virgin s n o w {open/mature}

[prudence]

Prudence tumbled out of the fireplace, coughing owing to the ash and soot- Floo certainly wasn't her favourite way to travel. Immediately she could tell that she had not come out at the right grate, Diagon Alley was bright and cheerful, this place was dark, gloomy, and downright creepy. The vibe of the shop alone made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. Dark objects were crammed in every available space- shrunken heads, rusted spiked instruments, and a tray of what looked suspiciously like human fingernails that had been pulled from their fingers. Prudence shuddered, thankful when her eyes located an exit, shewas eager to leave the disturbing shop.

She found herself dismayed, however,when she did not recognize a single landmark. It seemed that Prudence had landed herself in the middle of a labyrinthine system of alleys, each one winding, curving and very dim in spite of the fact that it was approaching noon by then. Feeling terribly uneasy, Prudence drew her was as she got the distinct impression that someone was watching her. She swallowed, deciding that it would be best if she started moving instead of just standing around as if that would make the alleys decode themselves.

Prudence bit her lip before taking a left, that path seemed lighter than the other, perhaps it would lead to something familiar. She followed the path a long while until she found herself facing a dead end.Frowning, and trying not to panic, Prudence turned around to head back to where she had started, wand still tightly grasped in hand. When she got back to the shop, Prudence apprehensively peered down the only other available fork, it was curiously dark given the time of day, and made her feel even more uneasy. Nevertheless, wand in hand and heart hammering violently against her chest, Prudence began walking, her eyes nervously darting about as the feeling that she was not alone grew.

This route was more complex, new veins of alley branching off every few feet, each turn hinting at less and less daylight than the one before. Prudence was hardly aware of how heavily she was breathing, and only knew that she was hopelessly lost deep down in a possibly hostile environment in which she had never been before. After a few moments the path Prudence had been following ended, presenting her with the choice of left or right. Without much thought she chose the right fork, beginning to take notice of how sweaty her hand firmly clamped around her wand was getting. She had barely proceeded when her wand shot out of her hand, she heard it, her only lifeline, skitter away into the darkness until she could no longer see it.

"Don't often see your kind around here," said a gravely voice which made her instinctively shudder and begin to run. "We only want to play!" he called after her, wheezily laughing at the same time. Her wand, her wand, where had it gone? Prudence barely had time to look for it before two men blocked her way, they wore chillingly heartless sneers, her breath was catching in her throat. She turned to run the other way, only to find herself facing the first man. He made a small gesture with his hand and then the other two men grabbed her before she could even begin to fight, her heart was beating a violent tattoo against her ribcage.

The man put his cheek against hers and inhaled deeply, making her recoil slightly. He pulled his own face away, grinning evilly to show off yellowed, slightly rotted teeth."She smells clean," said the man, lightly caressing her cheek, making her whimper, "like virgin snow." Prudence squirmed, though the men were holding her too tightly for her to get very far. The man before her laughed quietly. "Of course, not the most womanly thing, is she?" said he, looking Prudence up and down, bloodshot eyes lingering on her flat chest and slight hips longer than anything else. "But such a pretty face, and skin so soft," the man commented, now sliding his hand beneath her skirt and up her thigh, causing Prudence to give forth a quiet sob.

If the man's intentions had been unclear before, they were now entirely obvious. The man positioned his mouth beside her ear, she could feel his hot, wet breath on the side of her face. "Virgin snow," he whispered, and then pressed his lips hard against hers as he yanked down her skirt.

-Some time later-

Prudence had never cried or screamed so hard before in her life. It had lasted for what felt like hours, each of the three men having their way with her while the other two held her down. Her delicate arms and wrists were bruised in the shapes of fingers that had relentlessly gripped her, but she ached all over. But it was nothing compared to the wounds inflicted on her mind and heart; tears still streamed from her eyes, but Prudence had sobbed and screamed herself hoarse, so they were noiseless. She shakily pulled her skirt back on before stumbling to her feet, her breathing shallow and irregular.

Prudence had to mentally talk herself into walking. She had gone only a few paces before coming across her wand, thankfully unscathed. She picked it up, curling her trembling fingers around the handle. "L-Lumos," Prudence murmured, the Trace be damned, she wanted light. A glistening orb appeared at the tip of her wand, spreading light enough for her to see a sign proclaiming Diagon Alley was dead ahead. It took only secconds for Prudence to begin sprinting for the refuge of the bustling alley- incredulous that she had been so close, but no one had heard her desperate screams for help.

