Deal with the Devil

Chapter 50

His name was death and his sign was terror. Elena watched as the world started to burn around her. Good wizards and witches turned up dead because they had the wrong parents. That awful symbol appeared over houses and families would stand outside sobbing, afraid to go inside and see their loved ones dead.

"Do you think Albus will do something about it?" Don asked her one evening as they sat outside her home. He'd tugged her to his side and she was leaning against the warm weight of him. "I imagine he's the only one who can."

"He's doing what he can," she said, staring out into the dark forest.

"Maybe we should offer to help next time he comes for tea."

She stiffened. "How could we possibly help the greatest wizard alive fight the darkest wizard?"

"We can try." He nuzzled the top of her head. "You're intelligent and he values you, Ella. Albus would appreciate your help."

"I can't."

"Are you afraid? I can do it for you, darling."

She turned in his arms to stare up at him. "I can't, Don. For the same reason I can't be with you."

He smiled. "You are with me."

"Not the way we'd like," she reminded him. "Don't try to fight him. Stay out of it, please."

"Why? He's a monster, Elle, people need to fight. Janie is terrified for her family; you know her husband's a muggleborn. She's scared someday she'll come home and he and the children will be gone."

Elena pulled her gaze away from him, staring back into the darkness. "I can't do anything. I would if I could."

"Why?" When she said nothing, he repeated himself. "Why? Elena, I have been patient and understanding. It's been decades and I have let you keep your secrets, settling for only this sliver of you. Can't you tell me this? Just this once let me know something. Let me in."

She turned back to him, studying his lined face, a face she'd grown to love long ago. What could telling him hurt now? She'd never told anyone all of it, not even Albus. However, Donal was more than that. He was her partner in every way but the bedroom. They shared everything with one another barring that final intimacy and the bonds of marriage.

"Dammit, Elle. There's nothing you could say or do that would stop me from loving you. I wish you could trust me."

"I do," she said at last. "I do trust you." She took a deep breath, closing her eyes and releasing it slowly, then nodded. "Alright. I'll tell you. But you have to understand, I've never told anyone all of it. I'll have to start at the beginning, and it's a long story." She pulled her companion's hand into her lap, staring down into her palm. "It's—it's not easy."

"I'll listen."

"I've told you about da. He was a muggle with a muggleborn sister. He adored her and the wizarding world. He stayed a part of it even when she passed. And that's how he met my mother. She was a seer and a pureblood, so when she got pregnant, she tried to hide it and left me with my da. But she stayed childless otherwise. Her husband was grated by this. He— he wanted children and made preparations to divorce her for someone fertile and younger. She was desperate when she told him about me and didn't expect it to make a difference. It did. He wanted me the moment he saw me." She looked up at him with sorrow tightening over her throat. "He was not a good man and what he saw when he looked at me was not the way a father should see a daughter."

Donal swallowed, tightening his hand so he could hold hers, but didn't speak.

"Da was sick, so I agreed to live with them if they would ensure his health. It was a child's foolish decision. Had da known what a monster my step-father was I'm sure he would have refused and found a way to take care of me. But I was so young and just wanted my da to be okay. And that would be my downfall over and over."

From there she explained her gift and why she'd chosen to hide it, how that impacted her time at Hogwarts and how it brought her to meet a cruel boy who would change her life. She told him how Tom cursed her when she dared have a butterbeer with a muggleborn, how he ingratiated himself to her mother and threatened her step-father. She poured out how she'd hated his caresses, his little kisses to her cheek and her forehead. She told him how Tom had made all of his followers Cruciate her, and how Dolohov and Lestrange had looked at her during it. When she told him about leaving Hogwarts and her attempt to get away, she saw hope flicker over his face.

"I should have known it wouldn't last. When we finally ran into one another, he Cruciated me himself. And it was every bit as terrible as he promised." Elena wiped away a tear that had fallen. "And everything became so much worse after that."

The night of her afterwork event, waking to find a healing wound on her chest. That was one of the hardest parts for her to speak. "I cover myself to hide the scars he's given me." She unbuttoned the top three buttons of her shirt and laid his fingertips against the scar on her sternum. She told him about Antonin trying to court her, about her father's death, about the kiss. By the end of it, she was sobbing and there was a hint of shadow through the leaves, the first sign of morning.

"And when I saw him, though he was a monster, it was still him. He knew. He knew that I had kept my word and took joy in my loneliness." She rubbed her cheek against the warm material of his shirt. "Dolohov threatened you. Said he'd tell Tom I found someone, and I had to guilt him, remind him that I knew better than to touch you. I've been so afraid that one of them would show up here and see what you mean to me, and I can't bear it."

"Shh, darling," he said, rocking her. His arms were large and warm and safe around her. "Gods, Elle. I can't believe you lived with all of that."

"I'm a coward, I know. I should have done something along the way, but I was scared."

"No." His arms tightened around her. "You are not a coward, Elle. To live so long with all of this inside of you? To build a life here, to love after what you've gone through. You are not a coward, love. You are brave beyond words."

"Don't fight him. I can't lose you. Stay out of it."

"I'll say out of it. For now at least." She nodded and gently kissed his lips before returning her cheek to his chest.

--

Elena thought nothing of the short visit Albus paid her that evening. He sipped his tea as usual, stroking his grey beard contemplatively.

"What?" she asked. "You have something on your mind, I can see it."

"There is something," he said, eyeing her. "How would you feel about teaching at Hogwarts?"

"Teaching?" Her brows rose. "I hadn't ever thought of it. Is a position open?"

"Divination."

"Ah." Elena laughed, shaking her head. "It's a useless class, Albus. You can't teach people to become seers; they are or they aren't. They'd all be better off taking Arithmancy."

"You realize the irony of that?" he asked.

"It's because of my gift that I know the truth better than most." She smiled, shaking her head again. "No, Albus. I'm not going to teach Divination to a bunch of children who will try to use it to figure out who has a crush on them. Let me know if another position opens and perhaps. And not Defense Against the Dark Arts. Tom's cursed enough of my life."

"How are things with Donal?" the elderly wizard inquired.

"He's worried about Tom's rise, but he and I are happy with one another as much as we can be. He'll be over for dinner later."

"I'm glad you found one another."

She nodded. "He's made my life just by being in it."

"Love often does that."