Following the events of the same universe where Juliet Potter and Remus Lupin fell in love, the insouciance has faded into misery as all parties prepare for the war, willing to pull any card to win a war from which none will truly come out victoriou...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
TW: mentions of suicide and death
February 1978
Juliet felt like she was going to die. The torture Bellatrix Lestrange put her through while Lucius Malfoy watched was too much for her to take.
Even if she was to make it out alive, though she deemed her chances to be slim, she would not want to continue to live. She couldn't fathom it after that.
The seventeen year-old let tears stream down her cheeks, onto the cold concrete she was laying on, while Narcissa Malfoy was trying to fix her biggest injuries to the best of her ability.
"Stop." She let out a whisper.
Narcissa looked up at her and stopped patting the wound on her torso with ointment, thinking it was hurting the girl.
"Just let it be."
"You could die from that."
"Good."
The blonde just sat there, looking down at her hands that were bloodied. What were they doing? This was just a kid. She never wanted to have blood on her hands.
"You're a fighter, I haven't seen anyone face her like you do." Narcissa said softly after a long moment of silence.
It was the middle of the night, she did not fear that her sister would suddenly barge in, as she knew that her and Lucius were assisting at a meeting.
It seemed the Dark Lord was yet to be aware of their hostage, but Bellatrix insisted that it would be no use to call him until they had the information they needed. That did not stop her from taunting their enemies.
"She'll kill me. And then she'll kill what's left of my family."
Narcissa knew that but it still affected her. She wasn't emotionless, she just grew up with different values.
"Then tell her what you know. Tell her, and you may all be able to live peacefully."
It sounded tempting. But Juliet couldn't allow it.
"Live in a world of terror and fear, you mean? Really? Is that a world you want your future children to grow up in?"
The blonde was silent. Of course not. Who would?
Juliet did not mutter another word while Narcissa did her best to fix her. Once she was done, she cleaned up all evidence that she was there, stood up and walked away.
Though she stopped by the door. She stopped, and looked back at the young girl laying on the floor with no will to live left in her, and something in her had changed.
"I will be back." She told the brunette before she left.
Juliet was too tired to question it and simply closed her eyes. Not wanting to count the minutes until Bellatrix Lestrange would be back to finish her.
~
"Cissy?" The blonde was called as she was anxiously looking around the dark alley.
"You made it." Narcissa sighed in relief, fixing her cloak and constantly looking around.
"You're the one who sent me that note?"
"Yes. I need your help."
The brunette's eyebrows rose in surprise as she also suspiciously looked around. "What is it you need exactly?"
"Bella has been keeping a girl hostage in my house. She's just a kid, Andromeda."
Andromeda Tonks seemed even more taken aback. Narcissa wanted her help to get a girl to escape. After years with no contact, the torture of another is what brings them together.
"What do I need to do?"
~
The wrath of Bellatrix Lestrange when she realized Juliet Potter was not laying dead on the floor of the Malfoy's Manor's basement was unnerving and terrorizing.
She demanded explanations from her sister who innocently affirmed she had been out shopping with their house-elf for barely an hour and didn't know how it could have happened.
That angered the deranged woman so much she attacked a few streets of Diagon Alley that night, being punished afterwards for acting without the Dark Lord's permission. Even then, she didn't dare tell him she had Juliet Potter, because how would she explain that she ran away?
Except, Juliet Potter didn't run away, she was secretly rescued. It went as the following.
She was shaken awake softly but hurriedly by smaller hands. Waking up, she could barely distinguish the familiar figure of a house elf through her blurred eyesight.
"Ms. Potter, you must wake up, we need to go!" The house elf tried to pull her up but failed as she was in too much pain.
"Go? Go where?" She asked, disoriented, trying to sit up.
"Dobby will take you to safety."
"What?" Juliet's eyes widened and she looked behind Dobby to see Narcissa standing by the door, keeping an eye out.
"Hurry up already!" She raised her voice at them.
"Narcissa?" The brunette leaned on the house-elf with difficulty, confused.
"Go, before I change my mind."
She wasn't going to change her mind anyway. This was just a kid.
All Juliet could do before Dobby disapparated them away was to give the blonde a grateful stare, receiving a nod.
The wind that hit them when they apparated in front of the Tonks' house was enough to make Juliet fall to her knees, all remained strength abandoning her.
The voice of Dobby's panicked yells could barely reach her ears, and she could tell she was going to fall unconscious again, but she was fighting against it because she knew that if she did, this time she might not wake up.
Thankfully for her, the habitants of the house had heard the house-elf and they had rushed out. Ted Tonks had picked the girl up carefully, running inside with her in order to get her to a warm place where him and his wife could heal her.
Andromeda had told Dobby to alert the girl's family subtly before he went back to his Masters, and the house-elf obeyed, disapparating.
