Chapter 5
Scream

Slipping on the pyjamas that Dean had left for her on the lid of the toilet, Parvati looked at herself in the mirror.

Her face was sunken and bruised, her cheekbones jutted out and there were splits in the skin where Theodore's fists had collided with her face and the wound on the back of her head that had been ripped open hours beforehand after Theodore had pulled her up by the head throbbed worse than ever. Still, at least she was safe, warm and clean. Although she didn't feel safe or clean, she felt more out in the open than ever now that she had come here. She had a nagging feeling in the pit of her stomach that Theodore would find her wherever she was and drag her back to live with him.

Despite the fact that she had spent hours underneath the shower with the faucet on full blast while she had lathered her body with soap, ignoring the sting that occurred when she washed over her cuts or the dull ache that happened when she pressed lightly on her bruises. She had cleaned out her injuries and applied some essence of dittany that Dean had in his top draw before putting some ointment on them. She still felt dirty. She felt violated and sore from all of the violence and abuse that she had suffered. No amount of water, soap or ointment could shake that from her.

She wished that she had fought when the Ministry officials had dragged her away from her house and forced her into a wedding gown with frills and walked closely behind her with their wands sticking into her back as she walked up the aisle. She would never forget the reptilian smile that was on Theodore's face that day. It was as if a boa constrictor was looking at a particularly large and juicy meal. He had squeezed her so tightly, just like a boa constrictor would, on that first night until she realised that she couldn't fight him, she could only make him annoyed. He had swallowed her feet when he had enslaved her, just like he would a house elf. He had then progressed to swallow her knees when he had decided that he could do whatever he liked with her, which included the beating and the raping whenever he felt like it, which was increasingly often. She felt as if he had just reached her middle after the incident in Diagon Alley where she had obeyed him and stayed silent about the fact that she was miserable in the relationship that she had with him when she had finally managed to break free from the coils that he had wrapped around her.

Parvati glanced at the clock on the wall opposite the shower; she had been in here for nearly an hour and a half now and despite the fact that she had come to Dean for protection and security, she was glad that he hadn't tried to pry any further into the situation than he had. She liked that he was leaving her alone with her thoughts because if he hadn't she would've felt more trapped and stressed out over the fact that he wanted to know, and she didn't want to go near any of that.

Taking one last look at herself in the mirror, she turned towards the door and opened it slowly.

Dean was sitting on the other couch, his head lolling backwards as he snored lightly. Parvati didn't blame him, it was four in the morning and he had probably wanted to go to sleep a lot earlier than this.

She walked across the room back to the spare couch and lay down on it, wincing as she bumped against a few bruises. She placed her head on the soft pillow and hoped that a somewhat dreamless sleep would find her.

Dean woke to the sound of whimpering.

His first thought was that it was next-door's dog whining for food but then he realised that the sound was not coming from outside his front door, but from the spare couch.

Shit, Dean thought, remembering that he had company. He leapt up without allowing himself any time to wake up which made his vision cloud over and he tripped over the coffee table and stumbled to Parvati's side. She was jerking sharply at random intervals, her face gleamed with sweat and all the while she made a horrible, frightened whimpering sound.

"Parvati," he said, shaking her shoulder gently as she flinched away from something in her dreams, "Parvati," he repeated, shaking her shoulder a little more roughly than before.

Parvati's eyes flew open. They were wide as saucers and they looked terrified.

Dean's face relaxed into a smile as she lay on her back staring up at the ceiling, breathing heavily.

"Hey, you're fine, you're okay," Dean said, putting a comforting hand on her shoulder. Her head snapped sideways to look at him before pulling away abruptly, still looking like a scared child. "What were you dreaming about?"

Parvati shook her head fervently.

"Alright," Dean said, "you don't have to tell me, but at least let me make you some tea or something."

Parvati neither accepted or denied his offer so he got up, switched on the light and flicked his wand at the kettle which flew over to the sink and filled itself up.

