Draco Pov
The house had been eerily quiet for days even though more people were living in it than normal. Draco's footsteps echoed through the empty halls as he walked along them; no destination in mind. He was just waiting for the next bad thing to happen, as the screams that usually accompanied the tortures and deaths were suspiciously absent. He ran his finger over the dusty tops of the portraits lining the dark walls and focused his thoughts on the dirt staining the pad of his finger; not on the actions surrounding him.
His footsteps were suddenly drowned out by a scream; not of pain, but of happiness. "DRACO!" His aunt was evidently back and needed him. He turned around and headed for the drawing-room where he knew she was waiting. As he entered the room, he was greeted by the sight of Bellatrix standing next to Scabior holding a very bloated boy by the collar. His parents were standing against the far wall; his father with a look of great triumph and his mother with one of fear. At last, his eyes landed on Greyback who was standing a little behind Scabior. He was holding two people in a chokehold and they were obviously not who Draco was supposed to focus on. As he drew nearer, his eyes were inadvertently drawn back in that direction and with a start, he realized that he recognized both of the people.
The red-headed one was obviously Ronald Weasley and the woman with beautiful brown curls cascading down her back was undoubtedly Hermione Granger. His heart wrenched with fear and he suddenly found it difficult to draw breath. His aunt gave a fake little cough, obviously with the intent of drawing his attention back to her, but Draco found that he couldn't look away from Hermione. Her brown eyes were staring intently into his grey ones and her face was mournful. Whether she was mourning him or something else he didn't know, but he did know that he would never find anyone better than her. Under such horrible circumstances, the sight of her in his home awakened anger and hate at himself that he hadn't felt since before he met Hermione.
He finally looked back at his aunt who rolled her eyes. She wrenched the bloated boy out of Scabior's hold and held him by his hair. "Well?" she asked breathlessly. Even though Draco hadn't been told what he was supposed to do, he could guess that because of the boy's companions and his round glasses, Bellatrix thought he was Harry Potter and she was probably correct.
He made a split-second decision and said, "I can't be sure." He lied because if he confirmed their suspicions, the Dark Lord would probably be called and would not spare Hermione.
A hand gripped his neck and his father spoke into his ear, "Look closely! If we were the ones to hand Potter to the Dark Lord, everything would be forgiven...all would be as it was; understand?"
"Now, we won't be forgetting who actually caught him, I hope, Mr. Malfoy," Scabior said menacingly.
His father's face turned stormy within seconds and he raised his voice. "How dare you talk to me like that in my own house?!"
"Lucius!" Draco's mother reprimanded before grabbing Draco's father and dragging him away from Draco.
"Don't be shy, sweetie! Come over," his aunt said from the floor, grabbing his hand and pulling him closer. "Now, if this isn't who we think it is, and we call him, he'll kill us all. We need to be absolutely sure."
"What's wrong with his face?" Draco asked, trying to deflect the conversation for a while longer as he thought of an acceptable answer.
"Yes, what is wrong with his face?" she asked, repeating his question toward Scabior.
"He came to us like that, something he picked up in the forest, I reckon."
"Ran into a Stinging Jinx. Was it you dear?" his aunt asked Hermione. As her footsteps receded away from him, Draco backed away slightly from Potter. "Give me her wand, we'll see what her last spell was. Ahh, got you!" she cackled. Draco felt his mother tapping him on the shoulder and stood up, glad to be done with the attention, at least for now. His aunt's footsteps stopped and she gasped. "What is that?" Draco turned around to find that she seemed to be talking about a long sword next to a bag. "Where'd you get that from?" she asked Scabior.
"It was in 'er bag when we searched 'er. Reckon it's mine now," Scabior replied.
"Oh, Merlin, here we go," Draco muttered under his breath. Scabior had definitely said the wrong thing as his aunt did some wand work and Greyback ended up with black ropes around his neck and Scabior ended up on the floor. There were exclamations as his aunt pushed through the crowd and grabbed Weasley by the collar. She roughly handed him over to his mother who was already holding Potter.
"Put the boys in the cellar! I want to have a little conversation with this one," she said as she got up in Hermione's face, "girl to girl." Draco saw Hermione's breath go faster and knew something bad was going to happen.
