"Who do we have 'ere?" Bellatrix asked, standing up from where she had been lounging on the sofa. The Snatcher stood up taller, a proud gleam in his eye. Draco, who had been busy making himself invisible in the corner, glanced up at the new arrival.
"Hazel McClellan," Scabior announced. He shook the girl out by the scruff of her neck. A faint whimper escaped her lips. "Mudblood," he punctuated. A spark of rage flared in Bellatrix's eye, and a cruel smile settled on her lips. Draco was ogling at the girl from his corner, and almost imperceptible flicker of fear passing over his features.
"Well, 'ello there, sweet pea," she said, circling the girl. Hazel only let out a choked sob in response. Bellatrix clucked her tongue at the girl, then turned to Scabior.
"That'll be seven galleons then," he told her.
"That's an outrageous price for a Mudblood." Bellatrix said coolly.
"But she's of his year- the Potter boy. She could have seen him while on the run." Scabior said. Bellatrix considered this momentarily, tilting Hazel's face upwards. The girl was shaking uncontrollably.
"Draco, be a dear and come over 'ere for a minute," Bellatrix cooed. Reluctantly, Malfoy stepped out into the centre of the room and glided over to his aunt's elbow, where she handed him Hazel's wand. He glanced once at Hazel, then looked away. But Hazel just stared at him, her bland blue eyes fixating on his face.
"How can I assist?" Draco asked, his voice hoarse.
"You recognize this 'ere Mudblood? Scabior says she's of your year." Draco forced himself to look back at Hazel, who was staring at him, as frightened as before. He averted his gaze, afraid by the intensity of her stare.
"Yes- yes, I know her. She's a Hufflepuff." Draco said. He glanced again into the pleading face that was looking intently back at him. He did not mention the conversations they had shared before. They would always sit directly next to each other during exams. They had been sorted together- him, then her. They had faced off against each other in Quidditch. She had been a beater for her house team, he remembered, the only female beater at the school. But she had knocked him out with a bludger once.
They had been partners in Charms and Transfiguration because they were always next to each other alphabetically, and Flitwick and McGonagall believed in house integration. She had been quiet, unresponsive to whatever taunts he sent her way as a first or second year. By his third year, he dropped the act, and they became a successful partnership in each class. But when fifth year rolled around, and they were allowed to select their partners within their classes, they broke off their partnership, without so much as a word between them.
But looking at her, her dull blue eyes, her thin, chapped lips, her dirty brown hair and the blood trickling down from her hairline, these memories resurfaced within Draco with a powerful force. She was no threat. She was innocent. And she would certainly die at the hand of Bellatrix Lestrange if he didn't do something.
"We'll take her, Scabior." Bellatrix said. There was a good deal of haggling between the two, but they finally fixed a price, and Bellatrix was given possession of the rope that was tied around Hazel's neck. Draco couldn't help notice that her neck was bleeding too.
As Scabior exited, Draco began to frantically formulate a plan in his mind, despite his better judgment.
"Aunt Bella, I don't know if she's really a Mudblood." He said. Bellatrix whipped around to face him, her eyes gleaming manically. She yanked Hazel to the ground in front of him, causing her to choke and moan through her gag. Draco flinched as his aunt brutalized his classmate, but didn't object.
"You waited until I'd bought the little wench to tell me this?" Bellatrix fumed. Draco grappled for words.
"I'm not sure! I mean, I think she's a half-blood." He amended, inventing wildly. "I heard her talking a while back, something about a witch for a mother and a Muggle father." Bellatrix pulled Hazel to her feet by her hair, ignoring the whimpers of pain it brought on.
"You mean to tell me, that I have a half-blood on my hands? Someone with actual wizarding lineage?" Bellatrix asked, yanking the gag out of Hazel's mouth. The girl immediately started sobbing.
"Please stop, I'm half-blood, I swear it! Draco, Draco, please tell her," She begged, tears trickling out of the corners of her eyes. Bellatrix looked back and forth between Draco and Hazel.
"My oh my, what do we have 'ere? Little Draco, trying to defend his secret little Mudblood girlfriend." Her voice was sickeningly sweet until she extracted her wand from her robes. Her face became a feral snarl and she jabbed the wand up under Hazel's jaw.
"Please don't, please!" Hazel begged. Draco's eyes widened with fear. Bellatrix was grinning, her pointed teeth gleaming in the dim light of the chandelier.
"Crucio," she whispered. Immediately, the girl fell to the ground in agony, her screams ricocheting off the walls. "Crucio! Crucio!" Draco tried to appear indifferent, but his eyes were squeezed shut too tightly, and the whole nonchalant façade was wasted.
What did this matter to him anyways? She was just another student in his class. He wasn't bloody Harry Potter who felt the need to come to the rescue of anyone who needed it. He was a Slytherin. A proud pure-blood. Was he really going to stoop this low for a Hufflepuff he barely knew? A Mudblood? Damn it, he knew he had to.
