AUTHOR NOTES: Let's go on with the 8th chapter. And, sorry for being late.
This chapter is heart-warming for the most, but the ending is what I'm the most proud of. I won't comment: just see for yourself.
The next few months, or perhaps years, passed away fairly quickly. Demelza couldn't be sure of the exact time span, as everyday she was greeted with the exact same order of events: being confronted by a vicious-looking Bellatrix, her hands on her hips, and her sharp hissing voice asking where Harry was.
Really, the only thing keeping Demelza alive all this time was her heart swelling in pride daily as she spat on Bellatrix' face, "I don't know. And I wouldn't tell you even if I knew."
"Really? Kiddo?" Bellatrix squealed out, as if delighted by her news. "You do have Potter's blood in you. Filthy half-bloods, all of you!"
Demelza knew why exactly it made her so ecstatic to hear that same reply everyday: it gave her the perfect pretext to carry out her favourite hobby: to torture people worse than animals and see squeak and wriggle in pain. It didn't unnerve her knowing she was about to be tortured worse than a cockroach in a few moments: she was used to it, and found herself rather bored by the proceedings nowadays.
"CRUCIO!" She chanted casually, the cruel tip of her wand pointed lazily at her heart. In a moment, Demelza felt her body twitching and twisting in pain. She could hear every muscle in her miserable body crying out, except those around his mouth. Perhaps it was stupid of her, but not screaming out gave Demelza the sensation of not letting down Harry, for some stupid reason. Bloody Gryffindors, she often voiced the reason to herself.
After what seemed like ages, the curse finally lifted off. Panting, Demelza's anxious eyes turned to find Bellatrix polishing her wand with a white hankerchief, her malicious eyes still glued to her desolate state, her hands tightly handcuffed to a grey stone pillar in the middle of the dusty, cobwebbed room.
"I think that's enough for today." Bellatrix sighed. "Frankly, I don't know why I'm even bothering to keep you alive. Perhaps…" A grin crept upto her ugly punky face. "Of course, I won't ever kill you, dear." She hissed. "What chance do we have to getting Potter bursting right here if you're dead?"
Demelza' eyes widened in horror at those words. "No." She whispered.
Bellatrix has already turned back and started her way up the stairs when those words reached her ears. She stopped dead in her tracks before slowly turning back.
"Excuse me?" She asked in a slithering voice, her eyes shining dangerously with a crazy red hue.
"He won't come." Demelza moaned, her fingers kind of crossed (her hands were handcuffed) that she won't be rewarded with another one of those devilish Cruciatous again.
Bellatrix merely stared wide-eyed at her for sonic moments before bursting out laughing. The walls of the usually empty and forlorn room rung with the sound of that laughter, and Demelza positively felt her heart skipping a beat.
"Have we got the wrong person here?" Bellatrix finally declared through her hysterics, wiping away a tear from her eye with the fingers of her right hand. "Because if you're really Demelza Robins, you should be able to tell he would not more than happy to come here like one of those dashing heroes the Muggles read in their filthy fairy tales."
When Demelza kept dumb in confusion, Bellatrix had the decency to explain, "He loves being a hero, no doubt. Then why do we deprive them of that chance? The Golden Boy, the liberator of Half-Bloods and Mudbloods! Let us see his saving-people thing in action, shall we? Stupid Gryffindors, you lot!"
Still cackling viciously, Bellatrix made her way upstairs, leaving a completely stunned Demelza in her wake. What did she just say? Was she being just a bait for Harry? Oh no!
Soon, a few tears leaked out of Demelza's swollen tired eyes. She felt so…. helpless, lying there – knowing she was the reason Harry would be brought down here any moment. She must do something….anything, for that matter. Her fists tightened in desperation, though that certainly didn't retard her accelerating heartbeat. What could she do?
She kept staring at the dusty wall opposite her for quite some time… maybe a few hours before something eventful happened to her grim life.
Her eyes almost popped out when a streak of light barged into the staircase. She heard a deep grunt before something heavy landed face-down on the dust partying on the floor. Poor bloke! Demelza thought to herself as her tired gaze shifted to the desolate boy, dressed in tattered clothes now lying on the floor, his head resting on his elbows.
Her heartbeat stopped altogether when she caught a glimpse of something green in his eyes. Opening her mouth with great difficult, she managed to squeak out, "Harry?"
The effect of her words was nothing short of dramatic, as she was instantly with the same pair of beautiful green eyes she had been so longing to see for the past so many months.
"Harry?" She repeated the whisper when all Harry did was to continue gaping at her. "Is that you?"
