tried to squeeze past Draco to step in between them, but Draco held her back. "You should be embarrassed - your father's a disgrace!" Blaise yelled and Draco, already tense from the events of the morning, snapped. He threw himself at Blaise, his head colliding with Blaise's chin and they sprawled backwards, landing in a writhing heap on the floor.
The combination of yelling, scuffling and Cornelia's screams of "stop!" drew yet another curious crowd that opened the carriage door and peered in to watch the drama unfold. She could hear the call of "fight!" being passed down the train corridor and her cheeks flamed in embarrassment. She couldn't take much more of this.
She drew her wand and aimed a knockback jinx at the student that fronted the crowd squeezing into the doorway, a petite fourth year Ravenclaw, whose feet left the floor as she was thrown back into the person directly behind them, smacking her head off their nose and thrusting the entire crowd roughly backwards. The uproar was enormous as multiple students dropped like dominoes, but it didn't do anything to interrupt the fight between Draco and Blaise. In seconds Cornelia had slammed the door closed, locked it and was turning her wand on the boys.
By now Draco had lost his position on top and was squirming desperately on the floor, attempting to hold off Blaise's punches with one hand and throwing manic slaps with the other. Both of their noses were bleeding, Draco's lip was bloodied too. Horrified, Cornelia cast a full body bind on both of them and Blaise collapsed face first onto Draco.
Cornelia and Theodore worked together to heave him off and laid them side by side on the ground. As she stared down at the two of them bouncing with the motion of the train, the commotion of the students still gathered outside the door, Cornelia really felt like she was coming apart at the seams. Nothing was as it should be. Everything was wrong!
Something that resembled panic but much more twisted, was rising in her chest, and what was more alarming was that the more she fought it down the more it seemed to drown her. Her life was a mess, she would never recover from that scene on the Platform, all the students knew what she went through at home, they would all look at her differently now, she would never hear from Rosalind again, Blaise hated her, she kept on getting Draco hurt, she was going to be stuck with the Malfoy's forever…. the list went on and on, gaining momentum in her mind.
Her fingers clawed and raised to her hair where they grabbed handfuls, and her whole face distorted with confusion and terror as she attempted to smother the mania that was gripping her.
Theodore was at her side now, his hands fussing around her without actually touching her. "Cornelia? Cornelia?" He was asking, but Cornelia could barely hear him. She couldn't seem to catch her breath and her chest was heaving as she panted faster and faster, her heart thrumming like birds wings in her ears, and the carriage spun around her. She sank quickly to the floor, wrapping her arms around her knees as if to hold herself together, but it didn't work; and suddenly she was spilling out, the dams inside her were crumbling and it was like all the feelings she had been locking up safely deep within her for years were gushing out of her.
Theodore, completely flustered in the face of Cornelia's unexpected panic-attack, cast the countercharm to both Blaise and Draco's full body-binds. Whilst Blaise took a few moments to gather his ability to move again, Draco scrambled up in an instant, crawling quickly to where Cornelia sat curled in on herself, gasping on the ground.
"Nelly? Nelly?" He whispered, placing bruised but gentle hands on her arms and gently prying them apart so he could see her face. "It's okay Nelly, we've stopped fighting. It's okay." He was muttering, desperately trying to get her to look at him, but she couldn't see anything past the tears that spilled thick and fast.
Draco could hardly believe it. He had known Cornelia for almost her whole life and he had never, ever seen her like this. He wished he could see what was going on in her mind, wished he could somehow step inside and put things in order for her. She had always been a closed book, and that had been especially noticeable this summer, every hit from his father pushing the door on her true thoughts and feelings shut even further. It had hurt him to watch, but he felt so helpless in the face of it. Yet Cornelia had taken every blow in her stride, unshakeable and undeniably strong – he had always admired that strength; he was envious of it. But something had changed in Cornelia over the last year, and her regular whip of temper and complete rejection of anything resembling an order felt like they were stepping closer and closer to a cliff-edge, and now here she was, for the second time in a matter of days, inconsolable. It terrified him.
The two of them were so absorbed that they didn't notice the train judder to a stop, the noise of the engines dying around them, but Blaise and Theodore did. They shared a look, shock turning to confusion, and Theodore spun to peer out of the window. It was eerily dark outside, but surely it wasn't late enough for that? As he leant further forward, he noticed his breath start to fog up the glass, blocking the outside from view – but that was impossible – it had been a warm late summers day just minutes previously! All of a sudden, he understood and span to face Blaise who was shivering in the middle of the carriage.
