River's POV
It had been months now of Voldemort's ruling, he and forced us inside and didn't let Draco and I go to Hogwarts, anymore. Daphne, Theo, Pansy, and Blaise had all sent us daily updates, saying they missed us and hated school now.
"What is this?" Lucius asked, as a group of snatchers and Cissy walked over to where Lucius, Draco and I were sitting by the fireplace.
"They say they've got Potter," Cissy said,
"Draco, River come here!" Chills went through my body as I looked down at ugly figures. We both knew this was Harry.
"Well?" Greybeck asked after a minute of us studying his face.
"Well, kids?" Lucius asked after we did not answer.
"Is it? Is it Harry Potter?"
"I can't—I can't be sure," Draco answered,
"But look at him carefully, look! Come closer!" Lucius yelled excitedly .
"Draco, River, if we are the ones who hand Potter over to the Dark Lord, everything will be forgiv—"
"Now, we won't be forgetting who actually caught him. I hope Mr. Malfoy?" Greybeck interrupted.
"Of course not, of course not!" Lucius walked closer to Harry, studying him.
"What did you do to him? How did he get into this state?"
"That wasn't us."
"Looks more like a Stinging Jinx to me,"
"There's something there, it could be the scar, stretched tight.... Draco, River, come here, look properly! What do you think?" We walked closer now, seeing the trio's messed up faces.
"I don't know," I answered,
"We had better be certain, Lucius, Completely sure that it is Potter, before we summon the Dark Lord ... They say this is his but it does not resemble Ollivander's description.... If we are mistaken, if we call the Dark Lord here for nothing ... Remember what he did to Rowle and Dolohov?" Cissy told her husband,
"What about the Mudblood, then?" Greybeck yelled as the other snatchers forced Hermione to come into view.
"Wait, Yes—yes, she was in Madam Malkin's with Potter! I saw her picture in the Prophet! Look, kids, isn't it the Granger girl?"
"I ... maybe ... yeah." Draco answered. We both turned away from the prisoner's. I couldn't stand looking at them or lying to the Malfoys.
""But then, that's the Weasley boy! It's them, Potter's friends—Draco, look at him, isn't it Arthur Weasley's son, what's his name—?"
"Yeah, it could be," I answered for him.
"What is this? What's happened, Cissy?" We heard Bellatrix ask,
"But surely, this is the Mudblood girl? This is Granger?" She asked,
"Yes, yes, it's Granger! And beside her, we think, Potter! Potter and his friends, caught at last!"
"Potter? Are you sure? Well then, the Dark Lord must be informed at once!" Draco gripped on my sleeve as we stared at the fireplace.
"I was about to call him! I shall summon him, Bella. Potter has been brought to my house, and it is therefore upon my authority—"
"Your authority! You lost your authority when you lost your wand, Lucius! How dare you! Take your hands off me!"
"This is nothing to do with you, you did not capture the boy—"
"Begging your pardon, Mr. Malfoy, but it's us that caught Potter, and it's us that'll be claiming the gold— "Greybeck interjected. Bellatrix laughed her annoyingly high laugh.
"Gold! Take your gold, dirty scavenger. What do I want with gold? I seek only the honor of his—of—"
"STOP! She yelled out of nowhere. We all froze. The fire was starting to hurt my eyes.
"Do not touch it, we shall all perish if the Dark Lord comes now!"
"What is that?" She yelled,
"Sword," someone said,
"Give it to me."
"It's not yours, missus, it's mine, I reckon I found it." There was a loud bang, and we knew she had stupefied him.
"What d'you think you're playing at, woman?"
"Stupefy! Stupefy!" Bellatrix yelled, and the rest fell.
"Where did you get this sword?" I forced myself to turn around, seeing Greybeck in a kneeling position with the others all passed out.
"How dare you? Release me women!" Greybeck yelled,
"Where did you find this sword? Snape sent it to my vault in Gringotts!" She shoved the sword in his face.
"It was in their tent. Release me, I say!" She flicked her wand lazily and Greybeck jumped to his feet, hiding behind an armchair.
"Draco, move this scum outside If you haven't got the guts to finish them, then leave them in the courtyard for me."
"Don't you dare speak to Draco like—" Cissy yelled, Bellatrix glared at her as Draco went and took the others outside.
"Be quiet! The situation is graver than you can possibly imagine, Cissy! We have a very serious problem!"
"If it is indeed Potter, he must not be harmed, The Dark Lord wishes to dispose of Potter himself.... But if he find's out ... I must ... I must know...."
"The prisoners must be placed in the cellar, while I think what to do!"
"This is my house, Bella, you don't give orders in my—"
"Do it! You have no idea of the danger we're in!"
"Take these prisoners down to the cellar, Greyback. Wait, All except.... except for the Mudblood."
"No!" Ron yelled,
"You can have me, keep me!" Bellatrix slapped him across the face.
"If she dies under questioning, I'll take you next."
