Christmas came and went. Draco stayed at Hogwarts, mostly because I told him to. But his parents forced him to come back during Easter holidays.
"How is it? At Hogwarts?" I ask him as we are reading together in the library.
Draco looks up at his book for a moment, "Awful, dark. Snape makes a horrible headmaster." He whispers.
I look back at my book and flip a few pages, "But you're safe right? No one's hurt you or anything?"
Before he could answer there was a loud crash outside the door and heavy footsteps. Draco and I look at each other before getting up and walking out of the library. Fenrir Greyback, along with a few other Death Eaters are dragging a line of people behind him. I recognize most of them immediately, Dean Thomas, Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley... and a very swollen faced looking boy that has to be Harry Potter.
I glance over at Draco and he looks like he's about to be sick. "Violet, Draco. Come here please." My aunt calls out. We walk into the living room, past the wall of portraits.
Uncle Lucius stands from his chair and looks at my aunt, "What's this?" He says looking at Greyback and the others.
"They say they've got Potter. Violet, Draco, come here and look for yourself." Aunt Narcissa beckons us forward and we both take careful steps closer to Greyback and the others.
"I can't be sure Aunt Narcissa, I barely saw the boy at school," I say with an air of annoyance. As if the idea of being asked to identify him is pissing me off.
Aunt Narcissa studies me closely then rolls her eyes, "Fine then, Draco come here."
Draco steps forward and stands in between his parents, "Well Draco?" Uncle Lucius snaps.
I make eye contact with Hermione and Ron and nod once, just slightly so no one else notices. I trust Draco to do the right thing. He's got to do the right thing. "I can't – I can't be sure," Draco says nervously. I don't like him standing so close to Greyback. I don't like any of them standing so close to Greyback. If something happened to any of them I wouldn't know what to do with myself.
"Look carefully!" Uncle Lucius snaps, "Come closer son." Uncle Lucius claps his hand on the back of Draco's neck and forces him to come close to Harry's face. "Draco, 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 Mister Malfoy? Cause if we do..." Greyback focuses his eyes on me and licks his lips, it sends shivers down my spine, "I can always make arrangements to help you remember."
Uncle Lucius looks at Greyback, but Greyback's eyes are fixated on me with such focus that it feels he can see right through me. "Of course not, of course not!" Uncle Lucius looks back at Draco who looks very uncomfortable with everything going on. Ron has been staring at me from behind Greyback, begging with his eyes for me to do something. But I can't, if I do something we will all be killed.
"What did you do to him?" Uncle Lucius asks Greyback, "How did he get into this state?"
"That wasn't us." Greyback snaps
"Looks more like a Stinging jinx to me." Uncle Lucius moves forward a bit, "There's something there." He whispers, "It could be the scar, stretched tightly... Draco come here, look properly. What do you think?"
Draco, with the help of his father, steps forward, his nose nearly touching Harry's swollen face, "I don't know." Draco says matter of factly even though the two of us know exactly what he's doing.
"We've got to be sure Lucius." Aunt Narcissa says, she's got Harry's wand in her hands and is looking over it carefully, "Completely sure that it is Potter before we summon the Dark Lord... They say this is his." She's holding the wand out so that Uncle Lucius can see, "But it doesn't fit Ollivander's description... if we are mistaken if we call the Dark Lord here for nothing... Remember what he did to Rowle and Dolohov?"
"What about the Mudblood then?" Greyback growls. He pulls on the rope that they are all attached to and basically sends Harry soaring to the floor.
Aunt Narcissa smiles, "Yes – yes, she was in Madam Malkin's with Potter! I saw her picture in the Prophet! Look Draco isn't it the Granger girl!" She says excitedly.
Draco stutters, "I... maybe... yeah."
"But then that's the Weasley boy!" Uncle Lucius shouts, "Violet come here." He reaches out and pulls my arm, "You know the Weasleys better than any of us, it's one of them, isn't it? Potters friend?"
I'm staring into Ron's face, he looks terrified and I don't think that I look any better, "I dunno uncle, I can't be bothered trying to remember what each of those filthy blood traitors look like."
Ron's eyes glint with that Weasley charm and I nod at him once more.
"What is this? What's happened, Cissy?" My mother says from behind us. She walks over to us all glaring at Greyback with vicious intent, "This... this is that Mudblood girl. This is Granger?" She says staring into Hermione's face.
"Yes! Yes, this is Granger! And we think that this beside her is Potter! We've done it! Potter and his friends!"
"Potter!" my mother shrieks, I look at the trio's faces and I can tell that they are absolutely terrified of my mother like they should be honestly. She's a powerful witch with no conscious, and those two things don't mix very well, "Well then, the Dark Lord must be informed at once!" She turns to look at me, "Why didn't you do it sooner?" She pulls up her sleeve to show the Dark Mark on her arm, she was just about to touch it, to summon the Dark Lord.
"I was about to call him!" Uncle Lucius says. He wraps his hand around my mother's wrist preventing her from touching the Mark, "I shall summon him, Bella. Potter has been brought to my house and it is therefore upon my authority..."
"Your authority!" My mother screams, she pulls her arm away from my uncle but he hangs on tight, "You lost your authority when you lost your wand, Lucius! How dare you! Take your hands off of me!"
