Chapter 21: Return
Edenia could feel no more. The door opened but for Edenia it felt like it closed.
"Nia..." Smiled Alex gently and pulled her in with a hug. Draco walked around them into the apartment, closed the door and nodded at a man and a woman standing in the back.
"I finally found her..." He said to them.
"Well done." Spoke Tyle and Emily nodded, wiping away some tears when she saw that Edenia did not respond to the hug.
"Nia...your arms...your body...!" She squealed in fear and worry but she added hastily.
"Let me tend to your wounds, come here, come..." She tried to bring her closer as Alex let her go from the tight embrace, rubbing her shoulder as he pushed her towards Emily in a very gentle way. But Edenia stared ahead blankly. She did not budge; the atmosphere started to grow darker, heartbeats seemed to become loud. Edenia shivered, her chest heaved up and down, she breathed like an animal.
"Bring. Me. Back. Right. Now." She demanded and her gaze hit Draco; Emily gasped and her hands rushed to her mouth to hide the shock; Edenia's eyes appeared ready to kill.
"I SAID TAKE ME BACK RIGHT NOW! TAKE ME BACK! I DON'T WANT TO STAY HERE WITH THEM! I WON'T! I WANT TO GO BACK! I WANT TO GO BACK TO BELLATRIX!" It burst out of Edenia and she rushed towards Draco and grabbed him around the collar firmly with such strength and power that the guys had trouble prying her off of the blonde male.
"She's out of her mind..." Sobbed Emily while Alex and Tyle tried to hold their friend back from dashing out of the door; Edenia tried.
"I...I am nothing without her! Let me go! LET ME GO! I LOVE HER! YES I DO! I WANT TO BE WITH HER! LET ME GO!"
Draco shook his head and watched Alex as he forced Edenia down to the floor with her arms pinned to her sides as she wailed hysterically. Emily, unable to take this, cried against Draco's shoulder, her thin mouth twitched in attempts to say something but nothing came out as words. "Nia..." Spoke Tyle softly out of a sudden. He rubbed through her hair but Edenia pulled her face away. "Only she is allowed to do that! Only Bellatrix!" She yelled furiously and Tyle's eyes met Alex's. Both of them had a nonverbal conversation, Draco could clearly tell while he failed trying to calm down the heartbroken Emily next to him. "Quick, Emily! Get some medication or whatever! You're a nurse!" "Yes...!" She wiped away her tears and walked off only to come back moments later. She knelt down, pulled out a needle and some strange liquid and gave the screaming Edenia an injection that soon calmed her down to the point of drifting sway to a dreamy wonderland.
Candles lit up in the living room. The four of them sat around the sleeping figure on the couch, staring. Nobody spoke for a while, until Alex shook his head again.
"How can she say she loves her..."
"I've heard of that syndrome once...Oslo? No...Sweden? Nah...something like that...I've been reading about it during my exam preparations...sometimes people fall in love with their tormentor...well, it's not true love what they feel for them, they just believe they love them to forgive whatever happened...or will happen."
"Makes sense..." Stated Tyle but Alex shook his head again, glaring. He did not speak for once. Draco, however, bit his bottom lip in anger.
"What the hell made your aunt so evil?!" Hissed Emily at Draco as if it was his fault. Before he could answer, Tyle interrupted.
"Nothing could ever justify what she did to Nia...let's not spend our lifetime talking about that person."
"Yes, let's not spend our time...talking...about that person..." Added Alex with a strange hint in the middle of his sentence, he kept glaring ahead at Edenia, thinking. His eyes closed for a couple of seconds and Draco threw his head back.
"It's all my fault...I should've taken care of her during the battle...I shouldn't have let her out of eyesight..."
"Why have you, then?!" Hissed Alex.
"I sent her into the forbidden forest-"
"Yeah that's a place to send someone!" hissed Alex again.
"Hear me out! I sent her there because all the dangerous creatures were not in the forest at that time. They were all out, participating in the battle. That's why it was the only safe place, I thought...she probably ran out of the forest again...I don't know how Bellatrix got her but I have not seen my aunt ever since that day...I believe she has been keeping Edenia since then..."
"But why! Why did she keep Edenia?! Why?!" Whimpered Emily.
"Because she loves me..." Came another voice. Everyone's heads turned to the direction. They saw Edenia's eyes open, she stared up to the ceiling. Nobody knows for how long she listened.
"Nia..." Said Emily softly but Alex interrupted her.
"She does not love you! She wants to destroy you! That's all she wants! Because her life is a mess!" he added.
"Not true!" Barked Edenia and turned around to Alex. "It was a mess until she met me!" "Nia...!" Emily pleaded and her eyes got all teary again. She shook her head and tried to speak but couldn't.
