Christmas Day, by far the worst day of my life thus far. It started great, I mean as good as it can when you have the Dark Lord as a roommate.
"Violet come on! Presents!" Draco comes bursting into my room like he does every Christmas.
I groan and cover my face with my pillow. Draco throws himself on top of me, "Ow Draco god! You're getting too old for that." I take the pillow off of my head and hit him with it. Draco laughs and rolls off me.
"Never too old to throw yourself at your cousin to get her out of bed on Christmas. Let's go!"
I toss my blankets off of me and hop out of bed. I grab a cardigan off of my chair and use magic to make my bed much to Draco's annoyance. "All right then let's go downstairs."
Draco scrambles to the door and races down the stairs, I laugh and follow him with just as much enthusiasm. Draco physically bumps into Uncle Lucius who is standing at the bottom of the stairs.
"You two are getting far too old to be racing down the stairs." Uncle Lucius says sternly.
Draco looks down at his feet, I'm standing a few steps above them all, "Sorry Uncle Lucius. But it is Christmas after all."
Uncle Lucius' lips twitch into a slight smile, "Very well. Your presents are in the living room along with Narcissa."
Draco looks up at his father, then turns around and looks up at me. I smile at him and we race into the living room laughing and cheering.
When we get into the living room Aunt Narcissa is standing there smiling at us, "Happy Christmas you two."
Draco makes a beeline for the presents under the tree that we've set up a week ago and I go over and hug my aunt, "Once your presents are open we've got to sit in a meeting. The Dark Lord has a Christmas present for us all." She says quietly.
I look at her but she doesn't make eye contact with me.
"Woah! A Firebolt?" Draco shouts drawing my attention away from my aunt.
I go over to Draco and sit cross-legged on the floor and start opening the presents I've gotten. A bunch of new clothes, long sleeve shirts, new shoes, a wand polishing kit, owl treats, cat toys, a brand new radio, and another porcelain doll to add to my collection.
"Violet go get changed into something presentable, please. And take all your things up to your room please we've got guests arriving shortly." Uncle Lucius says looking down at us. Draco and I gather our things and Aunt Narcissa starts to throw the wrapping paper into the fire.
"Where are you off to?" Draco says coming into my room as I finish getting dressed.
I look at him and sigh, he's wearing his Slytherin quidditch robes and is holding his broom in his hand. "I've got a meeting with the Dark Lord. Apparently he's got a Christmas present for all of the Death Eaters."
Draco looks disappointed, "Do you think that you could come flying with me after? I want to test my new broom against the Nimbus two-thousand and one."
I walk over to him and shove his head a bit with my hand, "Course yeah. As long as I get to try out the Firebolt." Draco laughs and I head down the stairs and into the dining room that we've basically converted to the Dark Lord's lair.
"Happy Christmas young Violet..." The Dark Lord says as I step into the dining room.
I bow my head, "Happy Christmas my Lord. I hope that Santa Claus treated you well." I joke, instantly I'm scared that I'm going to be killed for my comment.
Instead, the Dark Lord laughs, a high pitched "hehehehe" which throws me off guard a little. "Come sit... the rest will be here shortly."
I sit where I normally sit at these meetings and the Dark Lord floats to the head of the table and sits down.
Suddenly, pillars of dark smoke come soaring through the windows and things and people appear in chairs. Soft mumbles of 'my Lord' fills the stale air. It's not long till the table is full of Death Eaters.
"Welcome... and a Happy Christmas to you all." The Dark Lord says in his raspy, high pitched voice.
"Happy Christmas my Lord." Everyone mumbles back to him.
The Dark Lord looks out at all of us. We've grown in numbers rather quickly since I was forced to get the Mark. The table has nearly doubled in size. I quickly look around the room and make eye contact with Emma and the rest of the Slytherin students I'm at Hogwarts with.
"This Christmas... I want to celebrate my return with all of you." The Dark Lord says, "Pettigrew, if you will."
A rat-like man that is sitting to the Dark Lord's right practically jumps right out of his seat and dashes off into the library that's off of the dining room. There's thuds, a woman's scream. I look down the table at Emma, her eyes are as wide as dinner plates.
Pettigrew comes shuffling back into the dining hall, tugging on a rope. He pulls hard and four beaten and bloody people fly into the dining hall, their hands tied to the rope that Pettigrew is yanking on.
"This year... for my big return... I sent Pettigrew into the streets of London to find us all some playthings.... He found muggles, worthless, waste of space, muggles living on the streets." The Dark Lord announces.
