Am I doing something wrong?
Are you caught up in the hooks
I throw around?
Katherine kneeled behind the gravestone, her breath heavy as she tried to listen in on the conversation that was going on. She turned her head slightly to see a grotesque bald figure push Lucius to his knees. She whipped her head around and pressed her back against the stone, covering her mouth as she stifled a sob. She could hear Lucius pleading, saying that he always stayed loyal to-
The Dark Lord.
How could she have been so stupid. She knew that Lucius was a Death Eater. She knew of his reputation, the things he did. But she always assumed his excuse of being under the Imperious Curse was true. That he didn't mean to do those terrible things. He had even reassured her he wasn't involved with the dark side anymore. That fucker.
"Ah, Lucius. It seems you brought a little mouse with you."
Katherine stopped breathing, quickly backing away from the stone as it was blasted to pieces behind her. She stood up and turned around, screaming when she saw the sight behind her.
Harry Potter was trapped against a statue, and there was a circle of Death Eaters surrounding the bald figure. Lord Voldemort in the flesh. Her eyes flashed between the figures, before she found the long-haired blond.
Lucius was kneeling, his head tilting up as soon as Voldemort spoke. His head whipped around, his eyes widening as he spotted Katherine. Rising slowly to his feet, he began glancing back and forth between her and Voldemort. He slowly walked over to her, grabbing her arm roughly as he pulled her toward him.
"Katherine...you stupid girl. Do you know what you've now gotten yourself into?" He hissed in her ear. The girl in his arms started to sob, not being able to hold it together. Fear had overtaken her. Katherine rarely cried.
"You just left! You've been suspicious, I just wanted to find out where you were going off to! Ever since the Quidditch World Cup you've been acting strange!" She yelled. She heard Voldemort laugh behind her, and suddenly a Death Eater had her in his grip, his wand poking her face as he laughed manically.
"Katherine, you said her name was? Didn't the Farrington's have a daughter named Katherine? They should've joined me, joined our noble ranks, and maybe then they would still be alive. Someone here would know, someone here was the one who killed poor Arlo and Blythe." Voldemort asked, approaching her. Katherine squirmed, her eyes pleading at Lucius for him to help her. He just kept his head down. She thought he was a vile coward.
Katherine kicked around violently, trying desperately to escape the Death Eater's grip. She turned her head to Lucius, her eyes filled with absolute raging fire. "You-you killed them didn't you?" she screamed.
Voldemort laughed again, shaking his head. "Lucius? No, not him. Your parents weren't important enough to be killed by him. No, your parents were murdered by Nott. And he's here if he wants to finish the job. A little pre-show, before we kill Harry Potter. Just for fun."
Katherine was sobbing now, still thrashing around desperately. The Death Eater identified as Nott threw her to the ground on her knees. He stood above her, tilting her chin up with his wand. Lucius made eye contact with Katherine, and she could see a look of sorrow in his eyes.
"Cruc-"
"WAIT!" Lucius yelled, quickly pulling Nott back. He looked down at her before looking at Voldemort, picking her up and holding her back against him.
"My Lord, she's here for a reason. I knew she'd follow me. She's my gift to you, you see. I purposefully chose her to be my...assistant for that reason. I knew who her parents were, how they refused to join your cause. When I caught wind of your upcoming return I thought there would be no better gift to you then to bring you the daughter of the one family you couldn't convert. I tricked her, lured her in with my riches, lived with her, slept with her. All to gain her trust so I could eventually bring her to you, my lord. "
Katherine stopped crying for a second to tilt her head to look at Lucius. He refused to look into her eyes. Voldemort snorted. "What can that pathetic daughter of blood-traitors offer me?" He asked.
Lucius swallowed, gripping Katherine tighter. "Her loyalty, my lord. She'll have to choose between death or following you. I can assure you her beauty and charm can be most useful, and she'll be under the guidance of me." Katherine's heart sunk as tears ran down her face. It was either die, or betray her entire morality. Join them or die, and a terrible death at that. But she could get out of it, right? The words Mr. Ponds spoke to her at the ball echoed in her head. "I'd follow anyone if it meant I got to live."
"So, Katherine...what will it be?"
Lucius stared into her eyes, which seemed to be saying 'please, say yes. Spare yourself' Katherine took a deep breath and looked back at Lucius. "I'll accept your offer. Thank you...my lord...for being so gracious."
Lucius exhaled quickly, letting go of the girl he held in his arms. Katherine fell to the ground, trying hard to not start crying again. Voldemort walked over, tilting her head up with the bottom of his bare foot.