"You will never understand..." Added Edenia as she sat up.
"There's nothing to understand! You will stay here young lady! Enough!" Yelled Alex.
"Alex..." Interrupted Tyle and forced him back down onto the couch when Alex rushed up in anger, pointing at Edenia with his index finger in an angry, disciplining manner. But Edenia just laughed.
"She will come here...I warned you though..." She said and lay back down. Everyone looked at Draco then, Edenia hit a point, an interesting question occured now that she mentioned it.
"She cannot know Nia is here, right?" Asked Tyle but Draco paused a little.
"I can't think of any way possible..." He answered but was interrupted.
"Well, but what if she can!" Growled Alex, rolling his eyes and resting his head back again only to move up to the table and grabbing a cigarette that he lit up in stress.
"Sweetie. Nia, wake up. You need to eat something. I made you a rice soup. You like that, don't you? Heh. Are you up?" Whispered Emily into Edenia's ear. The girl opened her eyes and looked around, spotted the soup in Emily's hands but shook her head.
"I don't want anything from you...you can't even give me the one thing I want..."
"Nia please! We are friends-"
"We are no friends!" Emily's eyes widened. Tears welled up in her eyes but she took it bravely. She dived the spoon into the bowl, pulled it up and held it to Edenia's mouth with a smile.
"Open your mouth..." She said after a couple of seconds in which nothing happened. Edenia glared and Emily gasped when the next second, out of nowhere, the bowl split in two, as if something hit it with an invisible knife; it simply cracked and all the hot liquid poured out, almost burning her lap. She got up, collected the porcelain while wiping away some tears when the guys ran into the living room.
"What happened?!" Demanded Alex and looked towards Emily and Edenia, back and forth. "The bowl broke suddenly...I guess the soup was too hot for the porcelain..." Said Emily while mopping the floor but that's when Draco's and Edenia's eyes met. Edenia might have been stripped off of her wand, but not off of her magical abilities. Magic will always find a way. And it did.
As the night broke into the day, a storm growled outside. Edenia still lay on the couch, not moving, not talking. "Nia, are you alright?" Asked Tyle, slightly bending down to her level. She did not even grand him a single glance, treated him as though he did not exist. That's what they thought she did. Quite in fact, Edenia could not talk. She could not move. She could do nothing without Bellatrix. She was nothing without Bellatrix.
"Nia!" Yelled Alex suddenly, causing the girl to at least avert her glance to him. He rushed up to her, past Tyle and grabbed her shoulders, shaking her severely while she whimpered.
"TALK TO US!" He growled but before anything else could happen, Tyle pulled him away from Edenia that slumped back into the couch with eyes wide open but no response other than that. "Alex!" Barked Emily when she walked inside the room, obviously alerted by the noise. Draco followed, however, remained quiet.
"Somebody has to talk sense into her!" Grumbled Alex and sat down on a chair, crossing his arms. "That's not the way to do it." Responded Tyle as he glanced at Edenia who closed her eyes again after she cuddled down and merely turned her back on them, blocking any attempts for a conversation.
"See! That's exactly what I mean!" Rushed Alex once more, pointing the flat of his hand at Edenia to expose her behavior, but Emily squeezed the shirt-part on his shoulder, rustling on it while saying repeatedly.
"Stop it! Stop it Alex! You're making it all worse!"
"Can't get worse than that!" He hissed and pulled his shoulder away. Draco's eyes wandered out of the window at that moment and he could not shake off the feeling that Alex was horribly mistaking about that statement. Inhaling deeply, he walked over to the couch and sat down. A glance to the rest told everyone that he wanted to be alone with Edenia. They let her.
"Hey..."
No response.
"I don't understand it. What is it...with you and my aunt."
"You'd never understand!" Hissed Edenia and Draco frowned widely but he shook his head.
"No...you don't understand. She has been like that since Hogwarts. I just don't understand why my aunt is so...focused on you."
Edenia looked at him but she turned her face away, stared out of the window, then back to him. "I don't know! But what does it matter? She wants me and-"
"Edenia! My aunt is not a person to mess with! Alex was right about that one bit...she wanted you to destroy you!"
"You're lying! Everyone of you!" She barked and gestured wildly in her anger but Draco caught her fingers and held them tightly in his hands, pulling her closer to stare into her eyes.
"I've known her a bit longer than you. She must've...given you a very strong love potion or used the Imp-"
"She did none of that!" Cried out Edenia again, trying to rip free from the blonde but he did not let go.
"There is a plan behind all her actions! She doesn't simply choose a random Slytherin for no good reason!" Growled Draco in frustration, not able to stress his point, it seemed, which resulted in squeezing Edenia's hand a bit tighter.
