"Your past will put the girl in danger. And though you may do what you think is best, you will throw the girl to the wolves and she will know the power of a monster"
The seer's buggy eyes were trained on the dark haired little tot that sat on the floor of the classroom, blissfully unaware of the misfortune that would now shadow her life.
She may not have realized it, but Marietta's life took a drastic turn when she was only 3 years old.
She was no longer played outside by herself.
She was no longer allowed to step foot outside after dark unless it was absolutely needed.
And, for some reason, two figures disappeared entirely from her life, until the girl had forgotten them completely.
These were just part of the laundry lists of ruler her father put in place.
Though she didn't know it, Marietta had lived her life in a cocoon, until one day, at the tender age of 12, her sheltered bubble was broken and the girl was exposed to the world her loving father had tried so hard to keep at bay.
"Now, I'm just going to be gone for a few hours. And tonight I will return to take you home. Do you understand?"
Marietta nodded, eyeing the rickety tower of a house eye curious eyes.
"The Weasleys are people we can trust. Good people. You won't have to worry about..." Severus was cut off by a harsh burn on his forearm.
He was late.
Molly met them at the door and welcomed Marietta with a hug and instructions to make herself at home.
"Don't worry Severus, nothing will happen here" She assured the skittish man who followed the black haired with his eyes as she entered the house. "Remus and Sirius are here not to mention Arthur and I"
You will throw her to the wolves and she will feel the power of a monster
"What?!" Severus felt his blood run cold at the thought of the two intolerable pests anywhere near you, especially with the full moon drawing so near
. "No, Lupin and Black can't be here!"
Molly frowned and crossed her arms "Severus, Black and Remus were practically Marie's uncles, they love her and you know it. Your wife, may she rest in peace the angel, loved and trusted them, I don't see why you can't..."
"You don't understand" Severus hissed, dampening down his own frantic panic. He rudely brushed past Molly and grabbed Marietta's arm before she could sit on the ratty looking couch.
"Marie, Listen to me. There's been a change of plans."
"What, why?" The mousy girl blinked but Severus shook his head.
"I'll explain later, but for now you have to come with me." He pulled the girl along and out of the house, bidding Molly a short farewell while running over options in his head.
He couldn't leave her here, it was too much of a risk.
There wasn't time to take her back home, he was late enough already.
That left one other option.
With shattering anxiety, the grim looking man stopped and grabbed both of Marietta's upper arms firmly, staring her down with a black gaze that assured his daughter of the seriousness of what he was about to say.
"Marie, I'm going to need you to be very brave, and do exactly as I say. Alright?"
"I will, I promise" She nodded, feeling a rush of confusion and fear. It wasn't like her father to keep details from her. He always wanted to make sure she knew exactly what to expect and what she should do to avoid disaster.
"You're going to come with me to Malfoy Manor, and you're going to stay upstairs while I go to the meeting. No matter what happens, you're not to go down stairs, you're not to wander, and you're not to speak a word to anyone except for "yes" and "no". Do you understand?"
"Yes"
"Say it" Severus insisted, gripping her tighter. "Promise me."
"I Promise"
She'd been to Malfoy Manor before when she was very small, but even as Marietta approached the house, it seemed larger than she remembered it. Its broad stone face loomed over the well-tended garden like a malevolent being. The heavy iron gate flung itself open as the timid girl trailed behind her trusted guardian to the front door.
Be Brave
The words were the only thing that kept her pushing forward into the front hall, where a tall, fair man with long silvery hair stood. He looked haggard and aged, but Marietta knew him to be Lucius Malfoy.
Only now, he was only a shadow of the man who used to terrify her as a child.
"You're very very late" Lucius hissed and Severus nodded grimly, gripping his daughter's hand firmly out of both fear and protection.
"Go upstairs, I will come for you." Severus stated plainly, mentally preparing his own stony shell. "now"
Marietta nodded, and shyly looked away from Mr. Malfoy, whose eyes followed her up the stairs.
"You shouldn't have brought her here." He whispered. "It was one thing for the Dark Lord to know of her existence, but it's another for her to be in arm's reach."
"I know" Severus agreed, "But I didn't have a choice, I told her to stay put until I say."
