"Your love to my heart is like air to my lungs.
I could not go on without you.
And I wouldn't want to"
...
30th of June. 1 day
"Helena! Wake up!"
I was awoken to Draco skating me violently. I had fallen asleep in the afternoon, I checked the clock to see that it was 7, I had been asleep for twenty minutes. Draco, who had clearly been awake, was urging me to wake up, me unaware why.
"What's going on?" I asked him, the worry on his face clear making me anxious as to why I had been woken.
"He's here". I felt a pit in my stomach thinking that I was in the same building as the dark lord. "Potter. And Weasley and Granger." I felt as though this answer was somehow worse.
"What?!" I asked frantically. "Why are they here?!"
"They were caught by some of you know who's workers. Well-" he paused.
"What?" I asked him frantically pulling a t shirt on over the vest top and jeans I was wearing.
"They don't know if it's him. I mean- he has the scar. And it looks like him- sort of" I looked at him in confusion. "My mother just called me into the hall. They think he might have been jinxed to look different. They want me to confirm if it's him or not."
"What are you going to do?" I said frantically, but he didn't answer because of the shrill of Bellatrix, who had arrived at the house the night before last night, shrieking his name from downstairs. He grabbed my hand.
"I don't know. We need to go, come on". He pulled my hand out of the room, not pausing to shut the door behind us and hurriedly turning down the stairs.
As we exited the staircase, the room was filled with various people. Draco's parents, Bellatrix and Wormtail there as they usually were. But at the end of the room, there stood five others.
There were two men, their hair tangled and knotted, their clothes stained with what looked like blood. One of them stood holding a gleaming silver sword by his side. The other had a firm hold on two other figures, his wand jabbed into one of their necks, his arm holding the other around the throat.
The figures belonged to Hermione and Ron. I felt my chest tighten seeing them struggle to get out of the grip of the man. They both looked over to me, me glancing between the two of them who had a stare on me. I had my wand grasped in my hand but tucked behind my back out of sight of the death eaters. I wanted so desperately to send curses towards the men and free them. But that was impossible. I instead had to put on a stern front and act as though I despised them. Any other reaction would surely have me killed.
I turned to face Bellatrix. On the floor beside her was the kneeling body of Harry Potter. I only knew from his scar; his face was horribly disfigured and swollen, I expect the result of a stinging jinx. But still - I knew that the boy Bellatrix had held by his hair with her wand to his throat was indeed Harry Potter.
"Well?!" She exclaimed towards Draco. He had left my side and had walked over to where Bellatrix and Harry where. He was stood mere feet away from Harry, I couldn't see his face from where I was stood.
"I can't be sure" he said to Bellatrix. Lucius barged past me, his shoulder pushing mine as he did. I stole a glance over to where the other two were stood. I saw Ron staring at me, a look of almost fury on his face. I stared back at him as if my explanation would somehow travel to him if I thought about it and stared at him hard enough.
"Draco" Lucius said in almost a whisper. He placed his hand onto the back of Draco's neck, Draco jolting slightly as he did. "Look closely son. If we were the ones to hand potter over to the dark lord, all shall be forgiven" he said in the same whisper. I remembered what Draco had said about his father being punished by the dark lord - this must be what he was referring to.
"Let's not forget who actually caught him I hope, Mr Malfoy". I turned around to see that the man who was holding the sword was the one who had spoken, a smug look on his face.
"You dare to speak to me like that in my own house!" Lucius yelled, Narcissa walking towards him and placing her hand on his arm, muttering his name. He withdrew his hand from Draco and moved backwards, Draco still standing straight.
"Don't be shy sweetie. Come over!" Bellatrix said to him, extending her arm to Draco as he walked closer to Harry bending down to look at him. "Now, if this isn't who we think it is Draco and we call him, he'll kill us all"
Her words sent shivers down my spine. The idea of the dark lord coming here, seeing Harry Potter. I tried to hide the shiver and my shaking hands. "We need to be absolutely sure."
"What's wrong with his face?" Draco replied to her.
"Yes. What is wrong with his face?" She said addressing the three men.
"He came to us like that" the one holding Ron replied. "Something he picked up in the woods I reckon"
"Or ran into a stinging jinx. Was it you dear?" She said, her wand pointing away from Harry and towards Hermione. She said nothing in return only struggling under the grip of the man. Bellatrix released her grip on Harry and began to walk in the direction of the two men. "Give me her wand. We'll see what her last spell was"
Narcissa made her way over to Draco's placing her hand on his shoulder. He flinched once again from her touch. I could see Harry staring intensely at Draco before he stood up from him, walking back towards me. I heard a chuckle from Bellatrix along with a "Got you" aimed at Hermione as Draco stood next to me, his parents a few feet away. I looked towards him but I immediately turned away, my attention focused on the end of the room with the man with the sword as I heard Bellatrix let out a loud gasp. The man holding Ron and Hermione had moved to the side, Bellatrix facing the one holding the sword.
"Where did you get that?" She said quickly pointing towards the sword.
"It was in her bag when we searched her" he replied. "Reckon it's mine now" he said with a slight grin.
With the mans words, Bellatrix shot a spell towards him. A long strip of what looked like leather shot out from her wand wrapping itself tightly around the mans throat. He immediately dropped the sword to the floor, his hands being brought up to his neck desperately clawing at the thing choking him. I jolted slightly reaching backwards to grasp Draco's hand, him holding it back.
She released the man and he collapsed to the floor gasping for air. She struck him with whatever it was that had emerged from her wand, the cracking sound of a whip filling my ears. He fell backwards in pain, still holding his neck and struggling to breath.
"Are you mad?!" Yelled the one who was just holding Ron and Hermione. He had released them but still had his wand pointed to them.
She turned herself to face the man. She struck the whip towards him, striking him so hard that he fell to the floor. She wrapped the whip around his throat the same way she had done to the other man, pulling him harshly by the neck across the floor to beside the other one. His face soon turned scarlet, desperately scraping at the thing wrapped around his neck. She released him once he was next to the other man, striking him once more with the whip.
"GO. GET OUT." She shrieked. The two men desperately clambered to their feet still struggling for breath and clutching their faces in pain where she had struck them. I turned to face Draco, the same look of terror on his face as there was in mine, but he tried to disguise it when I looked at him, me trying to do the same.
"Put the boys in the cellar!" She screamed as she made her way over to a mere few feet away from me, grabbing Ron by the front of his shirt and thrusting him towards Narcissa who already had Harry held by the scruff of his neck. She grabbed Ron and began to make her way over to the stairway that I knew led to the cellar. Wormtail was in front of her and he grabbed hold of the two boys as they reached the stairs, dragging them down as they tried to look towards Hermione who had Bellatrix stood mere inches from her face.
"I want to have a little conversation with this one!" She yelled. "Girl to girl!"
...