As soon as she stepped into Diagon Alley, Prudence stopped. She was quite a sight, filthy, all her clothes askew, crying silently. Prudence made her way to a nearby bench- the world around her seemingly paused. Virgin snow. The words echoed in her head- though Prudence now knew that phrase was the exact opposite of what she was.

[jonathoncampbell]

Jonathon was enjoying a rare day off from his work. Training over the last few months had been incredibly intense, he couldn't really remember such a time when his body had taken such a beating in training. He couldn't truly complain though, he loved his work and wouldn't have changed it for the world. The pay was so good he'd finally gotten out of that cramped flat in Hogsmeade and gotten himself a small apartment in Muggle London, but the time he spent there was scarce due to the travelling his job required.

Stepping out of the broom shop, Jonathon ran a hand through his hair, frowning when he was hit with the full force of the heat outside. Smiling politely as a woman moved past him he nodded his head, and held the door open for her before stepping outside onto the bustling street. Hooking his fingers into the pockets of his pants he began slowly wandering, enjoying this free time, doing what he could to ignore the stares and whispers from the people around, they obviously recognised who he was.

As he made a move to step around the corner onto the next street his steps faltered and he came to an abrupt halt, his eyes fixed on the girl sat alone on a bench just across the street from him. Even from this distance he could see her distress, his frown deepened and he turned right around to face her. His eyes scanned her body, the obvious disaray of her clothes, the freshly formed bruises appearing on her arms, the tears staining her pretty face. Jonathon could feel her pain from here, and without thinking he began to move over to her, coming to a stop a few steps in front of her, compassion in his eyes as he crouched down in front of her, "Excuse me...Miss...Miss...are you okay?" he asked softly, slightly angered that other people were simply walking past the girl, ignoring her pain.

[prudence]

Prudence had no idea what to do with herself, what she wanted more than anything was to be at home, safely in her bed so she could cry her eyes dry in privacy. Though it seemed nobody was paying her any mind, Prudence was no stranger to that feeling. Most everyone always passed her by, and the few that paused were either friends or bullying peers that stopped only to make her miserable. But even then she didn't think on it, she was too stunned and too hurt to even process exactly how many people were walking past without so much as a second glance back at her.

Prudence was beginning to feel almost ill, her throat was raw, her head pounded, and it seemed that every inch of her seemingly throbbed. She didn't know what to do other than sit there, she wanted to go home, but couldn't find it in herself to stand up again. She wrapped her arms around herself, wincing as she accidentally pressed down on the already dark purple bruises that stood out clear as day against her pale skin. Prudence sniffed and tightened her grip on her wand when a young man stopped in front of her, asking if she was all right.

Prudence looked up at him, knuckles wrapped around her wand nearly white, but with one look she could tell that he was not going to hurt her. She opened her mouth to speak, but found that her tongue was quite reluctant to wrap itself around any sounds. So after a moment, Prudence settled on merely shaking her head. Shy she might be, but she was not a liar- especially when it was blatantly obvious when she was completely, entirely miserable.

[jonathoncampbell]

Jonathan sighed quietly, his eyes flickering to the girls hand. Her knuckles were white, caused by how tightly she was holding onto her wand. Something terrible had happened to her, had she been attacked, she was close to Knockturn Alley and he knew what kind of scum wandered there, had she been robbed? He turned his head, his intense green eyes narrowing on the alley way leading to Knockturn, slowly he looked back around at the girl, deciding he'd wait till he knew what happened, and he'd gotten her some help before he went into the dark Alley.

"What happened? Can you talk?" he asked softly, wiping his hand over his mouth as he glanced up at the other passing people. Where they all so blind, or did they not care about the pain this young girl was in? Shaking his head at them in disgust he looked back at her, "Is there someone you need me to get? If you'll allow I could help you to St Mungo's..." he let his sentance trail off, realising he was firing too many questions at the young girl and not giving her enough time to answer.

