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The train to London the morning after the Yule Ball was quiet.
As Marina had understood it, most students had chosen to stay at Hogwarts over the holidays instead of going home - that being because of the guest visiting the school. They didn't know when they would see their foreign friends again - perhaps never - so they held on tight to them as long as they could. But she didn't want to stay. If anything, she wanted to run away from the castle and never look back. She got physically sick, dizzy, cold, and disgusted when gazing at it now.
Her cousin understood that, deeply sympathizing with her, though they hadn't talked about the ball. He had seen the corpse, and that was enough for him. He had joined her on the train back, and she knew he did it because she would break if he wasn't with her.
Marina rested her head on Draco's shoulder as the train came closer and closer to London. The glass of the window beside her reflected her face. She was visibly pale, and the bags under her eyes made her look extremely tired. Just ten hours ago, Marina had brutally murdered a boy. She hadn't closed her eyes since.
"Love?" the soft voice of her cousin snapped her out of her trance. "Are you ready?"
She sat up, trying to brush strands of hair out of her face, but her fingers trembled so badly that she was forced to give up after a few seconds. The train had noticeably slowed down its speed. Her eyes fell upon him, who seemed to find the table in front of them more interesting than her.
"You're not going to say anything, are you?" she whispered, her voice hoarse from all the screaming and crying.
There was a moment of silence before he pressed out, "No."
The train stopped, and the few students on it ran out of it. Marina spotted her aunt and uncle standing on the platform. Collapsing into Narcissa's arms would be medicine for her now.
She did a horrible attempt at making her hands stop shaking. Draco stood up beside her, grabbing their bags. Then he turned to look at her, and his face was not his - it was Isak's.
Treating him like he was a real snake, she stood there motionless, not saying a word, feeling her blood run cold. She could hear her own breath getting more rapid and short, blood pounding in her ears. Squeezing her eyes shut, she begged that she was in a nightmare.
"Love?"
The words that followed, sweet sayings that escaped his lips, were drowned before they could reach her. What had she done? Why had she hurt him? She swore she had never wanted to hurt anyone. She hadn't been able to control her body.
