Chapter 3: Terror

If anything could describe Edenia's feelings the best, it would be inner disunity. She lay there in her bed all night long, unable to sleep. Blaise's words were swirling in her head, keeping her awake. Fraternity. Fraternity. Fraternity. Did someone have a clue how much that meant to a Slytherin? How ambitious they were to keep someone in their midst? Yes, it was easy for the others to judge Slytherins for their foul behavior sometimes. But they didn't know anything about the difficulties that occurred whenever one of them, like Edenia, tried something else, tried to leave one or the other tradition behind, tried another route. They didn't understand the pressure. And Edenia didn't understand the pressure until she became its very center.

Draco and his gang kept close to her for the next days. They hardly left her any room to breathe, she could barely walk to a restroom on her own without being stalked down by one of them. Most of the times it was Crabbe and Goyle who were lingering around somewhere, trying to be undetected but how could they ever go unnoticed? She was also quite sure who sent them after her, none other than Draco Malfoy of course. He grew rather cold towards her, didn't talk much and Edenia didn't ask for conversations. Blaise, on the other hand, threw her nasty looks whenever he could find the opportunity. He found them nearly anytime. Until Saturday came; weekend. The time for Edenia to not give a single damn about anyone and anything. She sat in the silent common room, not disturbed by a soul until Pansy walked inside, followed by one of them.

"What's gotten into you, Blaise?" Asked Pansy as she slumped down next to Edenia on the couch, a faint smirk marked her face. Edenia and Pansy didn't get along all too well; they highly ignored each other whenever they could, as they didn't want to display disagreement in front of the other houses.

"What do you mean?" He asked lowly, leaning back against the couch. His eyes were fixed on Pansy.
"You're all quiet, usually. You never wanted to hang out with anyone, not much, did you?"
"Well. Some things change." He said indifferently, glancing over towards Edenia, indicating something that she didn't care too much about to interpret correctly.

"You never had a high opinion of anyone. And now…you're so bent on keeping the Slytherins together." Pansy grinned even more but was distracted by the sound of a book closing next to her. Edenia stopped reading, seeming ready to get up again. She felt like this conversation could end somewhere between messed up and pointless.

"Now, now. Where are you going? Who allowed you to get up?" cooed Blaise.
"Excuse me?!" Edenia hissed. "Since when do I need permission?!"
"You'll see." He retorted and nudged his chin ahead for Edenia to turn around. She did and looked into Draco's eyes, then away again, wanted to go. Of course she was stopped. Draco downright pushed her; she fell backwards and landed on the couch with a bang. Gaspingly, she sat upright and noticed how Blaise and Draco hovered above her.

"You did it again, Edenia" growled Draco and pulled out his wand. The same action was imitated by his friend. Pansy, meanwhile, got out of the way but watched from afar.

"Did what?!"
"Avoided us! You've been avoiding us all week! All. Week. Doing the same stuff again and again… We thought we'd give you some time to adjust, thought you'd eventually learn it yourself but…"
"But nothing happened. You're more apathetic towards us than I used to be. During these times…Tsk, Edenia…only an idiot would do that…turn their back on us Slytherins, the only ones that are treated right here…" Said Blaise as he stroked down her hair with his wand. She shuddered and couldn't move; they had her locked down too firmly with their free hand.

"Draco!" Edenia growled out warningly. A couple of other Slytherins walked towards the noise and stood around the scene in a circle. About fifteen other students joined the event, all quite excited and interested.

"We should teach her a lesson!" shouted out a random student, followed by noise of agreement.

"Thinks she can go around protecting everyone! Putting shame on us!" Another one chimed in.

"Yeah show her, Draco! Show she can't do this! Show she can't ignore us!" Crabbe and Goyle clapped and cheered, throwing their fists up motivationally.

"Hmm…" Draco thought out loud theatrically and stared into Edenia's insecure eyes deeply. His lips twitched slightly as he declared.
"Consider yourself warned…for the last time." He let go of her, Blaise and the others seemed disappointed when Draco turned around and left. Edenia just stared after him, not able to say a single word or even leave out a sound of whatever she may be thinking at the moment. Blaise looked down at her, raised a single eyebrow and walked off after his friend. He would make sure that she did what they expected.

