I glance around at the darkness, suddenly very aware of and thankful for Pinky's presence. I squeeze her hand tightly and feel her fingers tighten around mine in response. My wand's tip still illuminated, I extend my wand arm in front of me and slowly take my first step forward into the gloomy depths of the newly-discovered dungeons. The sounds of my shoe and Pinky's bare foot hitting the concrete floor are almost deafening in the silence of the semi-prison.
I look around, peering at the cement walls and floors. Flaming torches hang periodically on the wall to my left, and several cells enclosed with iron bars take up the space to my right. Looking into the first cell and seeing that it's empty, I take a few steps forward, still holding Pinky's hand. I feel like an explorer who's searching the depths of a secret cave for treasure as I look cautiously into the second cell. Again, this cell is empty, and I once again take a few steps forward to look into the next cell childishly. As I peer into the third cell, I don't see anything, but I hear a thumping noise coming from somewhere to my left.
Instead of turning and walking out of the dungeon right at this moment, I become curious as to what could be making that noise down here. Deciding that the noise must be coming from one of the final two cells in the dungeon, I slowly make my way forward with both a shaky hand and resolve. I find only emptiness in cell four, but continue to hear a loud "Thump" coming from somewhere to my left. Terrified of what I'll find but determined to have my questions answered, I creep forward a few steps, to the outside of the fifth and final cell. My eyes wander around the open space aimlessly, but I once again find absolutely nothing in the cell. And then a loud "THUMP!" sounds right next to my ear, nearly scaring me out of my wits.
I turn, or more like whip myself around immediately to find a wooden cupboard leaning against the wall behind me. The cupboard is sitting in a corner and is completely cloaked in the shadows cast by the two nearby walls, explaining why I haven't seen it before. My heart rate increasing significantly, I take a slow, deep breath in to try and calm myself. I've almost succeeded in slowing my heart's racing palpitations when the cupboard gives an involuntary jump, causing the loud thumping noise I've been hearing for the past few moments. Ok, so that explains the noise, I think to myself, but what explains that cupboard jumping like that?
I'm so caught up in my discovery that I haven't even been paying attention to Pinky, and as I realize this I look down to find the house elf terrified and trembling beside me. Her tiny hand is still intertwined with mine, and she's holding on to my hand so tightly that her knuckles are white. "It's…it's alright, Pinky," I say. I'm trying to comfort her, but I'm unable to mask the nervousness in my voice. "I'm sure it's nothing. I'm going to get to the bottom of this right now," I continue.
"M…Missus Jayde," Pinky says, "Pinky is thinking that we should be getting out of here. Pinky doesn't like this at all."
"It'll be fine," I reassure the elf, unsure if I really want to see what's inside the cupboard. I take a moment to regain my composure and convince myself that I can handle whatever comes at me.
I'm a grown woman, a witch, and a Nimbimagus at that,I think to myself. May God have mercy on whatever tries to come out of that cupboard at me! I slowly flick my wand towards the cupboard, causing the doors to swing open.
To my surprise and confusion, it's Draco that steps out of the cupboard. "Darling!" I exclaim, half-happily and half-warily, "What are you doing down here?" Draco doesn't answer me, he just stands there with a smirk on his face, as if to say I've been caught. At first I think he's just a little upset with me for being in the dungeons, but when he continues to stand there staring at me in silence I can't help but feel a little uneasy. I look him over, examining him for any sign as to what's wrong, and I notice that he's not wearing the same clothes he was wearing when he went to work this morning.
"Um…shouldn't you be at work?" I ask cautiously. Again, there's no answer, but Draco slowly takes a single step towards me with that same, evil-looking smirk still on his face. I've never seen Draco behave like this; my mind is racing through a billion thoughts per second, and none of them are good. As he takes another step forward, however, another person begins to emerge from the cupboard, to my immense horror. It's a female; a young woman I don't recognize. She's absolutely beautiful with her long, silky blonde hair and green eyes. She gives me the same evil smirk as she, too steps out of the cupboard and walks forward, coming to halt right beside Draco.
"What…what were you doing in there…with her?" I ask, positive that I don't really want the answer. Instead of speaking, Draco wraps his arm around the young woman in response and pulls her close to him. He plants a long kiss on her lips and then turns back to face me. At this point, I feel Pinky tugging on my arm, but I completely ignore her and continue to stare dumbfounded at Draco and this…bitch…whoever she is.
I finally find my voice and yell at Draco; "How could you do this to me?" I scream, "I thought you loved me!"
"I never loved you," Draco replies, "How could anyone love you?" He and his female companion laugh heartily at this, and I literally feel my heart breaking.
Then, out of nowhere, Pinky's voice booms above my sobs and the duo's continued laughter. "Missus Jayde, don't listen to it!" she cries. "That isn't being Master Draco!"
"How can you say that, Pinky?" I sob, "Look at him! That's Draco! And he just said he doesn't love me!" I feel like I'm dying as I say this aloud; like my life is literally over. I release Pinky's hand and cover my face with my hands, sobbing uncontrollably. This only draws more hyena-like laughter from the other two humans in the room, and their laughter makes me feel even worse.
