Little Memories

The air around Charlotte was cool and brisk and it chilled her lungs and her body every time she took in a breath. Eventually, that cool, numb feeling spread from her lungs, through her veins, to the tips of her fingers, and her whole being. She felt at ease and collected, her mind blank and completely thoughtless. All she knew was the smell of nature; the damp soil, the fresh water in front of her, and the clean smell of approaching rain. Thunder rolled off into the distance and adrenaline coursed through her at the sudden noise.

She inhaled deeply, a small smile curling her lips as she realized her lung capacity had returned to what it was before she became ill. Charlotte held her breath for a moment as a strike of lightening caused the air around her to spark with electricity. Slowly, she let the air out as she heard the steady sound of slow footsteps behind her, crunching on the dead leaves and twigs that lay on the forest floor. She would choose to ignore them for now, thinking that if she failed to acknowledge their presence, they would merely walk away.

“Charlotte,” she heard the deep, calm voice behind her and she continued to face forward, keeping her eyes shut. The footsteps grew closer and faster, she could hear his slow, regulated breathing. “Charlotte,” his voice grew a little in volume and she clenched her teeth tight together. His voice sounded slightly desperate and it made her want to turn around and look at him. But…he was impeding on her alone time, time that she needed to not think of the evil things at hand. He only returned her thoughts to her brother, who was probably getting the Dark Mark as she sat there.

A hand fell gently on her shoulder and she slowly opened her eyes, looking over at the blonde boy who stood just beside her as she sat on that grotesquely twisted tree that she loved so much. His brow was wrinkled with concern as he stared down at her, his hand gently gripping her too-bony shoulder. She let out a heavy sigh before looking forward again, the brisk breeze ruffling her dirty blonde hair.

“What do you want, Draco?” She asked, no hint of disdain or annoyance in her tone. Draco sat down beside her on the tree and watched as her bright blue eyes danced across the surface of the small, woodland pond in front of them.

“I’m sorry about your brother,” he said softly and Charlotte closed her eyes, taking in a deep breath of air.

“Don’t,” she said, shaking her head before opening her eyes and looking over at Draco. “We’re not going to talk about any of that. Not here. Not in such a peaceful place.” Then, as if to spite Charlotte, a loud clap of thunder rolled through the sky. Silence fell between them as she looked over his face, sighing heavily, before turning and looking back at the pond, seeing tiny droplets of water hitting the surface. Those tiny raindrops caused tiny ripples that disturbed the otherwise calm and smooth surface of the pond.

“We should go inside,” Draco murmured before biting the inside of cheek and looking down at the ground beneath them.

“No…not just yet,” Charlotte said, watching the ripples of water with a sort of distracted focus. Draco drew in a deep breath of air before looking over at Charlotte. The rain slowly began to fall harder and they could hear the wind picking up and the rain drops hitting the leaves of the trees overhead. Occasionally, a large droplet of water would fall on one of them, but they merely ignored it as the moisture seeped through their layers of clothing until it wet their skin.

“I’m sorry about last night,” he said in a pathetically weak voice. He cleared his throat soon after, looking away from Charlotte out of embarrassment and guilt. Charlotte drew in a sudden breath of air and looked over at him with a wide-eyed look for a moment. Draco looked back at her, seeing the reflection of a far off lightning strike in her eyes.

“Is as much of my fault as it is yours,” she said softly, her raspy voice almost drowned out by the sound of another loud rumble of thunder. He could see the water droplets on her pale, still sickly looking skin and frowned slightly, knowing that sitting out in the cool rain couldn’t be could for her recovering health.

“I should have never taken the bottle from you,” Draco added, not taking his eyes away from her. Her brow creased slightly as she looked over at him, her lips pursed into a thin line. She drew in a breath of air and her lips parted slightly.