She almost doubted it was Harry when the boy slowly pushed himself up to the floor, his eyes still having not blinked even once. Slowly, his aching legs carried him forward to mere inches of her, by the time of which she could clearly make out Harry Potter's tear-stained face looking up at her, his crying eyes feasting on her face.
Despite the precarious situation, Demelza managed to flash a small smile at the boy – more than anything to make him smile. She hated seeing him crying – it felt like her own heart was crying. She would've definitely kissed him full on the mouth had she not been hand-cuffed.
"I… was… so worried." He gasped as those words gently brushed over her face and flicked up her hair. Demelza closed her eyes in pleasure.
"Me too, Harry." She said, her voice wet with emotion. "It makes me so happy to see you again."
In the time she spoke those words, Harry's eyes were wandering through her destroyed body, and she saw them filling with more and more rage as he took in what they had done to her.
"I will kill her!" Harry whispered dangerously. "How dare they do this to you?"
Demelza's eyes just leaked out a tear in response. Now that Harry was in front of her, all of that pain was worth it – and it wasn't an exaggeration.
"Wait!" He hissed hurriedly all of a sudden, his voice back to the business-like tone. "We need to get out of here. Voldemort will be here any moment."
Demelza couldn't really understand any of this. "But-"
Harry gently placed his index upon her revolting lips. "Not now. Save your questions for later." His green eyes were positively shining with determination now, all tears seemingly washed up by some weird magic.
Deciding that the best thing to do now would be to just comply with him, Demelza settled for a nod. She was so drowned in the joy of finally having Harry talking to her lovingly that her eyes barely registered Harry taking out his wand and pointed it at her handcuffs.
"Reducto!" He said as softly as humanly possible. Still, you can't expect a pair of iron handcuffs being blasted open silently, can you?
There was a loud bang as the iron claws flew up into the dusty air, and then another loud thud as they hit the dusty floor. For a few seconds, all her eyes could make out were just countless dirt particles before they descended back to the floor. And then, she found Harry's face inches away from hers.
"I had casted a Muffliato." Harry answered the confusion look she was shooting at him, before hissing and tugging at her left arm, "Hurry up! We haven't got much time!"
They tiptoed up the stair before Harry abruptly halted just outside the heavy door. He placed an eye on the tiny creak in the middle, and Demelza decided the best thing to do would be to stay silent and not enlighten him to the indomitable bag of questions currently poking her in the stomach.
"When I say, just jump forward. I'll apparate both of us." Harry suddenly turned to her.
Demelza merely nodded, all of a sudden becoming aware the situation they were in wasn't exactly safe.
"One…" Harry began counting. Demelza quickly turned her attention to the present, and chided her mind for drifting away. This could cost her life and, even worse, Harry's. "Two and…"
Demelza's heard her heart skip a bit before Harry's voice returned flooding back to her stinging ears. "THREE!" He shouted as he leapt forward. She just about managed to grab his arm before there was a sensation of being plugged down a narrow rubber tube – but not before her eyes caught a glimpse of that vicious woman Bellatrix's stunned face turned towards them.
Closing her eyes certainly didn't help lessen the discomfort, so she clung onto Harry for dear life.
Suddenly, she felt her head hit something hard.
"Are you okay?" A concerned voice spoke up from away, prompting her to open her eyes. Harry was standing right there, his anxious eyes looking down at her after such an agonizingly long time.
Alternating between rubbing her eyes and rubbing the back of her painful head, Demelza got to her feet. Looking deep into Harry's green eyes brought back the memory of their argument like it had been just yesterday. By the end of it, Demelza was reduced to shifting her feet.
"Harry?" She finally squeaked out. "Why did you save me?"
Harry's eyes turned wide in…. not surprise – horror, perhaps? "What do you mean? Of course I would save you!" He almost shouted on her face.
A few tears leaked out of her eyes as she continued, guilt of the several horrible things she'd accused him of back that night at the Burrow flooding her mind. "So... you've forgiven me?"
Finally, the moment arrived she had been desperately dying to see for so many days – Harry cracked a smile. And that was enough to send Demelza crashing into his chest, her arms tightly clutching his waist in the tightest hug one could possibly offer.
Harry was too stunned to react in any possible way for a few moments before she finally felt his soft palm patting her gently on the back.
"I was so scared!" She whispered into his ear. "I thought I would die there any day."
"Thank God I came, then." Harry hissed back into her ear, just a tiny bit of humour dancing in his tone.
Deciding that this was a good time to finally let loose the hell of questions tormenting her mind, Demelza pulled back and asked, "How did you know I was there? How are Ron and Hermione? Why didn't you apparate back at the cell? And what did you mean when you said You-Know-Who will arrive any moment?" She said all that in one breath, before being reduced to panting.
Harry raised an eyebrow. "For heaven's sake, Demelza!" He said with an incredulous laugh, frantically swaying his head. "That's too much questions for one time."
