My face was hurting atrociously.
Harry, as the idiot he could be, pronounced Voldemort's name who became taboo so, the Snatchers found us and were now bringing us to their master. Because of Hermione, as always, we maybe had a chance to get out of this mess. That was why my face was hurting so much but I was grateful about it.
Having noticed immediately the danger, she stunned Onix, Harry and I with a powerful spell to make our faces unrecognizable. For my brother and I, it was pretty obvious as why we should do that but, for Onix, the reason was simple, really; she was Sirius Black and Remus Lupin's daughter. She looked exactly like her father who was, as well, researched by both sides and so, was extremely recognizable and researched.
Faces bruised and unrecognizable, we were marching with Ron, Hermione and the Snatchers towards a familiar manor.
Draco...
I wondered if he would be there, if I would see him, if he would talk to me. I missed him so much... I had become a Death Eater for him, to stay by his side, but I still quitted my role as a spy for the Order and left with my brother and my friends to seek out for the Horcruxes. Because of that betrayal, Voldemort hated me more than before and even more than my brother.
I would certainly die in a few minutes or, if I was lucky, in a few hours.
I blinked, disoriented. We were already in the drawing room of the Malfoys. I looked around the room, noticing the expensive but familiar furniture, until my eyes reached a familiar face.
Dark circles under haunted grey eyes and paler than ever, Draco Malfoy, my boyfriend, looked as if he had seen his worst nightmares again and again. And, by seeing through Voldemort's eyes, I knew it was actually the case.
"What did you bring us?" asked Bellatrix Lestrange with her high pitched voice.
"They're pretending having brought us the Potter twins and the Black girl." explained Narcissa, as beautiful as ever.
"So, Draco, is it true?" asked Lucius with a cold voice despite his miserable state, as straightforward as ever.
Hesitating, he walked towards us before kneeling on the floor in front of us. Onix, Harry and I were kneeled against our will on the floor in front of everyone, hands tied behind our backs and our wands confiscated, at their mercy. My eyes met his, ready to see in them anger for having abandoned him, leaving him all alone with Voldemort. But there wasn't any. I could only see worry and sadness in them.
"So, are they the ones we are researching?" exclaimed Bellatrix with impatience.
He got up with difficulty, his articulations creaking by the effort. With a last grimace of pain, he turned around towards his father and murmured with a broken voice:
"I...I'm not sure...I don't think so..."
Bellatrix squinted her evil and malicious eyes suspiciously and my heart missed a beat when I saw her eyes landing on my hand where I still wore my ring. An evil smile lifted her thin and black lips and a malicious snigger escaped from them.
"Lock them up in the cave, I have something to say to the redhead!"
Paling, my surroundings became blurry and I suddenly couldn't hear anything. My breath hitched before I started hyperventilating, my heart was beating faster than ever and my hands shook.
Bellatrix had recognized me by seeing the engagement ring Draco gave me after his proposal. The thing that helped me to survive all those months was the thing that betrayed me and would cause my death.
Bellatrix was going to torture me...
Blinking, my vision focused and my hearing cleared up to discover that my friends weren't there anymore. I was alone with Bellatrix, knife in hand, Lucius, who was in the back of the room observing us with no emotion on his face, and Draco with his mother, watching me with palpable fear and worry, tears welling up in his eyes. Bellatrix approached me slowly before tackling me on the floor.
"You thought that you could escape from us without any consequences, that we wouldn't find you? For a Ravenclaw, you are really stupid. And now, you will pay."
She turned towards Narcissa and ordered:
"Restrain your son!"
With trembling hands, Narcissa wrapped her arms around her son, bringing him against her. I couldn't see anything more before my view was blocked by the dark mane of Bellatrix and then I felt a burning pain in my shoulder.
