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𝑴𝒂𝒚𝒃𝒆𝒍𝒍𝒆 𝑪𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒇𝒅𝒂𝒏𝒆
January passed. So did February.
Everything had begun to settle in, but a sense of worrisome had taken over the castle.
News on Potter's whereabouts, and other news regarding The Dark Lord was quiet. Too quiet.
Plotting was occurring in the shadows, from both sides of the war everyone seemed to presume. It was the quiet before the storm.
Narcissa had pulled us out of school for Easter break early; The Dark Lord had begun his plot against Hogwarts and she didn't want us anywhere near or inside the castle. We were picked up by Thestral at the top of the astronomy tower, Snape waving us off as we flew back to the Manor.
No attacks against Order safe houses were to happen; this was a period for scheming. Preparing.
I'd spent nearly every day in the medication room, helping Mulciber brew potions and balms for the upcoming war. I was an advanced healer, at this point. I could brew the most difficult potions, so long as I had the ingredients. I no longer needed assistance, I was exceptional.
I jumped as I heard a loud snap of apparation outside, the front door being banged on by someone's large fist.
I opened the door, Mulciber still at his desk mulling over a fresh batch of wiggenweld potion.
When I peeked my eye out, Lucius Malfoy was seen guiding snatchers into the dining room, along with three captors tied up in beige, soiled ropes. Two of them were Ron and Hermione, the other's face deformed after having clearly been hit with a stinging jinx. His eyes were nearly swollen completely shut, his lips unnaturally plump as his cheeks began to puff in shades of crimson.
His eyes caught mine as he was pushed towards Bellatrix.
"May," she motioned for me to come out from behind the door. "Get Draco, will you?"
I quickly nodded, Potter staring as I swiftly ran up the stairs towards Draco's room.
"Draco, you're needed downstairs," I panted, having just sprinted up two levels of stairs.
"Why? Is something wrong?" he put down his book, standing from his bed.
"They've caught Potter, Weasley and Granger, they're in the living room," I said nervously, taking his hand as we returned to where they were being held.
Potter groaned as Bellatrix grasped his hair, forcing his face upwards as Draco and I stared at him.
"So?" Bella smiled, poking her wand at Harry's swollen cheek, a glint of anger in his eyes as he saw Draco and I's hands intertwined.
"I can't be sure," Draco answered dryly.
I almost looked at him in surprise; he had no reason not to give him away.
"Draco, look closely son," Lucius whispered, placing his hand harshly over the back of Draco's neck. "If we were the ones to hand Potter over to The Dark Lord, everything would be forgiven, all--all would be as it was," he continued to coax him, pushing me out of his grasp to place a hand over his shoulder.
"Now we won't be forgetting who actually caught him, I hope, Mr. Malfoy-" the snatcher began, but was abruptly cut off.
"How dare you talk like that to me like that in my own house," he growled loudly, causing me to flinch backwards as Draco's eyes met mine.
"Lucius, please," Narcissa took his arm, looking at me apologetically as she dragged him backwards, Draco reintertwining his hand with mine, pulling me just a little bit closer than I was before.
"Don't be shy, sweetie, come over!" Bella smiled, taking my free hand, moving us closer to Potter, still standing on his knees.
"Now, if this isn't who we think it is Draco, and we call him, he'll kill us all. We have to be absolutely sure," she exclaimed as we crouched down in front of him.
"What's wrong with his face?" Draco muttered, his brows furrowing in confusion.
"Yes, what is wrong with his face?" Bella asked menacingly.
"He came to us like that, something he picked up in the forest I reckon," the snatcher exclaimed.
"Or ran into a stinging jinx. Was it you dear?" Bella pointed her wand towards the girl in the ropes, "give me her wand. Let's see what her last spell was," she took it from Hermione's hands, studying it with an evil cackle. "Got you."
Bella let out a sharp gasp at the sight of a silvery sword, plated with rubies and a lion's head sitting under the grasp of one of the snatchers. "What is that? Where'd you get that from?"
"It was in her bag when we searched her. I reckon it's mine now."
Bella didn't give him a chance to smirk as she stupefied him backwards, the sword flying into her hand as she conjured ropes around the other snatchers, squeezing the cables around their necks, forcing their faces to turn a shade of scarlet purple.
"Get out! Get out!" she exclaimed as they stared in horror, bursting out the front door. "Cissy, put the boys in the cellar," she shoved both Ron and Harry towards Narcissa who handed them off to Peter Pettigrew, "I've ought to have a little conversation with this one, girl to girl!" she shrieked in Hermione's face, giving Draco a nod as to tell him to take me upstairs.
When we reached Draco's bedroom, I immediately began to pace.
"Pansy is in the cellar with Luna, what if-"
"We can't focus on them right now, Flower. Right now I need to keep you safe, and-"
His sentence was cut off as a high pitched, shrilling scream emitted from downstairs, so resounding and painful it turned my legs to jelly as I collapsed to the floor, hugging my knees.