But Demelza wasn't going back so easily. For all she knew, this might not be Harry at all – though that was highly unlikely, as his touch certainly felt like Harry's.
"You said you will ans-" Her retort was cut short by another distant squeak behind her.
"Harry! You got her! Bravo, mate!" Even before she turned around to face the owner of that highly enthusiastic voice, she knew it was none other than Ron.
She was soon met by the red-haired freckled boy running towards them, his face gleaming with excitement and his hands dancing in the air. Not far behind, Demelza could spot a panting Hermione trying her best to keep up with Ron's sprint.
"Ron!" She scolded once the two had reached the spot she and Harry were standing. "I told you not to interfere them. Give them some privacy, will you?"
Demelza could feel Harry's smirking face turn to her reddened cheeks as Ron defended himself, "But I gave them enough time!"
"Okay okay." Hermione huffed, seemingly realizing that arguing with an excited Ron is more stupid that hoping jewels would come down raining from the sky. "I don't know about you all, but I'm really hungry. And you might be glad to learn Fleur has already cooked lunch and is waiting for us." Those last few words were said amidst a curt nod towards Ron, whose mouth was suddenly disgustfully full of slimy saliva.
"Come on, then." Harry declared. "Let's go!"
Demelza could only guess where they were as she followed Ron and Hermione to what they called the Shell Cottage, her arm linked with Harry's all the way. She was happy, really really happy.
As it turned out, Harry, Ron and Hermione were themselves caught by Snatchers and handed over to Bellatrix, who hadn't wasted a moment in summoning Voldemort once it was confirmed they had their hands on none other than Harry Potter.
"But how did you know I was there as well?" Demelza couldn't restrain the wild beast that was her curiosity.
"Bellatrix told me that." Harry replied before his face turned strangely somber. "Ron and Hermione left with Luna, Dean, Griphook and Mr. Ollivander before I came down for you. And… I'm sorry for your parents. I really liked them."
"Oh!" Demelza gasped before shutting up. When Harry didn't stop gaping at her, probably because he expected more of a reaction from someone whose parents had been murdered, she felt let out a soft laugh, further flabbergasting the boy sitting opposite her on the table.
"That's how you feel about it after six months of torture. Honestly, I have gotten used to it."
Harry said with an extremely uncomfortable expression. "I'm sorry I didn't come earlier." He said, looking down at her feet.
There goes his saving-people thing, Demelza remarked to herself as her fingers quickly scampered to Harry's hand resting on the table and tightly grabbed hold of them.
"Don't blame yourself for every damn thing in this world, Harry." She said as softly as she could, looking deep into his startled green eyes.
"But-" He began.
"And there's something positive in this whole thing." Demelza said with a smile.
Harry merely shrugged in confusion. "I can't exactly comprehend what's positive in losing your parents."
"I got to get you back." She said with a sad smile. "Though of course, I feel sad about what happened to my parents. Plus…" A wonderful new connection to Harry occurred to her mind as she started grinning from ear to ear. "Both of us are orphans now."
Even Harry couldn't manage to suppress a chuckle at that. "You're strange."
Demelza gently poked him into the chest. "As if you aren't." She said, but… a few unrestrained tears were already leaking out of her insolent red eyes. She tilted her face downwards in the futile hope Harry won't notice them.
Demelza could swear she saw Harry's eyes widening in shock once when he got a good glimpse of her tear-stained face. Fortunately, Harry didn't bother to point out she was crying – and she was grateful for that. He just held her closer to his heart as he gently patted her back. Soon, occasional sniffs and snorts were erupting from her mouth.
Thankfully, Harry didn't mind her snorting and sniffling. He really loved her..
"Good night, Demelza." Harry said in the semi-lit hallway. She, Hermione and Luna were sharing a room, and now, it was just she and Harry left in the hallway.
"Night." Demelza said cheerfully.
She had just turned around when Harry's sharp words reached her eyes. "Aren't you forgetting something?"
Demelza turned back to face the slightly smirking boy. "What?"
"Think for yourself." Harry said smugly.
Demelza would've spent ages thinking what she was really forgetting had Harry's smirk not evolved into a gigantic grin – which made her finally realize what he actually wanting.
Quickly looking around to see if someone was spying on them, Demelza said, "Okay. You want a goodnight kiss, right?"
Harry nodded fervently, giving her the impression that he wanted it badly.
All her eyes were focusing for the next moments were Harry closing his eyes and following her in leaning forward. She could count the number of eyelashes bordering those eternally beautiful green eyes from here. She could feel his soft breath falling on her lips as their lips came closer… and closer…. and yet closer.