Edenia got up with the same speed that her mind needed to understand; slowly. The other students left the common room and she decided to go into the library to get a free head. And at least there nobody expected her to talk; quite in fact, people expected her to be quiet.

As she started walking out, it didn't take ten seconds until she was sure somebody followed her. Judging by the sounds of the footsteps, it must've been someone heavy. She guessed it was Crabbe coming along and she acted as though she didn't care about it until she walked into the library and picked a random book about "Advanced Dark Arts", sat down and started to read.

"Why Crabbe, this must be the first time you enter a library." Edenia teased behind her book, then glanced towards the bookshelf that showed at least one third of a person standing next to it. He didn't respond at first, probably read the book's headline, but walked around the shelf and sat down in front of her.

"Ya know, Draco only wants to watch out, 'es worried 'bout you."
"Fun fact! You guys are the ones worrying me the most."
"Me?"
"All of you!"
"Why?"
Edenia sighed. That stupid pile of stupidity. She couldn't concentrate and read a book like that! No, she got up and put it away, starting to walk off and Crabbe followed as though he was her very shadow. Annoyed to the maximum she turned around suddenly, causing him to crash against her a bit, and yelled.

"STOP FOLLOWING ME!"

"THEN LISTEN TO US!" He yelled back and Edenia's fists started to clench in anger but she was able to calm herself when a person with black robes stormed towards their direction. A white mask covered his face and he asked in a demanding tone.

"Is there a problem?"
"No, Sir." Replied Crabbe on an instant and Edenia watched the black robe march off and away, firing off random spells at students from other houses. Edenia watched with worry as somebody else stood right next to her. She flinched and backed away against something solid when she stared into pale blue eyes and distinctive blond hair. Draco smirked slightly when he saw that, rested his arm next to her head while her back was pressed against the wall. He leaned in to whisper.

"A tad jumpy, aren't you? There's nothing to worry about…as long as you do as we say…unless you want to be treated like them…" He pointed ahead with his eyes; another student crashed onto the floor and cried bitterly when a spell hit them. Edenia glared.
"You disgust me." She uttered through gritted teeth and that's when she heard a loud noise before her cheek felt some pain; taking time to inform her brain that Draco slapped her across the face. Bewildered and surprised, he stared into her eyes and to his hand, back and forth as did Edenia. Both of them couldn't believe what just happened and the next thing that Draco saw is how she ripped away from him only to run elsewhere. His eyes met Crabbe's, who shrugged as though he thought that it couldn't have been helped. But there was something in Draco's eyes that Edenia couldn't determine. It was a mixture of regret and pride, of surprise and awareness, of right and wrong. She ran right into the common room as fast as she could, determined to leave Hogwarts behind for good. Stumbling head over heels, she reached the girl's dormitory, not caring whose eyes were following her or not, she would definitely use her wand this time if she had to. And she didn't want to – unlike them she never wanted to use her wand on a student; on another Slytherin. But if it couldn't be helped, it couldn't be helped.

"Leaving us, sweetie?" Asked a girl next to Edenia's bed. Pansy Parkinson stood there with crossed arms.
"Leave. Me. Alone." Edenia hissed; her teeth were still gritted as she threw her stuff into a large suitcase. Pansy laughed and nodded and indeed, she left the room. Edenia needed five more minutes to stuff everything into her bags before she proceeded out of the door and hastily grabbed her jacket. What came next should've been expected but she tried to make it seem as though it wasn't true.

"Going somewhere, Edenia?" A well know voice asked. It wasn't Draco. It wasn't Blaise. It was a woman. It wasn't Pansy. It was Bellatrix Lestrange. Someone must've informed her!

"I…I…" She started but Draco and Blaise had their arms crossed. They weren't amused and neither was Edenia.
"Come here. No, right here. Closer…" Spoke Lestrange cheerfully, opening an arm and waving the girl by with her hand. Edenia gulped slightly but walked on over to the dark witch who forced her down the couch, sitting right next to her. Close.

