My Wings Are Black

Odette, please. You have to get up. It’s been two days!”,

Odette said nothing, staring blankly at the drawn curtains of her bed. She ignored Draco’s voice from beyond her den in which she was refusing to come out of. She couldn’t, not looking like this.

“Odette” Draco tried again “the teachers are starting to wonder. They know you haven’t been to see Madam Pomfrey.”

Odette raised her wand weakly, using magic to draw the curtains back so she could allow light onto her damaged face and a view of Draco who heaved a sigh of relief as she decided to allow him some sort of access. He gently sat down at the edge of her bed, lightly tracing his thumb around her deliciously curved lips, and bruised cheek.

“I can’t believe he did this to you”, he muttered.

Odette snorted and then regretted it as pain shot through her body “He’s the Dark Lord Draco, he can do what he wants to his followers”.

“More slaves”, Draco whispered, almost to himself and he rubbed his arm where the Dark Mark was burned like a vicious bruise into his skin. Odette frowned, loyalty for her Master overtaking any care she may have for Draco,

“Draco, be wise with your words. You can’t have any words such as those be heard by him. You would not be as lucky as me”,

“Lucky!” Draco’s voice rose to a near yell “Lucky! Odette, Potter and his useless friends found you mere seconds from death. With your injuries you’re lucky you’re alive. I still can’t fathom how you had the strength to fly back! If it wasn’t for Snape, we’d be digging your grave right now. How can you say that is lucky!”

Odette trembled slightly, and her voice was a frail whisper. She placed a icy cold hand on Draco’s “Draco, I hold the Mark, yet I was still punished. I only live because I was the chosen one. If it had been you or your father, or even my father…we would be dead by Bellatrix’s wand or tortured into insanity by her curse. I live because he called stop when he felt I had suffered enough…I lived because I am the favoured one, the one he marked as his own. So yes, I am lucky. But I am lucky, it was me he chose to punish and not you, for then we would be digging a grave.”

Draco dropped to his knees and he looked like a young boy, scared and unsure of everything around him. He placed his head gently on Odette’s stomach and like a caring mother she ran her hands through his soft blonde hair in a comforting gesture. But her heart was beating wildly and she was starting to see nothing in the world that made any sense at all to her.

It was clear to those in the dark circle that Odette was unfavoured. She had been tortured to minutes from death, helped by none, not even the dark Lord himself. He may have called a stop to Bellatrix’s fun but he didn’t make any sort of action to ensure Odette’s safe arrival back to Hogwarts.

And this scared Odette, for the first time in a long time, she didn’t know where she stood. She didn’t have the protective backing of her Lord, her father and mother no doubt were hiding their head sin shame at their only daughter’s failure and she was weak and useless in her current position.

For the first time in her life, Odette as completely and utterly lost.

Her breath caught in her throat and shameful tears started to clog up her eyes and run fast and wet down her pale cheeks. She could hear soft moans and whimpers coming from her mouth and as her body racked in sobs, pain engulfed her fragile form. But she didn’t care, she no longer cared about anything. Everything she had worked for, killed for…it was all gone.

Draco sat up, looking at her. He quickly lay beside her, taking her head and placing it on his chest. Odette sobbed, her tears soaking through his white shirt and exposing the hard muscles of his chest underneath. Her hand clutched weakly at his sleeve, but he allowed her to cry as she herself had allowed him to take comfort in the intimate gesture of his own suffering just a moment beforehand.

Soon her tears turned into small sniffles as he calm composure took over once again. She was down but never out and somehow she would have to find a way to regain her stature.

She sighed, rubbing her bloodshot eyes “Draco, you said Potter found me?”,

Draco nodded, and sighed “Yes, it’s bloody annoying they can hold that over our heads now, saving you I mean.”,

Odette frowned “I don’t remember anything at all from the time I arrived back to when Severus woke me up…”,

“You were barely conscious when they fetched me, though that Weaselbee twin was rather reluctant to hand you over”,

Odette felt her eyes widen “Twin, which twin?”