"This has nothing to do with you! You did not capture the boy!" Uncle Lucious says viciously.
Draco makes his way back over to me, we are standing a ways away from the adults fighting now, I have my wand in my hand just in case something happens.
"Begging your pardon Mister Malfoy," Greyback interrupts, "But it's us that caught Potter, and it's us that will be claiming the gold-"
"Gold!" My mother laughs, "Take your gold, filthy scavenger, what do I want with gold? I seek only the honour of his – of-"
Uncle Lucius has let go of my mother and has ripped his own sleeve up, ready to summon the Dark Lord.
"STOP!" My mother shrieks, "Do not touch it!, we shall all perish if the Dark Lord comes now!" She moves over to one of the snatchers, "What is it?"
"Sword." The snatcher grunts.
"Give it to me."
"It's not yorn Missus, it's mine, I reckon I found it."
My mother draws her wand and stuns the snatcher without a second thought. The other snatchers roar in anger, "What the hell do you think you're playing at woman!"
"Stupefy!" My mother screams, "Stupefy!" There were four of them and one of her but my mother stands there triumphantly, not a single hair out of place. She's got Greyback on his knees, the sword in one hand, her wand in the other. That's the type of power I want to be able to yield one day. I want to be able to bring the worlds most dangerous werewolf to his knees in fear. I can't help myself but smile at my mother's triumph.
She pulls his wand out of his hand, "Where did you get this sword?"
"How dare you? Release me, woman!" Greyback roars.
My mother raises the sword to his face, "Where did you get this sword!?" She shouts, "Snape sent it to my vault in Gringotts!"
"It was in their tent." Greyback snarls, "Release me!"
My mother waves her wand and Greyback gets up off the floor, he doesn't attack her and I can tell that he's a little on edge. He stalks around the couch, dragging his long fingernail along the back of it. He looks over at Draco and I and I subconsciously put myself between Draco and the werewolf, my wand gripped tightly in my hand. Greyback flashes his teeth at me and I raise my wand slightly.
"You two! Move this scum outside. Draco if you haven't got the guts to finish them off then let Violet do it." My mother barks at us.
"Don't speak to my son like that! Draco is just as powerful as Violet." My Aunt snaps. Draco and I move forward and levitate the three snatchers in the air.
"Of course he is Cissy," My mother says jokingly, "And you're just as good as me."
Draco rushes ahead of me and gets the front door open, I guide the three stunned snatchers out and onto the front lawn. One of uncle Lucius' peacocks comes over casually.
"What do you think is going to happen to them?" Draco says to me when the door is fully closed, "I tried to help, tried to tell them that it wasn't them, but..." He trails off and looks at me, there are tears building up in his eyes.
"You did your best Draco, I'm proud of you. It takes guts to stand up to your parents, believe me, I know." I stand over top of the snatchers and raise my wand, "Avada Kedavra!" I say almost casually. The life instantly leaves his eyes. I look over at Draco, "I'll do them all you don't have to worry about that."
Draco swallows and nods and watches me as I finish off the other two snatchers, "You do it so easily now..." He says quietly.
I look at him, "That was number fifty... I've killed fifty people in the past two years..." I say softly. I look back down at the bodies, "It's an awful thing to say but I'm sort of used to it by now." I walk over to him and put my hand on his shoulder, "Come on, they're going to get mad at us if we take too long."
Draco and I walk back into the Manor, instantly we hear screams, terrible, awful screams. Draco looks at me, "That's Hermione. Hermione Granger."
Then there's laughter, and shrieks, "And that's my mother." I whisper. We walk into the dining room together, Hermione is on the floor whithering around, my mother is shouting questions at her.
"Where did you get the sword! WHERE!" My mother screams, she's got the heel of her foot pressed onto Hermione's wrist, pinning it to the ground.
"We found it – we found it! – PLEASE!" Hermione cries. My mother slams her foot down on Hermione's arm.
"CRUCIO!" My mother screams, instantly Hermione's awful screaming fills the air again, she whithers around the floor, her back arching in pain. My mother sees me out of the corner of her eye and gestures me over to her, "Violet come here and hold her down for me." She snaps.
Draco looks at me with fear in his eyes but I go over with my head held high. My mother shows me where to stand and everything then moves her foot off of Hermione so I can replace it with mine. Hermione looks at me in the eyes, scared, hopeless, in pain, desperation.
"You're lying! Filthy Mudblood and I know it! You have been inside my vault at Gringotts! Tell the truth! TELL THE TRUTH!" My mother screams. She looks at me, "Do it, Violet. She stole from your family. Stole from your mother. DO IT!"
Hermione shakes her head and mumbles 'please no, please god no.' I raise my wand and point it at her, "CRUCIO!" I shout. Hermione screams in agony, louder than before. My mother screams with laughter.
My mother grabs the sword off the floor and brings the tip of it to Hermione's neck, "What else did you take? What else have you got? Tell me the truth or I swear, I shall run you through with this knife!"
My mother looks from Hermione to me and nods, "CRUCIO!" I shout again. Hermione screams and honestly, I want to scream too. My entire body feels like it's going to combust into flames but I don't let my mother see that. I can't hear her tell me that I'm worthless again. I need her approval.