"Would you kill for love?" He sneered coldly.
"Love has destroyed me into the woman who stands before you. Broken, tethered, and utterly infatuated with a man who suffers the same fate as I." She said with a sorrowful chuckle.
•
The story of a naiv...
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A/N: The title for this chapter was inspired by Ruelle. I highly recommend listening to it while you read. This will be the last chapter and then we return to 1999. Please VOTE! **I added some context to the last conversation of the chapter for more clarity!!
1998
Astoria walked up and down the halls that held so many memories. Some wonderful, and some downright awful. Fucking Merlin, some were awful. Astoria marched up the Astronomy Tower stairs and gazed down to the fight below her. The sounds of curses and defensive spells filled her ears. A sense of emptiness filled her soul, but physically she was disgusted. Not only with herself, but everyone around her. Within a matter of a year, she lost everyone she loved, and it was all due to one blood tainted woman, Hermione fucking Granger.
Astoria gripped the railing and stretched her arms. So many memories filled the very space she was inhabiting. In the very spot where she stood is when she attempted to take her own life when Cedric humiliated her at the Yule Ball. It was also the night Malfoy knocked sense into her head. Malfoy was always there. No matter how much Astoria tried to tare her mind away from that pale man he was always tangled within the stem of her brain.
Astoria once thought she was different from Malfoy, intellectually. She always thought of herself as a strong-willed woman who could conquer anything if she worked hard enough. Malfoy seemed like the man who enjoyed being handed things. No matter what it was it seemed everything came easy to him, including snatching up women. Pansy Parkinson threw herself at him all through her years at Hogwarts. Now Astoria was coming to the realization that she and Malfoy were not all different from one another. They were both murderers, followers of the Dark Lord and they were both owned. She liked to believe once that Draco was going to be the one that saved her from her Master, that in some way he would have found a solution to the magic of the runic imprint. That day never fucking came.
Astoria now stands here as the most hated, feared, and trapped woman in the Wizarding World. She has killed innocent people, and in the most heartless way, she felt nothing. Not a speck of remorse for the ones she is killed. After the day she found Draco with Hermione, Astoria's world collapsed. She became consumed in her own thoughts and decided being numb was easier. Muggle life or wizarding life had no meaning to her anymore. Damn them all.
"Tori?" A deep voice said from behind her.
Astoria turned around sharply to see the tall, dark figure, Theodore Nott standing before her. Astoria would be lying to herself if she said she had not missed talking with Theo. During her time at Hogwarts, he became one of her most trusted allies. He kept the secret of her identity, and he never betrayed her. Not once.
"Theo... How-how did you find me?" She said breathlessly while being caught off guard.
Theo chuckled. "I know you all too well." Theo walked toward her and tipped her chin up to expose her eyes. "I'm with you in this y'know? We all are."
