Cora walked through the hall, attempting to go to her dorm and spend some time alone before spending a long time in detention with Snape.
She was dreading spending an hour in a class doing work when she could be in her dorm with Lena or simply be alone with her thoughts — even though most of them were about her father.
The other thoughts roaming throughout her mind being of Finn and Draco, a much less worrisome and stressful thought.
Maybe spending time in Snape's class would put all of those thoughts aside and she would simply focus on the work given to her.
It would be a necessary distraction. Not the best kind but at least it would take her mind off of everything occurring in her life.
Out of nowhere, she heard rapid muttering coming from the halls — shivers immediately spread throughout her body.
And the only thought in her head was that her father was back and ready to harm her once again.
Cora stopped walking once she noticed two black figures walk over to her fearful body and she immediately took a step back.
The halls were dark which made it difficult for her to focus on the face that belonged to the people walking towards her.
"I don't need you to take me to my common room. I can take myself."
At the sound of Draco's voice, all the fear and stiffness in her body washed away and a relieved sigh escaped her lips.
It was just a physically harmless, yet rude boy walking before her not the horrible person of a father she had.
Once Draco and the dark haired professor were a few feet away from Cora, Snape released his grip from Draco's robe and brought his attention to the brunette.
"Wait for me in class, Ms. Boswell. I have to return this boy to his common room since he was wandering around the halls without permission. Your assignment is on top of your table."
Cora nodded her head understandingly before planting her eyes on Draco — her breath slightly hitching at the sight of him already looking at her.
Simply being a few feet away from him, Cora had noticed how his eyes turned from anger to a speck of remorse which made her eyebrows furrow in confusion.
She didn't comprehend why his expression had a tad bit of regret in it.
And as if he were reading through her, Draco blinked harshly and his eyes were now neutral — no emotion displayed in them.
Cora slowly turned her head back to Snape, her eyes still in tact with Draco's before averting her eyes fro him and placing them on the professor.
"I'll go get started on the assignment then." She stated calmly and stepped aside, getting out of their way and observed as they walked away from her.
She could feel her body tensing more and more each time she took a step forward. She used to love being alone but now being alone was something she detested.
Stepping inside the classroom, Cora took a hefty breath and took a seat on the chair behind the table with a paper on top of it.
Her eyes landed on the paper placed in front of her and she bit the skin on her inner cheek at the amount of work that was yet to be done.
"Thanks for detention, Lena." She whispered with a hint of sarcasm in her voice before placing the quill between her fingers and placing the tip on the paper.
At the sound of the door opening, Cora raised her head and placed her eyes on her professor— watching as he confidently walked over to his table and took a seat.
She brought her eyes back to the paper and continued thoroughly answering each question — keeping in mind that having nothing to do in detention was much more boring than working on something.
And suddenly, her nose picked up the smell of peppermint and alcohol, her body instantly going stiff and the quill in her hand dropping.
Peppermint mixed with the smell of a alcohol was her father's smell. The same one she smelled as a child and a few weeks ago.
"Something wrong, Cora?" Snape asked, his eyes landing on the quill before raising them on her pale face, staring deep into her as if he was trying to read her.
Her eyebrows furrowed at the strange words that had left the professor's words. He had never called her by her first name. In fact, she had never heard him call any student by their first name.
"No, everything's fine, sir." She assured him and partly assured herself as well.
At times she could smell her father's scent even though he wasn't around her and she was sure that this was one of those times.
"Cheating on a test, really? I thought you were better than that but people always seem better than how they actually are. Isn't that right?"
Cora's features instantly furrowed in confusion and she uncomfortably shifted in the seat.
"I didn't get detention because I cheated on a test. I received detention because I was late to your class."
At her words, the professor's expression slightly dropped and he looked down at the table, a small chuckle leaving his lips which echoed throughout the room.
Draco had lied about why she had received detention.
She attentively observed as the professor nod his head and brought his eyes back to her, her eyes dropping down to his hands at the eye contact — she was now skeptic.
As she sat there, looking at his hands, her eyes caught the ring placed on one of his fingers. The same one that belonged to her father.
And suddenly, she felt her heart and everything around her stop.
Polyjuice.
Hearing only the rapid rhythm of her heartbeat, she roughly placed the palm of her hands on the table and stood from the chair she was sitting on — her legs becoming shaky and feeling numb.
