"Do not protect yourself by a fence, but rather by your friends." (Czech Proverb)
With the Oswalds on their way to the local police station Eleanor headed back to the house. If everything had gone according to plan, the aurors should arrive soon, but she needed to be there when the Death Eaters flew in, just on the off chance that they would hunt after the couple. She had barely reached the front door when she saw a black shadow briefly obscuring the moonlight.
They had come, and they were earlier than she had expected. If they saw that the house was deserted they could still find the Oswalds now hurrying through the small wood separating their cottage from the rest of the village. They would no doubt torture them for information. She had to make a stand and protect them, distract the Death Eaters. She hid herself in the shadows around the front door and removed her wand from its sheath.
Looking up against the clear night sky she could see a group of nine wizards and witches approach on brooms, their long black cloaks billowing out behind them. It was a menacing sight. These men and women had a lot of experience in applying the dark arts, and she could not hope to defeat all of them. Still she had to try. She had put the Oswalds in harm's way by letting her desire for Lucius Malfoy rule her better judgment and making her fall prey to his deceptions and lies. As she was responsible for this mess, she would have to fix it or die trying in payment for her error.
When the Death Eaters sat down their brooms, she cast spells for her own protection and now glowing with a pale aura of energy stepped out of the shades as the boots of her attackers crunched on the gravel path before the house.
She lifted her wand and cast back the hood of her coat. "I am Eleanor Sartorius," she cried with a loud voice. "Here live wards of my family that I am sworn to protect and I say to you, you cannot pass!" For a moment the nine shadows recoiled in surprise. Then a harsh male voice answered her. "Get out of our way, witch, and we may be merciful and just kill you. Do not interfere with our business here." A masked figure stepped forward, but she did not recognize the voice, it was not Lucius.
She felt very afraid. Her stomach knotted, but she held her place. "You cannot pass!" she called again. The wizard who had challenged her now loomed above her, she looked at the expressionless surface of his black mask, caught the silvery glint of eyes behind the dark holes, and then he lifted his wand. She gritted her teeth, gripped her own wand and prepared for a counter curse. She knew she probably did not stand a chance. Where were the aurors?
At that moment there was movement at the wizard's back. Another of the dark robed figures darted forward and pushed her attacker out of the way. A split second later a man had taken his place before her, facing the leader, his arms stretched out protectively. "You will not harm her. I forbid it!" Lucius! What was he doing? He was challenging his own people? The leader had recovered his balance and now struck at Malfoy like a coiled snake. "You cursed traitor! I warned you before not to let this little worthless cunt rule your loyalty. You will pay for this!"
A split second later she felt Lucius turn and shove her out of the way with such force that she crashed into the hedge by the side of the path and toppled over. She could only watch helplessly as the leader leveled his wand at her lover and incanted the cruciatus curse. Bright green light shot from the tip of the wand, enveloped her protector and threw him back with such force that he vaulted over her and disappeared in the shadows behind her. She could hear him cry in agony somewhere near her. At that moment a hoarse female voice among the Death Eaters screeched: "Aurors, coming in fast, defend yourselves, flee!" The leader cursed and tried to lead the group away, but it was too late, as a whole squad of Ministry employees apparated around them wielding their wands before the Death Eaters could organize themselves.
She crawled away on her hands and knees keeping a low profile and saw flashes of magical attack and defense bloom all around her. Cries, incantations and curses filled the air. Where was Lucius? Finally her searching hands touched a boot and as her eyes peered into the gloom she saw his outstretched figure quivering on the ground. His arms and legs seemed to strain as if he was bound to an invisible rack, he had quieted somewhat, but she suspected the pain had simply become too intense to allow him to even draw enough breath to manage to scream.
She grasped her wand and concentrated amidst the din. Undoing a cruciatus curse was tricky business. Finally she decided to settle for a simple curse-breaker and whispered. "Maledictionem reverso!" As she directed her wand at the tortured figure before her she hoped no one had noticed the faint orange glow that gently settled on him, slowly dissolving the previous spell.
She saw his body slump and all of the muscle rigor drain out of him as the effect of the spell subsided. He rolled over to his side and curled up in a fetal position. She sheathed her wand and moved to his side. A quick glance up showed her that the main battle had moved off over to the other side of the house.
For a moment she considered sneaking back to the garage where she had left her broom and taking off while everyone was busy. The aurors would arrest the whole pack, Marvin and Patsy Oswald would be safe and no one ever needed to know about her involvement. Lucius would get what he deserved for using and deceiving her.
Then she took another look at the man before her, and for a moment she remembered the way he had kissed her and carried her, the way he had looked at her as their eyes had met just before they had drunk the potion, and the touch of his body during their lovemaking. She saw him as he had stood before her just a few minutes ago, willing to betray his associates, willing to face horrible punishment just to keep her safe.
"Damn you," she sighed and brought her face close to his, loosened the dark mask that covered him. His eyes were closed tightly and the wet glint of moonlight on his cheeks showed that he had been crying with pain.
"Lucius, nod if you can hear me." An almost imperceptible movement of his head answered her. "Lucius, I am getting you out of here. Where's your broom?" He made a soft, inarticulate sound, then tried again. "Can't ride," he managed to squeeze out between clenched teeth. "I know, but we can't leave the evidence. The aurors will know who it belongs to." "Cherry tree at the garden gate," he hissed. "Keep hidden. I'll be back," she whispered.