[prudence]

Prudence took in a deep, shuddering breath, struggling to find her voice, or even to string words together in her head in a logical sequence. The young man before her seemed genuinely concerned, asking questions before she had time to even wrap her head around what he had said before sending off another one. She took much longer than typical reaction time to form her reply, hardly able to make her mouth cooperate. "Got lost... Floo, wrong grate," Prudence struggled to say, her voice less than half the volume it typically was, coupled with the obvious hoarseness, made it very hard to hear what she was saying. She fought with herself again to continue speaking.

"Corned b-by three men..." said Prudence, and it was there that she couldn't say any more. Her voice failed and the fraction of her sentence was left hanging- though truth be told it didn't exactly take a genius to fill in the blanks at that point. She continued to grasp her wand as if her life depended on it, though her vision was too blurred from tears for her to be able to cast a proper spell at anything. Prudence probably wouldn't have been able think of a spell, anyways. She only shook her head at the last set of questions the man posed, she wasn't about to go anywhere.

[jonathoncampbell]

"Three men?" Jonathan repeated, his stomach turning sickly as he quickly began to piece together what had obviously happened to this girl. He felt a intense anger fill his entire being, his eyes resting on the steadily darkening bruises littering her delicate arms. Forcing himself to look away, he looked at the floor, trying to quickly gather his emotions together. The last thing she needed was him losing his temper and sprinting into that Alley, and risk getting himself thrown in Azkaban for using an unforgivable.

Blowing out a slow and steady breath, he looked back at the girl when she shook her head and sighed, he could understood her reluctance to trust him, or leave. As he fingers tightened around her wand he tucked his own away in the back of his pants, before looking at her once more. She needed help any fool could see that but right now he needed her to understand that herself, "Do you have a name?" he asked gently, putting his hand against his chest, "My names Jonathan...I just want to help you." he told her, hoping she could tell by the look in his eyes that all he wanted to do was help her, if she refused to go to St Mungo's he figured there was always some healers who would come out to the girl, but he knew she'd be safer at the hospital.

[prudence]

Prudence only nodded in response, at that point even a simple "yes" seemed a bit too hard to produce. She could see the obvious anger growing in his shockingly green eyes, he must have understood her broken words. He had to be a passionate person, the way he was grappling with himself to remain calm. Prudence was genuinely touched, the young man was the first stranger to take notice of her, be concerned about her wellbeing. She adjusted her grip on her wand, however, she wasn't going to allow herself to relax. Caring as he seemed to be, the man was still a complete stranger to her.

"Prudence," said she in an even smaller tone when the young man asked what her name was, unsure if he had even been able to heard her, though she wasn't going to repeat herself. He introduced himself as Jonathon, assuring that all he wanted to do was help her. As much as Prudence wanted to believe that, she wasn't entirely convinced. She had just been taken advantage of in the worst way possible, and was going to do all in her power to prevent that from happening again. She stayed put, unsure of what to do.

[jonathoncampbell]

Jonathan smiled softly yet slightly, nodding his head just the once as the girl spoke her name. If he didn't have such a keen sense of hearing he may have missed what she said, her voice was barely a whisper. He could see had not yet relaxed, not that he could blame her. Jonathan was well aware he had his work cut out for him here, maybe he should just summon someone from the hospital, chances were Prudence wasn't going anywhere with him.

"Prudence...asking you to trust me is not something you can do and I get that..." he said, talking slowly and gently, his body language none threatening despite his muscular, intimidating body mass. "But you have to let me help you, or at least get you to the hospital or get one of the Healers here..." he said, keeping his tone neutral.

[prudence]

Prudence found the small smile that Jonathon gave to be slightly encouraging, a signal of friendliness in a time of darkness for her. Though all the same her throat was constricting slightly, she could just feel the adrenaline still coursing through her veins, making her want to run, though she found herself firmly rooted to the bench. She doubted that she would be able to get far anyway, even sitting down her knees were shaking enough so to the point where they probably wouldn't support her if she tried. She took in a deep breath, trying to steady herself, though finding it a task easier said than done.

She managed however to make eye contact with Jonathon when he spoke again, saying that he understood the reasons behind her not completely trusting him. But in that same breath explained that she needed help and he was willing to arrange for it. Logic was slowly appealing to her brain, she couldn't just sit there forever. Though she was going to need motivation, what she needed was for someone to nearly force it upon her. After a long, completely quiet moment, Prudence only nodded. She realized by that point that she didn't exactly have much a choice.

