"How dare he? I'll kill him myself!" I could hear shouting in the abandoned wing after having taken a rather dusty nap in the potions fireplace. My eyes flickered opened and I coughed dryly on the black filmy dust all around me. I swallowed whatever saliva I had left to calm my throat, hoping the Malfoy's wouldn't hear me.
Narcissa's anxious voice became more obvious, "Well check them all then. You're sure she's in this area, Draco?" I heard a doorway down the hall opening and their voices faded inside. Shit. They were going to find me, Draco was going to find me and force me back into that awful position. I would have to kill him or myself before I could go back to that room.
I pushed myself up and twisted my head around in disgust as I'd stood straight into a spiderweb. I moved across the room and grabbed a sharp shard of a broken beaker from the table, standing backwards to do so with my bound hands. Then I scrambled back to the fireplace and shoved as far as I could into the corner, knowing I looked nothing short of a filthy, abandoned dog. The slate gray dress I was wearing added a welcome blend into my surroundings at least, but my bright golden hair would be a painful giveaway. I winced as the rough glass sliced into my fingers unforgivingly.
Their footsteps indicated they were back in the hallway again. I could see the glow of a lantern now through the square holes in the metal doorway to the potions room. "It doesn't work like that, mother. It's not an exact location, it's perhaps a one hundred foot radius at best," Draco was saying, clearly annoyed.
"Try this one then," she suggested, and I heard them open yet another doorway close by. The lantern light disappeared from the hallway beyond. I stood and bolted for the potions door and without hesitation I was back in the hallway. I ran lightly past the room they were speaking in as I could hear them arguing and calling my name. I turned backwards at the door they had just tried, pried it open, and slipped backwards inside of a pitch black room that reeked of moldy furniture. Perhaps there was a terrace door I could escape through.
The room was so poorly lit that I squinted for several seconds inadequately. I heard the adjacent doorway open again and Draco stomped his foot in the hallway, cursing. Narcissa hissed, "Compose yourself. Let's try the lab." They crossed the hallway to where I had just come from and a stab of revenge gave me satisfaction knowing that I was leading them in circles.
I backed around the edge of the room awkwardly tripping on furniture. I could hear an old grandfather clock ticking away in one corner without a care in the world. I located the curtains to a window and tugged them open as best as I could with my bound hands. There was no latch to open the window and I cursed under my breath. I decided to settle for hiding behind the large curtain that weighed an absolute ton. Then I realized that my feet were sticking out.
So I did what I'd done before and fell onto my butt directly in front of the fireplace, then skooched myself deep into the monstrous cave that it was, curling up into a ball and putting my head between my knees. The glass that was now up my sleeve was leaving blistering cuts deep into my skin with every movement and my arm felt soaked from the running blood.
A chill went down my spine when I realized that the room was filled with growing whispers. It was so unbelievably terrifying I felt lightheaded in the pitch black. It was as though a good fifteen people were in the dark corners of the room, watching me.
The door ripped open to the room and I dared not look up. "She has to have come this way, look, this soot wasn't here before. Madeleine dear, if you're in here please just come," Narcissa said in a warm tone. I could tell she was genuinely concerned, but also in disbelief at my lack of lady-like behavior.
I could feel the warm light of the lantern drifting around without even opening my eyes. The whispers grew to full blown voices and I bleakly pictured an entire cavalry out looking for me before I realized the room was filled with paintings.
Shit. Shit. Shit.
"The little rat went in there," I heard the scratchy, critical voice of an elderly lady.
The sound of the lantern settling about six feet onto the stone hearth in front of me made me look up with teary eyes. Draco was crouched in the opening appearing deeply sorrowful, his eyebrows were pushed together in worry. He was wearing his typical black Death Eater robes, not what I'd seen him in earlier. His eyes wandered over my form as I huddled into the corner, obviously defeated and terrified, shaking like a cornered mouse. Narcissa bent beside him in the green dress she'd tried to chase me in.
"Madeleine , I'm so sorry," Draco said, sounding like he was choking underwater. He reached his hand out to me but I immediately cried and kicked it away.
"Leave me alone!" I shouted at an inappropriate volume, "You fucking rapist!"
His head hung low so I couldn't see his eyes and he sobbed. Narcissa ran her hand over his back soothingly. She looked at me, "Madeleine, this is not what it seems. There's been a misunderstanding. We aren't upset about the fire. Please, come out." She too put out her hand but I leaned as far back as I could, out of her grasp. Why on earth anyone would build a fireplace so deep and low in stature was beyond me, but it was highly convenient for the given circumstances. It was though I'd found a perfect tunnel to defend myself.
"She'll never believe me. She'll never come back from this one, he knew that," Draco was saying as his tears hit the brick in front of his shoe. His agony was even more deep than when I'd watched him cry in the tomb, as though someone had just died in front of him. His own humanity had died I thought in my head, seeing flashbacks of the almost-rape.