She got up into a crouch, thankful for her dark practical muggle clothes, dashed down the side of the garden in the shade of the hedge and managed to get to the gate. The sound of battle seemed to move closer again. She darted over to the tree and exhaled in relief as her hand closed around the sturdy stick of a black, silver ornamented broom. Next she quickly scurried over to the garage to retrieve her own.
Back at his side she saw that he had managed to lift himself on his hands and knees. She touched him. "Lucius it's me, I've found it. Let's go." He looked at her now, wiped the hem of his cloak over his face. "I can't even stand," he groaned quietly. "Leave me, get out of here, for Hecate's sake!" "No way," she hissed. "I have matters to settle with you. I'll be damned if I let the aurors get you. Now get on your feet and stop whining."
She grabbed him by his robes and he finally cooperated by placing his hands on her shoulders and trying to push himself up. He was heavier than she had thought and she had to fight to stay on her feet, but finally he was standing before her, swaying as he tried to keep his legs under him. She stepped around him until her chest touched his back, clasped him around the waist and pushed the handle of her broom between their legs.
"Ready?" He nodded shakily. "Invisibilis," she murmured, hoping that none of the aurors would bother to cast counter spells to see if any of the Death Eaters were trying to escape under an invisibility charm. Levitating two people on a broom was hard, and she found that they took to the air quite sluggishly, but finally they cleared the tree line and she tried to keep herself balanced and the swaying Lucius from tipping sideways off the broom.
As they left the area of the battle, she started to think. Going to Hogwarts with Lucius in his present state was out of the question, and Malfoy Manor might actually be watched, as Dumbledore seemed to have both contacts among Ministry operatives and well-founded suspicions about Lucius. So the only option that remained to her was her old house in London. At least it would keep the aurors and any remaining Death Eaters off their back until Lucius had recovered somewhat.
The long night flight was hard. Madame Hooch would have probably given her a "Troll"-grade for style, grace and balance, but somehow she managed to keep her passenger from falling and the rather stubborn Malfoy broom in her left hand from taking off on its own. Finally she saw her familiar street underneath, dipped under the branches of the large chestnut tree in the front yard, and landed inside the gate.
The icy night air seemed to have revived Lucius somewhat. At least he was able to stand up by himself as she set down and dismounted her broom. He turned and looked at her. "Where are we?" he asked. "Where I used to live before I came to Hogwarts. Hopefully they won't be looking for us here. It's Sunday tomorrow, so I can stay away from the school without being missed. Let's go inside." She handed Lucius his broom, which he promptly used as a prop to keep himself upright and walked up to the house. The door opened at her spell and they stepped inside. As she found the light switch in the dark the small hall light came on.
She took a look at her companion. Lucius was leaning against the wall, his proud face chalk white, and there was blood on his lips where he had bitten himself in his agony. He was watching her out of sunken, red-rimmed eyes. It would be so easy to forget everything, forgive everything and just feel pity for him, but then she remembered how he had deceived her regarding the homunculus and she thought of old Mrs. Oswald's tearful frightened eyes and her anger flared up again.
"You cheating, lying, deceitful bastard. You really don't have a shred of honor," she snarled at him as she yanked off her mittens and jacket. "You fucked me over any way you could think of. That's why you really gave me the book, didn't you? You already knew about Falco's experiment. And like a fool I gave you and your scum friends the information about the homunculus. Hell, I almost had my father's friends killed, because I trusted you. Don't worry, I'm mostly angry at myself for being such an idiot. But believe me, I won't make the same mistake twice. You can recover here, I owe you that for deflecting the cruciatus curse. But after that I never want to see you again or I promise I will drag your ass down to Azkaban myself."
Furious, she threw her coat over the clothes rack and turned to him. She almost wished again that she had left him behind. But then she saw his face and stopped cold at the expression of hurt in his eyes. "Eleanor," his voice was still hoarse from screaming. "It wasn't like that. Please, you must believe me, I never wanted…" He trailed off as his legs finally gave out under him. His eyes rolled back and he slid down the wall until he landed in a crumpled heap on the floor.
"Oh crap," she sighed. "Way to get out of an argument." She knelt down, pushed her hands under his arms, folded them over his chest and dragged him down the hallway to the living room. She leaned him up against her shinbones, unfastened and folded his long black robes, heaved him onto the sofa and pulled off his mud stained boots.
For a moment she looked at him lying there, wearing simple black pants and a black shirt, his pale face framed by his tangled mane of blond hair, his eyes closed. She saw lines on his face she had not noticed before, a single steep vertical frown-line over his arched patrician nose, fine creases tracing from his curved nostrils down to the edges of his mouth, crow's feet around his eyes. Once again she heard his voice calling out to the other Death Eaters. 'You shall not harm her.' What was going on? What was he playing at?
Her head hurt, she felt cold. She went back to the hallway, kicked off her own shoes, padded into the kitchen and filled a glass with water. She set it down on the coffee table in the living room next to Lucius and then indulged herself once by bending over him and gently stroking over his high forehead and brushing his hair back. She thought for a minute, then pulled out her wand. "Instauro argutiam," she murmured softly. Perhaps that would help him fight some of the weakness from the cruciatus curse. Finally she picked up a blanket from one of the chairs and spread it over him.
Exhausted, she climbed up the stairs to her bedroom, undressed, had a quick shower, as hot as she could stand it, muffled herself in a thick red tartan flannel pajama she found in her wardrobe and crept under the blankets of her bed. She didn't even remember lying down before she fell into a deep dreamless sleep.