"No Missus Jayde, don't listen to them! Trust Pinky, that isn't being Master Draco! Please! Look at Pinky!" the house elf cries. I don't listen to her, however, and continue to sob into my hands. Pinky finally comes to stand in front of me and reaches up, prying my hands from my face with all of her might. I look down at her through my tear-streaked, blurry eyes, and she looks up at me pleadingly. "Missus Jayde," she says, "Pinky has never known Master Draco to be as gentle as he is to you! Master Draco is even gentler to Pinky since he has met you! Pinky knows Master Draco loves you, and Pinky knows that isn't Master Draco!"
The elf's words somehow make sense to me, and my gaze shifts from her over to the man standing just a short distance away with his arm still wrapped around that woman. He's still laughing rather loudly, and he's still got that smirk on his face. I look him up and down, but can't find one single thing about him that's different than Draco. Though I want to believe Pinky when she says it isn't him, my eyes tell me otherwise. Seeming to know what I'm thinking, Pinky interjects again. "No, Missus Jayde!" she says frantically, "Don't look at him! That isn't Master Draco. Please trust Pinky; Pinky will prove it to you if you just let Pinky get you out of here right now!"
"You can prove it?" I ask weakly, shifting my gaze back down to the house elf once more.
"Yes!" Pinky yells with a hint of terror in her voice.
"But… if that isn't Draco," I begin warily, "Who is it?" I glance back up at the man, who is still staring at me evilly, and several theories immediately begin flooding my head. Several of those theories include long-lost twin brothers and polyjuice potion, but Pinky doesn't allow me to theorize for long.
"Pinky doesn't know who it is, Miss!" she screams, "But Missus Jayde and Pinky has got to get out of here!" Though I still find this whole "not Draco" thing to be hard to believe, I consider the elf's words for a moment. If this is somehow "not Draco", then I'm down here trapped in the dungeons with two strangers. Two strangers who obviously mean me harm and are trying to convince me that Draco doesn't love me; two strangers who could potentially hurt me and my unborn baby, which would in turn hurt Draco… the "real" Draco, that is. I realize that Pinky's absolutely right; I've got to get out of here, now.
"Come on, Pinky, let's go!" I yell as I take her hand once more. The two of us take off at a run, hurrying away from the potential strangers. She and I hurry back up the dungeon corridor and past all five cells and several sets of flaming torches. We've almost reached the stairs that lead back up to the entrance hall when I hear the sound of running footsteps echoing throughout the dungeon. Afraid that the duo is chasing us and will catch us before we make it out of the dungeon, I glance over my shoulder while still running to see how far back they are. That, however, was a big mistake.
When I glance over my shoulder I find that the duo isn't chasing us at all; they're simply walking towards us slowly as though they're sure we can't escape them. Realizing that the echoes of running footsteps were only mine and Pinky's, I mentally kick myself for turning around and costing Pinky and myself valuable time. Before I can whip my neck back around to face the front, I feel a sharp pain in my foot. As I quickly turn my head forwards, I can feel that gravity is beginning to pull me downwards; I'm falling. The next few seconds seem to pass in slow motion; I finally re-focus my eyes ahead of me and realize I'm going to fall straight onto the cement steps…and the point of impact will be my protruding stomach, and therefore, my baby.
Terror overwhelms me and I realize I have to do something; I can't let my child be harmed, no matter what harm may befall me. I drop my wand immediately. I thrust my Pinky-free hand in front of me instinctively, hoping to break my fall and keep my stomach from the step's cold, hard edge. My hand comes to rest directly on the corner of a step, but my arm still isn't enough to keep the rest of my body from falling, especially with all this new baby weight and the fact that I was running as fast as I could. The force with which my hand hits the step is enough to send my body swirling around, almost into a flip. I keep my hand rooted to the same spot, however, and hope for the best.
My arm is the only stationary part of my body; the rest of me is twisting to the left involuntarily. I scream in agony a second later when I both hear and feel a loud 'Crack' that lets me know that my arm, unable to bear the strain placed upon it, has broken. Finally done spinning, my body makes full contact with the stairs; thankfully my buttocks are now the point of impact. Though my butt has hit the stairs, and very hard I might add, the momentum I'd built up while running still hasn't been spent. I slide down to the bottom step, my butt hitting each step painfully on the way down, and my broken right arm trailing along behind the rest of me limply.
When the movement finally stops, I'm sitting at the bottom of the stairs with my butt bone throbbing and my right arm cradled in my lap. I've only just now realized that Pinky let go of my hand at some point and is now standing right beside me, clearly very worried. Tears are streaming from my face as the house elf asks what happened. "I… I think I stubbed my toe on the step, and it made me trip," I cry.
"Are you alright, missus?" Pinky asks worriedly.
"No, Pinky, my arm's broken!" I sob. Without another word Pinky snaps two of the fingers on her left hand and vanishes with a loud 'Pop'. Panicking, I look towards the end of the dungeon, where the cupboard and the two people were when I saw them last. To my immense horror, the two people are closing in on me, and now I don't have a wand or even a house elf to defend myself. Just great, I think, Pinky has abandoned me, and now I'm going to die.