Bitten

Decisions, Part Two

Riley stood in the doorway of her dorm. She stared inside, her eyes slowly wondering over the now empty room. It had taken a long few days of very hard thinking, but finally her decision was that she had to leave. Staying in this place any longer was sure to be a bad idea. Her movements had been slowed and almost robotic as she packed all her belongings into the three, plain traveling trunks she owned. The entire process was sickening and pained Riley to the point where she was surprised that she hadn't cried.

The room was now bare and seemed to carry a cold draft. She had mailed the trunks to her vault at Gringotts. There were a select few things inside of the vault, and it seemed almost a mockery to her dorm. A heavy sigh left her body deflated and tired. How had everything turned out this way? Very slowly, she pulled her black hoodie over her body and wrapped her black and yellow scarf around her neck. In the days she had been packing, the weather had turned chilly with the springtime frost. She took one last long look at her room, her stomach in knots. But she squeezed her eyes shut tightly to keep the burning tears at bay and turned away. The hollow click of the latch echoed in the empty room as the last sliver of light disappeared from the doorway.

~X~

Draco shivered and looked around. He was alone in the small study room off the library. His eyes fell on the open window that had sheer white curtains framing it. The thin fabric billowed gently as a cold breeze pushed through the window. Another shiver passed through Draco's body. He wrapped his green and silver scarf around his neck. The chair he was in gave a groan as he stood from it's wooden frame. The Slytherin boy walked over to the window to close it when his eyes fell over a figure slowly walking through the gardens. He noticed the black and yellow scarf wrapped around their neck and the leggings that came out from under the wool skirt. What was a Hufflepuff girl doing walking around? Of course, why shouldn't a student be walking around the school grounds? But something felt wrong and stiff about the way they were moving. Draco's eyes continued to follow them as a bitter gust of wind blew across the campus. The curtains fluttered wildly and the wind stung at Draco's eyes. He looked back out to the garden and saw the wind had blown the person's hood down. They had chin length blonde hair that fell straight and almost looked like silver. His heart stopped momentarily in his chest.

"Riley," he whispered. A feeling a dread rooted itself in the pit of his stomach. He turned on his heels and hurried from the room.

~X~

Riley struggled to place the hood back on her head as the wind continued to blow madly. It was a moment or two before the wind died back down. A frown had made its way to her lips. What was the deal with the weather? One moment it was just slightly miserable, then the next there were crazy gusts of bitter northern winds. She sighed and replaced her hood on her head, returning to the heat that seemed to fail to get under her skin. After she took another breath, she began to walk forward once again. The weather was a harsh reminder of the future that awaited her. Would it be better for her to just let all of her emotions go? To Riley, she was beginning to think that it was just useless to keep thinking things would be going her way at any point in her life. A firm grip on her upper arm made her gasp. She looked back to see who had stopped her and her heart fell in to her stomach.

"Draco," she breathed, her words exiting as white steam that quickly disappeared in to the air. The visual of his quick breaths made her realize he had been running to catch up with her.

"Where are you going?" He panted, still trying to catch his breath. She looked in to his grey eyes, her stomach slowly churning.

"I'm going away," she finally whispered after a moment. Her slate blue eyes were forced to look down. She couldn't bring herself to look at him anymore.

"Where?" He demanded. Again, she found herself swallowing hard.

"Somewhere,"

"You're running away." He hissed. She snapped her head up and found his eyes even more smothering than normal. She couldn't breathe. Why was all of this happening? She just wanted to keep everyone safe! Was that so much to ask for?

"Let go of me Draco," she said, trying to push him away with her voice.

"No."

"Draco, please," Riley begged. Hot tears were beginning to sting at her eyes. Pressing her eyes closed tightly, she tried to pull her arm out of Draco's grasp. His fingers merely tightened around her arm.

"I'm not going to let go of you again," he shouted at her. Her body turned to stone and she was frozen in place. Her eyes turned back up to his.

"What?" Her voice seemed stuck in her throat. Why couldn't she speak? His eyes bore in to hers.

"You heard me, I won't let go of you." He repeated again. Riley tried to swallow, but she felt like she was going to be sick to her stomach.

"You can't do this to me. Not right now Draco," She had lost all strength in every part of her body and it showed in her voice. Now he decided to hold on to her with all of his fervor? What was his problem?

"You think that I hadn't noticed?" He began, "You've been gone from class and I never see you around anywhere. You used to be in the library on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday from three to five. On Saturdays you like to take go to the Astronomy tower to check the position of a new star you've been watching for almost a year." Her heart clenched. He'd been taking notice of her for that long?

"Why are you doing this?" He asked, the fire in his gaze softening just slightly. Silence stretched between them. She shook her head.

"I have to leave," she said gently, "I'm not stable."

He scoffed, "Stable? Are you kidding me right now?" She just looked at him. He blinked back at her, "You're not joking." Suddenly his look turned angry.

"So just because you're having a little mood swing makes you think you can just throw us all under a bus? Well?"

"They aren't mood swings you insufferable prick!" She yelled at him. Instantly her anger melted away, "No, no. I'm sorry; I didn't mean to say that." She cringed, realizing that her statement made it seem like they were mood swings. She sighed heavily and held her head in her hands.

"I can't explain it,"

"Then don't." He simply stated.

Riley stared at him like she had discovered his third eye.

"I can't just ignore it," she felt hopeless, "These horrible feelings are bubbling up inside of me and I can't make them stop." She murmured. Her hands fell to her stomach, suddenly feeling like she was going to be violently ill. The emerald eyes of the snake wrapped around her finger glinted up at her and stared at her coldly.

"Are you really that stupid?" He chided. Her eyes flickered up to his own. They were almost as cold as the gems of the ring of her finger.

"Do you honestly think that there's nothing you can do but run away?" His voice was soft when he spoke this time. Riley's heart skipped a beat for a moment.

"Draco, I," she began. The words fled from her mouth and her throat felt dry. "I'm not strong enough to stop whatever it is that is happening to me."

"You believe that?" He asked, "You really believe that crap?"

Her anger began to boil inside her again, "Why are you so mean? Can you not be nasty to me for one second? I'm really scared right now!" She hissed at him. He stared at her, blinking for a moment.

"What?"

"What? You can't get the fact that I'm human? I'm not some invincible hero that you place on a pedestal. I have real emotions too!" Riley felt her hands shaking and knew that she wouldn't be able to hold herself together for much longer.

"Why can't you just let me be normal?" She yelled. Her heart was hammering in her throat and tears were beginning to stream down her face.

"I can't," she stammered, "I just can't handle it anymore."

Draco seemed frozen in time. His fingers felt cold and it was like everything stopped. When Riley pulled her arm from his grasp, it felt like slow motion. She turned and picked up her heels as she ran from him. His mind felt like molasses and none of his thoughts or actions seemed like they couldn't happen fast enough.

"Wait," he wanted to yell, "Don't go." He pleaded in his mind. But no words came from between his lips. The springtime fog became thick in that exact moment and she was gone. His eyes searched in the mist for her thin and frail frame. Yet there was no figure to be found. He felt completely numb and only realized he had sunk to his knees when the cold began to seep through his pants.