"Blood traitor is next to Mudblood in my book. Take them downstairs, Greyback, and make sure they are secure, but do nothing more to them—yet." She cut Hermione from the rest. As Draco walked back in, I grabbed his arm and turned away from them.
Then Hermione started screaming,
"I don't know! I don't know!" She yelled,
"How did you find the sword!" Bellatrix asked.
I felt tears in my eyes as I heard her struggling.
"Don't cry, please," Draco whispered. I blinked my tears away, but it didn't help.
"I'm going to ask you again! Where did you get this sword? Where?"
"We found it—we found it—PLEASE!" Hermione cried,
"What else did you take, what else? ANSWER ME! CRUCIO!"
I felt my tears slipping, and I wiped them away quickly.
"Don't cry, don't let her see you cry please," Draco whispered, looking nervously over at Bellatrix, who was too busy with Hermione to notice.
"How did you get into my vault? Did that dirty little goblin in the cellar help you?"
"We only met him tonight! We've never been inside your vault.... It isn't the real sword! It's a copy, just a copy!"
"A copy? Likely story!"
"But we can find out easily! Draco, fetch the goblin, he can tell us whether the sword is real or not!" Lucius yelled. Draco looked at me nervously, and I nodded. He walked down to fetch him.
A minute later he came back with an old goblin, and pushed him in front of Bellatrix, who handed him the sword.
"Well?" She asked. The goblin didn't answer, studying every inch of the sword. Bellatrix got annoyed with waiting and took her knife out again, grabbing Hermione's bloody arm, and cutting into her again.
"What was that?" Lucius asked, as we heard a loud crack go off.
"Did you hear that? What was that noise in the cellar?" He asked again. Draco started to walk back down to the cellar. I grabbed his arm.
"Draco—no, call Wormtail! Make him go and check!" I said, quickly. Cissy nodded.
"Yes, Draco, go call him to check." Draco nodded and went to fetch Wormtail, who had been hiding upstairs all day.
Draco came back a second later, as we heard footsteps go down to the dungeons.
Hermione looked at me, begging me to stop this. I looked up at Bellatrix, seeing there was no way of stopping her now.
"Well? Is it the true sword?"
"No, it is a fake." He answered,
"Are you sure? Quiet sure?"
"Yes." He nodded, handing it back to her.
"Good! And now! We call the dark lord." She pulled her sleeve up and touched her dark mark, smiling.
"And I think, we can dispose of the Mudblood. Greyback, take her if you want her."
"NOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Ron yelled, bursting into the room. We all looked at him shocked,
"Expelliarmus!" He yelled, pointing at Bellatrix. Her wand flew away from her, and Harry caught it.
"Stupfey!" Ron yelled at Lucius, who fell to the floor next to us. We took our wands out, and spells flew at them. They managed to dodge most of them, Harry fell behind a sofa in attempt to hide.
"STOP OR SHE DIES!" Bellatrix held Hermione tightly by the head with a knife to her throat.
"Drop your wands or we can see how dirty her blood really is." She yelled again after no one moved.
"Drop them!" She yelled again. She held the knife tighter to her throat, and a little blood dripped down from her throat.
"All right!" Harry yelled, dropping his wand, and Ron did the same.
"Good, River, pick them up. Your death is coming," She smiled. O picked up the wands quickly and held them close to my chest.
"Cissy, I think we ought to tie these little heroes up again, while Greyback takes care of Miss Mudblood. I am sure the Dark Lord will not begrudge you the girl, Greyback, after what you have done tonight." There was a loud noise from above, and we all looked up. The crystal chandelier trembled before falling. Draco pushed us to the ground, covering my face with his arms as glass sprang everywhere.
I felt someone pry the wands out of my grip and yelling a curse at Greybeck. Cissy ran over to us, pulling us up to our feet. She looked over Draco's bloody face; he didn't get a chance to cover his face when the chandelier fell.
"Dobby! You! You dropped the chandelier—?" I heard Bellatrix yell,
"You must not hurt Harry Potter!" He yelled,
"Kill him, Cissy!" There was another loud crack, and Cissy's wand flew away.
"You dirty little monkey! How dare you take a witch's wand, how dare you defy your masters?"
"Dobby has no masters! Dobby is a free elf!" He yelled.
"Dobby has come to save Harry Potter and his friends!"
"Ron, catch—and GO!" Harry threw the wand at Ron before turning to run over to me. Harry grabbed my arm and pulled me along.
"No!" I screamed as I tried to pull away, but he held on tightly. Draco was in too much pain to do anything, Cissy was too confused, and Lucius was still passed out. Bellatrix took out her knife as Ron grabbed the goblin.
"Let me go! Let me go!" I yelled as Harry grabbed Dobby's hand. Draco tried to hurry over as Bellatrix threw her knife.
"No!" Draco yelled, as a loud cracking sound appeared and the Malfoy manor disappeared.