His aunt shoved Hermione to the ground and she groaned in pain. Draco's hands started shaking in anger and fear and he lurched forward, ready to do whatever it took to save Hermione from any more pain but was stopped by a hand on his shoulder.
Narcissa Pov
Bella always took it too far when it came to torturing, but this time was probably the worst. Hermione Granger, for whatever reason, was the prisoner for whom Draco was putting up a fight. Narcissa was having to physically restrain him from running at her sister. The girl's screams echoed through the room as Bella continued to use the Cruciatus Curse. "Draco! What are you playing at?" Narcissa hissed into her son's ear.
"Let...me...go...Mother," Draco said through his teeth, still struggling against her hold.
"Stop, Draco. Your father is looking!" Narcissa glanced over at Lucius who was indeed looking at them suspiciously. Draco immediately stopped struggling and regained his composure. His hands fell on the back of the nearby chair and by the looks of it, was gripping it so tightly his fingers were turning white. "Thank you! Now, I expect an explanation later but for now, just stand quietly."
Narcissa turned her attention back to Bella who was still going at it. She thought about Draco's strange reaction and figured that maybe he had been close to her at school. Though, on second thought, that wouldn't make a lot of sense as she was a Gryffindor and a Muggle-born, not to mention best friends with Harry Potter.
Turning her mind to something she actually understood, Narcissa couldn't help but think about the unfortunate side effect of torturings. When someone is being tortured, their mind usually is focused on the pain and not anything else. Usually, minds subconsciously try to block out Legilimens; but when they are in pain, the mind tends to push out thoughts instead of holding them in. Bella couldn't listen to the thoughts of the victim since she was almost always the one inflicting the pain in the first place. However, Narcissa always heard the pleas for help and saw their life flash before their eyes along with them. That was why Narcissa couldn't help but let Hermione's thoughts into her own.
There were the usual cries for help but there was something else that Narcissa hadn't seen in a while. This girl was in love. Instead of the usual scenes from their life, she had scenes with a boy. The scenes were blurry at first but as the images sharpened, Narcissa gasped. That boy was her own son. Her son kissing Hermione in between classes at Hogwarts, her son winking at Hermione during Potions, and her son going on dates with Hermione. From the looks of it, they had been dating since their second year.
Suddenly Draco's reaction made sense. This was his girlfriend, even if their relationship had obviously been a secret from a lot of people. The scenes were shifting again and Narcissa saw them in what looked like the Astronomy Tower. Hermione was crying and screaming and Narcissa saw that she had seen his Dark Mark. Narcissa felt crushing grief, both from Hermione and from herself, for not helping Draco out of this even though there was nothing to be done.
"Draco, help me, please!" The scream was so loud that Narcissa almost thought Hermione had said it out loud but realized that it was just in her mind. Bella shifted and Narcissa saw that she was digging a knife into the girl's pale skin. She suddenly had the urge to lurch forward just as Draco had done but got hold of herself. Looking over at Draco, she saw his face was twisted in grief and sorrow. She felt another wrench of pain but it wasn't coming from the girl. It was coming from Draco.
He was feeling just as much pain as Hermione just from hearing her screams. It hit Narcissa that Draco was a good enough Legilimens that he might even be seeing the same things she was. That was pain beyond what Narcissa could imagine. Feeling a loved one hurt as they were being tortured while all you could do was stand by and watch was arguably worse than getting tortured yourself. The girl's mind went blank and Narcissa knew she was so exhausted from the pain that she couldn't think.
Bella got up from the floor and walked over to the goblin that had been brought up at some point. She started interrogating him as well, but Narcissa was focused on Hermione. She was laying on the ground but on closer inspection was undoubtedly beautiful. Narcissa's eyes were suddenly drawn to her left arm where Bella had been using the knife. She almost gagged at the horrible sight of the word carved into Hermione's arm, leaking blood out of the D. Mudblood. Her sister had done a lot of bad things, but this could top the list. She knew the moment Draco spotted the word because she had to wrap a hand over his mouth to prevent a blood-curdling scream from escaping. "Shh, Draco. I know. I know about you two. I know it's horrible but you can't do anything to help her."
Draco's surprised eyes looked back on Narcissa but he didn't get a chance to say anything seeing as who was now obviously Potter and the red-headed Weasley suddenly burst out of the dungeon. "Expelliarmus!" Weasley yelled at Bella, successfully disarming her. Narcissa, Lucius, and Draco all pulled out their wands.
