When all three of them had safely been transported, Draco let go of everything he saw and felt and fell to the ground in exhaustion. Malinda was leaning against a nearby truck for support, her hair tangled and her face streaked with watery eyeliner. The wrinkles in her face seemed even more pronounced than ever.
Lindsey steadied herself quickly, and ducked down next to Draco. Her hair was nearly as tangled as her mom's, but Lindsey's face remained the same, if just a little paler than before the attack.
She placed her hand on Draco's forehead, which was covered with little specks of dirt and pebbles. Carefully, she pulled him into a sitting-position and looked over at her suddenly quiet mom.
"Water, can you go get some water?" she asked. Malinda nodded and went inside the building. It was late, but luckily for them, the grocery store was open all hours, all week. Seeing her mom follow her orders, Lindsey felt as if she was suddenly a leader in this runaway group. All of this was beginning to take a toll on her, as her head started pounding mercilessly.
Draco had a lot worse than a headache. He felt as though he were going to die at any moment. Every thought that ran through his mind made his head hurt and every breath he took made his chest ache. It was as if he had just been crushed by a boulder, which to him sounded great at the moment. This wasn't even adding the pain in his left arm where he knew the snake was swirling around. Usually it only prickled, similar to having a billion flu shots. But now, it was pure torture. Every time a little tile on the snake moved, Draco felt as if a knife were cutting into his bare flesh.
As Malinda came back with half-a-dozen bottles, Draco whimpered again, his face strained. Lindsey took one of the bottles and hastily opened it, causing some of the water to spill over onto the hard cement below.
Quickly, Lindsey removed her fabric belt, folding it into a neat rectangle as she poured cold water onto it. Draco continued his muffled moaning as the cold fabric reached his forehead.
Within a few short moments, his mind went numb, and he felt as though he was feeling his pain from a distance. It wasn't an easy emotion to explain, and so he didn't try to think about what it was supposed to be called. It felt as though he was in a black room in some corner of his subconcious mind.
"Draco!" shouted a voice from somewhere within his subconscious. An image of fire leapt up into view along with a faded image of his father, Lucius Malfoy.
"Father," said Draco, his eyes fearful once again as he looked into the pale, cold eyes of his dad who he hadn't seen for a long time.
"You have disappointed me yet again Draco," he said, spinning slowly around in the already dark fire. His voice echoed throughout the blackness of Draco's mind. Lucius' long blond hair, so much like his own, was blowing around, blending into the burning blackness surrounding them.
"Sorry father," replied Draco, his voice the same childish tone it was his first year at Hogwarts.
"Why do you continue to disappoint me?" Lucius said. Draco gasped once before responding in a voice that sounded like an echo of his third-year voice.
"I'm sorry father, it won't happen again."
"I'd wish to know where I went wrong in raising you. You are an insult to the Malfoy name."
"Sorry father," Draco responded through gritted teeth, his voice the same as it was in the present time.
"Shhh," whispered Lindsey soothingly, holding the cloth to his forehead. Malinda was kneeling next to Draco, her face still blotchy. She had wiped the smudgy make-up from her face with a paper towel inside the store moments before.
"Sorr…fathe…" Draco murmured constantly, his voice always fading away. Malinda was now supporting him while Lindsey focused on his scrapes, wiping away the mud and dirt from his hands and applying a little bottle of antiseptic her mother had bought in the store.
"You should rest," muttered Lindsey to her mom, who did indeed look miraculously drained. Malinda didn't say anything, but made sure that Draco was capable of leaning against the car before curling up in a little ball.
"Draco!" shouted another voice in his mind. He turned his upper body around to find his white-blond haired mother staring back at him, her eyes extremely desperate and her cheeks watery with fresh tears.
"Mother," he said, beginning to run towards her. Instead of becoming closer, she became further and further away, slowly turning into nothing as Draco's echoed sobs filled his mind.
Lindsey had finished caring for Draco's scrapes and replaced the damp fabric back onto his pale forehead. Carefully, she curled up next to him, not wanting to wake her mom up.
Draco could feel himself falling, falling to nowhere and everywhere at once. The darkness surrounded him, faded stars mirroring his false hopes in the far away distance. Closer and closer, the ground appeared to be, but not once did he ever feel himself hit it.
Lindsey awoke from her very light sleep when she heard Draco whimpering and gasping at her side. She looked over, her face still a bit groggy from the lack of sleep.
