~ Mathilda POV ~
"Mathilda, please. Please calm down. We will find a way to get her back!" my mother expressed, tears streaming down her face. Fear and pain radiated from her body but still she tried to calm me down. Her shoulders were shaking with sobs while she clasped my hands in hers.
"They took our daughter. They took Daisy. I cannot be calm, they have my child," I screamed, ripping my hands out of her hold and clutching my arms around myself.
The pain was not bearable. It destroyed me. Utterly destroyed me. It felt like my heart had been ripped out of my chest and shredded into pieces. My heart slumped into my stomach, anguish blooming in my heart and spreading over my whole body.
Cold sweat broke out on the back of my neck and my throat burned when swallowing.
They had Daisy. With all Sirius and I had done for the Order we put Daisy into danger.
She had been right all along the way....she had asked us to stay out of Order business. But she was worried about our lives...And we had risked hers. I would never forgive myself for that. I would never forgive myself for putting my child into danger. For risking her life.
"We have no idea what they do with her. What they are capable of doing to a child."
"They won't harm her. It probably is a trap. They are making her the bait. We need to stay calm now and think about what we can do. We need to plan and we cannot allow ourselves to overreact and panic," Kingsley tried to reason. My gaze snapped towards him. He folded his hands in front of his body when his gaze met mine.
Glowering with red, puffy eyes, my mouth parted. "You don't have a child. You don't know what that feels like. Don't tell me to stay calm!" I growled. He did not know what that felt like.
A moment later warm, large hands landed on my shoulders and squeezed them tightly. Lips pressed against my temple, warm breath brushing my skin. "Mathilda, calm down. Shacklebolt is right. Panicking and overreacting is not—"
"Sirius?! She is you child as well." I glanced at him over my shoulder, shaking my head in disbelief.
"Yes, she is. Still panicking and overreacting will not bring us far. We need to calm down, think and plan what we can do, but," Sirius inhaled deeply, his hands squeezing my shoulders again.
"I am getting her back. I get our daughter back. I promise you that. Mathilda, she is also my little world. I promise you to get her back and if it is the last thing I will do."
A loud, shuddering sob slipped through my lips. She was in their hands.
Yes, she was a strong and talented young witch, but I had no idea what they would do to her. What someone like Bellatrix would do to her. What someone like Bellatrix was capable of. I did not know if she would hold back from harming or...killing a child. As far as I knew her...she would not.
"I know...I am sorry..." breathed, letting my head fall and staring down at my trembling hands. Sirius wrapped his arms around the base of my throat from behind, squeezing me tightly.
"Don't apologise. We get her back, darling. We get her back!"
I leaned onto him, shaking and squeezing my eyes shut.
"How old is she? Daisy?"
I lifted my head, Sirius moving slightly. My gaze locked with Kingsley's. What was he—?
"She is turning 16 in May," I whispered when realisation hit me. "She still has the trace on her."
The trace. Oh Godrick. Daisy still had the trace on her.
I could find her. I would just sneak away during work and would look for her in the ministry department. There was a department of the ministry where you could look into those kind of things. It was a taboo topic and no one outside the ministry was actually allowed to talk about it. Or rather was allowed to talk about them monitoring every minor.
"Yes, exactly, Mathilda. The Trace."
"Isn't that dangerous?" Sirius queried from behind me, one hand smoothing down my arm. I turned slightly, looking up at him.
I shook my head at my fiancé. "No. I might be, but I don't care. I have to do this. I will do it during work. No one will notice."
◇ ◇ ◇
And that was what I did. During my lunch break I excused myself that I had to go to the loo, slowly gliding through the corridors with a heavily beating heart and wobbly legs. It was nothing odd. We had our break every day at the same time.
Only a few people were actually allowed in those rooms that guarded the traces and I was definitely none of them.
"Alohomora." The spell rolled over my lips as a whisper. I took one last glance over my shoulder before sliding into the brightly lit but terribly cold room. Glimpsing around in the room it seemed empty. There was no one there. "Revelio." No, there really was no one. Still fear prickled my skin and made the breath hitch in my throat.
Holy Helga. The room was ginormous, filled with tons of shelves and files. But thank Godrick, they were in alphabetical order which made finding what I was looking for many times easier.
I made my way over to section B for Bell as silent as possible, always making sure I was alone. And I was.
I dug my hand into a box that said: BE on the front and quickly tried to find Bell. Shit.Shit.Shit. Where was this damn—
Suddenly I was yanked back by my arm, slamming into a solid, muscled chest. I gasped, trying to stop myself from tumbling.
"Who do we have here, huh?"
Yaxley.