Draco's POV:
I still don't know for sure if Bellatrix did it on purpose or not but she positioned Hazel and herself perfectly in a way I could see everything with precision. With a cruel smile, my own aunt stabbed her knife in the shoulder of the love of my life deeply, blood flowing from the wound abundantly. Hazel let out a grunt of pain, biting her lips to contain her screams. Bellatrix lifted her knife up from the wound before cutting Hazel's cheek, whispering words I was incapable to understand. Then, my horrible aunt put a spell on herself before plunging face first towards Hazel's arm.
That was when the nightmare really started.
Her piercing screams resounded in the drawing room, where I grew up, tears streaming down her pale cheeks while Bellatrix literally ate her arm. Blood was streaming down her arms while her fingers spasmed by the unbearable pain. Bellatrix lifted her head up, taking a big morsel of flesh with her teeth before spitting it out beside her as if it was only some seed coming from a fruit.
The place where she took the flesh from was red, blood all over, and, despite the distance, I could distinguish each veins pulsing in her arm.
I felt my mother take a big breath in, squeezing me even more harder while I stayed there, paralyzed with wide eyes and tear stained cheeks.
Then, she plunged down again and the room was filled with screams from torture once again.
I don't know when exactly I cracked but, some time later, I couldn't stop myself from shouting and supplicating her to leave Hazel alone, my body shaking with sobs. My heart hurt so much, I never felt this much pain. All my body hurt actually. It felt like my heart was being crunched, burned, teared apart before someone stomped on it and the blood my heart was sending was lava, burning my entire body from the inside.
It certainly was the most horrible and hardest experience I ever had. I watched with desperation the person I love the most in the world being tortured before me by a member of my family. It was crushing me from the inside, hurting me more than anything ever did. It was worse than a nightmare.
Vocal cords teared apart, she didn't scream for the last minutes of her torment. Suddenly, Bellatrix got back up, leaving Hazel on the floor, breath hitching and rasping.
"She's all yours." whispered Bellatrix in my ear before exiting the room.
My mother released me and I run towards my redhead. I stopped all of sudden, standing above her.
Her eyes, wide, puffy and red were staring up the ceiling as if she wasn't seeing anything. A puddle of blood was surrounding her, red and pure blood from innocence and kindness. The blood of my girl was on the floor as if it only was from a stupid pig!
My eyes then landed on her arm. Suppressing the retching trying to come up, I stared with horror at her arm, if we still could call it as such, teared apart. Only blood, flesh and bones, the only parts where there still was some skin on were all forming a letter which, together, made the word: traitor.
Suddenly, Harry crashed in the room in a hurry followed closely by a crying Onix and finally by Ron and Hermione. Onix and Harry both had their faces back to normal without any bruise deforming them.
And then, everything exploded.
My family started to throw curses at them, forcing them to defend themselves, preventing them to take Hazel as I knew they certainly wanted to.
I didn't know what to do.
If I helped my parents, I would betray Hazel. But, if I helped the others, I would betray my family. So, I stayed on the floor, hugging Hazel against me, protecting her from the various spells and curses and the debris.
"Draco." I heard a voice murmur weakly.
Looking down, I met the blue-purple eyes of Hazel. She lifted a trembling hand and stroked my face tenderly before running it in my hair. I leaned down gently before stroking her lips with mines in a gentle but full of fear kiss. My heart beating fast by the fear of losing her and the excitation from finally kissing her, I memorized every sensations of her soft but moist lips by the tears and each curves of her full lips to remember them for as long as possible. I tried to grave in my memory the delicious and unique taste of her lips and the warm, sweet but hitched breathing, reminding of the pain she was under just minutes ago. Our kiss seemed to last an eternity but seemed way too short when we were interrupted by the panicked voice of Harry:
"Hazel!"
I lifted my head up, surprised, before my wand as well as my love were snatched from me. I closed my eyes, hearing the frustrated screeches of rage coming from Bellatrix and the sound of apparation popping in the room, taking my heart away with it.
Letting the tears finally fall along my cheeks, I let the realization that Hazel left once again sink in. And I didn't know if I would ever see her again.