"Shh, it's okay," he crouched down in front of me, cupping his hands over my ears as I rocked back and forth on their green rug, my eyes squeezed shut. The screams continued for nearly twenty minutes, my panicking growing so terrible Draco had to cast a muffliato charm outside of the room as I cowered, sobbing in the corner behind his dresser.
"You're needed downstairs-" Narcissa barged into the room, stopping as she saw Draco comforting me, crying on the floor.
"Come with me, please," she said softly, walking in, taking my hand as she wiped my tears from my cheeks. "Draco, you aswell."
When we reentered, Hermione was laying on the ground, blood pooling from her arm where the word 'mudblood' had been carved.
"Consider yourself lucky, goblin," Bella spat in the goblin's face, "The same won't be said for this one," she stood over Hermione's body.
Footsteps were heard and Bella's wand was flung from her hand; soon enough it was a full on duel.
I hadn't focused on dueling in months, my focus was merely healing. I stumbled as nearly every single spell shot from Potter's wand was directed at me, one so powerful it knocked me backwards, a large groan leaving my lips as my head hit the wooden floorboards.
"You fucking-" Draco seethed as he flung a spell towards Potter, slashing open his left shoulder, making him grimace.
The moment Bella saw me on the floor she took Hermione under her grasp, holding a scythe to her neck. "Stop! Drop your wands," she exclaimed.
Potter and Weasley stood their ground.
"I said drop them."
They clattered to the floor.
"Pick them up, Draco. Now," Bella hissed, his eyes darting between me and the wands on the floor.
That's when I realized I could only move from the neck and above; every other limb in my body had frozen still.
"It's Harry Potter. All bright and shiny and new again. Just in time for The Dark Lord," Bella mocked him with a smile, turning the knife to the sharp side as it slowly began to slice against Hermione's neck. "Call him."
Lucius pulled up his sleeve, placing a hand over his dark mark which began to burn, boiling the skin under my forearm as I let out a sharp wail, unable to do anything as I lay petrified on the floor.
The chandelier directly above me began to squeak, it's diamonds shaking as what seemed to be a house elf sitting on it's hanger.
"Flower move," Draco hissed, setting their wands down on a nearby table.
"I can't- Draco help me," I screamed as the chandelier came crashing to the floor, Draco's arms reaching out just in time to pull me away from the clatter, a piece of glass slicing my leg as debris shattered to the floor.
Draco quickly leapt for the wands again, but Potter already had them in his grasp, now standing proudly among the other order members.
"Stupid elf, you could've killed her," Bella yelled, scolding him.
"Dobby never meant to kill. Dobby only meant to maim, or-seriously injure," he stammered, snapping Narcissa's wand from her fingers.
"How dare you take a witches wand! How dare you defy your masters!"
"Dobby has no master. Dobby has come to save Harry Potter and his friends," they had begun to apparate when Bella threw her scythe, chopping through the air as it entered their apparation.
She smiled as it dissapeared, immediately turning to me on the ground, still frozen as Draco rested a hand in mine.
"What spell did he use on you?" Narcissa asked confusedly, crouching down next to me.
"I need mandrake restorative potion. Get Mulciber, we brewed some last week. I can cure the rest myself," I sighed, closing my eyes tiredly as her shoes clinked away, down the hall.
Draco moved my head into his lap as I lay stuck in time, tears streaming down my cheeks from the pain.
"I'm sorry," he whispered, "I'm so sorry."
Mulciber quickly entered with multiple potions, tilting my head back to force the green, sludgy mandrake potion down my throat, which I nearly threw up due to the disgusting taste and texture. I wiggled my fingers and toes as the potion began to set in.
Despite my limbs being capable of movement, I still lay sleepily in Draco's arms as Mulciber poured antiseptic over the slice in my calf, making my teeth clench in pain as I bit down on a portion sweatshirt.
He wrapped it in bandages, proceeding to tell me how I'd need a weeks worth of rest, then told Draco to carry me back upstairs.
"Draco I can walk, I'm fine-" I stood with a low groan as the pad of my foot hit the floor, pain rocketing through my leg.
"Yeah right," he stood in front of me, placing his hands on my butt as he picked me up. "One week of bedrest coming right up," he exclaimed as I wrapped my capable leg around his waist, the other dangling to the side as he moved his hands to the undersides of my thighs for more support.
"She'll need daily bandage changes too, and healing potions," Mulciber yelled after us, my head resting lazily on Draco's shoulder as we reached his door, unlocking it with a silent spell.
I had already fallen asleep when he placed me down on his bed, elevating my foot slightly on a pillow as he tucked the rest of me under his warm bedsheets.
Seven days of bedrest.
How difficult could that be?
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