When I tried to open my mouth, he gripped my chin, his thumb moving over my lips to shut me up. With his other hand he tossed my wand away. "Looking for little Daisy-dear, huh?" Oh god.
Fear rippled through every fiber of my body.
"A lovely, young girl she is. One day she will be as beautiful as her mother, I am sure of that," he cooed, his grip on my arm tightening.
"Where is she? Where is my daughter? What did you do to her?" I breathed out, voice croaky and breaking at the end.
"I don't know anything of her current state. Some close friends of mine took care of her."
"Where is she? What did you do to her?" I demanded one more time, ignoring his uttering.
"In a safe place where she is cared for. She is alive by the way." He chuckled, coldly, the corner of his mouth quirking up.
"Tell me where she is, now. I demand it!" I growled, trying to rip my arm out of his grip.
"Let us play a little, huh? Then I will tell you. We are all alone in here, just the two of us. Let us have some fun. After Black's stay in Azkaban I doubt he still performs as well in bed as he did before. Does he satisfy you?"
Bile creeping up my throat, I got onto my tiptoes, pushing my forehead against his. "Tell me where my daughter is! Now. Or I will end you with my bare hands, Yaxley!" I growled.
He chuckled, his grip on my chin loosening before moving to the back of my neck and yanking my head back. "I said let us play first and then I will tell you. But I will give you tip, she is having some well-needed family reunion. Too bad you did not introduce her to Black's cousins before. Now, let's move on to more interesting things, shall we?" he purred, his breath hot against my skin.
Curling my hands into fists, a loud scream radiated from me and then—
Then a fist landed against Yaxley's jaw.
Blood spluttered from his mouth and he tumbled backwards.
"Don't you ever dare touch my fiancée ever again. Never ever will you put a hand on her again or you will pay with your life. I should rip your throat out right now, but it would make me nothing better than yourself, you disgusting filth," Sirius snarled, pointing his wand at Yaxley. My chest was heaving, heart thrumming against my rib cage while I flung myself over to Sirius.
"And now you tell us where our daughter is!"
Yaxley grunted, reaching for his wand but I was faster, dropping onto my knees, hurdling over and grabbing his wand quickly before he could.
"You are the filth, Black. Bloodtraitor and convict. But—"
"Nothing but. Tell. Us. Now," Sirius now shouted, a vein appearing on his forehead, growling and glowering.
"Fine. Fine. She is at your cousins house. The beautiful blond..." he stuttered, pushing himself up on the wall.
"Crucio."
I saw red. The curse rolled over my lips as a whisper. I had never ever wanted to use an unforgivable curse, but I did it. I did it and did not even feel bad about it. And I did not even do it with my own wand but with his. I had no idea where he had tossed mine.
My vision blurred, my head going dizzy while I still had the wand pointed at him. I had no idea if he was still seizing on the ground when Sirius' hand suddenly curled around my wrist and he covered my vision.
"Stop it, darling. Stop it. This is not you and as much as you want to do this right now, this is not who you are and I am afraid that you will regret this later. Please stop."
His hand curled tighter around my wrist and he leaned his forehead against mine. "Stop, darling. Please."
"Crucio!"
My body shook, withdrawing the wand. I looked up at Sirius with big, glassy eyes. I had lost control.
"Petrificus Totalus," Sirius quickly said, turning towards a screaming and wincing Yaxley who was soon frozen from head to toe.
"I am sorry..." I huffed, tears now running freely over my cheek. His hand quickly moved to the back of my head, the other one around my waist and he pulled me towards my chest, kissing the top of my head.
"There is nothing to be sorry for. This was absolutely understandable. Darling, do not apologise, but this is exactly the reason I told you to stop because you would hold it against yourself for the rest of your life."
I sniffed, nodding my head. "Thank you for being so stubborn and following me despite everything!"
I had told him when my break was and already had had an inkling that he would somehow sneak into the ministry.
Holding me for some time longer we decided to let Yaxley just lie here, taking his wand with us and collecting mine.
Now there was only one target.
The Malfoy Manor.
Sirius was sure of it. And so were the others. But we could obviously not march in there just like that. It was definitely heavily warded and protected, Death Eaters probably stationed at every corner. Now we needed a plan.
I had reluctantly agreed to planning the attack first since I at least knew my Daisy was still alive.
But if it hadn't been for the others and for Sirius practically holding me back I would have gone straight to the manor.
The plan was absolutely complex but bullet-prove. We would get our daughter out of there with the help of everyone. It was arranged. We would go there that night. A few of us would go there, others somewhere else to knock out some Death Eaters while patrolling the estate. And then we would—
Suddenly the door was slammed open and a panting and heavily sweating Phineas stormed into the room.
"It is about Daisy..." he started before slumping down in a chair.