Lucius nodded and eyed his old friend before the both began to move towards the doors to the meeting room.
Meanwhile, upstairs, Marietta had stationed herself in an empty guest bedroom, and sat on the edge of the bed. Her stomach was a knot of anxiety not only because on where she was, and who was down stairs; but also because she had never been out so late in her life and Severus's urgency had frightened her.
Neurotic as he was about her safety, Marietta always saw her father as a pillar of safety. He always knew what to do, and what not to do. The girl knew her father had seen things that Marietta could only dream of in her worst nightmares.
There was no clock on the wall, and no way to tell how much time had passed, but very soon The black haired child heard a wail in the night that turned her blood to ice and her stomach to lead.
Severus.
She shot up and out the door before she could think about the precautions her father had set. Stumbling down the dark staircase and into the parlor, another scream came from the barred off room that made Marietta lurch for the door before being caught by a rough hand that engulfed her whole forearm.
"What do you think you're doing?"
The girl turned to face a barrel chested man growling down at her, his yellow eyes looking over her body with a fiendish gleam.
Another scream came and Marietta whipped towards the door, "Let me go!"
"I don't think so little girl." He growled and began to drag her away from the door as she struggled and thrashed in his grasp.
"Let me go! What are you doing?" The pinned child's protests were suddenly muffled by the monster's other hand clamping over her mouth as he dragged Marietta out the front door and into the garden.
He stopped and looked up at the nearly full moon, closing his eyes and sucking in a deep breath through his snout like nose. Suddenly his grip on her released and Marietta dropped to the ground, scrambling away from him in terror as he leered down at the young girl like a predator. "Don't scream, or I'll kill you right now. Then neither of us will have any fun"
Marietta's heart raced in her ear and desperately she searched for an escape route. She wanted to scream for her father, or for Mr. Malfoy, or for anyone to come and save her from this beast that seemed to have crept directly from her nightmares.
"I'll give you a head start" He pointed at the dense patch of woods with a thick finger that ended in a long pointed claw. "1...2...3..."
As he began to count Marietta realized her only hope for survival was to run, so she played into his sick game and darted off towards the trees as he watch her go with a smile that revealed his glistening canines.
"7...8...9...10″ He grinned and let out a primal growl. "Ready or not..." He eyed her retreating back
"Here I come"
Severus was weak after the meeting, his body torn and burning from a torture session he wouldn't soon forget. But still, the first thing on his mind was his daughter.
"You sit down" Narcissa insisted, putting a hand on his shoulder only for him to flinch away from it. "I'll go up and get her."
Severus nodded and waiting at the matriarch went up the stairs, only to stand when he saw her rush back down with a look of fear on her face and Draco trailing behind her looking confuced and concerned.
"She's gone!"
"What?" Severus's heart dropped into to floor.
"I've looked everywhere upstairs but she's not there!" Narcissa paled.
"She's couldn't have gotten far, have the house elves look over the manor" Lucius suggested but he froze when a familiar howl echoed outside the garden in the night.
They all thought it, but they didn't want to believe until Severus bolted out the door, shoving two deatheaters out of his way as he stumbled on agonized legs into the night.
Lucius and Mulciber ran after him as Narcissa had a house elf make up a makeshift bed in the parlor and had Draco get the emergency kit from the kitchens.
Marietta were found huddled on the forest floor under a dead elm tree like a wounded rabbit waiting to be finished off. Her clothes hanging off of her in strips, and her black eyes darted like a prey animal's during the deadly hours of the night.
At first, the girl tried to flee her rescuers, thrashing and screaming in terror until someone pinning her skinny arms to her sides and in a flash of blue light she felt her muscles go limp and pliable.
Marietta could no longer protest and wail as a familiar figure wrapped her in a cloak and carried her back to Malfoy Manor and laid her down on a couch covered in towels.
She didn't feel the burning pain when someone applied a mixture of powdered silver and dittany to the large, gaping bite wound that painted her frail hip and thigh with smeared blood.
Even after the spell wore off, she didn't speak as she was carried by her father to a spare bedroom the Malfoys offered for the night.
She felt nothing but exhaustion; limp, cold, death-like exhaustion that sent her into a sleep like state as she was guarded by a man who, to all who witnessed him, looked the very embodiment of death itself.