****TW: this chapter uses violent and graphic imagery****
Once Athena, Ron and Harry are ushered away, Bellatrix once again shouts the unforgivable curse. The green light shoots from the top of her wand and straight into mine and Hermione's stomachs.
We fall to the floor, me on my side and Hermione on her back. We both let out screams as the pain courses through our system, my veins popping with electricity.
Bellatrix releases us from the curse, my body aching from everything it's just endured. She jumps on top of Hermione, pinning her hands to the floor as she straddles her.
"That sword is meant to be in my vault at Gringotts... How did you get it?"
Bellatrix speaks in a whisper, but her voice is still thick with anger. Hermione whimpers as their faces are mere inches apart, separated only by Bellatrix's curly black hair and sloped wand.
I watch in horror from my side, my gut still twisting as the Malfoy's join us once more. Their presence is like ice to my core, shivers running down my spine and goosebumps raising on my forearms. I feel the heat inside me vanish, I had nothing to defend myself with.
"What did you and your friends take from my vault!" Bellatrix is yelling now, almost screeching.
I shift my head up to look for Draco, his eyes filled with tears and his back rigid and terrified. He and I both know all to well what his aunt is capable of, and when she's angry, there's no way of stopping her.
"We didn't take anything, please, I didn't take anything..." Hermione chokes out, full on sobbing.
Bellatrix rolls her eyes, grabbing Hermione by the cheek and forcing her head toward where I lay. She swings her wand around in her fingers and presses it deeply into Hermione's opposite forearm as if she's carving something.
Hermione and I lock eyes as she lets out a guttural scream, true fear erupting from her as her head gets pushed further into the ballroom floor.
I wince as watch Bellatrix, her precision unfazed by Hermione's cries for help. After a few stomach churning moments, Bellatrix sighs, getting up licking the tip of her wand clean of Hermione's blood.
I feel myself start to shake as she turns to me, giddy with blood lust from whatever's she's done to the now lifeless girl next me.
"And you?" She says, teetering the few steps over to where I lay. "You evil little traitor."
I swallow hard, my gaze darting to Draco who stands completely paralyzed in fear. I beg him with my eyes to step in, do something to help me and get us out of here.
I used to think he could read my mind, now I'm praying I was right.
"He's not going to save you now!" Bellatrix yells, following my gaze to her nephew.
She grabs my forearm and pulls me across the floor, throwing me at Draco's feet like a rag doll.
He lets in a sharp breath, stepping back, his mouth falling open as he lets out a startled yelp. I look up to him as a hot tear rolls down my cheek, the past weeks memories flooding my mind.
If there was one thing I knew, it was Draco. And as much as I still loved him for all his faults, he would never betray his family, even for me.
I had dug my own grave.
My stream of consciousness is thrashed as Bellatrix takes a fist full of hair and tosses me so I am spread out on my back. She pins me down in the same way she did Hermione, but hold my head down so I have to stare at Draco.
I want to take my eyes off his, close my Lisa and pretend this isn't happening. But if I was going to die, I wanted his face to be the last thing I saw.
He was crying now too, silently, his lip quivering as he tries to stifle his tears that fall around me. He still loved me, I could see it in his eyes, and for a moment that was enough.
Narcissa holds his hand tightly, both to comfort him and to remind him of whose side he belonged really to.
Bellatrix grabs my cheeks and smushes them together, "Grindelwald's daughter... We didn't even need you!"
I can't stop myself from crying now, my eyes shutting tightly as a sob rolls through me.
"Useless little thing!" She laughs, a glimmer of a thought behind her black eyes. "How about we take away your privileges..."
Finally, to my surprise, Narcissa speaks up. "Sister, perhaps we should keep her in the dungeons for now. The Dark Lord may want to-"
"Cissy!" Bellatrix shouts, stabbing her wand into the wood next to my face. "Mind your business, your incompetent son couldn't even tell if that buffoon was Harry Potter!"
Without another word of protest from anyone, she reaches for my left arm. I try to fight but I feel so weak from the cruicatous curse, my attempt is laughable.
Once she has me under control she moves in real close to my face, brushing a stray piece of hair off my cheek.
"You're going to wish you were dead when I'm done with you."
I look to Draco one last time before her wand is in my skin, piercing my dark mark. I scream and writhe in agony as she digs violently, everything going black as the pain becomes too much.
I couldn't stop her this time, no fire was left inside me, I was defenseless.
Her wand snakes down my arm, cutting around the mark that branded me. I yell again, this time coughing heavily, a metallic taste on my tongue.
I roll to my side, trying everything to wriggle out from underneath her. I watch in horror as I spit up blood on the Manor floor, the room spinning and my heart beat slowing.
This was it, I have accepted it.
Through the pain, I hear Draco's voice and feel his cool hand on my face. "Enough!"
The agony stops momentarily, just enough time for me to look over and see the tattoo hanging from a loose piece of skin off my arm.
My muscle is torn down to the bone and my stomach twists I realize she's carving it off, heaving up more blood at the sight.
Bellatrix stares at Draco in awe, "You dare defy me, boy!?"
"You're going to kill her!" He says with conviction, a confidence to his voice.
She smiles evilly, "That's the plan!"
With one last swoop, her wand cuts under the remaining skin and my dark mark is removed. I cry loudly as my forearm throbs, the blood now soaking the clothes I borrowed from Athena and Hermione.
A pool of maroon begins to slowly surround me, soaking me in sticky sweet rotten blood. My head aches more and more with each inch that it grows.
Bellatrix laughs maniacally, waving my tattooed skin around like a flag of victory while everyone above me stands in horror.
"Everett," Draco coos through sobs. "I'm so... I'm so sorry."
I shake my head, my tears spilling out as I begin to lose control of my body entirely. "No... I'm sorry."
He reaches under my arms and pulls me into his lap, his forehead lowering to mine as we both cry.
"I didn't tell them anything..." I muster.
He nods, "I know, I knew you wouldn't."
I take every ounce of strength in me and lift my good hand up to his cheek, "I don't regret my anything, except leaving you."
His eyes close, "I should have told you about your mother."
I let out a small huff, "I wouldn't have believed you."
"We can save you, I know my mother has something, or my father can-" He tries.
I shake my head, "I'm not safe here anymore, I have to stay with Athena."
"I can't lose you..." He cries silently, surely embarrassed by our display.
I smile lightly, "You won't, I'll find you again..."
"Everett?" He questions as my eyes slowly begin to close, a darkness surrounding his face like an old picture frame. "Everett, come on! Stay with me!"
There's commotion going on around us but I barely even notice as an overwhelming sense of tiredness washes over me, the scent of his shirt lulling me to sleep that I so desperately craved.
****