"Very well. Stand up, girl."
She rose to her feet as the man grabbed her chin, inspecting her carefully. Katherine stifled a whine as she felt his hot breath against her cheek. He slowly walked around her, his sharp nails scratching her cheek and neck. "Ah, she's a pretty one, Lucius. Thought she's not deserving of the Dark Mark yet, she'll be very useful indeed. A most gracious thank you." Voldemort sneered, pushing her back towards the blond. Katherine stumbled into Lucius's arms, grabbing on to his arm as he pulled her tightly against him again.
The two of them stood in silence. There were no words to be exchanged, no one was going to offer a hug or a condolence or an 'I'm just glad you're safe'. Because both of them were absolutely furious at each other.
The night went on, and Katherine was forced to watch all of the terrible events that proceeded. How Voldemort killed Cedric, tortured Harry, dueled him and lost. She felt numb, unable to completely comprehend what she had done. How she had given her life, her free will away. This was no longer a game, a way for her to weasel her way into power and success. She had gone against everything she stood for in order to save herself. And she had herself to blame.
And Lucius. She blamed him too, of course.
-
Lucius pulled Katherine into her bedroom, throwing her on to her bed. She was sobbing, heaving, angry sobs. She sat back on the bed, her wand pointed at him in defense. "Stay back. Get away from me, you monster. You tricked me! This was all a lie!" she screamed. Lucius winced, putting his hands in front of him defensively. Narcissa ran into the bedroom, immediately rushing on to the bed grabbing Katherine's arm.
"Lucius Abraxas Malfoy! What on earth is going on!" She yelled.
"Well, Lucius, care to explain yourself!" Katherine hissed back.
Lucius just lowered his hands, trying to stay calm. "Katherine, my dove, I lied. This wasn't a trick..." he explained, trying to plead with her. He reached out to cup her cheek but his hand was immediately slapped away.
Now he had it. His patience ran out and he snapped, and he grabbed Katherine's wrist angrily. "How dare you! You you ungrateful little wench, you should be reveling at my feet thanking me. You followed me and I lied to the Dark Lord for you!
"I wouldn't have had to if you would've just been honest with me! Obviously if you had told me that you were, you know, promenading with the Dark Lord I wouldn't have followed you! But no, you just had to be mysterious and not tell me. You told me nothing bad was going to happen. I was supposed to be under your protection, you promised me that." she cried, Narcissa pulling her into an embrace shaking her head.
"Why are you crying? You certainly don't deserve to, seeing as you did this to yourself. Learn to mind your own business, you meddlesome little brat! You were never supposed to know anything about him coming back. If you wouldn't have followed me like an absolute idiot we wouldn't be in this little predicament now would we!" Lucius roared back.
"Lucius, please. She's just scared. Have some sympathy-" started Narcissa. Lucius just cut her off, stopping his pacing for a moment to turn directly towards Katherine.
"Sympathy? She deserves nothing. I gave her the chance to leave, but she didn't take it. It's no one's fault but her own."
"AM I ALLOWED TO DEFEND MYSELF!" yelled Katherine, pushing Narcissa off her so she could stand up. "I knew you were keeping secrets. I thought we had a mutual respect for one another. I thought you cared about me. And guess what? You can't get rid of me. Now I'm entangled in all of your shit and you're going to have to deal with me for the rest of your life." She smirked.
This sent Lucius off the edge. He turned around, cornering Katherine against the wall. His breath was ragged against her cheek, and she watched as he slowly lifted up his shirt sleeve. He shoved his arm towards her, the black skull and snake glistening with his sweat. "Are you happy now? Does this make you happy? I see you smirking, thinking this is all some game! It's not, Katherine. You're going to see the darkest, most horrifying part of me. What I've been hiding. I don't have a choice-I never had. I was born into this. And you just willingly gave up your chance at a life without this darkness, the terrible things you'll now be forced to do. And the funny thing is-I don't care about you. No one does. I saved you to keep myself from having your blood on my hands."
"I hate you." Katherine said, her voice cracking. Tears were rolling down her flushed cheeks, despite how hard she tried to stop herself.
"I'm done with this conversation. Come find me when you're ready to talk like an adult!"Lucius roared back, shaking his head before storming out of the room. Katherine collapsed against the wall, burying her face in her hands. Narcissa immediately ran to her, kneeling down and pulling her into her arms. Katherine just sobbed and sobbed until her tears ran out. Narcissa just held her, rubbing her back consolingly.
"What have I done?" Katherine whispered, still shaking in Narcissa's arms. The woman just sighed, taking Katherine's hands in hers.