"Draco?" she whispered, sitting up from where she was lying. The darkness was beginning to fade into a lighter navy color, and it had to be nearly morning by now.
Draco wasn't aware of where he was or who he was with; he only knew that he was in pain again, both emotionally and physically. He was barely able to breath, and gasped for the cold night air.
"Oh, Draco," said Lindsey sympathetically, placing one of her cold hands on the fabric that clung to Draco's skin where the Dark Mark resided. Immediately, his breathing slowed down, and his gasping became quieter as the pain squirmed away from the mark.
Lindsey let go of his arm, and his breathing instantly quickened to it's previous pace. Not sure what she was doing, Lindsey pulled Draco's black sleeve up and rest her hand on the mark, hoping that what she was doing was helping ease his pain a little.
Draco's body was very warm; little droplets of sweat trickling down his face. Lindsey's cool hand felt amazingly wonderful, for it eased the burning on his mark. Then again, it may have just been that her cold hand had numbed it; either way was fine with Draco. Desperately, he blinked his eyes open, despite the strong urge to go to sleep and never awake again.
"How are you feeling?" Lindsey asked, concern filling her teal eyes. Draco didn't respond, and looked up at the dark sky.
"How…long…sleeping?" he asked, short of breath. Lindsey gently placed her free hand on the fabric that was covering his forehead before replying.
"It's almost morning," she said awkwardly. This was the first time she looked truly uncomfortable, as far as Draco could perceive. As he looked down at her arm, which was reaching across him to the Dark Mark, he could see why.
Lindsey took her hand off of the mark and put it back in her lap when she caught Draco gazing. He flinched as the pain returned and closed his eyes instinctively.
"Please," he muttered. Lindsey promptly returned her hand back to his mark and he opened his eyes again, sighed, and gazed down at the slithering black serpent forever encrested on his arm.
"How are you doing that?" he asked still watching Lindsey's hand. Lindsey didn't respond, watching Draco's face. Dark circles were quite evident under his eyes, and his face was nothing but bones under pale, colorless skin.
Draco and Lindsey sat there in silence, not sure of what else they could say, until Malinda woke up, fresh streaks of tears flowing down her cheeks. Her eyes widened when she saw Lindsey and Draco staring back at her and turned on them, wiping away the tears in her dark, sulking eyes.
"We should go to your house," Draco murmured after a few minutes of utter silence. Lindsey and Malinda turned towards him, disbelief showing through their expressions.
"To grab your clothes and stuff," said Draco awkwardly, attempting to stand up. Lindsey carefully helped him up, making sure he wouldn't fall over before letting go of him. Draco's knees hurt mildly, and the palms of his hands were tender, but other than that, all the other pains had stopped, including the Dark Mark.
"We can eat there too," suggested Lindsey, smiling gently at Draco, who quickly looked away, feeling guilty about having a younger girl take so much care of him.
"No! I don't want to go back!" cried Malinda, her back still facing away from Draco and Lindsey. They exchanged a quick glance before replying.
"We just have to grab some clothes," Lindsey said, confusion evident in her voice.
"We can buy new clothes! I'm not going back!" said Malinda, her voice high-pitched and shaky, much how Draco had expected Lindsey's to be back in the forest.
"Only twenty minutes. No more," said Draco, beginning to feel sorry for her as he understood the pain of going back to the place where she had lived so happily before. Lindsey looked over to Draco, but didn't say anything as he walked over to Malinda and held out his arm.
"Come on," he said, trying to sound as convincing and casual as possible. Malinda gasped once, but placed her arm around his, and he turned to Lindsey, "Coming?" Lindsey gave him a half-hearted smile before placing hers next to her mother's.
Within a minute, all of them were being squeezed through an invisible tube. Black figures blurred by them as they hurled forward. Lindsey quickly told him where she lived, as they all swirled through the blinding lights. Draco wasn't sure how long he would hold up, and tried to get to Malinda and Lindsey's house as quickly as possible.
Draco had just enough strength left to get them there, and they all collapsed into a pile when they arrived in the living room.
Malinda was the first to stand up, her hair sticking up at very odd angles as she looked at Draco and Lindsey, still on the ground.
"I'm going to go…pack then," she said, looking up at the stairway. Lindsey slowly got up, and watched her mother's face.
"Go. It'll be fine. Just don't think about it," said Lindsey. Malinda let out a hasty little sigh before walking up the stairwell, tears already swelling in her eyes.