My heart starts to heat faster, my hands get sweaty. I watch in silent horror as Pettigrew yanks on the rope harder and drags the muggles to the table. The room is full of different energies. The younger Death Eaters, my friends, are terrified, they look like they're going to be sick. Some of the adults sit there stone-faced, barley blinking. And then there are the ones who are actually excited, big smiles on their faces, giggling to one another with glee.
"While it's only four... I thought it would be a fantastic time to let the youngest of our group to practice the Cruciatus curse." The Dark Lord gestures to us, not knowing what to do, I stand along with the rest of my housemates.
We all walk to the middle of the room and line up behind one another. Adrian in the front, Clarissa behind him, me behind her, so on and so forth.
"Go on..." The Dark Lord says to Adrian, "Choose whomever you wish and perform the Cruciatus curse."
My vision goes blurry, I can hear my heartbeat in my ears. I can't take my eyes away from Adrian.
"CRUCIO!"
Screams, loud, god awful screams. And suddenly I'm back at the riot. Flames surround me, the muggle family screaming, the woman trying to cover herself with her dress. George running away from it all, protecting his family.
Clarissa is next. She steps forward, I step forward as well. My breath quickens, I nearly drop my wand.
"CRUCIO!"
Screams, the muggle falls to the ground and twitches, the Death Eaters at the table laugh and cheer. Flames, laughing, screams. Ireland just won the world cup. Happiness mixed with fear, tears flood my eyes.
I step forward, I make eye contact with the muggle man in front of me. His eye is swollen shut, his cheek has a deep, nasty, cut on it. His hair is matted with blood, his clothes stained. I take a deep breath, try to calm my nerves but it doesn't work. I'm panicked, stressed. Just do this and it will be done with, do it. DO IT!
"CRUCIO!" I scream, louder than I've ever screamed before, my wand pointed and aimed perfectly at the man's chest. He falls to the floor and starts to shake, screaming, begging for mercy. People cheer, people applaud. A sick part of me feels good almost. Like I've given someone else my pain. I catch myself smiling at the man still withering on the ground. I raise my wand again involuntarily it feels like. "CRUCIO!" I scream again, with more confidence. The man jumps off the floor and lands on his back, its worse than before. The screams. Oh god, the screams. It doesn't feel good anymore. I stumble backwards, away from the man.
I make eye contact with the Dark Lord, his eyes are bright, his teeth barred in a twisted smile. He's proud of me. I feel like I'm going to be sick. I stumble back to my chair as Cassius shouts, "CRUCIO!"
I sit in my chair. Aunt Narcissa puts her hand on top of mine and I pull it away from her quickly.
"CRUCIO!"
My head spins, my heart feels like it's going to explode. Flames everywhere, people screaming, muggles soaring through the air.
"CRUCIO!"
It's me this time, pointing my wand at the muggles in the sky, I move them around like puppets, there's a smile on my face.
"CRUCIO!"
Its George, soaring through the air. He screams, pained, something like I've never heard before. It's me, I'm the one controlling him, sending him through the air. Everyone claps, there's a smile on my face.
I zone out. I can't hear anything anymore. My head is spinning so fast it feels like I'm going to be sick and pass out all at the same time.
Then, it stops. I look up, everyone is back in their seats. The muggles are in a heap on the floor. The Dark Lord smiles again, "And now, the adults can play." He says. Chairs scrape against the floor, footsteps, loads of footsteps. Cheers, cries of joy, flashes of light, screams, awful screams. I get up from the table and stumble out of the dining room into the kitchen.
"Master LeStrange! Is you alright? Norby is worried!" The house-elf says coming over to me.
"I have to... I have to leave. I can't breathe." I clutch at my chest. Screams from the dining room make me flinch.
I can hear the Dark Lord laughing through it all, "hehehehehehehehe"
"Norby won't say anything if Master LeStrange leaves. Norby wants Master LeStrange safe." Norby comes over and puts her small hand on my arm.
I smile at her, "Thank you." I whisper. Then I apparate, the only thought in my head is George. His arms, his smell, his smile.
"What the FUCK!?" I hear him scream.
My heads pounding, I can barely open my eyes. It doesn't smell like my house. There's no screaming. Well, not the screaming that was at my house.
"Violet! Violet are you alright?" I can hear Molly but I can't see her.
I open my eyes just a little, I see them all. Molly, Bill, George, Fred, Ron, Ginny, Harry, all of them. Sirius, Professor Lupin, Tonks.
I close my eyes again and the sound fades away. But my heart stops beating so fast. I'm safe now.