She fearfully ran over to the door and abruptly stopped at the sight of the door coming towards her, the door roughly shutting inches away from her.
"No," she whispered as she shook her head and desperately moved the doorknob. "Help me!" She yelled out before whimpering in pain and collapsing to the floor.
She had just gotten cursed.
She didn't know what curse she was casted with but what she did know was that she was in excruciating pain.
She could sense liquid behind her head and body so she diffidently looked down and slightly gasped at the sight of blood in her robes.
The floor under her was now a puddle of blood. She was losing blood and she was slowly losing herself as well.
"You can't escape me," he said with a deep voice and walked over to her, his large body towering over a small one compared to his. "It doesn't matter if you're miles away from me, I will find you. And when I do, I will make sure to torture you until you beg me to kill you."
She let out a shaky breath before looking over at him, noticing that the polyjuice effect had gone away and the person towering over her was the appearance of her father, not her professor.
Tears formed in her eyes as she shook her head in denial, a helpless sob escaping her lips. The nightmare that kept her awake the past nights had turned into a reality.
Her head titled towards the door and her eyes were planted on the door — waiting for someone to storm inside the room and make him go away.
"You're naïve if you actually think that someone is going to open that door and save you. Why would anyone waste their time on you? It'd be futile because you're.." His eyes drop to her arm and a humored smile spreads against his lips as he dropped one knee to the ground and gripped her wrist.
Cora's head snapped to her father and tried jerking her hand away from his grip, not wanting him to harm her more than he already has.
"Don't jerk your hand away from me." He demanded with firm yet calm tone and raised her arm, his fingers lowering the sleeve on her wrist down to her elbow. "Read the carved words on your arm."
Her eyes stayed in tact with her father's for a moment before shutting them closed and with a deep breath she opened them and brought her eyes to the carved letters in her arm.
"Worthless." She whispered, not wanting to say it out loud for him and herself to hear.
"Louder, Cora. I want you to say it so loud that it'll be deeply carved in your brain instead of only your arm."
Her eyebrows furrowed and eyes narrowed at his words, tears blurring her vision before placing her eyes on her arm.
"I'm worthless." She said loud and firm as she held back tears, instantly feeling a sharp pain in her heart at her words.
"Yes, you are. I want you to remind yourself of that whenever you think you could possibly be worth anyone's time or love. You're unlovable and I don't need to carve that word into your arm to remind you of it. You've known of that for quite some time now, haven't you?"
It was strange and frightening how even though her father hadn't been there to see everything she had gone through, he knew exactly what she thought and how she felt.
"Ever since you left me and my mother I've known that, so I thank you for it. You're the reason why I find it so hard to accept that somebody loves me or will simply stay by my side. I don't allow myself to love somebody because I'm so afraid of them leaving, like you did."
She sniveled and looked down, observing as the puddle of blood had gotten larger than the last time she looked. "I'm going to die, aren't I?"
He dragged his blank stare from her face to the puddle of blood before raising his knee from the floor. "Maybe, but not just yet. Your death being here would be far too risky, and I will not let my life go down because of you again."
She stared emotionlessly at her father, feeling her organs slowly shut down. She felt herself letting go and she didn't have the strength or motivation to keep fighting for her life.
"I'll be back. I haven't finished messing with you quite yet."
She observed as the tall, cloaked figure opened the door and stepped out of the room, allowing her to take a relieved breath.
All she heard was the rhythm of her heartbeat
— each thump getting slower and slower as time passed.
She dragged her right hand to the left side of her body and placed her hand on her shoulder — her opposite hand doing the same thing, both of her hands gripping onto each shoulder.
And she hugged herself because she realized she only had herself and there was no one around to comfort her.
Cora then heard footsteps and she stared anxiously at the space between the door and wall, waiting for someone to pass by the room.
Draco then stepped inside the room and stopped abruptly at the sight of dark red blood surrounding Cora's body, his features slightly dropping as culpability washed over him.
Behind Draco was Snape, his eyebrows were furrowed and confusion was plastered all over his face. Not a word leaving his mouth, the professor rapidly walked over to the brunette and dropped to his knees to get on her level.
Cora tore her eyes away from Draco's stiff body and weakly tilted it towards the professor, struggling to keep her eyes open.
