« I'M SORRY »
Anastasia walked into the locker room with big steps and a clear frown in her features, she exhaled deeply as she cleaned the sweat from her forehead with her forearm and opened her locker angrily. As she hurriedly took off her gloves, she heard her teammates chuckling as they walked in as well, their laughter faded off as they stared at the girl standing in front of her locker in silence. The girl tried to ignore the whispers echoing in the room as she combed her hair with shaky hands and styled it in a messy bun, a few strands of hair fell in front of her eyes and she blew them away from her eyesight.
"Hey, death eater." She closed her eyes with anger as she heard her teammate talking to her. "Still sad because your leader is dead?"
"She killed her brother to take off the sadness!" Another one exclaimed jokily. The brunette stared down at her bad in silence. "What? Did You-Know-Who eat your tongue?"
The girl pressed her lips together as she pretended to ignore their nasty words towards her, and began to take off her gloves and arm equipment to put it inside her duffel bag. After a long silence from the girl, her teammates decided to drop the mean comments and continued doing their own things, but not without making sarcastic remarks about her some times.
When she noticed they were ready to leave, she turned her head to the side to check she was alone, only to be shoved away and hitting the locker with her shoulder. She grunted under her teeth as she sent them a death glare that made the color drain off their faces, the girl smirked and they turned around quickly to leave the room. The death glare always worked to scared them away, but they always came back to taunt her the next day.
"Is this my revenge, brother?" She muttered, angrily throwing her arm equipment inside her bag.
She hurriedly closed her duffel bag and pulled it out of the closet before slamming the door shut. Her emerald eyes caught the glimpse of her uncovered forearm and the dark mark saluted her like it did every time she woke up, like reminding her about the bitter agony it made her go through in the past.
As an instinct, her hand hovered over the mark and soon she felt her nails scratching it quickly and painfully, it made her groan as she walked out of the locker room and towards the exit of the pitch. She walked aimlessly around the street, watching the muggles doing their daily routines and using their strange muggle technology, she made her way to the entrance for Diagon Alley in silence.
Her fingers hurriedly scratched her forearm with strength and dug her nails over her skin, she wanted to erase it from her body, and if she could, from her mind too. She lowered her head at the sight of the stares following her with every step she took, it felt painfully scary to be there. The brunette stumbled in the uneven street in search of the bright and colorful shop. The uneasy feeling spread to every inch of her body and her emerald eyes began to feel heavy, weak and itchy. Her throat tightened as she watched people jumping away from her as she moved through the busy alley.
A smile spread onto her features as she spotted the big shop a few steps ahead of her, she forced her feet to work to get her rapidly to the shop and find something to drink, she suddenly felt thirsty and in serious need of something to stop her headache. The girl fixed her duffel bag around her torso and walked into the shop with hurry, her emerald eyes scanned the place for something to drink, something to stop the dizziness.
"Hey, Annie—Bloody hell!" Ron jumped the last step of the stairs but let of the boxes in his arms fall at the sight before him. "What happened to you?"
Anastasia narrowed her eyebrows, "I'm thirsty." She mumbled, walking past the ginger boy and leaving the duffel bag somewhere in the desk. The dizziness caused the brunette to stumble, Ron frowned.
"Are you alright?" He asked worriedly, the girl nodded but that caused another dizziness to overcome, Ron caught her before she could fall.
"On a second thought..." The girl chuckled dryly, looking up to find his gaze. "I feel like dying."
"I'm taking you to St. Mungos, and don't try to say no." Ron told her with a serious expression and Anastasia didn't have other option than accept. "Bloody hell, you look like you went to the battle alone."
"Ron—"
The words got stuck as she closed her eyes and collapsed over Ron's arms.
▲ △ ▲
Surprisingly, her head didn't ache as much as she thought it would the moment she opened her eyes. Her emerald eyes opened and closed several times to adjust them to the bright lights, she tried to remember what happened after she left the Quidditch pitch from practice.
"What—" She muttered under her breath.
"I see you're finally awake." Her head turned to find the source of the voice. "You fainted, you lost a fair amount of blood but you're out of danger now."
Anastasia nodded and rubbed her eyes lazily with the arm that didn't hurt. Then, she dropped her hand after she finally understood who was standing in front of her with a half-smile, her eyes widened with surprise and confusion.
Draco stood at the end of the bed, resting his hands over the railing and his gray eyes fixed over her with a half-smile. He seemed taller and somehow younger than the last time she saw him, he also looked very healthy and extremely happy. The brunette sent him a shy half-smile as she rested her back over the pillow and studied every inch of his face.
"What's your name?" He asked and disappointment hit her like a Cruciatus curse.
"You don't know my name?" She frowned, sitting straight.
"No, I remember your name. But I'm making sure you remember it." The young man chuckled, rounding the bed to sit at the edge and in front of her. "What's your name, then?"
