Alone for once (Jesse)

Chase laughed with him still confused. Then suddenly his face was near hers. Even though a second ago he had been staring at the lake. She felt her face heat up and her cheeks go pink. To nervous to say anything in case her breath smelt bad or something, but she didn't lean away, she let him stay there. For some unknown reason. She shouldn't have been, she should have moved away quickly or slapped him or something. But something kept her there, her face inches from his, staring into his eyes.

Thomas grinned but he quickly pulled away, not wanting to upset her anymore. He looked over at her, his hand still in hers. "I guess you didn't like it all to much, huh?" He smiled, wondering what she was actually thinking.

Chase's breathing had sped up the second his face was away from hers. Her face was beat red and she looked at him her eyes flicking from one to the other of his. "I.."She stammered almost out of air and had to take another deep breath. She closed her eyes for a second taking a few deep breaths. But they were to big and she yelled out slightly a shock of pain running through her body. She doubled over her hand still in his. It slowly started to calm down but she had no idea where that had come from. Maybe just the soreness from the cruciatus curse. She didn't know. But whatever it was, it hurt.

Jesse felt her hand clutch his tighter, and a worried look crossed his face as she bent over. He jumped onto his knees and let go of her hand, examining her. He was very good at healing magic, and he thought that by now her pain would have gone away, whoever healed her up must have done a horrible job, but he remembered her going to Mungos, whatever those people had done to him, he wished he could go back in time and destroy them in a duel.

"Chase, tell me where it hurts. I might be able to help."

Chase gasped slightly as it slowly faded away. "I'm fine."She whispered a tear leaking out from one of her eyes and slid down her cheek. "No really I'm fine."She said looking up at him the pain gone as quickly as it had come. "I think I'm sore or something, it left a lasting pain of the dark magic."She said softly shaking her head. "I don't know how, but it hurts in my bones..."She said softly looking up at him her hair having fallen into her face. "Just, everywhere, all at once, like I got hit by that curse again."She whispered hugging herself around the stomach and leaning forward looking down at the ground. "It just...I took to big of a breath and it triggered it."She said softly looking up at him again.

Jesse felt so bad for her, she was way to young to have to go through the things she did, he would have gladly swapped with her, taking on all of her pain so that she did not have to feel it. It was so unfair that such nice people were treated that way. Jesse did not want to forget about it, but he did. He did not want to press the subject anymore than he already had. He sat down beside of her again, and instinctively grabbed her hand again before he let go and muttered "I am sorry..."

Chase shook her head. "Just forget about it."She said softly looking up at him calmly. "It's gone now..I just have to be careful."She said smiling at him. "I'll talk to Madam Pomfrey later and see if this is a normal side effect..of...two unforgivables."She said slowly. She wasn't quite sure how much had leaked out so she quickly looked down. Did everyone know the last part of the story too? "Tell me, how much of the story got out? How much do people know of what actually happened?"She asked turning to look up at him. "I really need to know."She whispered wiping the tear from her eyes and grabbing his hand again.

She was starting to feel bad again, and then she wanted to talk to him about what happened, which was somewhat of an honor for Jesse, in a weird kind of way. It meant she trusted him enough to open up to him. When she grabbed his hand, he squeezed it tight to let her know he wasn't going anywhere. "Well, mostly we heard that two people, we don't know who, attacked you and then some guy came out trying to kill the Death Eaters. Rumors spread, first we all thought the boy was killed, then we found out he was in the hospital wing. Other than that we heard they just tortured you with unforgivables. We all assumed it was the cruciatis curse, but we didn't know." He kept his eyes locked into hers, trying to let her know that someone was there and he wasn't leaving.

"Who did it to you, is it true that they were Death Eaters?" his curiosity had been spiked now, he had to know.

Chase nodded when he told her that they only knew of the cruciatis curse. She looked at him slowly. "I want to tell you the whole story.."She said softly. "I think I trust you enough."She said slowly. "I'm...I'm sorry I can't tell you names."She said shaking her head. "It was to dark."She said as she had said over and over. "I couldn't see their faces, but I believe they were Death Eaters."She said nodding slowly. "What happened..was I was heading inside one night after watching the moon rise, and a girl jumped in front of me. Pulled out her wand and told me not to move. I begged with her to just let me go inside."She said shaking her head. "Then a guy appeared."She said remembering as Thomas came up. "I thought he was going to help me. But he didn't, he taunted me."She said shaking her head. "Then the girl turned her wand on me and used the cruciatus curse."She said wiping tears out of her eyes.

"When she did that I lost sense of what was going on, but the Ravenclaw boy appeared out of nowhere, I was still being tortured so I don't know what spells he flew or anything, all I remember is the Death Eater boy yelling at her to stop." She looked up at him and squeezed his hand tighter. "The pain stopped for a bit, and I opened my eyes and saw Sterling..I mean..the Ravenclaw boy, in a pool of blood. I managed to get to my feet and the girl was behind me, her wand in my back. Suddenly the boy turned his wand on me..and used the cruciatus curse again." She said tears leaking down her face now.

"I ended up yelling out why, and he laughed and taunted me again!"She said almost sobbing now. "The pain stopped..and the girl...she used the Imperius curse on me, and told me to finish off the Ravenclaw boy. But the other boy said that You-Know-Who wouldn't want a death because that would increase security!" She was crying softly looking at him. "I had almost picked up my wand! I was going to kill him! Then it stopped, and I fell. All I remember after that is a boy coming out of nowhere and taking me to the Hospital Wing."

"You have no idea what it's like! The cruciatus curse makes every nerve of you're body feel like it's on fire. You lose motor functions and you're body goes out of control, trying to find a spot where the pain isn't as bad, but there isn't a spot! There wasn't a spot!"She sobbed and put her head against his shoulder. "I almost killed him! I would have too had that other boy talked her out of it."She said burying her face in his side.

Jesse listened to the story without losing eye contact with her unless she turned away. When she started to cry, he wrapped his arms around her and let her cry into his shoulder. When he heard the full story, it only made him feel even more sorry for her. It was amazing that she had survived through the whole ordeal, and even more amazing that they had not killed her. What really stuck out to him was the fact that she said something about increasing security. This raised his suspicions highly, but he would bring it up at a different time.

"Its ok, your safe now and I will never let anything like that happen to you ever again, I promise." He could not even begin to imagine what it must have been like for her.