"I'm not muggle-born! My mother was a witch!" Hazel screamed at Bellatrix once the curse was lifted.
"There's no registered wizard under the name McClellan, you Mudblood. There's just a couple of traffic-control officers outside of Kent." Bellatrix snarled, her expression victorious. "You are a filthy Mudblood. You are worth nothing to anyone. You are not a witch. And you are an ugly, useless lump, and no one could ever love you." Hazel began to sob even harder.
"But my mother-" Hazel's desperate pleas were cut off by another round of torture and her own unearthly screams.
"If you'd just let her finish, Bella!" Draco yelled over the din. Bellatrix looked at him, her eyes wide and white with anger, but she dropped the curse, and Hazel rolled onto her side, into the fetal position.
"What's that, Draco?" Bellatrix asked. Draco stood a little taller, despite the fact that his hands were shaking.
"She's trying to tell you that she's not a mudbl- that she's not Muggle-born." Draco corrected himself, holding himself in a dignified stance. Bellatrix looked furious. She raised her wand, inches away from cursing him. Draco closed his eyes and waited for the pain.
"Cru-"
"My-parents-divorced! My-mother-is-a-witch-but-she-kept-her-maiden-name-of-Benedict!" Hazel yelled, her words strung together with hardly a breath between them. Draco's eyes snapped open, and he saw that the attention had been diverted from him to Hazel, who was still shaking on the floor. She was looking at Draco, not Bellatrix, her eyes unfocused, but her expression worried. Bellatrix was fuming.
"I don't know about you, Hazel, but my mummy taught me it was rude it interrupt people!" Bellatrix squealed. "Crucio!" Draco bit his tongue, waiting for her anguished screams to wash over him like acid. But they didn't. He stared at her, his eyes narrowed as he watched her. Her eyes were rolled back in her head, and she was convulsing spastically on the floor, but her lips were mashed together and her jaw clenched. She was withholding her screams. When Bellatrix finally relinquished her hold on Hazel, the girl's mouth spilled open, and blood poured out, coating her chin and the stone floor beneath her.
"Ugh, Merlin, this half-blood is more trouble than she's worth," Bellatrix said, spitting in the girl's hair. "Draco, you are to take her to the ministry, understand? See if you can cash in on a reward. And when you return, you will be paying me seven galleons out of your savings for all the trouble you've cost me." Draco's eyes widened, but Bellatrix wasn't paying attention. She gave a long, powerful swing of the arm, and a cut slashed across Hazel's face, from one jaw to the opposite side of her forehead, then another cutting diagonally across the first, making a huge "X" on Hazel's face. Draco forced himself to rip his eyes away from the scene to address Bellatrix.
"Yes, Aunt Bella." He said respectfully. Then seeing the blood all over Hazel, he tactfully added, "Scourgify." Once he saw that she was dry enough to grab hold of, he yanked her roughly to her feet and led her out the door. Once he saw that it was closed safely behind him, he whipped Hazel around so she was facing him.
"Draco…" She seemed to be lost for words. He waved away and thanks she was going to give him, looking a little irritated.
"Listen, I'm not Apparating you to the Ministry. That would be counter-productive in your case. Here's your wand. I'm taking you to a village, it's called Ottery- St. Catchpole. When you're there, clean up, then ask to be sent to the Weasley residence, alright? They're a family of blood-traitors, and I reckon they'll be able to get you back on your feet." Draco rattled off. Hazel still looked muddled.
"You hate Ronald Weasley," she reminded him. He nodded his head impatiently.
"Yes, but it'll be safe for you."
"How do you know where he lives?" Hazel asked.
"My father," Draco said wryly, "wants nothing more than to arrest Arthur Weasley. He talks about where he lives, where he works, his favorite type of herbal tea, you name it." Hazel seemed to accept this, nodding. Then she looked back up at him, as if suddenly remembering something important.
"You hate me." She informed him warily. Draco threw both hands up in exasperation.
"Yeah, I really just saved you because I wanted to kill you myself, you bat!" He said angrily.
"But at school-"
"In case you haven't noticed, Hazel, we're not at school anymore. This is not Hogwarts. Dumbledore isn't-" he choked slightly, "-Dumbledore isn't around to protect anyone anymore. People are choosing sides. My side was chosen for me. You have a choice. That choice is taken away from you when you're dead, you idiot. So just do what I say." Malfoy commanded her. She gave a slight nod, and he grabbed her hand.
"Thank you. You saved me." Hazel reminded him. He glanced down at her, wondering if it wouldn't be totally insane for him to give her a little kiss for good luck, to reassure her that his aunt was wrong, and that she was beautiful- but no. He just gave a nod and squeezed her hand slightly. Then he twisted, and they were gone.
AN: I'm no crazy Draco fan, but I believe that he does have a heart somewhere deep down. This thought came to me, because it's clear that Hermione was not Bellatrix's first "Mudblood" captive. I also wanted to see Draco do the right thing for once- stand up for someone. I hope you liked it! Let me know- Review!