Comfort and Crazy- Chapter 2
The men pulled at the ropes restricting Luna and hoisted her to her feet. They hauled her through a set of great iron gates following Bellatrix towards the house. Luna's trainers dragged across the gravel and she squirmed within the binding; one of kidnappers jabbed his wand into her head and she became instantly still. Luna daren't look up and kept her eyes fixed to the ground as they moved, but when the men finally stopped dragging her she peeped forwards and saw a dark mansion which loomed over them.
Bellatrix hammered the grand door-knocker impatiently as she waited for someone to open the door. Finally a small flap slid open at head-height revealing a pair of dark rimmed eyes.
"Yes," said a man's voice behind the door. "What do you want?"
"Let me in, we have another prisoner," growled Bellatrix irritably.
"Identification?"
Bellatrix pointed her wand though the gap in the door and rested it between the man's eyes.
"Let- me- in. I will not hesitate, Yaxley."
Yaxley flinched away from Bella's wand, out of view, and multiple locks clicked until the door swung open. He stepped back and let the captors pull the captive up onto her feet; drag her up a step and through the main entrance. Bellatrix strode over to where Yaxley was standing by the staircase.
"What are you doing here?" questioned Bellatrix. "Aren't you meant to be at the Ministry?"
"You make me feel unwanted Lestrange," replied Yaxley, watching Luna being pulled, crying, towards a door at the end of the hall. "Is that the Lovegood girl?"
"Yes, it's her."
"Fabulous," said Yaxley, his emotionless face unchanged. "Her father, Xenophilius Lovegood has been causing quite a stir among the ministry with his ludicrous magazine 'The Quibbler'. We've been planning this kidnap for a couple of weeks now. He'll stop publishing articles against the Dark Lord and the Ministry when he realises the girl is gone. If he tries anything else for Potter, we'll get him and kill the girl."
"I'm sure I could also get some information out of her about Potter's whereabouts."
"Try if you can but we have been following the Lovegoods for a while now. Keeping our eye on them for any tell-tale signs of communication with Harry Potter, but they know as much as the others- Nothing. Potter just seems to vanish, leaving a trail of destruction in his wake. "
Bellatrix and Yaxley made their way over to the door that Luna was taken through. They turned the door handle and stepped into the drawing room as Luna's whimpers echoed quietly around the room. The snatchers stood around her, two men held the ropes that bound her and the other searched for her pocketed wand. They all turned around when the floorboards creaked, and thrust Luna at the two Death Eaters, still wrapped in ropes.
"Are you Luna Lovegood, daughter of Xenophilius Lovegood?" asked Yaxley, pulling a small printed book from his robes. Bellatrix circled Luna like a vulture, rolling her wand between her fingers.
"Yes," whispered Luna, kneeling on the deep wooden floorboards at Yaxley's feet.
"Are you aware of the accusations made against the Ministry and the Dark Lord in your father's magazine 'The Quibbler?"
"The truth, you mean?" dared Luna. Bellatrix's pace slowed and she stared at the back of Luna's head- her wand ready.
"Your father is writing anti- Ministry articles and publicly supporting Harry Potter in his attempt to defeat the Dark Lord, am I correct?"
"Yes," said Luna. Yaxley began to scribble down notes into the book with a deep green quill.
"The Quibbler prints only the truth though." shouted Luna. "It does! The Daily Prophet has been overrun- IT IS FULL OF LI-AGGHHH!"
Luna's shouts of anger suddenly turned into screams of pain, as bolts of fiery hot lightening shot through her body.
"AGHHHHH! PL- PLEASE! PL-PLEASE... STOP!" cried Luna, writhing on the floor. "PLE- AGHHHH!"
Invisible daggers sliced at her muscles, her arms, her legs. Blood didn't run through her veins anymore; acid pumped through her head, burning her from the inside. Bellatrix scowled at the screaming girl and raised her wand to inflict more pain and discomfort, but was stopped by a witch who had burst into the drawing room.
"BELLA!" roared Narcissa. "Leave the girl to me!"
"How dare you-"
"Go and show the guest out of the grounds," said Narcissa sweeping her sister towards the door.
"Cissy, but-"
"Leave, Bellatrix!" Narcissa turned to Yaxley. "I'm sure you have what you wanted, Yaxley. Bellatrix will show you out."
Yaxley bowed his head towards the lady of the house, swivelled and strode out of the room, closely followed by Bellatrix. Narcissa flicked her wand after them, slamming the door and turned her attention to Luna who was gasping for air. When Luna saw Narcissa she curled into a ball and let tears pour down her cheeks.
"Please don't hurt me."
Narcissa crouched so she was face to face with Luna and stabbed her wand at the girl's shoulder.
"Get up," she said sternly.
Luna uncurled her legs from her body and winced as she sat up. Then she rocked her constricted body forward to gain enough momentum to stand. But as she rose to her feet, she fell forwards and hit her nose hard on the floor. Narcissa growled quietly, very similar to that of her sister, and continued to watch the sixteen year old attempt to follow her simple instruction. After a couple more attempts, Luna collapsed at Narcissa's feet. She felt like a child. A hopeless child.
"Dare I beg?" thought Luna. She stared up at the woman who looked at her expectantly. "Mrs Malfoy, please. Please unbind me- I… I won't run."
Narcissa Malfoy's eyes hardened at Luna's request. She walked over to the mantel piece and picked up a silver knife- Luna began to back her way across the room in fright.
"I'm going to die. I'm going to die. She's going to kill me. I can't- No, Please! PLEASE!"
Luna shut her eyes, readying herself for more agony, but to her sheer relief felt the ropes around her fall away.
"Stand up. Stand up quickly, I don't have all day to be dealing with you."
Luna hurried to her feet, wobbling as she stood. Narcissa grabbed Luna's arm and dragged her to a set of stairs sweeping down under Malfoy Manor. Stabbing her wand into the hostage's spine, Narcissa forced the innocent girl to lead them to the cellar, and gradually, as they went deeper, the smell of rotting flesh clogged their nostrils.
A/N: Thank you to those of you who reviewed last chapter! I hope you are enjoying this so far, and will tell me what you think. Reviews mean motivation:) The next chapter will be up after mocks *sobs*.
Au revoir x