“Well…I should have never wanted to get drunk, so…” Her voice died off as the rain slowly grew louder and pounded at the trees and the small pond in front of them. They fell silent again as the rain continued to fall around them and it was all too soon that they found themselves drenched as the thunderstorm raged on. Draco shivered slightly as a chilly breeze blew past them. He glanced over to Charlotte and noticed that the wind and the rain didn’t seem to bother her.

“We should go inside,” Draco pleaded over the noise of the storm, “you’re going to get sick again.”

“No,” Charlotte said stubbornly, taking her eyes away from the torrential downpour that splattered against the small pond to look over at Draco. He merely sat there, contemplating whether he should go inside and leave her, but decided against it. He prized her company too much to leave her, even if she was being stubborn.

“Why won’t you listen to me?” He asked, his face contorting with thought. Charlotte looked up at him for a moment, her face completely emotionless before a rebellious grin curled the corner of her lips and she looked back out to the pond. She didn’t say a word, merely continuing to grin as she watched the storm pass by. Draco stared at her for a few moments, her lack of an answer sparking a bit of annoyance and anger in him.

“So…you hate me then?” He asked, trying his hardest to not sound as heartbroken as he felt. Charlotte’s grin fell and her eyes darted to him suddenly. She let out a heavy sigh and shook her head.

“I’ve never said that I hated you…ever,” she said, watching him closely. Draco merely stared back at her and a roll of thunder shook through the forest. Charlotte bit her bottom lip hard and sighed heavily, looking hard into Draco’s eyes. “And I never said that I didn’t love you.” Draco’s heart gave a hard pound in his chest as adrenaline coursed through his veins with a chilly feeling. Despite himself, his lips curled into a small smile and Charlotte returned the gesture, her eyes lighting up for the first time she had been back from Azkaban.

“Then why did you-” Charlotte cut off Draco’s question by pressing her fingertips against his and shushing him lightly. Draco merely stared at her with wide, blue-grey eyes and watched as her eyes slowly darted to his lips, then back up to his eyes. Her smile slowly fell as she let her fingers fall from his lips and gently brush back a strand of his white-blonde hair. Charlotte gently cupped his jaw in her cold hands and closed her eyes, leaning forward and pressing her lips delicately to his.

Draco sat still for a few quick passing moments, in disbelief that Charlotte was kissing him and touching him, before closing his eyes and kissing her back. He tentatively reached to her waist and kept his hands there, relishing just being able to touch her. Their rain-slick lips slowly detached as they hovered just about a centimeter apart from each other before reattaching hungrily.

“It’s burning pretty badly right now, Charlie,” Gregory said with a wince as he sat on the guest bed, watching as his sister ran a towel through her freshly sheered hair. She looked over at him for a moment, watching as his looked down at the brand on the inside of his arm. In the time she had come back inside, she found her brother waiting in the guest room for her, looking down at the tender, freshly branded skin. He didn’t question her rain-soaked appearance, because the thunderstorm was still raging on outside the Manor and that was explanation enough. She had taken a few minutes to put on fresh, dry clothes and warm up a bit before either of them had said anything.

“It’ll be that way for a while,” Charlotte said softly, sadly, as she placed the towel to the side and sat on the bed beside her brother. She gently took his left arm in her fingertips and looked over the mark before giving a wistful sigh. “I told myself I wouldn’t let this happen.”

“You know you wouldn’t be able to stop this from happening,” her brother said as he looked over at her. “Once he gets something in his mind, he’ll stop at nothing to do it. You know that.” Charlotte let out a heavy sigh and slowly wrapped her bony arms around his shoulders, placing her head on his shoulder. A fire had been started in the first place across from the bed, in hopes of warming Charlotte up from the cold rain she had sat and kissed Draco in for what had seemed hours but was only just a couple of minutes.

“We’re all we have now, Gregory,” she said softly as she stared into the fire. Her brother’s eyes, however, never left the pink scar on his arm that he’d have for the rest of his life; a symbol of the allegiance he had made. “We’ve got to stay strong for each other or we aren’t going to make it very far.”