"Fight, Draco! We must keep up our charade," Narcissa said hastily to her son, knowing she had to say something to break him out of his trance.
"No problem," he replied bitterly. "They were the ones who put her in danger."
Lucius was disarmed as well and it was one-on-one with Draco battling Potter and Narcissa fighting Weasley. "STOP!" Bella yelled from behind them. Seeing Weasley and Potter oblige, the two remaining Malfoys did as well. "Drop your wands!" Narcissa glanced behind herself and saw Bella holding the knife to Hermione's throat. Luckily, Draco was too focused on Potter to notice anything; therefore, preventing him from doing something rash. "I said drop 'em!" The boys complied and Bella ordered Draco to pick them up. "Well, well, well. Look what we have here. It's Harry Potter. He's all bright and shiny and new again. Just in time for the Dark Lord."
Narcissa stepped off to the side where Draco was holding the wands and Lucius was standing as well. Hermione whimpered and Narcissa saw Draco's face flush with anger. "Call him," Bella ordered. "Call him."
Lucius pulled up his sleeve and was about to press his finger to the black ink when the chandelier tinkled. Looking up, Narcissa saw their old house-elf, Dobby, unscrewing the chandelier and wrenched Draco back just in time before it came crashing down on the exact spot where Bella and Hermione had just been standing. Bella had shoved Hermione forward in her haste to escape and Narcissa saw with relief that Weasley had gotten her to safety. She looked over at Draco and saw he was struggling with Potter over the wands but obviously wasn't trying very hard as he suddenly let go.
Lucius tried to call the Dark Lord but was thwarted by Potter's well-aimed Stupefy. Lucius flew backward and landed hard on the marble floor. The group of teens huddled against the banister of the stairs with Dobby standing behind them. Weasley was having to support Hermione and she didn't look too good. "Stupid elf! You could have killed me!" Bella screamed.
"Dobby never meant to kill; Dobby only meant to maim or...seriously injure!" Bella caught Narcissa's eye and Narcissa knew what she wanted her to do. She waved her wand, aiming at Dobby and no one else but the house-elf snapped his fingers and her wand was thrown out of her hand.
"How dare you take a witch's wand!? How dare you defy your masters!?" Bella started advancing towards the group.
"Dobby has no master," the elf said defiantly. "Dobby is a free elf. And Dobby has come to save Harry Potter and his friends!" With his last words, the group Disapparated but not quite quickly enough. Bella threw her knife and it disappeared with Potter, Weasley, Dobby, and Hermione.
There was a crash behind Narcissa and she whirled around to find Draco pointing his wand at Bella who had been pushed to the floor by a spell. "What do you think you're doing, boy?!"
"Who did you aim at!? Answer me!"
"The stupid elf! Who else would I be aiming at, you idiot?!" Bella asked, her eyes wide with shock. "I can't kill Potter without the Dark Lord killing me and I couldn't kill the Blood Traitor or the lying, thieving, dirty Mudblood without killing Potter."
"Silencio!" Draco yelled.
"Protego!" Bella deflected. This didn't deter Draco and he started to advance toward her. Lucius was stirring in the corner and Narcissa went over to help him up.
"You have no right to talk about her like that! You know nothing about her and the life she lives! And don't call her that!"
Bella looked like she was just about to faint from shock and so did Lucius. "Oh, like you know her so much more than I do! Why do you even care? You've never reacted like this before! Cissy! Lucius!" Bella addressed the pair sharply while slowly getting up. "Get your son under control!"
Lucius started forward to grab Draco but Narcissa grabbed his hand and stopped him. "Lucius, just see what happens."
"What changed? What changed is you've never tortured my girlfriend before!" There was silence for a few seconds after Draco's confession before Bella lunged forward and pushed him up against the wall. She held her wand up to his neck and when Narcissa tried to run to him, Lucius was the one holding her back this time.
"YOU TRAITOR! YOU'LL TAINT OUR BLOODLINE! WOULD YOU REALLY THROW AWAY CENTURIES OF PUREBLOOD FOR A GIRL?" Bella roared.
"Well, lucky for you, she dumped me because of you stupid Death Eaters!" Narcissa saw Bella's eyes glint dangerously and she flicked her wand.