[jonathoncampbell]

Prudence nodded her head once more making Jonathan relax just a little bit more. Knowing she was willing to get the help she so desparetly and obviously needed. That said however she looked no closer to actually moving than she had when he had first spotted her, maybe it wasn't going to be as easy as he thought. Jonathan wondered if he could help her but quickly realised with what had appened to her, the last thing she would want is another stranger near her.

"Okay, well are you okay to walk or do you need...?" he trailed off, realeasing a small breath, he felt so useless, he didn't even really know what he as doing. Should he call her family or something?

[prudence]

Prudence felt her stomach was tying itself into knots, she didn't want to go anywhere with Jonathon, but the look in his eyes... Something about him seemed good and honest, like he truly wanted to help. She brought a trembling hand to wipe away the tears on her cheeks, though she was nowhere near being done crying. It would probably not be the first time that she would be crying like this. Walking seemed even more difficult than using words, though the last thing she wanted was to have to physically rely on a stranger to get her from point A to point B.

"I c-can walk," Prudence said so softly that she practically mouthed the words. She slowly pushed herself to a standing position, her knees immediately protesting the weight. Her hand that was not clutching her wand finding the back of the bench to help support herself. She would need a minute to find her strength, but Prudence was not going to be accepting even a hand to help her get along.

[jonathoncampbell]

Jonathon stood, taking a step back from Prudence to give her the room she may want, though he did stay within arms reach incase she needed help...but the more he thought on that the less likely he figured she'd want his help, not that he could blame her with what she had been through. Lifting his hand he rubbed the back of his neck his eyes flickering back to the dark alley that lead into Knockturn, as he fought every instinct he had to go find those men.

"I know you won't want to apparate but...there's a little shop just across the street we could floo from there to the hospital...that sound okay to you?" he asked gently, fighting the instinct to help her when he saw her struggling to support her own weight. "Prudence are you sure...I mean I could help you?" he asked gently.

[prudence]

Prudence breathed deeply, it felt as if the bones in her legs had been removed. Perhaps walking hadn't been the best idea, but she wasn't about to let another strange man in her personal space. She exhaled shakily, mentally preparing herself to remove her hand from the bench. She nodded when Jonathon mentioned the shop that they could take Floo from, though she didn't want to step into another fireplace for as long as she lived. Floo was the source of her problems, if it had worked properly none of this would have happened in the first place.

Prudence was touched when Jonathon asked if she was sure that she could do it herself, in reality it was probably a bit too difficult for her, but couldn't bring herself to accept any physical assistance. "I can," said Prudence quietly, mentally counting to three before releasing the back of the bench. She stood awkwardly, like a newborn horse, though she figured that she would be steadier once they got moving. Prudence bit her lip lightly, eyes still streaming tears.

[jonathoncampbell]

"I can,"

Jonathon nodded his head, chewing down on his lip he fisted his hands at his side to resist the temptation of reaching out to help the girl. Taking a step back he gave her a little more room when she stood, his heart giving a painful sting when he saw the tears still streaming from her eyes, what he wouldn't give to take away the pain she was feeling, or at least get revenge on the men that had done this to her.

Every protective instinct he had was doing overtime now, he wanted to shelter Prudence, take away her pain, protect her from every bad thing in this world. To say he was surprised was an understatement, never before had his instincts kicked in this quickly, and he doubted that taking Prudence to St Mungo's was going to be the last time he'd see her. He'd make sure he stayed in touch, made sure she understood he was here for her, "Let me know when your ready to star moving." he told her softly.

[prudence]

That look in Jonathon's eyes, Prudence could read them like an open book even in her state of distress. That genuine concern, the kindness, she had never seen anything like that before. Something about that very look told her that even if things weren't all right then, they would be at some point. She wiped away the tears on her cheeks with her free hand, for the first time now wondering why Jonathon wanted her to go to St. Mungo's. There would be little that they could do for her. They might be able to take away the bruises on her arms, but beyond that...

Prudence only nodded to show that she was ready to start walking. She hadn't gone but a few steps, however, before her knees buckled beneath her and she found herself clutching onto Jonathon's arm to prevent herself from falling. Just as quickly as she had reached for support, Prudence returned to supporting herself. She had gone through a lot that day, but still would not reduce herself to needing physical assistance. She bit her trembling lip, resuming her walking, though going exceptionally slowly as not to fall down again.