From Eden - Regulus Black (Complete)

Chapter Nineteen

WAY BACK

"It's starting to hurt, Lily," complained Anne. "My arm cannot take much more."

"Just one more minute, I swear," Lily said, a small black pencil on her hand scratching the paper faster. "Almost done!" she added. A few more scratches. "And..." a few more. "Done! You can relax now, Anne."

Anne groaned loudly once she pulled her arm away from the pose that she had been put on across Lily on the small compartment of Hogwarts Express. Her back was burning from the awkward position and the muscles on her stomach were jumping after so much effort.

Marlene laughed, but massaged Anne's back a bit with a few pets to make the pain go away.

"I regret letting you draw me," Anne admitted. "I didn't know being a model was that much work."

Lily laughed, eyes still on her paper and pencil still working, but this time out of memory and out of the sketch she had. She had a great difficulty in drawing Anne; not only she moved every few minutes, but her face was hard to focus on – during the job, she had managed to see several similarities between Anne and James and now looking at her eyes was a bit uncomfortable.

"Anne, Lily," Marlene said. "Can I take a picture of you two?"

"May I?" Lily corrected.

"You want to take it yourself?" Anne asked, confused.

Marlene laughed, thinking Anne was joking. Nobody stopped to answer her or explain why that had been a joke. Marlene put the small camera she had brought with her on the other seat, making Anne sit between her and Lily and smile by dragging her by the arm. The flash blinded her for a moment.

The world stopped.

It was just like being in the middle of battle again.

The flash was the bomb exploding on the grounds of Hogwarts and the heat throwing her back against a wall, one of the only ones that managed to keep on standing while the rest fell on top of Percy Weasley and she couldn't move, only hearing him wailing in pain, begging for help and unable to move, head bleeding. Tonks had found her and almost carried her towards the Great Hall. Madame Pomfrey had healed her head and she soon ran after battle again, but when she got to Percy, he was already dead.

Suddenly, blood was in her hands again and she wasn't sure if it was hers after she scratched herself trying to get the stones away from him or if the blood was his. His eyes stuck on the ceiling, lifeless, milk-like. His ribs were sinking where they had broken and ripped his lungs apart. Nobody came to save him.

Anne was standing in the middle of the compartment in a second.

"Anne?" Lily asked, confused.

"Anne?" Marlene repeated when she didn't answer, worried.

"I need – I need to go the toilet," she answered. "James is looking for me."

She didn't wait for either of them to answer, she just ran away from the compartment that felt too small. It was like she was the one lying under all the rocks this time, begging for help and hoping somebody that loved would come and save her – hope died with her slowly as she chocked on her own blood.

Anne ran into someone who held her in place.

"Careful where you walk," grumbled the person.

Severus Snape took one look at her and felt his heart stop for a moment. Anne was sickly pale, standing in front of him with unresponsive eyes and her whole-body trembling, including her lower lip. As soon as their eyes met, hers filled with tears and her nose flared.