"Harry!" An annoyingly excited squeal made Harry and Demelza jump five metres apart in the hallway, both undoubtedly shocked at this sudden intervention.
"What is it, Ron?" Harry shouted turning back. It was only now that Demelza noticed Ron, dressed in blue striped green pajamas, smirking at the pair of them from the door of a dark room. Behind him, there was her fellow team-mate Dean Thomas, staring at the two from the darkness of the room like a ghost, his huge white eyes almost looking like eggs.
"No, nothing." Ron said smugly. "Carry on, you two, with your….business."
Demelza felt her cheeks turning pink. But Harry was unabashed as he retorted, "Why don't you carry on Hermione? And you with Luna, Dean?"
The effect those words had on the boys was quite impressive, Demelza had to admit. Ron's entire face instantly turned into a vibrant shade of red such that his red hair was barely distinguishable. And Dean stumbled backwards while shouting, "Why Luna, of all people? And I didn't have any problem with you kissing!"
"And you shouldn't." Harry said through gritted teeth at Ron, who was found it very convenient to mumble a goodnight before slamming shut the door.
"Much better." Harry spoke into the silent air before turning to her. "Now, about my goodnight kiss?"
Demelza, more than happy to comply, beamed as she leaned forward.
Demelza found herself falling head-down towards the ground. The air swished through her frightened little ears like a terrific storm, and her fearful eyes spotted the ground she was heading for.
"NOOOOO!" She squeaked, praying to the heavens for some miracle to save herself.
A loud thud reached her eyes as she hit the ground, but it wasn't painful. Rather, it felt like falling on butter. Confused, Demelza got up to her feet as her eyes trying comprehending what place was it she had landed onto. And before long, she was sure it wasn't any normal place.
All she could see at the horizon was a strange darkness. This monstrous darkness surrounded the entire surroundings. The entire piece of the world visible to her was a white platform, and a completely empty pub in the corner.
She blinked once and, the next moment, there was her mother waving at her from one of the elegant blue chairs in front of the pub. Her smile dissolved away all the fears in the world as Demelza ran towards her, crying out her name.
A painful bang stopped her sprint as she collided with what looked like an invisible glass wall, separating her from the person she loved. Rubbing her sore nose, Demelza put another hand on the wall and let it wander through the wall, her eyes helplessly anchored to her mother's smiling figure on the other side.
She blinked again, and this time, the sight she beheld further astounded her. Her father was there, right there, sitting on a chair beside her mother. He had one hand on his wife' shoulder, and was smiling lovingly at her as well.
Demelza felt her breaking down and her heart terribly moaning as she said in a choking voice, "Mom? Dad?"
Either the wall was opaque to sound, or her parents had gone to deaf, as they did nothing to acknowledge those words. They just continued smiling and waving at her, as if not a single thing in the world had gone wrong.
"I miss you." Demelza moaned, her eyes brimming with unshed tears. "I miss you so much! Why did you leave me?"
The next time she looked up to her parents, she found Harry there as well, right beside her father. Her father was hugging him tightly by the waist, and all he was doing was… looking at her lovingly with those wonderful green eyes. And it certainty freaked Demelza out that he too wasn't saying anything – just smiling and waving at her.
Demelza would've savoured the sight had it not occurred to her that Harry – her Harry, very much alive, was right there with her dead parents. She clenched her teeth in worry, her mind berating her for even daring to think what Harry being with her dead parents insinuated. It couldn't be, Demelza consoled herself. It just couldn't be…
"No Harry!" She shouted in agony, now positively banging on the glass in utter desperation to reach the people on the other side who meant the world to her, to clutch them to her heart and say nothing was wrong.
"It can't be." She moaned, banging her petite hands on the invisible wall. Next, something happened she couldn't have dreamt of seeing.
Harry's smiling face turned towards her when she noticed tiny red specks all over his face. She gaped in horror as those red spots grew bigger and bigger until his face was covered in redness…. blood!
Her head quickly turned to her parents – their smiling faces drowned in vicious blood as well. What the heck was happening?
Demelza fell down to the floor, her head feeling heavy, her eyes barely managing to stay open.
Clutching her head tightly into her heads, Demelza cried out into the air, "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
I appreciate your feedback, both positive and negative, as long as it is constructive. If you liked it, I would recommend you giving a try.
By the way, what do you think of the ending? PLEASE PLEASE let me know. This was the first time I wrote something like that and want to know what you all think of it.
I think I've already mentioned I am getting a bit slow in updating. My exams and all that.
Actually, I am dying to see your reviews. Please please do it! If you take out the time to do it, it brings a smile to my face after some hard work. It really means the world to me.
PS: What was that in the ending, you think? Was it happening real?
Thank you for your time and take care!