The professor took out his wand and traced it over her uniform, the open wounds on her skin closing and the pain slightly vanishing — relief taking over her body.
"Who did this to you, Ms. Boswell? This is a very powerful curse that could've killed you if we would have arrived only a few minutes later." He asserted, intrigue evident in his voice.
"It's a good thing you got here before that happened then." She said, avoiding his question before placing the palm of her hand on the floor, attempting to raise her body from the floor but failing at doing so.
She tucked in her lips, embarrassed at the failed attempt and placed her eyes on the platinum haired boy who walked over to her, carefully yet firmly gripping her wrists — helping her get on her feet.
"You just got cursed, you shouldn't be expecting to get on your feet without some help."
His words made the embarrassment she had felt not so long ago slightly fade, comfort filling inside of her instead.
"I'll take her to the hospital so that they can give her a blood transfusion and make sure she's fine." He wrapped her hand around her waist and her body tensed at the contact, making a small smirk appear on his lips as he copied the same pace as her steps.
He was the reason why the brunette had gotten hurt, and he felt guilty. To make the guilt go away, he decided to take her to the hospital wing and make sure that nothing major had happened to her.
Draco knew it was wrong that an older wizard was taking advantage of a smaller and weaker witch, but all he wanted was to feel the warmth of his mother's hugs again.
Ever since he was a child he was willing to do anything to see his mother, so why would this time be anything different?
Cora Boswell was nothing but an object he needed to use in order to get what he wanted and nothing was going to interfere with his plan.
"What did you do that made Snape take you to detention instead of your dorm?" She asked, her voice making Draco tilt his head towards her — his eyes meeting her dark ones.
"Long story short, he isn't fascinated by the idea of his students calling him by his first name."
She shook her head before a small laugh escaped her lips, a smile creeping its way onto his lips at the sound of her laugh. "I guess I'll see you in detention tomorrow."
Cora hadn't completed her time in detention, and Snape wasn't the type of professor who was known for letting detention slide.
"I guess I will."
Once they arrived at the hospital and talked to Madam Pomfrey about her wound, she sat on the bed and looked up at Draco, who stood inches away from her.
"Thank you for helping me make my way over here." She genuinely appreciated the gesture of him helping her get to the hospital wing.
He stared at her for a few seconds before guiltily nodding his head, knowing that helping her get to the hospital was the last thing he could do after everything. "Can I ask you a personal question?"
Unsurely, she nodded her head approvingly and observed as his eyes dropped to her arm and took a step closer to her. His hands traveled to her wrist and gently took a hold of her sleeve, bringing it down to her elbow.
"Did the person who casted the curse on you do this? Were they the ones who carved this word on your arm?" He asked, hiding a concerned tone with a calm one.
She inhaled sharply at the question and dropped her attention to her arm, reading the word carved in her arm.
She hadn't told anyone anything about who had done this sick thing to her arm and was debating on Draco being the first person she told.
Draco being the first person she told was perfect, really. He didn't care enough to tell people who had caused her harm in the woods and just a few minutes ago, and telling him would take every ounce of weight she was carrying on her shoulders..
"Yes," she responded and placed her eyes on his uniform -- unhurriedly bringing them up to his face, his expression unreadable. "It was my father."
When those four words left her mouth, it was as if an immense weight was lifted from her shoulders. She had finally told someone about her father being back.
"Well he's an arse for hurting you when you're half his size."
She chuckled slightly as she internally compared herself to her father and brought her sleeve down, not wanting her arm to be displayed. "Did your father create the wound I found on your back the day of the quidditch match?"
Her question caught him off guard and his features tensed as well as his body. "Just because I asked you a personal question doesn't mean you can ask me one." He hissed.
Her relaxed face immediately roughened at his harsh response.
"Have a good night, Malfoy." She said, ending the conversation between them before it turned into a big argument she didn't want to have.
Not after everything that had occurred that night.
He let out a heavy sigh as he ran his fingers throughout his hair, keeping in the unpleasant words that were dying to escape from his mouth.
She rolled her eyes back before taking her eyes away from him, dragging her feet on the bed and resting her head on the pillow, her eyes fixated on the ceiling.
Both of them avoiding eye contact with each other.
And the silence between them was then broken by Draco's heavy footsteps and the hospital door slamming shut.