"Dementors!" He hissed at exactly the same time the lock on the door clicked open.
Blaise leapt away from the door, almost tripping over Draco and Cornelia who remained huddled on the floor, still completely unaware of what was happening around them. It wasn't until Cornelia's laboured breathing was joined by the horrifying sound of someone drawing a great, ongoing, rattling breath did Draco's muttering fall silent, and he finally turned to face the robed figure in the doorway.
A cold settled amongst them then, seeping into their skin and penetrating their very bones. It chased out any source of light it came across – hope, love, happiness, all was snuffed out. Draco's arms fell limp around him, all thought of comforting Cornelia gone, and the boys did the same, collapsing into their seats.
Cornelia felt the cold too, but unlike the others, she embraced it. It numbed the mania within her, stilling her breath and tears and filling her mind with a silent darkness. The dementor swooped into the room, turning its cloaked face towards Draco and Cornelia on the floor, and took an even deeper breath, sucking the very colour from the room with it. That was when the silent darkness twisted and Cornelia realised that she was alone in the tapestry room, that's why it was so dark. But then… no, she wasn't alone.
"This is your own fault." Lucius's voice slunk through the air towards her, and she heard him unsheathe his cane. She cowered, raising her hands above her head to protect it from the worst of the blows, but they never came. Then, with a disorientating SWOOSH, the sounds of the compartment flooded her ears.
"She's fainted." There was the deep reassuring tones of Blaise's voice.
Someone's fingers on her wrists, someone else's digging into her shoulder and shaking her.
"Nelly? Wake up Nelly!" Draco's voice filled with panic.
The ground was shuddering beneath her in a repetitive pattern, the train.
Her eyes fluttered open and light flooded in, blinding her.
The light disappeared as someone dragged her up into an embrace, her face smothered in their robes. It was Draco, she knew his smell.
"Wh-what-" She struggled to form words and Theodore's voice cut through the room.
"Let her breathe, Draco! She needs air."
Draco hastily pulled away but continued to support her head off the ground. She was confused to find that she was sprawled across the floor – but the last thing she remembered had been Draco and Blaise laid out on the floor.
"What happened?" She mumbled, attempting to push herself up, but her arms quivered pathetically beneath her. Draco adjusted himself so he could support more of her weight, pulling her into a fully seated position.
"You missed our little visitor." Blaise said darkly, and Cornelia was just relieved to see that he wasn't shouting at her anymore. She caught his eye and he even threw her a shaky attempt at a smirk.
"Who?" She tried once more to support herself and found she was more able to do it this time. "I'm fine Draco, really." She added, and Draco moved away slightly, still leaving one hand on her shoulder.
"A dementor." Theodore explained, his face grim. In fact, everyone looked awful, Cornelia realised as she glanced around at them all.
"You're kidding." She scoffed, although she knew Theodore would never joke about something like that. Very rarely joked at all actually.
"Don't you remember?" Draco asked from beside her, he was watching her very carefully. Cornelia scowled, taking a few moments to rifle through her mind.
"I remember you two fighting…" her eyes flashed between Draco and Blaise, but they were both either too exhausted or too agitated to respond, she couldn't tell which. "So I body-bound you both. Then I… erm." She suddenly remembered the sickening whirlwind of emotions that she had gotten swept up in, leaving her very senses behind, and fell silent.
"You had a panic attack." Theodore finished for her, his eyes kind.
Cornelia blushed and cleared her throat, suddenly finding it difficult to look anybody in the face. Draco began rubbing her back. "It's okay Nelly." He said softly and Cornelia squirmed away from him.
"Okay but then what? I don't remember a dementor coming in!" She snapped, sounding much more like herself again.
"Well trust me, it did. And it liked you." Blaise couldn't hide his shudder.
The sound of the door clicking open drew all of their attention, and Cornelia shifted in an attempt to get up before whoever it was saw her there on the floor. To their surprise, it wasn't a student that peered in around the door, but an older slightly dishevelled looking man with a long red scar across his face. He took one look at Cornelia and slid into the room with a warm smile, closing the door behind him.
