Thank you for reading! I don't own any of Harry Potter! Please let me know if you enjoy! Updates every Saturday!
—————————————————————
Healing from her wounds proved to be a slow, painful process, even with the assistance of the many concoctions her father administered to her injuries day and night.
Harriet's forceful confinement to the grim chambers of Malfoy Manor was a great detriment to her mission, certainly, but her imprisonment weighed more on her mind than even those aware of the delicate situation knew.
Against her parents' wishes, she read The Daily Prophet each morning and evening, although the midwife who came to check on her daily did often warn of her rising blood pressure.
As Harriet read over the headlines one evening that detailed Voldemort's latest attack, which had ended with twelve dead and seventeen wounded, Harriet could bear the guilt of uselessly lying in bed no longer.
She tossed the paper aside as she stood to her feet and began to rummage through her temporary room.
"It's got to be here somewhere....." She hissed under her breath as she opened each drawer and pillaged through every object inside to search for her wand, "They have to have put it somewhere close, just in case I need it."
An hour passed, then two.
Harriet felt her heart begin to pound as her head seemed to grow lighter and lighter.
She grit her teeth at how weak she had become.
Her frustration only fueled her desire to find her wand and leave immediately.
As the war progressed, so would her condition.
What was she supposed to do?
Sit and wait to become completely worthless or get up and defeat Voldemort while she still had a chance?
Her hands paused when her vision began to go black.
She sighed as her pulse pounded while the blood rushed past her ears as she reached out and fumbled to let her fingers collide with the wood of the dresser.
Harriet gasped as she managed to catch the edge of the furniture's surface, worriedly hobbling along until she could reach out and grasp the bedcovers to pull herself back onto the soft mattress.
As she laid on her side and clasped both hands over her throbbing head, she sucked in a breath as she thought.
How could she possibly fight a war when standing up was a struggle?
————————————————————
Unlike Harriet, Draco did not suffer from physical impairments.
In one smooth motion that same evening, he apparated to the camp his darling had previously shared with her friends to give his scheduled status report.
Ron and Hermione were out gathering dinner.
Unfortunately for Draco, Tom was the only one present in their camp when he arrived with a loud pop and an ungraceful plop on the ground.
"How many times have you apparated, Draco Malfoy?" Tom asked with a spiteful smirk as he glanced over and watched his rival dust himself off.
"Never mind that!" Draco snapped, "I've come to bring everyone a bit of news! Where are Weasley and Granger?!"
"Out looking for something to eat." Tom shrugged, "How is Harriet? Is my lover doing well?"
Tom purposely referenced his relationship with Harriet, grinning as he watched Draco's face shift in anguish as he mentioned the truth of where her heart lay.
"...........She's doing well enough, though I don't think she'll be able to continue your little....search....anytime soon." Draco snarled.
"How's my baby?" Tom asked with an equally evil grin.
"...........Fine, from what I understand." Draco said with his teeth clenched.
"I know it has to eat at you day and night, doesn't it?" Tom asked as he raised an eyebrow, "To know she'll bear me a handsome son or a beautiful daughter......To know that she's all mine, Malfoy, and there's not a thing you can do about it."
Draco chuckled darkly as a bitter grin spread across his lips, "You know, I think you're right."
Tom laughed before Draco spoke again, "It does gnaw at me to think of how long it's going to take her to see through all your lies and deceit......It makes me want to vomit to imagine the pain you'll put her through, but I rest peacefully each night knowing that when that day comes and her world crumbles while you vanish into thin air, I'll be the one to hold her up."
Tom's arrogant grin quickly shifted into a scowl of pure rageful malice as he glowered at Draco, "When this war is over and the other parts of myself lay vanquished, I will take her somewhere far, far away....." He promised as he rose to his feet and took slow, threatening steps towards Draco, "Somewhere a weasel like you will never be able to see her again, Draco Malfoy, let alone speak to her...Somewhere we can raise our family with-"
"-What family?!" Draco snapped, "You'll never see that child and you know it! You fade with each destroyed horcrux and it's only going to get worse!.........I wager you'll die before the birth."
The two had crept closer to one another as their verbal sparring match continued until they were practically chest to chest.
".........That's alright." Draco said with a snide smirk, "I'll be right beside her when it's born....I'll be right beside her forever....I'm a whole person, Tom Riddle, not some cheap parlor trick that comes from-"
Tom had heard enough.
Eager to take out his vengeance with a much more personal attack than what his wand could manage, Tom balled his right hand into a fist and forcefully brought it across Draco's face, determined to knock his arrogant claims right from his lips.
Draco staggered back with the weight of the blow as a wheezing sound left him involuntarily.
"What good would you ever be to her, Malfoy?" Tom smirked, "You couldn't even manage to save her from me."
Draco looked up at Tom with an uncivilized wildness in his gray eyes as he wiped blood from his lip.
Tom chuckled darkly as he watched his rival with the same sense of amusement he might have gotten from any form of entertainment, but Draco was not as beaten as he thought.
With a roar that surprised Tom, Draco kept his crouched position as he lunged forward, tackled his enemy, and knocked him all the way to the ground.
Having never been in an exchange of fisticuffs before, Draco had nothing but blind rage and his broken heart as his teachers on skill and form.
Tom, on the other hand, was strengthened alone by his dedication to seeking victory and his taste for malice.
————————————————————
Ron glanced over at Hermione while they slowly made their way back towards camp with the two rabbits they had caught.
".........Do you hear that?" He asked as he looked over at her and scowled.
"Sounds like....someone swishing around in the dirt." Hermione mused as she shook her head at the noise.
Ron's eyes widened as they turned the last corner that led into the familiar clearing in which their makeshift homestead had been established.
"Look! LOOK, there! There! What's happening?!" Ron shouted as he pointed straight ahead.
Hermione turned to see the revolving shadows of Tom and Draco be cast against the trees while they carried out their brawl a short distance from the fire.
"Is that......" Hermione asked as she stepped up on a log and peered across the quickly darkening landscape, "That's Tom Riddle and Malfoy! Hurry, Ron! They'll beat each other to death!"
Ron's eyes widened as he slung the rabbits over his shoulder and followed Hermione while she set off at a vigorous pace.
Shame welled in his soul as he wondered if it was really the best idea to try and stop them.
At the very least, he and Hermione may find themselves free from one pest if they decided not to intervene.