"So what if she had her reasons!" Yelped Edenia.
"You know about them?!"
"What if I do?!"
"For Merlin's sake... We should've been sticking to my plan. You wouldn't be in that situation now..."
"Voldemort is dead. There is no reason to act ambitious in front of anyone anymore. No reason to marry me to show your devotion to his ideals...He's not there to reward you and your family..."
Draco sighed gently when Edenia said that, shook his head and looked out of the window, nose slightly snarled up in what the girl determined to be sheer hatred.
"...Tsk...How silly are you..." He grumled and bit his bottom lip, squeezing her hand tighter yet again. She winced at the feeling, tried to pull back but he seized her by her arms, holding her frame controllingly to his eye-level, repeating. "How silly are you?!"
"What do you want?" She whimpered, suppressing the tears of pain that came with his firm grasp. He paused but did not take his eyes away from her own. Another snarl errupted from his throat when he commented. "You! That is what I want! The whole time! I told you that...that..." He inhaled deeply but shook his head. "When we departed. The night...before the attack at Hogwarts..."
Edenia stared at him, not sure what he was trying to explain.
"Do you not remember...I whispered into your ear...I told you. I told you that...that I love you!" His voice raised a tiny bit in frustration.
"I thought you said that as a friend...because we helped you." She stated and stared into his eyes. He shook his head and bit his bottom lip.
"I thought you were dead...I thought you died because I didn't take care of you...I..." He swallowed his words, suppressing something that Edenia thought could be a tear drowned voice.
"I thought it was all my fault...we have been looking for your body...nobody found it...We found Blaise so...I thought that maybe some...creatures in the forest might've...I thought I lost you!" He rushed and tried to rub a hand through her hair but Edenia pulled her head away.
"Let me help you." He said softly and pulled her yet a bit closer, trying to hug her but she tried fighting it.
"I don't need help...I miss her. I miss Bellatrix...Let me go back...please!" She whimpered, nostrils flaring in sadness, her chin and bottom lip wiggled in attempts to keep calm but she failed miserably.
"That's crazy, just crazy! What happened to you? What have you become! Where is the tough Slytherin that turned her back on the ideals of blood purity, on...on basically everything! It felt...so relaxing when I looked into your eyes and knew that you understand what it means to live under that pressure of being someone you don't want to be. Yes, I was a coward! I was scared, I was too involved in those things...I couldn't fight it but I knew that...I had to adore you for your will to do the right thing...to be a better person! You inspired me! Where have you gone?!" He yelled the last question, causing Edenia's eyes to shoot wide open when he held her face in his hands, drawing himself yet a bit closer. He rested his forehead against hers desperately, still clinging to her face, slight sniffling was audible from his side Edenia felt his shaking hands against her.
"I changed-" She started to explain.
"But Bellatrix will never change." He hissed bitterly, shaking his head. "She will never."
"I changed her!"
"An illusion!"
"I did!" She cried out but that's when Alex walked into the living room, glancing at Draco who withdrew from Edenia and exhaled deeply, eyes staring away from her in distress before he got up and off.
"Not you, now. You cannot persuade me! I will not-" But Alex merely sat down on the couch. He gazed into her eyes, Edenia mirrored the action, before he showed her something that has been in his hands but she only noticed it now. A picture. A known scenery, yes, they were camping that day. The friends sat around a fire and everything seemed so easy.
"The marshmallows were so disgusting. I have no idea why Emily thought they tasted good. And it rained that night. And Tyle snored so loudly, I hated the fact that I had to share a tent with him. Not to mention the coldness of the night. And your constant whining about how a wolf was going to eat us all up. I'll just scrap my additional stories about a killer in the woods that caused Emily to cry. Overall, everything went wrong. But it was the best day ever." He then smiled, his stern voice turned soft. He held out the picture to the now completely silent Edenia, her eyes stared at the glossy memory. With eyes filled with tears, she reached out a hand to grab it but the light flickering in the living room caused her to pull her hand away again, the storm outside ramped and raged dangerously. Emily and the rest rushed into the living room, everybody surprised about what was going on outside, they had not seen such a fierce weather in years. And suddenly, the world stood still.
Everything was quiet when Edenia sat up on the couch and stared out of the starry night sky; the large window let in so much moonlight that her face was covered in an enchanting glow. She closed her eyes, her face turned to the side, her hand reached to the collar on her neck and pulled away quickly, a smile spread on her face.
"She found me..." Edenia declared quietly and everyone's eyes widened when, out of nowhere it seemed, Bellatrix Lestrange apparated into the loft's living room; the shrill glow from the moon was overshadowed by her dark and dangerous aura.