"Katherine, I've been doing this ever since I was a little girl. It's scary, and there were times I was convinced I was going to die. But we have an advantage as women. There's only one female Death Eater, my sister Bellatrix Lestrange. And she's psychotic. The most I've ever done was sit through meetings. I don't even have a dark mark. You're going to be okay." She reassured.
Katherine sighed, bumping her head on the back of the wall she was sitting against. "I guess I'm just angry. And hurt. And I feel guilty. I shouldn't-I shouldn't have followed him." Narcissa shook her head
"No, that was idiotic of you. But I don't blame you. Now that you're at least calm, I think it would be a good thing for you to talk things out with Lucius. I can only do so much."
-
Knock.
No answer.
Knock Knock
Still no answer. Cursing to herself, Katherine opened up Lucius's bedroom door. He sat on his bed sipping a glass of wine as he stared out the window.
"I'm ready to talk like an adult."
Lucius turned his head around. His eyes weren't red and puffy. His cheeks weren't wet with the remnants of tears. It was obvious he hadn't cried at all. Staying silent, he beckoned for Katherine to sit down next to him. She did just that, plopping herself on the edge of his bed.
"I'm sorry, Lucius. I really am. But in my defense I thought you were just having some secret meeting. You see, you were acting so suspicious I snuck your papers from your desk drawer and I saw the name of the graveyard. So I followed you at the tournament and I saw you apparate away so I followed you. I just assumed you were going to the cemetery. But I didn't know that it was because He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named was coming back, honestly." She ranted. A look of disappointment mixed with anger appeared on Lucius's face.
"Katherine perhaps I didn't tell you because I wanted to keep it a secret. If you never would've found out, everything would've been fine! Now the Dark Lord knows of your existence and you've subsequently pledged your loyalty to him."
Katherine sighed. "Can't I just disappear? Like, I can leave the country, leave this, leave you. And I'll be okay, right?"
"No, you won't." Lucius hissed, grabbing her by the shoulders roughly. "Have you learned nothing about the Dark Lord in school? Do you know nothing about the power he has? He would find you, torture you until he was merciful enough to end your life. You. Cannot. Run."
Katherine swallowed, laying down on the bed to stare up at the high ceiling of the bedroom."So I'm fucked. I either follow or die?"
The gravity of the situation finally set in. She had no more tears left to cry, and she didn't want to scream or break things or bang her head against the wall. She just wanted to go back to the way things were. A time where her and Lucius were just carefree and fucked around and she knew nothing of the man he was. Things between the two of them would never be the same. And that scared her more than the fact that she now had to be loyal to Lord Voldemort.
"Lucius, what do you think I'll have to do?"
Lucius glanced down to look at her. "That I don't know, Katherine. Luckily you're not a formal Death Eater, and I will never let you become one. My guess is you'll just have to use your wits to gather information, maybe seduce someone into giving secrets away? And as I said, you'll be under me. I surely won't make you do anything you don't want to. Katherine, my darling little dove, I swear I will protect you." After he spoke, he leaned down to press a kiss on Katherine's lips, pulling away after a moment.
Katherine sat up wiping her nose. She sniffled but still held back from crying again. "I bet Harry told Elowen that I was there. She probably thinks I'm evil now. So you better protect me because I just lost my family for you." She whimpered before throwing herself in Lucius's arms. He hesitated for a moment before rubbing the back of her head gently.
"I promise. You will not get hurt."
-
That night, Katherine sat at her vanity staring at her reflection in the mirror. Her eyes were red and puffy from crying, her cheeks flushed pink and wet from her tears. She sniffled one more time before glancing at a dagger Lucius had bought her as a gift. Her eyes snapped back to her reflection, then to the dagger again. Snatching it, she took a chunk of her hair in one hand, swishing the dagger as she closed her eyes. When she opened them, one side of her was inches shorter than the other. Soon the other side was the same. Her sleek black hair now fell right underneath her shoulder blade.
"Introducing the new and improved Katherine Farrington." She mumbled to her reflection, her fingers threading their way through the choppy locks.
A new chapter was just beginning.
All my life I've been settling
Letting them keeping me down
All my life I've been battling
A menacing deafening
Sound in my head
A/N: surprise another update <3 i might go on a small hiatus for a few days because i have no idea what direction i want this story to go in until the next major plot point so there will probably be a random spice chapter at some point. also i'd love to throw in some random chapters after this fic is over, or maybe do a book of one-shots of katherine and lucius doing random shit like going to disneyland idfk. also congrats to anyone who voted for my next fic to be tom riddle ya'll win :)