"It's alright." He ushered Cornelia to stay still as she struggled to stand, and instead squatted to be more on her level, rifling in his pockets. "Terrible creatures, dementors, but they're gone now." His voice wasn't patronising or worried, rather it was amiable and full of character, as if they were friends already. "Here, this will make you feel a little stronger." He held out a slab of what looked like chocolate that he had just pulled from his pocket, but Cornelia didn't move to take it.
"Who are you?" Draco asked rudely, but the man just shook the chocolate at Cornelia, his eyes crinkled in a kind smile.
"I'm your new Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor, so I can assure you needn't worry about eating this. Although it does well to be wary of strangers sometimes."
Cornelia slowly took the chocolate from him, and all eyes were on her as she nibbled the end. She held this strange new Professor's gaze, and he looked pleased as she took another, larger, bite of the chocolate. It was chocolate alright, it tasted just like the standard milk variety but there was something about the sensation of eating it, something beyond the flavour. As the chocolate melted on her tongue it spread from her mouth, down her neck and through her limbs. The shivery feeling subsided incredibly quickly with every bite and to her amazement she found that the Professor hadn't been exaggerating. She gave him a tiny, almost imperceptible smile, which he returned with a further crinkling of his eyes more than anything.
"Very good. Right, well I must see to the driver. Enjoy the rest of your journey." He said as he rose back to his feet, casting his eyes over them all once more before he closed the door behind him.
Silence fell over the room in the Professor's absence, and Cornelia pushed up to her feet, sitting beside Draco who followed her every move with his hands as if to catch her. Cornelia noticed that all the boys eyes were on her, identical looks of concern upon their faces. It was embarrassing.
"Why do you think the dementors were on the train?" She asked into the quiet, her tone falsely cheery.
"I'd bet they were checking the train for Sirius Black." Blaise answered quickly, his voice a reflection of her own. They made brief eye contact before both looking shyly away. She was surprised he was still here to be honest, and suddenly the realisation that he was probably only sticking with her out of pity dropped icily into her stomach. She had to say something, she had to come up with an excuse for her panic attack.
As she cleared her throat, three pairs of anxious eyes swivelled in her direction again. "Listen, er – that… earlier, it wasn't a, you know, a panic attack." She stumbled over her words, and the little glance between Theodore and Draco didn't escape her attention. "No really. I'm erm, I'm on my period and it just really hurt." She finished lamely, praying that they would just shy away from any mention of periods and drop it entirely. Theodore's mouth dropped open slightly and he gave her a very obviously disbelieving stare.
"You mean you were crying because you were in pain?" Draco asked slowly, and she realised very quickly that she wasn't fooling any of them. Still, she'd come too far to back down now, so she nodded and forced a smile on her face.
"Yep, that's all."
Theodore and Draco shared a very obvious baffled look now and Cornelia bristled. "You guys wouldn't get it. It fucking hurts!"
Once again that awkward stillness fell over them as Cornelia nursed her annoyance that none of them had believed her, admittedly rather pathetic, excuse.
"I'm sorry Cornelia." Blaise suddenly spoke, and it was the first time she had ever heard him apologise for anything. "Mother told me not to mention what happened on the Platform, she made me promise actually. I shouldn't have pushed it when I came in." He looked very similar to Rosalind in that moment, his eyes burning with a similar passion that she had seen in hers earlier that day, and her heart hiccuped slightly. Still the tight coil of shame at her breakdown lashed out at his words and she shook her head violently.
"Nope, it was nothing to do with that!" She insisted.
"Nelly…" Draco murmured softly beside her, trying to tempt her into giving up the act.
"I'm fine okay?!" She squawked, her eyes flashing and fists tightening on her dress, before realising the irony of her words matched with her tone and attempted to force a smile on her face and soften her voice. "Really I'm fine."
It was obvious that none of them believed her, but they all knew better than to press her and so her words were met with stiff nods and shifty eyes. She fought to staunch the fury uncoiling within her.
Wow DRAMA! I didn't plan any of that confrontation between Rosalind and the Malfoys and yet here we are. It just didn't make sense that Rosalind wouldn't recognise the signs of Cornelia being physically abused and not say something - it always confused me that the Weasleys (especially Molly) never said anything to the Dursleys when they saw them.
And of course, here is Lupin. I fucking love that man. I just love him. That is all.
Until next time.