"Anastasia." The girl sighed, looking down at her hands. "Anastasia... Rosier." Her head turned to the side as the sound of her last name slipped out of her lips.
It didn't feel like hers anymore.
"Good." Draco smiled. "What year is it?"
The girl pressed her lips together. "2000?" Her eyes met with his and a spark exploded inside her. The young man nodded.
"You're fine, then." His accent echoed over the room as he searched for her eyes.
A painful silence took over as Draco stared at her with a half-smile, but Anastasia seemed more interested in the bandage around her arm. His gray eyes examined her slow and hesitant movements.
"What happened?" She turned to meet his gaze as he scooted closer to her. "It looked awful, Ron fainted after he dropped you here." She looked away again and he sighed deeply.
"Nothing." Draco's hand held her chin timidly to make her look at him, surprise took over him at the sight of her watery eyes. "I hate it." He crooked his head in confusion. "I wish I could, I just—" She pressed her lips together. "I wish I could forget."
Draco exhaled deeply as he scooted a little closer to her. "I know, I want to forget too. But don't let that get to you, Anastasia. You're stronger than this. You're the bravest girl I've ever met, and it's bloody unfair to see you fall for this." Anastasia tried to hide the pain his words caused on her, how he didn't even refer to her as Rosie. She knew she deserved that. "Don't cry, alright? You have me."
She looked down, but he made sure to place his hand over the side of her face to clean the falling tears with his thumb. Her breath hitched at the contact and he stiffened, but didn't dare to lower his hand.
"I'm sorry." The girl breathed out. "I'm really sorry." Her eyes found more interest in her lap than his gray eyes.
"Sorry about what? Being embarrassed for this?" His smoothing voice made her gulp. She wanted to kiss him, so desperately. "You shouldn't feel bad for that."
"No." The girl finally looked up to meet his gaze. Draco swallowed quickly, the girl could see his Adam's apple going up and down. "I'm sorry for leaving." He dropped his hand and she closed her eyes before inhaling and exhaling deeply. "For every time I left, I didn't want to admit it, but it was very selfish of me, I fooled myself thinking it was for the better for both of us, but deep down I think I wanted to protect myself."
"But—" The young man began but his words got stuck in his throat.
"Which is completely stupid, now I know that." Anastasia couldn't bring herself to meet his gaze. "I know my selfish acts hurt you, and I will never forgive myself for that. You always chose me over everything, and I never did the same to you. But I want you to know that even after everything that happened, it's been always you." She finished and finally looked up to look at his eyes.
The girl pressed her lips together in a thin line as she studied his troubled expression. Now it was his time to look away from her penetrating green eyes, he felt his head throbbing and his heart trying to get out of his chest.
"Say something." She muttered, her hand timidly hovering over the bandage. "Please."
"You have no idea how long I've been waiting for you to say this." He let out a dry chuckle, Anastasia held her breath nervously as he paused. "I have to admit that after you left to America I really tried to hate you, believe me, I really tried. I didn't find fair that after everything that we went through together... but then, I tried to understand you." Hearing his words was a dagger for her heart, but she knew she deserved it. "I know you lost your family, and then Remus and Tonks... I know that must've been hard for you, and you probably thought you didn't have any family left. But," Draco paused, there was hesitation in his face as he swallowed. "Remember that day you received that letter from your parents?" With an aching heart, Anastasia nodded. "Well, I told you I was going to be your family, and I haven't changed my mind."
"I know." She croaked. "I never wanted you to feel like that, and you were totally right in trying to hate me and suppress your feelings for me. I get that, and I will never stop apologizing for hurting you—"
"Sh." He softly placed his finger over her lips, making her breath hitch. "I forgave you a long time ago."
"Oh." Anastasia breathed out nervously. "I'm sorry—" This time, she chuckled, and so did he. It felt so good hearing his laugh again.
"Bloody hell, I've missed you like crazy."
Before the girl could say anything else, Draco was already leaning on and resting his forehead against hers. She felt the corner of her lips turn upward in a wide, happy smile as her eyes met his gray ones. Her eyes studied his face once again, she was too focused on his tentative lips that she didn't realize his hand brushing her cheek softly. The young man's nose touched hers as their gap was shortening, soon their lips were now too close that they only needed to lean closer to kiss. Anastasia looked straight into his beautiful eyes one more time before pressing her lips over his in a gentle kiss.
She savored the taste of mint and coffee in his lips and cherished the tingling feeling in her stomach as he sweetly cupped the sides of her face in his strong yet delicate hands, the touch gave her goosebumps and made the pain of her arm leave her thoughts. Now the taste of his lips against hers drove her mind crazy and she found herself unable to think about anything else.
"Marry me, Rosie." Draco said as soon as they broke apart. Anastasia felt like her heart stopped beating as a wide smile took over her features. "I want to be with you forever."
"Yes." She replied without hesitation. "Forever yours." His smile widened.
"Forever yours." He said after with a pounding heart.