"You're lying." I said the room spinning. "She can't—she can't be."
Cole just grabbed at his hair and sobbed harder, confirming that this wasn't a sick nightmare. My best friend was in Azkaban. "I—I could have done more, I should have—it's all my fault—"
He kicked out at Draco's table, and kept kicking and screaming at the table until I managed to pull him from it. "Cole, you need to calm down," I said, though I was starting to shake.
"I CAN'T CALM DOWN MY FIANCEE IS IN AZKABAN!" Cole screamed, and he picked up the chair and threw it at the wall, where several photos shattered and the chair legs broke off with a crash.
"Stupefy!" Draco cried for the second time, and Cole crumpled in front of our eyes, his head lolling on the floor.
"Draco!" I cried as I ran to Cole's side. "What did you do that for?"
"I—I thought he was going to break something or hurt one of us, I panicked!" Draco said, and his voice was higher than usual from panic.
"He's just having one of his anger episodes, he only hurts furniture, the anger is from his thinking he's screwed up—he'd never hurt anybody." I said, brushing his unkempt hair from his eyes. What had happened to him and Gennie? "He's off his medication that much is clear. I'm sure Camille or Alia have some."
"I'll help you take him to the tower," Draco said, and once again, the two of us dragged Cole to his feet. "If anybody asks—I'm dragging you both to detention."
"But they'd figure out we weren't in detention." I pointed out as we left the office.
"Exactly—it's called a favour, Lena." He snorted as we struggled down the corridor. "I don't know what you've been told from your new friends, but I am becoming a good person."
The two of us were silent as we hobbled down the corridor, thankfully never coming across anybody. "Lena," Draco said his voice odd. "How did you know all of that about Cole's condition? I thought you only met him in August?"
"I—"there was no logical way I could fight my way out of this. With both relief and horror, with the silence between us, I could hear footsteps approaching. "Draco!"
Looking panicked again Draco seized both Cole's limp arm and mine and pulled us behind a tapestry of dragons playing a game of cards. Pressed so close together that our chests touched and Cole was slouching on us we waited for the person to pass.
"—what was even the point of dragging that Wilde kid back here?" It was the Carrow sister, who I hadn't met yet but already hated. "It just riles Cameron up—as if he isn't crazy enough to begin with."
When a death eater even thinks Cameron is crazy you know that he really had leapt off the deep end of crazy.
"Yeah, but you know what he did to his kid brother all those years," her brother spoke, sounding both impressed and slightly disgusted. "It's probably to punish both of them—Cameron for already screwing up at his job, and to try and motivate his brother to join us. You know the Dark Lord still desires him."
"Was separating him from his girlfriend necessary though?"
"Yes—because it gives him false hope of her getting out. It's like when parents say maybe to their kid—the kid thinks they can get what they want."
Feeling more uncomfortable about them talking about Gennie, and how close I was to both Cole and Draco I let out an involuntary squeak.
"What was that?" the sister said suddenly and Draco clamped his hand over my mouth.
"What?"
"I heard something squeak—a person."
"Where?"
"That creepy tapestry thing,"
Holding my breath I clutched onto Cole's frayed jumper as the footsteps came closer and closer, so close I could see two pairs of shoes. They were going to find out, and we'd be in so much trouble. They'd hurt me so bad my necklace would fall off, and I'd be in Azkaban too.
"There's nobody there!" Carrow sneered. "There are plenty of mice in this dump, stop being so paranoid."
"I just thought—"
"You thought wrong, now come on—there's a meeting with the staff we're already late for." He snapped back.
The pair of boots and heels moved away from the tapestry, and after a few minutes I let myself breath again.
Like instinct, I smacked Draco's arm like I once might have, in a time far away. "What were you thinking?! We were almost caught!"
"I panicked, okay?!" Draco shouted, and groaned. "Let's not argue about this, let's get Cole back."
As we continued hauling Cole through the castle, my annoyance at Draco subsided. "It's not one of the stupidest things you've done."
"Oh yeah, and what other stupid things do you know I've done?" he snorted. "I'll know them all, I over-analyse them in my mind at 3 am."
