Invitation Only ~ Fred Weasley

EIGHTY

"Viola! Viola, wake up!"

And so she did. Viola opened her eyes swiftly and stared into Lucius' frightened eyes. He had been shaking her to wake her up and the look and sigh of relief when she did was immense. Viola sat up and rubbed her eyes trying to wake up entirely, meanwhile Lucius leaned back with a painful groan.

"You were screaming bloody murder, I thought something happened to you." Lucius managed to say through his teeth. When Viola got a good look at him, he looked even worse than he did before. He was ghostly pale and looked like he was really sick.

"Lucius, are you all right?" Viola asked concerned and got up on her knees.

"I'll be all right. Did it work?" He asked and leaned back towards the wall of the cave. Viola looked at him and a smile grew on her face for the first time in months.

"It did. I got through to him. He has the stone. He figured it out! I left a clue for him, you see." She said with a hopeful voice, hoping that Lucius would look more alive to receive these news. He tried to smile, but it looked like it took a great deal of strength to do so. He was clenching his upper thigh and that's when she noticed the blood.

"Lucius, you're bleeding! Why didn't you say anything." Viola yelped and crawled over to Lucius.

"I didn't think it was that bad, and you needed to focus." He groaned.

"Let me see." She said and gently removed his hand from his wound. It was a big slash right above his knee on his inner thigh. Viola had grown up in the muggle world and knew what this meant. "Looks like they got the main artery in your leg, we need to put pressure on it."

Viola grabbed the cloth she had used for her own cut and helped bind it tightly above the wound. Lucius was trying not to move or yelp in pain as she did so.

"I hope that the Weasley boy will make it in time, but if not - I need you to tell my son that I-"

"You can tell him yourself when we get out of here. He has a plan. I'm going to tell Rodolphus that they have the stone and their price is us." Viola said reassuringly and Lucius let out a joyless chuckle.

"Viola, your company here has brought me great comfort, but if this is how I die, then I will at least die with honour. And my son can be proud of me." He said quietly and gave Viola a pleading look.

"We will get out of here, I promise." Viola said and looked towards the gate that marked the entrance of the cave. "But first, I better tell him the terms."

She got up from the floor, weak and trembling, but her mind was finally in fight-mode. There was a plan and they would make it.

"Lestrange!!" She shouted and clenched the bars of the gate. "I got what you wanted, you sick fuck!"

"Now, that's not how you stay alive, puppet." Rodolphus annoyingly mocking voice said when he appeared around the corner. She guessed that he had been lurking outside the cave in case Viola made process. "Where is it?"

"Heal Lucius first and I will tell you." She said firmly and stared him dead in his eyes.

"You're hardly in any position to make conditions." He chuckled and folded his hands neatly in front of him. God, he was horrendous, worse than his sick wife.

"And you hardly have any other choice than to do what I ask. I am defenceless, easy to kill, so why would I make terms if I was lying?" She said with her eyebrows raised. Pride began to grow inside her as she slowly got back her sassy self. Her usual self.
Rodolphus raised his eyebrow at her and narrowed his eyes, squinting at her. He was trying to figure out whether to trust her or not.