Heliophilia; d.m

XVIII

"I understand what he can do," I said in a low voice, twisting a lock of hair in my hands, "I just don't understand why he would harm me?"

"Violet, we've explained to you a million times that he's cruel and merciless, that he tried to kill your mother and so many others—"

"But why he wanted to kill mother?" This question has been nagging at me for so many years, ever since I found out, but I've never gotten an exact answer.

"I don't know why, but the fact remains that he almost killed her, but when she managed to survive and escape from him, he became even more furious and merciless. That's why you're staying here and it's not up for discussion." I sighed heavily, leaning back on the couch, unable to resist him.

I've been locked in the shackles of "protection" all my life, and when I thought I was finally free for just a little bit, they did it again. They were pulling me away from the outside world again, leaving me alone with myself.

DRACO

I was used to the quiet of our house, to the empty rooms and the lifeless surroundings.

I was used to not leaving my room for days, not seeing my parents, or wandering around the house alone, counting the steps from my room to the library or reading the same thing several times so that the words were imprinted on the subcortex of my brain.

But when I got home this time, it wasn't the same as before.

Our house had never been cozy, but now it was difficult to even just be there. With all the people who had settled there, I no longer felt at home. And before I knew it I was involved in something dark and terrible.

From now on, it was my destiny to serve the Dark Lord and obey his orders without question.

From now on, I became a prisoner of this dark world, I became doomed to my miserable existence under the Lord's rule, I became doomed to lose everything bright that I ever had, including Violet.

This was going to be the end of us again. But I allowed myself to be selfish for a while longer, because I couldn't just lose her. Not again, when I had just found her, when I had just won her over, not again.

I knew that in the end we weren't meant to be together and she wasn't safe with me, and maybe it would have been even better if she had ended our relationship, instead of me. Because, God knew, it was beyond me to push her away from me, to tell her that it was all over, looking into her beautiful eyes, which always looked at me with warmth, despite the ice trapped in the irises.

I knew it was inevitable to watch her walk away from me again.

But not so soon. Please, not so soon.

I haven't heard from her since the day she passed out on my shoulder and then, with Dumbledore's help, apparated home. There was something wrong with her condition, and I was afraid of the unknown.

I wrote her several letters, but they always came back, because no owl could find her place of residence.

All I could do was look at her hair band, which was still lying in my nightstand, shimmering in the light, and write to her again and again, not losing hope that one day the owl would return with empty claws.

VIOLET

After weeks of being locked up at home, unable to even go out into the yard, I finally got that little bit of freedom I'd been craving for all the time my father was monitoring my condition every day.

In the end, he let me spend some time with Mariel and that was enough for me.

In her very large for one person mansion, I felt a million times better than in our house, which was too big and too dark. There was an oppressive atmosphere in which there was only cold and sadness.