Sapphire (Lazuli Book #3) - Harry Potter Fan Fiction (Draco Malfoy)

Chapter Twelve

The next morning, I dressed myself in a long-sleeved white jumper and pale jeans, just to spite them. They could make me act like a Death Eater, but I certainly wouldn't dress like one.

To irritate them further, I tied my hair back with a baby pink ribbon and slipped my feet into the pristine white Converse All-Stars that Draco had bought for me along with the other items of clothing and accessories in the room. Since I hadn't left the room in the entire time I'd been at Malfoy Manor, there had been no need for me to ever wear the shoes. It had been so long since I'd worn any footwear that I noticed how peculiar my feet felt within them.

Strange the things you notice when you're afraid.

At exactly 2 o'clock, after Nelly had been and gone with my lunch and I managed to force down a few sandwiches and a glass of orange juice, Narcissa arrived at my bedroom door. As usual, she was dressed in the typical all-black outfit of a Death Eater, but I saw her mouth smirk slightly in approval as she saw the innocent look of the outfit I was wearing.

"The Dark Lord will be arriving soon, and he doesn't like to be kept waiting," Narcissa muttered quietly as she beckoned for me to come to the door. I tucked my wand into my pocket and she nodded slightly as she saw it. "I can't guarantee your safety Andromeda, you do understand that?"

I took a deep breathe and then nodded. "He'll make us a deal - mine and Draco's safety in exchange for my help."

"But some of his other followers, Greyback for instance..."

I thought about the monstrous werewolf who had ruined more lives than perhaps any other Death Eater. You see, Greyback didn't just kill his victims. No, what he did was much worse. He was a savage - he liked to torture his victims in the muggle ways, by ripping their flesh and bleeding them out, and only when they were begging for death would he sink his yellowed, gnarled teeth into their flesh and infect them with the werewolf gene. From then on, they'd be an outcast of society, subjected to what I'd read was an excruciating transformation every full moon where - if they didn't distance themselves from people - their human minds would be overpowered and they'd rip anybody close to them into shreds.

Greyback particularly loved to bite children - he'd infected Remus when he'd been only 5 years old, and ever since Remus' life had been full of fear and potions to try to stop the transformation. I thought sadly about how I'd been brewing the Wolfsbane potion for him before we'd left Grimmauld Place, sending Kreacher with regular batches to ensure that he retained his human mind during the transformations. Who was brewing the potion now?

"I think I can handle Greyback," I said with fake confidence. Narcissa looked unconvinced, but didn't push it, merely stepping back and gesturing for me to follow her out of the door. I looked over my shoulder at the bedroom I hadn't left for months, and cautiously stepped forward, moving my foot slowly over the threshold between the bedroom and the corridor outside as if there were spells waiting to throw me back in the moment I stepped out of the room.

But nothing happened. I stepped out into the corridor - decorated in the typical dark wood, stone walls and dark tapestries that the rest of Malfoy Manor was full of - and immediately felt more vulnerable having left my little safe haven. Even though I'd been living in the same house whilst so many atrocities had taken place, I'd felt safe there, with only Draco and Nelly knowing I was there, my books to keep me entertained, and the radio to stop me from going insane. Nobody had hurt me whilst I'd been in that room, and now I'd been freed, I was terrified.

I followed Narcissa through the house, the walls and shadows seeming so much heavier than they had when I'd last been here. I remembered wistfully the grand ball that they had thrown that Christmas, when everybody had been laughing and enjoying the season's festivities. Now I doubted that anybody even dared to laugh.