"I know one time you wore nike trainers." I blurted out, remembering a summer a long time ago when Draco and I went on a break, when things were relatively normal.
He was even smiling now. "That was one time!"
And I giggled, and even though Cole was still unconscious and I was worried as hell about Gennie and Cole himself—I felt a tiny bit more normal than usual.
"Wait," Draco said as we turned onto the corridor of Gryffindor tower. "How did you know that? How do you know anything about me?"
Looking into those grey eyes, open and vulnerable, I almost caved and told him everything. But with Cole's head lolling on my shoulder, I knew this wasn't the right time.
"The walls talk." I said airily as we reached the portrait, who raised an eyebrow at the sight of Draco. "I'll take him from here, thank you. For helping him and me, you know."
Draco nodded, looking in a daze as he let go of Cole, and positioned Cole's limp arm around my neck for support. "You confuse me Lena Stark—but in a good way."
"Oddly enough, you don't confuse me." I replied, and giving him a small smile, said the password, and headed inside to the common room.
Once the portrait door shut behind me, the situation hit home. Half of the D.A were sat on the sofas and chairs, and leapt up when they saw me struggling with Cole, who was slowly becoming conscious.
"We heard—I didn't even believe—" Neville stammered as he saw Cole, as he and Seamus grabbed Cole from me, and lead him to the sofa. "The papers said—"
"Well the papers must have lied," I said harshly, tugging off my necklace at long last, the lie stripping away.
Cole was barely down on a sofa, groaning and clutching his head when the portrait opened again and his sisters burst in—Alia looking horrified, Camille bursting into tears at the sight of him.
The two of them ran to his side, and Camille practically flung herself onto the floor next to her brother, hugging at his arm and sobbing. Alia looked sobered as she stood next to me, looking like somebody had died.
"I heard my brother saying—I didn't think it was possible." She croaked out. "Where's Gennie? Is somebody else getting her?"
The hope in her tone stripped away every last ounce of self control I had for the last twenty minutes, and I let out a strangled cry, covering my mouth with my hand to stop myself from letting out a scream.
"Where is she?" Seamus said, looking concerned. I remembered how they once dated, and I wondered if he still cared about her in that way.
"Azkaban," I whispered, my voice a tiny squeak, though everybody seemed to hear, the room turning into an exhibit of silent statues. "Cole—he said, I—"
"Has he had his medication?" Camille said loudly, seeming to move past her crying fit, though she still looked half-hysterical.
"No—I don't know how long for, he was going into one of his rages, breaking things, I didn't know what to do—" I said in a rush, my voice breaking.
"I've got some." Camille said quickly, and before anybody could say anything, she hurried back out of the portrait hole.
"She's an idiot," Alia said savegly. "I told her to bring it with her—I hate her on times—"
"Well I hate whoever stunned me," a croaky voice said, and people shrieked as Cole began sitting up, swaying as he clutched his head. "Rory? Oh, you're yourself again, did you stun me?"
"No, it was Draco." I explained. "He just—"
"I don't really care, but thanks," Cole said, getting to his feet, but staggered again; Alia grabbing his elbow. "I need to be off now."
"What to do grand escape Azkaban?" Neville said softly. "There's no way out Cole—please, just explain it to us."
Maybe it was because of how close Neville and Cole were, or the softness in his tone, but Cole nodded and sat back down, chewing on his sleeve like a child. Everybody gathered around, sitting on the floor cross-legged like this was some twisted story time. Sitting next to him, I put my hand on his leg, trying to give him some encouragement to begin.
"We were hunting the Morgenstern's—father and son—these big German death eaters. They've murdered hundreds—maybe even thousands of Voldemort's enemies in Europe. Not to mention they were homophobic trash."
Twisting his guitar pick necklace around his fingers, he carried on with a ghost of a smile. "We killed the son, Jon—and then we managed to chase his father all the way to Russia. We followed him to a casino and we like went into the rafters with rifle guns—you know the cool ones assassins have? And just as Gennie fired the shot and he fell down dead—death eaters swarmed on us. How they knew, I don't know. We were so careful at not being found..."