"CRUCIO!" The only thing keeping Draco upright was Bella's arm digging into his neck and his screams echoed just like Hermione's had. Draco suddenly stopped twitching and Bella hissed through her teeth, "You're a Death Eater too, remember? That's probably why she dumped you, right? Crucio!" Draco started screaming again and Narcissa strained harder against Lucius' hold.
"Lucius, let me go!" she exclaimed.
"Narcissa, I hate to say this, but he deserves it," Lucius said darkly. "Their relationship could have ended in disaster."
At Lucius' words, Narcissa suddenly found the strength to pull away from him. She ran to where Draco was still screaming, grabbed him, and turned on her heel while thinking hard about the flat they had in Diagon Alley. With a crack, they collapsed into the living room.
Narcissa immediately set to work putting up anti-Apparation wards to keep Bella and Lucius out. She looked over at Draco who collapsed on the couch looking like he had aged a decade over the course of one night. She knew that Lucius would tell on them to the Dark Lord and he would probably come bursting into the flat and would kill them both in a few minutes. She decided to deal with that later and sat down next to Draco. "How are you doing?"
"Not good," he replied bluntly. "We're probably going to be dead in 24 hours and Hermione might already be dead if Aunt Bella has good aim. How did you know?"
Narcissa immediately knew he was referring to his relationship and decided honesty was the best policy. "When someone is in a lot of pain, they force their thoughts on me like you might have experienced, and I couldn't help but see her memories of you two."
"Thanks for getting us out of there even though we're going to die anyway."
"Oh, I wouldn't be too sure of that!" a voice said from the corner. Draco and Narcissa jumped up and pulled out their wands. "Go ahead and drop those for me."
Narcissa squinted in the corner and just about fainted in shock at the sight of the Dark Lord. "My Lord," she said, sweeping into a low bow and saw Draco do the same to her right, though maybe a little shallower. "Excuse us."
"Get up, Narcissa. I have not come to kill you or your son. Sit down," he commanded. They obliged and he started talking again. "Now, for an explanation. Seconds after you Disapparated from your manor, Lucius summoned me. He told me what had happened and as you can guess, I was mad at all parties involved. As your sister let Harry Potter escape, Lucius would rather be dramatic than practical with his summoning of me, and Draco has been hiding a past relationship that could have ruined everything, I have decided to punish everyone equally. For Bellatrix, the punishment will be no more torturing for a month; for Lucius, he must help Scabior and Greyback find Mudbloods; and for Draco, he must go back to Hogwarts. There is a battle coming and I need someone other than Severus stationed there because I do not quite trust him anymore. The punishment he will receive if he does not report back every week will be much worse and will probably involve Hermione Granger. You did good with getting rid of her but I can see you still care. Understand, Draco?"
"I do, sir."
"Good. You two will be permitted to stay here and Bellatrix will watch over the Manor. Summon whatever you need from there but stay inconspicuous. We don't want anyone in Diagon Alley to know you're here. The one last thing I want to say is to Draco. Draco, do be careful with whom you fall in love with because consequences can be devastating. Mudbloods don't make the best partners. With that, I bid you goodbye and expect to see you back in school next week, Draco." There was another crack and the Dark Lord Disapparated.
Narcissa glanced over at Draco who looked even paler than normal. "Why don't you get some sleep? We have a long few days ahead of us."
"Yes, I think I will. I just want to say thank you, Mother, for everything you did for me today and for not being angry about Hermione," Draco said, looking close to tears. It was times like these when Narcissa remembered just how everyone who was fighting this war was young. Seventeen was barely old enough to Apparate, much less kill people.
"Draco, you know she still loves you, right?" Narcissa asked gently
"Oh, Mother, I doubt it. I'm a Death Eater and she's Harry Potter's best friend. She's too good for me."
"Don't talk like that; I saw it in her mind. She was crying out for you and saying she still loved you." Narcissa watched Draco's face crumple in pain and sorrow and reached out to him. She hugged him like she hadn't in years and comforted him into the night.
That chapter had no right being that long. 3,400 words, longer than anything I've ever written. I hoped you liked it and that it was emotional enough for you! Please comment on what you thought! Also, let me know what you thought of Narcissa's pov.
-Ms. Scarlet