Draco made a face “How would I know? They look exactly the same!”

But Odette knew it must have been Fred, and somewhere in her hazy fog of a memory she could see his face swimming in and out of focus. Her Fred, he had saved her.

But things were serious now, and it was more reason than ever to stay away from him. If anything about their relationship was found out now, he would be destroyed, and she along with him.

“Draco, what do I do now. I was here because of my Mark…do I have to stay?”,

Somepart of her wished she could leave, to get away from Fred, to keep him safe. He wouldn’t be in any danger if she wasn’t around. But a bigger part wished her to stay, her heart, and not only for Fred but for Draco, who had become a friend, for Blaise and Luna Lovegood…all who had made an impact on her, so subtle she had never noticed until now. She wanted to stay…

Draco stared at her, his cheeks flushed with a faint tinge of pink “No Odette, you’re going nowhere…you’re staying here with me,”

Odette smiled a little. She closed her eyes, imagining Fred, his freckles, his laughing brown eyes…the way he smiled at her.

“Okay Draco, I’ll stay.”,

~

“Odette”,

Odette stopped in her slow walk to Transfiguration class, smiling bemused at Luna who was wearing parsnip earrings and a hair band with a carrot sticking out from it.

“Hello Luna,”

Luna beamed, her eyes slightly unfocused as usual “I heard you were ill. Did you like my card?”

Odette smiled again, remembering the pink and purple card she had received from Luna’s owl Barnabus. It had moving unicorns printed over it, and had given a cheery air to the décor of Odette’s silver and green room.

“Yes Luna, it was lovely. Thank you so much”,

Luna laughed with delight “Oh good, now if you excuse me, I have to….”,

She wandered away dreamily before she finished her sentence, Odette looked after the girl amused and shook her head. She stiffened as pain shot through her again, and her mood turned black. With Snape’s skills in potion making he could at least given her something to ease the pain of punctured internal organs. She grumbled and deciding to skip Transfiguration, turned to the Defence Against the Dark Arts corridor. She walked into Snape’s classroom, glaring at the terrified Hufflepuff first years that were gathering there. She saw Snape at his desk and limped over to him, standing proudly, though rather stiffly in front of him.

Snape sighed as if bored and then lazily drew his eyes upward to meet her fearsome green ones “How may I help you Miss Silver?”,

Odette growled “Severus, I am in pain.”,

Snape rose an eyebrow “And”,

Odette’s voice sounded sweet, but was laced with venom around the edges “And I would like something to get rid of it. Make me something…now”.

Snape looked at her “Odette, I have a class to teach. Please excuse yourself from my room.”,

“Severus, please!”

“You’ll have to suffice with Madam Pomfrey for now…”

“Fine, but if she asks too many questions I can’t be blamed for my actions!”, Odette snapped violently and as quickly as she could strode from the room.

As soon as she was alone on an empty corridor, she whimpered, stopping in her stride and leaning against a wall. She held her side, willing herself to get better but it didn’t work. She cursed Bellatrix Lestrange with a string of filthy curse words as she shuffled towards the Hospital Wing. She was met with a steady gaze from Madam Pomfrey as she entered, no doubt her face was contorted in silent agony and no doubt the nurse had heard her loud cursing.

“What can I do for you Miss Silver?”,

Odette rolled her eyes, her patience wearing thin “I need something, anything, to get rid of a bloody awful pain!”

“How about a kiss?”,

Odette’s heart did a little flutter as Fred’s voice drifted to her. She peered around Madam Pomfrey to stare at Fred who was lying in a bed, a scaly looking rash covering his arms and neck.

She made a face in disgust “No, thank you lizard boy”,

Madam Pomfrey ushered Odette over to a bed, laying her down. She could feel Fred’s eyes on her and though his tone was cheerful, she could feel anxiety pulsing from her. His eyes were worried, she could tell…for she had been almost dead the last time he had seen her.

“I’m glad you’re okay”, he whispered.

