Good 'N Bad

Chapter : 25 You-Know-Who

Author's Note: Hey guys, hope you are enjoying the story so far. Things are starting to heat up in the story, I'd appreciate it if you let my know what you think in the comments. Also don't forget to vote!

          We walked down to the dining hall and saw Narcissa as well as Lucius Malfoy sitting at the table. Others included Uncle Sev and Bellatrix Lestrange. I seated myself beside Uncle Sev, while Draco sat next to his mother.

'What took you so long? Have your breakfast fast, the Dark Lord will be coming soon, and we have to be ready', said Narcissa.

'You', sneered Bellatrix, 'What do you think you are doing here?'

'I think I have as much right to be here as you', I replied nonchalantly.

'You are not worthy of the position you are given. We have given ourselves to the Dark Lord while you-'

'While I was handpicked. I was chosen by the Dark Lord himself, and do you dare question his choices?' I asked her menacingly. That shut her up for the rest of the meal, but if looks could kill, I would have been dead under her glare. Trust me, I had no pride in being a death eater or a follower of Lord Voldemort, but I was definitely not going to be put down by some snobby,  mad woman.

          We finished our meal with nothing but the clinking of cutlery on the dishes heard, and headed to the large drawing room. Death eaters arrived and lined up in a circle, the Malfoys stood at one end, and I stood a little to the left, right beside Uncle Sev.

          In a few moments, my dark mark began to burn and a slight chill spread across the room, and then He appeared, right in the centre of the circle, his gleaming read eyes roving around the crowd.

'Welcome all', he spoke with a slight drawl, 'as you know, it is a time for us to celebrate. The greatest hindrance to our path to victory has been removed, killed. Albus Dumbledore is no more!' Cheers erupted from all sides until Voldemort raised a hand to silence them.

'But.... there is something that has come to my notice. My boy, Draco, step forward'. You could see the terror in Draco's eyes as he nimbly stepped forward. My heart began to pound hard against my chest, fearing what might happen next. 'Look here, this is the person to whom I assigned the task of killing Albus Dumbledore. And you did a very good job at fixing the vanishing cabinet. Very ingenious. Indeed, but the fact remains, that it was not you who completed the task. It was Severus, wasn't it?' All eyes shifted to Uncle Sev for a brief moment, Voldemort slowly paced around the circle.

'You did not do as you were ordered. For that, shouldn't you be punished?' He turned to a terrified Draco, and pointed his wand at him,

'Avada ke-'

'NO!!!' I jumped in between them, thrusting my arms out in front of me blocking Draco. Voldemort flinched his wand away, I knew he wouldn't dare to hurt me, if he accidentally killed me, he would be destroying a part of his own soul. After recovering from my sudden outburst, he bellowed,

'You! What do you think you are doing?'

'I will not allow you to hurt him. Your task is complete, isn't it? Dumbledore is dead as per your orders. Then why do you want to hurt him? He doesn't deserve to die for it.'

'Are you going to tell me what he deserves or not? He has failed to do his task-'

'But Dumbledore is dead! Isn't that what you wanted! Does it matter who did or didn't do it? Just let Draco go, or else I will.... I will surrender myself,' he eyed me suspiciously.

'You wouldn't dare'.

'Oh yeah, try me!' There were many gasps, I assumed it was due to the fact that I was challenging Voldemort. He, on the other hand, seemed quite impressed.

'I will leave him alone, but on one condition. Both of you are never to leave Malfoy Manor, not without my permission, which I only might grant. This place will now be our headquarters, I am sure Lucius would only be honoured', I saw him gulp but he managed to stutter a "Yes, my Lord". 'Very well, but Draco still needs to be punished..... I wonder', he said, while glancing sideways at me, I knew I was in for it, and no sooner had I thought that when, in a split second, Voldemort cast the Crucio spell on me.

          Excruciating pain seered to all corners of my body, making me writhe in agony. I tried to keep standing, but I felt my knees buckle and I landed with a thump on my back, shaking. I felt as if every limb of mine was being pulverized, as if a spear was pierced through me, my head was throbbing as if being hit against something hard. I lost all sense of my surroundings. Then it stopped as suddenly as it had begun, but I couldn't move, I felt limp. I heard voices around me, but they seemed distant,

'Now Draco, my boy, will you ever disobey me again?', he laughed scornfully. In response there was only a few whimpers coming from beside me. 'My dear fellows, we will meet again, and I hope that you will have more good news for me. Severus, I will expect to see you tomorrow, we have matters to discuss', and after a few whooshes, the room was quiet except for a few quiet sobs and murmurings, which I could not distinguish.

          I could feel something slide under me, lifting me gently, and in a few moments something soft touched my back. I was laid on my bed, and a soothing drink was poured into my mouth, which helped me regain myself a little. I opened my eyes and saw an anxious Uncle Sev and Narcissa standing beside me. I managed to give them a weak smile, then they both looked relieved.

'Ava, what were you thinking?' Asked Uncle Sev exasperated.

'I was thinking that I could save Draco. He was going to kill him,' I said softly. Narcissa held my hand, and said,

'I cannot thank you enough for what you did, but you could have....'

'But I didn't. I am here, aren't I? He will never kill me, you can be sure of that Uncle Sev. I hope you believe me when I say that.' He looked confused, but before he could ask anything, someone knocked and opened the door slightly. Draco stood there, looking pale and worried.

'We will leave you both to talk', said Narcissa and pulled Uncle Sev along with her out of the room, and shut the door behind them. Draco slowly made his way towards me and sat down beside me, not once making eye contact.

'You could have died, you know that', he said, his voice just a whisper, 'You could have died and it would be because of me.'

'Draco, don't blame yourself. Really, don't. I was not going to stand there and watch him kill you. Draco, I would do anything for you. And I don't want to lose you.'

'I don't want to lose you too', he said looking up at me. He held my hand, lightly kissing the back of it. 'Does it hurt?' I shook my head.

'I feel better, see', I said, and lifted myself into a sitting position.

'Careful Ava. I don't think you should do that just yet, you have to take rest.'

'Geez Malfoy, calm down. I am not a little kid', I said pouting, he giggled.

'But seriously, you are not going to pull such a stunt again, understood?'

'I won't promise you anything. But for the time being, okay', I said slyly.

He sat with me for the next hour, until he had to go down for dinner. Mine was brought up by an elf. The rest of the night I was thinking about what had happened that day. Voldemort had technically imprisoned me in Malfoy Manor, for who knows how long. My threat really did scare him. But actually it wasn't a threat. Once he finds that out, I have no idea what might actually happen.

          He could not kill me, that's certain. Would he permanently imprison me somewhere far away? I didn't even know what was going to happen in the next few months. Like, how long would it take for war to break out? Would I have enough time? But most importantly, what were Harry, Ron and Hermione planning?

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