"I believe we should have a… conversation…" Purred the curly haired woman as tea filled up in a cup magically. She offered one to Edenia and had a second cup herself. The girl, however, held the porcelain in her hands nervously; the tea was shaking in it while she constantly tried to avoid direct eye contact.
"Parkinson. Put the suitcase back. I doubt anyone is leaving this common room tonight." Declared Bellatrix dominantly as she kept looking at Edenia's face, not taking her gaze off of her. Pansy did as she had been told, while Blaise and Draco were sent away. Both, Bellatrix and Edenia were alone now. The girl felt beyond nervous, no! She didn't want to be alone with that woman, so close to her, feeling her, smelling her. The danger radiated from her black aura and Edenia couldn't control her heartbeat that was speeding up.

"Girl, do you know how rough life can be?"
Edenia didn't answer. She sipped on her cup of tea to avoid saying anything.

"Do you know what happens to rotten twigs on a tree?"
Again, Edenia decided to keep quiet.
"They are being cut off…so they cannot endanger the healthy."

Silence.

"You don't want to be...such a rotten twig, do you?"
Silence.

"I asked do you?"

"What if the tree's roots are rotten and not the twigs?" Edenia asked, the first time she made direct eye contact with Bellatrix, whose lids narrowed greatly at this point.

"Then the roots became rotten because of their surrounding…" she responded arrogantly and Edenia mumbled something about how all trees could live in a better place if there was a brave person to place them all somewhere else instead; but Bellatrix didn't quite catch onto that because Edenia spoke in a drowsy voice.

The next thing she remembered was the softness of pillows and the warmth of a bed. Edenia's eyes opened and she stared around the room. It was early in the morning – it was Sunday. Someone must've put her into the dormitory sometime. She sat up, rubbed her eyes and gasped when she looked into a mirror. She looked terrible; the stress showed. Recalling yesterday evening, she realized that somehow that conversation with Bellatrix Lestrange was far worse than Draco's slap. It got into her very core. Those black eyes. Her dominant voice. The calm way of being out of her mind.

"Good morning." Said Draco as Edenia stepped into the common room. Edenia granted him a harsh glare and further ignored him before she eventually rubbed a hand through her hair and proceeded out of the door. From the corner of her eye, she noticed how Draco nudged his chin ahead and a dark figure followed. It must be Blaise's turn to keep watch. He followed her all the way upstairs into the Great Hall where he saw her sitting next to Luna and Ginny. Obviously pissed off by this, he sat down on the other side of the table; staring at her all the while she tried eating her fruit salad.

"Why is he here?" Asked Ginny.
"Don't know. Ask him." Responded Edenia coolly.
"Why are you here, Blaise?" Ginny tried with an amused tone to her voice.
"To prevent her from becoming a blood-traitor like you." He retorted and nibbled on some grapes in boredom.

"So staring at students prevents them from doing such things?" Asked Luna half obliviously and half sarcastically while Blaise's dark eyes narrowed down to her light ones.
"Keep out of my business, bunny."
"You're at our table." Said Ginny with a halfway smirk and Edenia nodded.
"She's got a point. You're at our table."
Though then, Blaise suddenly rushed up and slapped the silver bowl of grapes away; it crashed against several cups and pumpkin juice spilled all over, people gasped and Blaise's hand reached to Edenia's collar, pulling her to his level from across the table. She coughed and tried to wiggle free, others tried to help while he yelled furiously.
"YOU DON'T PLAY WITH ME LIKE THAT!" but he let go of her when he noticed how his temper got the best of him. Edenia rubbed her throat gently, still coughing while Luna and Ginny tried to calm her down. And suddenly everything went so fast, barely visible, Blaise had to shield himself from a spell that was deflected at him from further away from the Gryffindor table. Neville Longbottom got up his feet and fired spells at Blaise, Edenia yelled and told him to stop but he wouldn't listen. Several Death Eaters marched up and forced Neville down with a single spark from their wand; he was alive but didn't move. From over the distance, Edenia could see Bellatrix Lestrange walking up, her eyes were narrowed and she didn't seem as nice as yesterday evening. Instead, she threw another Cruciatus curse at Neville who screamed and shouted, his eyes got all teary but he didn't cry. Edenia ran around the scene, back and forth, pulled on Bellatrix's arm to make her let go but she just laughed crazily while enjoying both Edenia's and Neville's misery.