Odette nodded, her lips a tight line as Madam Pomfrey began prodding her suspiciously, no doubt believing her pain was a lie.

“What happened to you-OW!”, Odette cut her question of with a loud scream as Madam Pomfrey hit a particularly painful spot.

“Oh this is ridiculous!”, the nurse snapped, pulling the curtains around the bed to shield Odette from Fred’s view, “Miss Silver please show me your stomach”.

Odette hesitated “No…”,

Madam Pomfrey inhaled sharply “Miss Silver…”,

Odette bit her lips then slowly removed her robes, and unbuttoned her shirt until she stood in her bra in front of the magical nurse. She winced as Madam Pomfrey gasped at the deep bruising that laced Odette’s whole body and the several healing scars that were decorating her ribs, shoulders and back. One had opened, and was now leaving a fresh trail of blood down the damaged skin of Odette’s stomach. Snape had managed to save her from death but it was only Madam Pomfrey that had the ability to heal wounds such as these.

“Miss Silver, what on earth happened to you?”,

“I flew into a tree.”, Odette lied smoothly and smiled, feigning embarrassment “It was rather foolish of me really. I’ve never been good up in the air but I insisted on having a go on Harry’s Firebolt. It really is one of a kind….”,

Madam Pomfrey glared “Miss Silver, do not lie…”

“She not lying, I was there”, Fred’s voice was loud and Madam Pomfrey stuck her head from behind the curtain,

“Mr Weasley, I have had my fair share of you over the last seven years in this school and I would appreciate it if you didn’t eavesdrop into my conversations with other patients. Now continue rubbing that lotion onto that ridiculous rash you managed to conjure onto yourself!”,

Odette bit her lips to keep from laughing as Fred immediately went silent. Madam Pomfrey handed Odette a gown, and rubbed a paste on the scars to heal them completely. She instructed Odette to drink a potion to heal the internal damage that was causing the bruising and though it were horrid, Odette drank without a word.

She lay in bed bored, waiting until Madam Pomfrey allowed her to leave, who was now fussing around her like a Mother Hen. Fred took his chance when she entered her office to complete paperwork. He hopped off his bed smoothly, and perched himself on Odette’s. He ran a hand down her face, and Odette couldn’t help but compare his calloused Beater hands to the smooth ones of Draco, who had never done a day’s work in his life.

“You gave me a right scare Swan”, he whispered, his lips brushing her forehead.

Odette’s eyes were sad “I thought you weren’t talking to me…”

Fred gazed at her, his palm still caressing her cheek “I don’t know what to say to you anymore Odette. How do I know who I’m talking to? This?” he placed a hand over her mark which was cool now, no longer burning angrily “Or this?”, he placed his hand on her chest over her heart which he could feel beat under his touch.

Odette turned her face into the pillow “I don’t know Fred. All my life I have thought with evil, it was what I was born into. It’s what I see ,feel and taste everyday of my life…but then with you…it’s my heart that starts to speak. When I’m with you everything looks different, better…”,

Fred’s face was soft and she believed she saw something like a tear in the corner of his eyes but then there was a cough “Mr Weasley, you may go now. Miss Silver, I would like you to stay till dinner, and then you may leave”.

Fred got up, and without a word left the room.

~

Odette travelled back to the Slytherin dorm as good as new. Her body felt fresh, her scars were healed, the bruises almost gone. Madam Pomfrey had worked her magic.

She ignored the curious faces of the other students as she entered the Common Room, and ignoring Draco and his cronies walked quickly up to her dorm. She wanted to be alone.

But she gasped as she walked into the room, closing the door behind her. She smiled then, rubbing her hands softly over the white roses that were placed in a vase beside her bed. She watched with fascination as the roses began to wilt, their petals drooping become black. But they didn’t die, instead they began to grow again straightening proudly and becoming white once more. She laughed at the beautiful charm work and then picked up the piece of parchment that lay beside the vase.

My swan,
Meet me in the Room of Requirement tomorrow at eight.
I’ll be waiting.

Fred

P.S My heart is yours until the last rose dies.