Thoughts churned over and over in his mind about what could've possibly happened to Parvati. He knew that she had suffered some form of abuse when she was with Theodore but he had no idea how long it had gone on for, what he had done and how he had done it.

He glanced at the clock on the mantle; it was five in the morning. No wonder he felt wrecked; he'd only had a few hours of sleep.

The kettle finished boiling itself and poured the boiling hot water into the two mugs that Dean had got out moments before. He put in the teabags and waved his wand at the mugs which levitated off the table and moved slowly over to the coffee table where they sat themselves down.

"Here," Dean said, picking one up and handing it to her, "Just how you like it, black and no sugar."

Parvati accepted it with a look of thanks.

He sat down next to her, cradling his own cup of tea in his hands.

"I'd ask how you've been in the last few months but I think it's safe to assume that your life has been pretty shit," he said in a failed attempt to start a conversation.

Parvati didn't confirm or deny.

"Look, Parvati, I know you don't want to talk about it, but sometimes it can help," Dean said quietly. Parvati bit her lip and he knew that she was thinking about what had happened more than ever now. Dean sighed as she stayed silent.

"Okay," Dean said slowly, "Take your time."

"Where's Lavender?" Parvati asked suddenly and Dean could tell that she had been holding back tears.

Dean smiled, "She and Seamus moved in together a few days ago, they're really happy."

Before he knew what was happening, Parvati has burst into tears.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Dean said worriedly as she set her mug down on the table so that she could bury her face in her hands. Dean placed his mug down and attempted to comfort her, "Do you miss Lavender? I can get her to come here today if you want," Dean placed a hand on her shoulder and once again, she flinched away.

"Please, Dean, don't touch me," she sobbed, "I don't want you to touch me."

Dean withdrew his hand like he had been burned, immediately feeling horrible as Parvati sobbed into her hands.

"I-I'm sorry, I didn't know," He stammered. Parvati drew in a heaving breath.

"It's funny how you don't realise how absolutely miserable your life is until you hear about people who are happy," she said glumly, trying to hold in her tears. Dean resisted the urge to take her hand in his, knowing that she would just pull away again.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Dean asked softly, "You don't have to… but when you're ready, I'd like to know."

"I-I'm not ready," Parvati said, hiccoughing slightly, "But I'll tell you… It's not right of me to turn up here at one in the morning and just expect you to take me in like that."

"It's no problem really," Dean said, waving it off.

"I owe you an explanation," she said quietly, "and I'll give it to you."

Dean was not going to protest, he crossed his arms and looked into her eyes intently to show that he was listening.

Parvati bit her lip again, "I hate him," she said menacingly her voice filled with a cold, hot anger that he had never seen in her eyes before now, "He's horrible…" she stopped abruptly as more tears started to well in her eyes, "I'd better start from the beginning."

Dean nodded.

Parvati took a deep, shaky breath, "On the day that we moved into the house as soon as we were alone he threw me down on the bed and did his business," she started to cry again, "I tried to f-fight back but I couldn't. H-he was too st-strong and he had my w-wand. I tried to defy him but he just kept hitting me and p-putting the cruciatus curse on m-me until I sub-submitted to him. H-he hit me al-almost every day and did his business on top of me a-almost every night until I ran away a-and even then h-he found me. I w-was just outside London and hit me again, but I s-stunned him with his wand and got the knight bus here. Oh Dean w-what am I going to do?!"

Dean couldn't help but reach over and hug her, it made his chest hurt too much just to watch her sit there and cry. To his surprise, she didn't resist at all but turned into his chest and sobbed.

Dean held her close as her body racked with sobs. It was the first sign of weakness that she had shown since he'd seen her.

"Is that what you were dreaming about?" Dean asked softly and he felt Parvati nod into his chest. He hugged her tighter, "Don't worry, you're safe here. I won't let anyone hurt you," he reassured her.

Parvati pulled away, looking at him with eyes that held too much pain and suffering for a woman of her age to have suffered, "I don't think I'll ever be able to go back to that place."

