Blooming in the Dark (Flora Weasley and Elwin Malfoy romance)

18. Alive Despite the Night

Elwin, 

I need your help again. I've been trying to not impose on your life, but I can't get Buckbeak enough to eat. I can live off crumbs just fine, but it feels cruel to have nothing for him. If you could meet me at the cave soon with food for him, we would be most appreciative. 

Your cousin, 

Sirius

Elwin frowned, reading over the note again to ensure he had understood it all just as a pair of arms wrapped around his shoulders. Quickly folding over the letter, Elwin turned his head to kiss Flora's cheek. The shop had only been open a few minutes, but it was already dazzlingly bright. The months proceeding Christmas had been happy ones for the couple. They had agreed for now to keep the relationship to themselves until such a time as they were really to tell their families, although this agreement was more for Elwin's sake than Flora's. 

"Everything okay?" Flora asked. 

"Yeah," Elwin said with a smile, turning in his chair behind the counter to face her. "A friend of mine needs some help, that's all." 

"Anything I can do?" Flora asked in concern. 

Elwin shook his head, taking her hand in his own and kissing it. 

Frowning, he corrected, "Actually...there is. If you can keep watch of things here, I could go help now." 

"Of course," Flora promised. "Go, do what you need to." 

"I'll be back soon," Elwin said, kissing her cheek and heading up the stairs. 

After packing food for both Buckbeak and Sirius, he packed it all into a bag and returned down the stairs, briefly pressing his lips to Flora's before disappearing out the door. 

☽ ❂ ☾

It was a long walk up to the cave as Elwin didn't dare try to apparate directly into it and startle Buckbeak. Nor did he dare to apparate just outside it as the path to the cave was far too narrow for comfort. Instead, he came to the foot of the mountain and began the long climb. It was a mild day, neither warm nor cold. It was about the most March-like day he had seen all month, but as it was pleasant to do the long walk in such conditions, he was ill-inclined to resentment. When he at last reached the cave, however, he froze in his tracks. There were voices inside, voices he wasn't entirely sure he recognized. 

"What're you doing here, Sirius?" a youthful male voice asked. 

"Fulfilling my duty as godfather," Sirius' voice replied, thoroughly convincing Elwin it was safe. 

"And meddling cousin," Elwin added, slipping inside with a cheery smile to find the Weasley he had learned was named Ron and Ron's friends Harry Potter and Hermione Granger inside. Instantly, three wands were pointed at him. Raising his hands, bags still in hand, he said, "All right. I see how hostility works in your home, Sirius. You ask me to bring you food only to set a bunch of fourteen-year-olds on me." 

"It's all right," Sirius said, barely looking up from the chicken leg he was gnawing on. "He's a friend." 

"Family," Elwin corrected. The three teenagers lowered their wands, still looking at him with suspicion. 

As Elwin approached Buckbeak and began feeding him, Harry asked, "Sirius, what is he doing here?" 

"He's my cousin," Sirius explained, "one of the last good ones. I broke into his flat a few months ago and he gave me food." 

"But...you believe he's innocent?" Ron said in surprise. 

Not looking up from where he was petting Buckbeak, Elwin replied, "You forget I grew up in a Death Eater's house. You hear lots of things, including how Sirius was never one of them, not to mention a blood-traitor. Speaking of which, do me a favour and don't tell Draco you saw me." 

The three shared surprised looks. 

"Look, Sirius, what if they catch you?" Harry said, rounding on him. "What if you're seen?" 

"You four and Dumbledore are the only ones around here who know I'm an Animagus," Sirius countered. "Unless Malfoy over there told his girlfriend." 

Elwin pretended not to hear him, continuing instead to pet Buckbeak. He seemed to like the attention, although the fact that Elwin always brought him food likely helped. 

There was a short pause before Harry, who was reading one of the yellowing Prophets on the cave floor, said, "They make it sound like he's dying. But he can't be that ill if he managed to get up here..." 

"Crouch?" Elwin asked in surprise. "What do you mean 'managed to get up here'?" 

At a nod from Sirius, Harry explained, "I've got this map that reveals where people are in Hogwarts at all times. Maybe two months ago, the map showed Barty Crouch at Hogwarts." Elwin frowned, stepping away from Buckbeak. 

"That's very odd," he agreed, pulling out the food for Sirius from his bag and handing it over. 

"My brother is Crouch's personal assistant," Ron informed Sirius. "He says Crouch is suffering from overwork." 

"Mind you, he did look ill, last time I saw him up close," Harry admitted. "The night my name came out of the goblet." 

"Getting his comeuppance for sacking Winky, isn't he?" Hermione said defiantly. 

"Hermione's obsessed with house elves," Ron explained irritably. 

"Considering the treatment a lot of them get, I don't blame her," Elwin said, looking suddenly graver. It was at that moment Harry remembered that as a Malfoy, he likely would have witnessed a lot of Dobby's mistreatment. 

"Crouch sacked his house elf?" Sirius said in surprise. 

"Yeah, at the Quidditch World Cup," Harry said before telling him the entire story of what happened at the match. By the end, however, Sirius was pacing back and forth, deep in thought. 

"Let me get this straight," Sirius said after a moment. "You first saw the elf in the Top Box. She was saving Crouch a seat, right?" 

"Right," Harry and Hermione said together. 

"But Crouch didn't turn up for the match?" 

"No," Harry agreed. "I think he said he'd been too busy." 

Beginning to pace again, Sirius asked, "Harry, did you check your pockets for your wand after you'd left the Top Box?" 

"Erm...no," he said finally after thinking it over. "I didn't need to use it before we got in the forest. And then I put my hand in my pocket and all that was in there were my Omnioculars. Are you saying whoever conjured the Mark stole my wand in the Top Box?" 

"It would be deceptively easy," Elwin admitted. "I mean, nearly the entire box was completely invested in the match. It would be easier than at ordinary times." 

"Winky didn't steal that wand!" Hermione insisted passionately. 

"The elf wasn't the only one in that box," Sirius corrected. "Who else was sitting behind you?" 

"Loads of people," Harry replied. "Some Bulgarian ministers...Fudge...the Malfoys..." 

"The Malfoys!" Ron shouted in triumph. "I bet it was Lucius Malfoy." 

Grinning in amusement, Elwin countered, "One problem, Sherlock, my father told me straight to my face the following morning that the Dark Mark was set up by someone not a part of the group tormenting those muggles. He didn't have a reason to take it, and if he did, how did it make it to whoever cast it and then to Winky? It doesn't make sense." 

Before anyone could say anything more, a sudden hooting caught their attention. Frowning, Elwin quickly took the letter from the owl that flew to him. 

"What is it?" Sirius asked in concern for Elwin had gone terribly pale. 

"I have to go," he said breathlessly. "Flora's been hurt." 

"What?" Ron exclaimed, snatching the letter from him. 

"Ron!" Hermione scolded, but he took no more notice than Elwin did. Taking up his bag, Elwin disappeared from the cave and apparated.