The fragile silence was broken as Camille snuck back into the common room, Cole's medication in hand. Cole snorted when he saw it.
"Darkness, my old friend." He said, wrapping his hand around the medication as Camille gave it to him. "You're just in time for the best part of the story, Millie."
Rolling the medication around in his hand with faint tears in his eyes, Cole carried on. "So then they took us to their headquarters, and we were tortured over and over again for information until we passed out. They wanted to know where Harry and Rory were, but I wouldn't give them up."
"You didn't have to do that," I whispered.
Cole gave me a half-broken smile. "But I did, I'm no rat." Taking a deep breath he choked out, "So then we were sent to the Ministry. Gennie was sent straight to Azkaban for murder, and I was sent up here because apparently I have potential for greatness."
"No trial?!" Alia spluttered. "But that's unfair—"
"But it's brilliant for the bastards who run the system," Cole said, his eyes glistening with tears. "They get somebody inside—a half-werewolf and friend of the undesirables at that. And I'm stuck here, with nothing to do but think about her alone and scared."
And then he burst into noisy painful tears, the sound of an animal stuck in a trap, a wound that carried on and on.
"Please just—give us some alone time." I spoke up to everybody, who looked concerned, but unsure what to do. "He doesn't want crowding."
Everybody slowly drifted off; patting him on the shoulder and giving him bullshit like 'it gets better' and 'she'll be okay'. Alia and Camille hovered over the two of us as I sat next to Cole as he slumped onto my shoulder, still crying.
"We'll leave him cry it out with you," Alia said, kissing the top of her brother's head. "Take your medicine Cole and keep fighting okay?"
Cole nodded, his sobs starting to quieten into odd sniffles cries. Camille reached out to hold his hand but thought better of it, running her hand across his back once before following Alia out of the common room.
The two of us stayed silent as I held Cole, numbness starting to take me over. How could Gennie be trapped in that hellish place? She more than anybody deserved freedom, love, happiness—the things she was only given shreds of as a child. Just like Sirius—
"Wait, Cole, there is hope!" I burst out, and Cole looked up at me oddly. "She's an animagus! She can get out of the bars somehow, right?"
Cole seemed to perk up, sitting up and looking a bit more alive. "Yeah.... Yeah, of course—like Sirius! She—of course, this is actually amazing! She can find her way back to us!"
"She will, Cole, she's a fighter." I said, kissing the top of his shoulder.
The two of us stayed like that until the embers in the fire started to die, silent in thought until Cole cleared his throat. "Have you—have you been having dreams recently?"
I froze. "Of Sam?"
"Yes," Cole breathed out in relief. "She keeps appearing in my dreams, telling me to be happy but then she fades away.... And she looks so happy..."
"Yeah," I said my stomach turning into knots as I thought about the flashing lights and screams in my dreams. Why were we having polar opposite dreams of Sam of all people? What did it mean? "Same."
"She'll get out in no time, the dementors won't even have a chance to affect her before she's escaped," Cole said like a mantra. "And we've got to survive until she does."
Thinking of all the terrible things Gennie had seen in the last few years—Cole's downward spiral, Cameron, Sam's death, the battles at the Ministry and Hogwarts—I had a feeling she would be affected a lot quicker than a usual person.
But seeing the curve of a hopeful smile on Cole's face, I couldn't just say that she'd be out almost instantaneously.
"Yeah, we've got to survive." I said, though I wasn't sure how to when everything was so much more complicated now.
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A/N The comments on the last chapter was utterly crazy my inbox got flooded.. lol
Things are starting to build up now.... A LOT of stuff is going to go down in the next few chapters, so buckle down for a crazy bumpy ride.....
Theories on what's going to happen next to everyone?
In other news, I have new glasses which are really weird but I managed to get through my new prescription fuzz to write a chapter for y'all.
A new chapter will be up soon but as a last note—any Muslim readers, good luck with Ramadan! I learned about it for my RE exam and it looks very hard, I admire your willpower!