"Hungry?" Draco asked almost automatically, standing a few feet behind Lindsey. She turned to look at him, her voice wavering slightly, the first time since Draco had met her.
"No, you can go get something if you want," she said, looking away. Draco didn't say anything, but went to stand a little closer to her.
"I'm sorry," he muttered, not really showing any emotion in his tone. Draco wasn't one to give comfort to others if they cried, and tried to avoid it at all costs. Perhaps Lindsey knew this, which was why she hadn't been crying.
"It's not your fault. If anything, you're the one who saved us," said Lindsey, still looking away from Draco. She wasn't crying, and was actually wearing a small, feeble smile. Her hair was messed up, and looked like it could use a little vacation with Mr. Hairbrush.
"You should go pack," said Draco through his teeth, truthfully wishing nothing more than to be alone himself. Truthfully, he still felt like dying if it wasn't for helping Lindsey and Malinda trying to escape from the Dark Lord.
"I will, don't worry. But what are you going to do?" asked Lindsey, looking over at Draco. He didn't respond as he saw that she was smiling. Unsure of what she had meant by that, he just shrugged his shoulders.
"You should go wash up. You fell down a lot," said Lindsey, beginning to ascend the stairs before stopping on the third step, "At least one of us should look semi-normal."
Draco didn't respond, but followed her up the stairs, taking his valuable time.
"Don't pack too much," he muttered to Lindsey before entering the bathroom. After he closed the door, she laughed lightly and replied, "Don't worry, I won't." Malinda was in her room with the door shut, probably crying to herself about the loss of her boyfriend and packing what few objects she could find.
Draco had barely taken off his shirt and jacket when he heard a terrified scream coming from the other room. Without thinking, he burst out of the bathroom with his wand and ran into the room the scream had come from.
Lindsey was standing in the doorway, shaking, staring at something that must have been hanging from the ceiling. Draco went over to her, grabbing one of her wrists.
"Draco!" she said, obviously not expecting him to have been behind her. Her eyes were darker than before, and the circles under them made her seem even worse.
She gave him a shaky smile after observing his unclothed torso. Draco gave her a sheepish glare before looking up at where she was staring moments before.
Hanging from the ceiling, was a sight that would've frightened nearly anyone in their right mind. A long, thick rope was tied to a broken light bulb, and hanging from it, was a dark, feathery thing that appeared to be some sort of dark bird.
Draco moved Lindsey out of the way and slowly made his way towards the creature. At closer inspection, it appeared to be a black raven. The rope was criss-crossed across the bird's torso, tied into a quick knot at the back of it's neck.
Malinda gasped as she walked up behind Lindsey, her hands on her daughter's shoulders. Lindsey felt her mom's hands shake against her skin and didn't dare look up at her face.
Draco carefully made his way towards the surely dead bird, cautious to avoid crushing the glass below his feet further.
Underneath the bird on Lindsey's bed was a pool of fresh blood that was soaking into the sheets and mattress. Draco took one glance at it and gulped, trying not to notice various blood splatters around the room.
"Draco," Lindsey whispered, but it was too late. Draco had turned the bird around ninety degrees to find a large gash right across it's right chest and wing. Blood was dripping onto the carpet below, and as Draco reached up to the bird, his hands and wrist were speckled with the ruby-red liquid.
"Draco," repeated Lindsey, trying to get Draco away from the bird. He didn't pay any attention to her however, and gently stroked the bird's neck with the tips of his two fingers.
A loud, ear-splitting screech came from the beak of the raven. Draco stumbled backwards a few feet and Lindsey and Malinda had cowered back into the wall,covering their ears instinctively. Obviously, the bird was alive. Nobody moved as the raven's eyes buried into their minds. In no more then thirty seconds, the bird had closed it's eyes and had taken it's last breath.
"It' dead," said Lindsey after a long silence. Malinda was gaping at it, her eyes rounder than before and her eyebrows were scrunched up in thought. Carefully, Lindsey walked over to where Draco was leaning against the wall, his eyes terrified beyond understanding.
Draco couldn't control his actions as he fell to the ground, his knees level with his head. He put his hands up to his knees and let his head fall into them, gasping again for breath.
Alright, another chapter done. ^^ I am seriously addicted to writing this story, almost as if I'm possessed...0_0....Well, as I said before, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE review!!! It means a lot, and I'll give you ice cream! ^^