Imperio ⇢ D.M

Chapter Fourty Six

Birthday 

Another year, and another loss. Arden's lost count with how many times she's cried over the summer. The pendant that he gave her still stayed around her neck, she couldn't dare to take it off and have herself forget what the two had together.

But at times she wondered if there was anything between them anyway. Were the deep feelings she felt for him not reciprocated? It confused her, it made her heart break even more, and it only caused her absolute hatred for Draco Malfoy grow.

She hated him for what he did to her. Pretending to love her, pretending to care about her, why couldn't she listen to everyone around her and not fall for the boy who had picked on her before? People told her he was no good, but she didn't believe them, then she found out the hard way.

Arden also hated herself. She hated that she loved him so much; no matter how many times she cried, screamed, and broke things because of how much she hated him, she couldn't ignore the love she had for him deep down.

The worst part of it all, was that Arden didn't know that Draco really did love her.

Every night since June had begun, Arden would sneak out of her faraway home and explore the Muggle towns nearby. She felt at ease being around them, none of them knew who she was, none of them knew the awful things that had happened these past years. It was normal.

No matter how many times she'd take Cedric's old broom and flee from her country home, vowing that she would runaway forever and leave the magical world behind, she always came back.

She'd come back home in the early hours of the morning, tiptoeing to Cedric's room making sure not to wake her parents. She'd place the broom gently back in his closet and go to her own bed to sleep until the afternoon.

Her heartbreak only made her acceptance over Cedric's death come slower. She had started to accept it, but she found herself sometimes knocking on Cedric's door for a shoulder to cry on. Arden found herself only crying into her pillow instead.

It was 12:42 am on August 27th 1996, only 42 minutes into Arden Diggory's 16th birthday. She spent every night she visited London browsing a supermarket that was open 24 hours.

The market was almost always deserted when she came in. She didn't have any Muggle money, so she never bought anything. The first few nights she arrived, security would pull her over believing she stole something, but after a while they just let the odd girl with curly brown hair holding a broom wander around the store with no questions asked.

It wasn't until Arden found herself in the baked goods section, staring at the numerous cakes in plastic containers. Her mouth watered, junk food was practically the main food group she ate most of the summer. Instead of forgetting to eat from being so upset, Arden found that eating her feelings made her feel much better. It definitely caused her body to become more curvaceous than sickly thin, but Arden knew that her weight was unhealthy, and she'd take wider hips and bigger thighs than an unhealthily skinny body any day.

"How come you always come here late hours into the night, but you never buy anything?" A low voice asked. Arden turned around and saw the young brunette with striking blue eyes staring at her quizzically. He was holding onto a cleaning broom and a dustpan, obviously he was the cleaner. He looked to be about 20 years old.

Arden shrugged her shoulders and kept looking at the cakes; she didn't want to talk to boys after what she had one through. "So are you just going to stare at the cakes until you have to leave?" 

Arden turned back to him. "Is there a problem with that?" She snapped.

The man was taken aback by her harsh attitude. "Yikes, there's no problem it's just a little weird that you walk in here with a broom and just look at things." He admitted.