"You see what happens, standing up for unworthy friends?!" She yelled at Edenia and forced Neville up with her wand only to make him crash against the Slytherin table this time. Crabbe and Goyle were sitting there, watching and laughing but their eyes twinkled with joy when Bellatrix told them to perform the Cruciatus curse on Neville, to show everyone what they had learned so far.

Edenia sprang up and dashed towards them, stood in front of Neville while she screamed.
"STOP! STOP THIS IDOCY! HE'S ONE OF US! HE'S HUMAN!" She yelled but the hall filled with laughter, mainly the Professors and parts of the Slytherins seemed amused.
"Human? He's barely a wizard!" Shouted out Bellatrix as she walked up to Edenia and pulled her closer, hugging her tightly out of a sudden. She used this position to whisper into the girl's ear. "Enough. I was charitable as it was…enough." And Edenia could clearly tell how badly Bellatrix had to restrain herself from hurting the girl, her nails dug into the tender flesh but she let go and pushed her over towards Blaise. He caught Edenia and nodded at Bellatrix as she seemed to motion him to get going – and they did. He dragged her down and away, eyes followed her but Edenia didn't get to scream or say anything once she noticed that Bellatrix was following but she saw how Crabbe and Goyle fought of several students to prevent them from following. Blaise hoisted her over his shoulder as he walked downstairs and vanished into the Slytherin's common room in which Crabbe and Goyle have also found their way a bit later. Draco still sat on the couch; his attention went to Edenia when she was forced onto the round and large table right in the middle of the room. Bellatrix laughed and used a binding curse to keep the girl fixated on the surface, not caring about her whimpering and crying.

"Honey. It's all your fault. You could've kept quiet, could've listened…" Cooed Bellatrix as she played with Edenia's hair a little and kissed her forehead, leaving an imprint of her red lipstick behind but this sure wasn't going to be the only imprint left on Edenia.

"Now…let's teach her another lesson. One of my kind…" Declared the dark witch and asked.
"Who of you would like to show Edenia that a Slytherin won't be pushed away?"

Crabbe and Goyle ran up to Bellatrix on an instant but the latter winkled her nose slightly and shook her head, then grinned when she noticed how badly Edenia began to cry at this point. What did she plan? No! She couldn't let the guys touch her, here in front of everyone, because of that, no, no, no! She couldn't do that, could she? She could! But she wouldn't do that, would she? Her breathing began to turn into an unsteady mixture of coughing and panting as she sobbed and turned her face away to the left and right. Bellatrix laughed even more at her student's misery, and then motioned Draco to come closer. He did, not daring to disobey.

Edenia wondered, by now, Bellatrix surely found out that Edenia was only a half-blood. A half-blood, not as filthy as a muggle, was enough to test things on. Draco cleared his throat and looked away, saying. "Zabini. Maybe you'd like to…you've been fantasizing about it lately."

And Blaise smirked deviously. Now he could repay Edenia for treating him like an idiot. He walked on over towards the table and that's when Edenia began to scream as loud as her lungs allowed.
"NO! NO! DON'T TOUCH ME! DON'T TOUCH ME YOU FILTHY PIECE OF-!" Though another slap echoed through the common room. Crabbe and Goyle laughed when they saw how he shut her up with that, only to lace his fingers into her hair, pulling on it tightly, rustling and ripping it until she would look into his eyes.
"I told you…you don't play with me like that…" And he forced her into a passionate kiss, keeping his eyes opened all the time, yet narrowed. Bellatrix Lestrange watched with her arms crossed, her head tilted down to the side a little, constantly biting her bottom lip in delight; then interrupted the little session when she thought it was enough.

She pulled Blaise away from Edenia with her wand before he would've gone any further, walked over to the girl, caressed her cheek with one hand and stared into her broken eyes.
"Don't become one of those twigs…"

The next morning, Edenia sat where she belonged. At the Slytherin's table.