Chasing Freedom {Book 3: Chasing Butterflies}

Chapter 21: In a Flash

                 

Hey everyone. Sorry for the delay. It's been a very rough month for me on the health front, and without going into too much detail, it has taken a lot out of me mentally. I apologize for taking so long for writing this. I am only just now starting to feel somewhat like myself again, so I hope this sounds okay. I apologize in advance for the sadness of this chapter, and just want you all to know at the end of the story there will be an alternate ending where things don't hurt. Despite that, I hope you enjoy this anyways!

*****************************************************************

"In the dark of the night, evil will find her. In the dark of the night, terror comes true. My dear, here's a sign; it's the end of the line." ~ In The Dark of the Night, from the movie Anastasia

            Draco and Audrey stood in a stunned silence as they eyed the tall, dark figure approaching them with caution. Who was this, and why were they seeking the two of them out? Draco squeezed his wife's hand as the figure came to a stop about ten feet in front of them. Audrey willed herself to remain calm, and tried her hardest to not throw any hexes yet. They needed to find out who they were dealing with first; hexing anyone wouldn't solve that mystery.

            "Who are you, and what do you want?" Draco demanded, his voice snarling with rage.

            The figure snickered. "Oh Draco, I would've thought you would've put two and two together by now. I thought you had some level of intelligence," a male's voice chided, "but apparently I was mistaken."

            Puzzled looks crossed both Draco and Audrey's faces, wondering who could possibly be underneath the hood. In all honesty, there were still far too many possibilities as to who it could be, and neither had a good enough guess to call out. Whoever it was knew who they were, and that was unnerving enough. The two stood there in an uneasy silence, hardly noticing that Narcissa had come to stand beside them.

            Sighing wearily, the figure slowly removed their hood, their long platinum blond hair cascading out from underneath it. Lucius Malfoy faced his family, and the three of them could hardly believe what was happening. The crowd around them was whispering amongst themselves, just as confused as the man's immediate family.

            "Father?" Draco muttered in incredulously.

            "Lucius," his mother stated, her voice revealing she was all too hurt by this turn of events. Audrey glanced to her mother-in-law to see her eyes filled with tears, although she couldn't tell if it was out of sadness or rage. In this case, it was likely both. "What is the meaning of this?"

            "I thought that was pretty self-evident," Lucius retorted. "I am their new leader, and I honestly cannot believe you all have remained oblivious for so long. Did you honestly think I was conveniently busy every night you had these silly little meetings? I thought the night you met those blood traitors at that restaurant would've been enough proof for you. I warned you, and now you must face the consequences."

            Draco hesitated, but then let his father hear exactly what he was thinking. Once upon a time, Draco would've been fearful to stand up to his father, but not anymore. Especially not since the man already tried to kill him, his wife, and unborn child. "What the hell is wrong with you?" he hissed. "You tried to kill us, your own family. Why? What would possess you to do that? Didn't you learn that being power hungry gets you nowhere? Didn't you learn a damn thing from the whole Voldemort nonsense?"

            "There are things that are more important in this world than family," Lucius responded coldly. "You honestly think I would spare any of you if you got in my way? As someone who was in Voldemort's inner circle for many years, I learned plenty from his mistakes. Of course someone as small-minded as you wouldn't see it."

            "Nothing is more important than family," Audrey decided to speak up, not hiding the anger in her voice. "Without your family, your life is meaningless. You can have all the wealth and power in the world, but what good is it to have all of that with no one to share it with?" She paused, feeling her hands ball into fists at her side, careful to not snap the base of her wand. "You're a sick, disgusting man, Lucius. I can't believe you would treat your own flesh and blood like that."

            Lucius turned to face her, a menacing look plastered to his face. "If it wasn't for you, I would have the heir I need in Draco- not this weak, meager excuse of a man standing before me. You undid years of training, careful upbringing. For what? Love? It's pathetic."

            "Being in love isn't pathetic," Audrey spat back.

            "I've had enough of your constant interference, girl. You'll pay for your insolence," Lucius hissed. He raised his wand, pure hatred filling his eyes. "Avada-"

            Before Audrey herself had a chance to prepare any kind of defensive maneuver, she felt Draco release his grasp on her hand before pushing her out of the line of fire and into his mother. Narcissa caught her in her arms, careful to not hurt her upon impact. The girl was confused for a moment, until she heard Lucius shout the second word of the curse only a second later.

            "-Kedavra!"

            Audrey didn't even need to see the flash of green light to know what just happened.

            She turned away from her mother-in-law, terrified to see what happened with her own eyes. Draco's lifeless body lay on the cold ground only feet from where she had been standing, and an immediate grief coursed through her body. He was dead, and it was all her fault. She wanted to rush over to him, but Narcissa held her back despite her struggle to break free.

            "No!" Audrey shouted, tears streaming from her eyes as she eventually broke away from her mother-in-law's grasp on her. She fell to her knees by her husband's side, lifting his upper body to hold his face close to her heart as she continued to sob, tears falling onto Draco's pale face.

            "Foolish boy," Lucius muttered. He paused for a moment, but before he could say anything else, Narcissa cast a spell in his direction, disarming him. He had momentarily forgotten that his wife was standing there, and was just as much of a threat as anyone else there.

            "Our only child," she started, tears flowing from her eyes unchecked, "and you killed him." The woman paused for a moment, trying her best to compose herself. "Part of me wants you dead, and part of me wants you to rot in Azkaban for the rest of your life. Death would just be too sweet; you wouldn't suffer for what you did. And you deserve to suffer immensely."

            Lucius noted her wand was still raised, and laughed, although Audrey thought she heard some nervousness in it. She had never seen Narcissa angry, and she wasn't sure what to expect now that the woman was having her heart torn to shreds.

            "You wouldn't dare kill me," Lucius called out to her.

            The frown on Narcissa's face grew as she shook her head. "Don't you ever doubt that I wouldn't kill you for this. I just refuse to sink to your level. Our son deserves justice for this, and me killing you won't deliver it properly," she hissed. "Incarcerous."

            Ropes immediately bound Lucius, causing him to collapse to the ground. Several members of the Ministry rushed over, further incapacitating him. Fighting among the remaining wizards broke out once again, spells flying through the air as the Death Eaters tried to seek revenge for their captured leader. Not that it mattered, Audrey couldn't fight now if she wanted to; she was too emotionally distraught.

            Despite the chaos going on around them, Audrey felt two hands come to rest on both her shoulders. She looked up through tears and saw Narcissa on one side and Artemis on the other. Neither of them said a word to her, but they didn't need to. Audrey knew why both of them were there with her. Her worst nightmare had come true, and it was more than she knew how to handle. She had already lost her father to this senseless violence, and now she had lost her husband and the father of her child as well. She didn't know how she was going to survive this.

            After a few minutes, Audrey gently released Draco, placing him back in his resting place. She turned to her best friend, burying her face in his chest, continuing to sob. As Artemis returned the embrace, Narcissa hugged her from the other side. The three stood there, ignoring the rest of the world while their world fell apart as they knew it.