#op&ay

aarondionyaxley

As a finger was swiped across a wound on his cheek, Owen could only clench his jaw and glare at the vampire. Yet he didn’t make any move to stop him or resist him. He allowed the venom to be wiped on his bloody face, and honestly? He was relieved when he felt the effects happening almost immediately. The ghastly gash began to knit together, the pain that ached through his body began to lessen, and he generally began to feel more like himself. He wasn’t as sore, or as cold as he had been constantly since the Dementors had been used on him endlessly, and his posture relaxed. He sagged in relief, the beginnings of a wolfish smile twitching at one corner of his lips -- it never fully came, he stopped it before he looked ridiculous. As glad as he was of the help, he felt weak for taking it. The men were too alike in ways and polar-opposites in others.

Owen had sat in silence for a while as Aaron told of his plan, how the Yaxley manor could be used as a safe house if the need be. But Abbie would never do that -- she would never trust him enough to willingly go anywhere. “For as long as I’m at Hogwarts and so is she -- she’ll be safe.” He was determined never to raise a wand to her again, nor allow anyone else to. “But everything is bound to blow-up soon… This war everyone is waiting for to happen, it’s obviously approaching, and even I won’t be able to convince her to hide it out and stay hidden.” She was stubborn, determined, and was one of those irritating people who would put her own neck on the line for her friends. “She has no sense of self-preservation whatsoever.” His head shook and his scabbed hand lifted to push back through his sandy hair. It was no secret that he blatantly loved Abigail Fletcher and all her faults, but he would never admit it. Not for any amount of money or freedom in the world.

aarondionyaxley 

“Pft, we both know the bruises only add to my bad-boy demeanour.” Even with his situation, he tried to lighten the mood between himself and his best friend. He didn’t want Aaron to pity him -- in fact, he wouldn’t have even asked for his help unless he was desperate. Owen Page rarely asked for the assistance of any man and somehow, it felt even more shameful for him to be requesting it from Aaron Yaxley. He was proud but he ignored it and stopped the ashamed blush from creeping up the length of his neck. He collapsed into silence long after Aaron had finished talking and for the entire time, he didn’t know what he was going to say. All he could feel on his skin was the sharp kisses of razors, the Cruciatus curse through his entire body, and even with every noise he heard in the distance he was nervously looking over his shoulders. He was a wreck -- a nervous and paranoid wreck. His blunt teeth chewed on his lower lip until he bit through the thin skin, and his calloused fingers were absently rubbing at the barely formed scabs on his knuckles. Oh, he had fought back, of course he had; he was the reason a few Death eaters were currently supporting black eyes and broken ribs.

His silence broke and he cleared his throat, his steely grey eyes never once lifting from the sea below. “No - no, its fine. It’s fine. I can tend to them properly when I return; I sought you out as quickly as I could. I would have arrived sooner but Rebecca held me back -- it was like she had seen a ghost.” A sad smile tugged at one corner of his lips but that was it, no throat laugh, no nudge was given to his friend. Owen knew the effects of a dose of vampire venom and still wasn’t willing to accept it. The less help he was given, the better. “I did anger him,” he admitted with a weak shrug of his shoulders, “I outright went against one of his orders.” Owen more than anyone was surprised he hadn’t been instantly killed. But a talent like his was hard to come by and he had turned into such a good little soldier. The boy set off into a total repeat of what had happened. Aaron was the first soul to hear it and would probably be the last.

“I went to France after Abbie,” it was no secret she had gone off to get married, Owen had came to Aaron with the news and despite all his advice to get him to stay, he went off anyway. “I know, I know -- I shouldn’t have. But I just couldn’t sit by - I couldn’t fucking sit here and know-” He trailed off and lifted clenched fists to his head, tugging at his sandy strands that were still damp from the shower. A deep breath left him and he continued. “I shouldn’t have left the country without telling him, but there was no time. They arrived practically as soon as I did. Carrow, Macnair, Goyle -- even a few of the newbies… As if they needed that many to bring me back or take me out, so… So I knew it was for something else.” The wounds were still open, still so fresh and his voice started shaking as he spoke quicker, his fists clenching till his nails began to draw fresh blood. “They made me do horrible things to her Aaron, horrible things. An-and I did them, because they were going to kill us if I didn’t, and death was worse, right?” He did his best to make him understand why he did it instead of refusing; he thought pain would have been better for Abbie than an ending.

“And her screams weren’t even the worst part because I could sort of ignore those after a while… But they left us while they went to a bar or something so fucking stupid, and I couldn’t even look at her. I-I felt so ashamed. And you know what she did? She told me it was ‘okay’. Like she understood everything… So I snapped.” He stopped and only then did he lift his gaze to his friend, his stormy grey eyes so wide and doe-like, they were almost filled with childish fear. “I promised her I would get her out and I did. I didn’t even think about what would happen, I was sure they would just kill me… But I didn’t care. I got her out, I got her a wand and I told her to leave. She did and I returned to where they were keeping out because honestly? I knew they would track me down eventually… Why even try to run?” Owen dropped his eyes back to the waters below, his shoulders hunched over. “They held me for months and I never yielded, not until the Dementors were brought in. I folded. I gave in. It was like reliving what I did to Abbie again and again…” He trailed off again and removed his wand from his pocket, stretched back to point it at the space of ground behind them.