Narcissa looked uneasy, "Nonsense. Madeleine is an intelligent young lady, isn't that right Madeleine?" She turned to look at me desperately, "She will hear us out."
"I'll kill myself before I ever look at 'im again," I said truthfully, clutching at the glass in my sleeve. I bored my eyes into Narcissa's face, incredulous that she would go so far as to defend violent rape.
"It wasn't me!" Draco bawled from where he was bent on one knee. He looked up at me with mournful eyes, "You have to know I wouldn't actually-"
I kicked soot in his face to silence him and Narcissa glared at me looking positively lethal. Draco stumbled backwards and stood, coughing frantically. "Madeleine! That's quite enough!" Narcissa thundered angrily.
She looked at the soot in front of my feet as though incredulous at what she was about to do, then delicately placed both of her pristine, white hands into the black filth. She crawled in slowly and I felt spite soar in my chest that she'd come into the retched safety hole I'd made for myself. She leaned against the wall elegantly, as though being seated at a high-class restaurant instead of a fireplace interior. She looked down at me from the side, apparently just then realizing that my hands were bound behind my back.
"You will listen to me, Madeleine. My son has effectuated many indecent, and immoral acts this past year to protect this family. He has even executed innocent people at the cost of his own sanity. But he is not a rapist. He was not on this property earlier today. The individual that attacked you in your bedroom was someone else, with an agenda on their mind to separate you two by breeding mistrust and fear." She pursed her lips, as though having to spell it all out to me was a chore.
Draco was pacing in the bedroom several feet away, still coughing helplessly and trying to clear his eyes. His hair was now ashen from the blast.
Narcissa looked from me to him, and back to me, analyzing my face as I watched him pace. "You are not supposed to be entirely privy to this, but Draco cares very deeply for you. More than you could ever imagine, he's simply not able to retain it for more than a few days at a time. His memories and his emotions are consistently monitored by the head of this house and the Dark Lord."
She waited for me to respond with perfect regal composure. Her blue eyes looked black in the darkness of the fireplace. I was breathing heavily as I slowly nodded my head, unsure yet if it was trap. The words seemed to line up, seemed to be sincere, but I had witnessed him in person attack me and it didn't matter if someone had taken a Polyjuice Potion. The issue lay with pre-existing threats to rape me, and the event was all too fresh in my mind still. My trust had been shattered and I stammered my next sentence, "I-I will come out, but i-if anything 'appens again, I'll kill myself. You 'ave my word."
Narcissa didn't seem bothered by my dark threat. Her face showed relief as she gestured for me to go first. I slowly climbed out of the fireplace and the glass in my sleeve sliced a scalding hot cut into my skin with the awkward motion. Once I was out I flattened myself against the bricks of the exterior hearth, looking directly at Draco like he was a lion waiting to tear the flesh from my bones.
He stood far away from me with a sullen face, staring right back at me. Narcissa climbed out of the fireplace looking blackened everywhere and smacked her hands together to release the filth. Everyone in the room was covered in soot, and I imagined we could've pulled off a ruse that we were a chimney cleaning crew.
Draco pointed to my arms, "She's bound. Can you take those off of her?" He looked at his mother in a pleading way.
Narcissa's gaze followed the way my arms were tightly tugged back, "Oh yes, I suppose you'll feel better if I do it?" She looked at me with the inquisition. I nodded and turned slightly to let her see the magical cord around my arms before losing control of my footing and staggering weakly. I suddenly had a splitting headache and my vision was dull.
"She's bleeding!" Draco cried dramatically. He took several steps forward and I scrambled away just as Narcissa put her arm out to hold him back. For a moment it looked as though she was both of our mother, trying to prevent us from fighting over something ridiculous.
She waved her wand and the magical rope disappeared. I gasped and tripped, noticing that my face felt freezing. Draco shoved past Narcissa to reach out to steady me and I whipped the gigantic blade of glass out of my sleeve and held it between us. He stopped, gaping at where it had almost stabbed him in the chest. My fingers were weakly holding it and my breathing changed to a feeble wheeze.
Narcissa was livid behind Draco as she stepped around and blasted the glass out of my fingers with her wand. I collapsed to the ground in a twirl following the motion, feeling odd and lightheaded. My eyes were closing as they shook me. "She's bleeding out through her wrist," Narcissa said calmly, ripping my sleeve up. I blinked up at them. Draco clearly no longer felt the need to respect my space as he tugged me into his lap while his mother worked on my arm, petting my hair softly. She called for two elves and I shut my eyes on and off again. With my free hand I reached up to his face, meaning to point my finger at him menacingly, but he just took my hand in his mistaking the gesture.
"Tell me...et was...not you," I panted at him, seeing his face wobbling in my vision. An elf near my shoulder leaned across and it's potato sack covered one of my eyes. They were casting spells and wrapping my arm. His voice responded but I didn't hear it, and then everything was black.