"You're not going to," Dean said firmly, "I'm not letting you, you're staying here and we'll tell the wizenagamot and we'll have him prosecuted forever."

"You're so optimistic," Parvati sniffed, "They'll never believe us, we don't have any solid evidence."

"Oh, so you being beaten to a pulp isn't evidence enough, plus you can give them your memories," Dean suggested.

Parvati shook her head quickly again.

"Why not?"

"Because I don't want them to see that," she said quickly. Dean didn't press the matter as he knew that giving over her memories would take much more courage on her part than it did to tell him what had happened to her. He didn't know what to say next, and neither did Parvati as she didn't say anything. So they just sat there curled up on the couch with tea as the sun slowly rose above the horizon.

BANG!

Dean jumped slightly as a single bang echoed off his front door.

BANG!

Dean turned his head suspiciously towards it.

BANG!

He saw the door cave slightly between the hinges and knew whatever was out there was trying to get in. He looked back at Parvati who looked petrified. He got up slowly, picking up his wand from the coffee table and pointing it at the door.

With a final bang, the door flew off its hinges and across the room where it smashed into the opposite wall.

Dean could've peed himself when he registered who was standing there, the very person who he had planned to prosecute for unspeakable crimes; Theodore Nott. He heard Parvati's terrified scream and the shattering of a mug as she dropped her tea on the ground.

"Oh you little fucker," Theodore raged, storming over the threshold and walking towards Parvati, "You fucking adulterer! You just wait and see what I've got in store for you."

"Stupefy," Dean said, pointing his wand at Theodore who deflected the spell easily, but turned his attention away from Parvati and onto Dean.

"You!" He raged, "You fucking man-whore, trying to steal my wife away from me. I should kill you right now for trying to break up my marriage."

"It's not a marriage you have," Dean yelled, his voice ten times more courageous than he actually felt, "It's a bloody master-servant relationship! You don't treat people that way, Nott, it's out of line."

"You told him!" Theodore yelled, turning to Parvati, "You stupid bloody bitch, what is wrong with you?"

Parvati whimpered at the sight of him as Dean shot another stunner at him, he deflected it again.

"I won't let you touch her again, Nott," Dean said calmly, "If you do I will personally make sure that I kill you myself."

"Try and stop me," Theodore sneered.

"Petrificus Totalus," Dean tried but Theodore just kept deflecting the spells that Dean shot at him.

"Did you not make it past first year, Thomas?" Theodore sniggered as he advanced on him.

"How did you find me?" Dean said, trying to take Theodore's mind off the fight at hand.

"I asked around," he said, "Knew that she probably got the Knight Bus so I acted like a caring brother wanting to know where my sister went and the fuckwit driver pointed me right here… step aside Thomas if you know what's good for you."

"You're not taking her," Dean snarled, shooting an impediment jinx at him, "She's staying here with me so that we can get her some proper help," Dean was amazed at how calm his voice was staying despite the fact that he could've shat himself right then and there.

"Well you're going to have a fun time getting that from her… Crucio," he said and Dean had no time to throw up a protective charm when the curse hit him, Theodore had managed to do what he had failed to do; taking his mind of the fight and distracting him. It was like his body was being penetrated by a thousand knives. He heard Parvati's horrified scream as his vision went black. He was vaguely aware of his head hitting something hard and his consciousness slipping away into a deep chasm of nothingness.

AN: Well this would've been up last night but we went out for dinner and I was super tired when we got back and fell asleep almost immediately. I tried not to but I couldn't keep my eyes open… anyway here it is!

OH and also I found out today that this ‽ is called an interrobang. Isn't that the coolest name for punctuation ever? I'm so going to write a little note on the side of my exam paper if I ever have to use it. Yeah anyway.

I'd really like it if you could tell me what you thought in the box below because it would really make my day. Thanks so much!

Until Next Time

~The Original Horcrux~