Author's Note:
I've turned 17 at the 17th of August! Send me a birthday present by sending me an extra long review! After all, this chapter IS extra long!
Love you all!
Guardianship
Chapter 10:
The Alarm
It was a horrible sound that went through the mansion. Harry thought he would have ripped his ears off if it hadn't stopped after twenty seconds.
At that moment he was nearly tackled by two Death Eaters, who, he figured had been guarding the door. There was a moment of silence when he had two wands pointed in his face. Then the Death Eaters lowered their wands and looked at each other.
Harry didn't recognize them, but they didn't look like the most friendly types.
"It isn't him," one of them said.
"Then who the bloody hell is!?" the other, more muscular Death Eater yelled.
Harry was confused. "What's going on?" he asked, but the only answer he received was: "Shut up!"
One of them walked to the window, before gasping: "You've got to be kidding me."
Immediately the other ran over, completely forgetting about Harry, who also walked to it. "He didn't!" the other man whispered.
The window was big enough for the three of them to be able to look through it. Finally Harry could see what was going on. One man was on his knees with at least 30 Death Eaters around him, forming the half of an circle.
"It's Steve, isn't it?" the first Death Eater said. "I bet he drank too much Firewhisky. Poor fool…"
The other one shook his head in disbelief. "Can't belief he forgot that ward. The Dark Lord himself has to come now. He's dead."
Then Harry finally understood it. The man on his knees walked straight through the wards and an alarm went off because of it. The reason why the Death Eaters barged in like that was because they thought he was trying to escape.
At that moment everything outside and inside stopped abruptly talking. Lord Voldemort had come outside. Harry couldn't see more because at that same moment, another Death Eater barged into the room.
"WHERE IS HE!?" a voice shrieked. Harry knew who it was before he turned around and it was as if someone had tied a knot into his stomach.
The two Death Eaters jumped up, startled, and immediately fell through their knees, while all Harry did was glare at the woman who had murdered his godfather.
Wide black eyes looked at him and she didn't even seem to notice the Death Eaters. She walked straight through them and yanked Harry's arm. Harry tried to pull away, but Bellatrix's will was stronger and pinned her long nails into his flesh.
At that same moment another Death Eater barged in, breathing hard. "Wha…what was going o—" Harry was as stunned to see Draco Malfoy as much as Draco was.
"What is he doing here!?" he yelled to Bellatrix. "Well… alive anyway!"
"I told you to wait, didn't I?" the female Death Eater snarled. "Well, come on!" And with that, she yanked Harry out of the room, while Draco followed her. Before he could open his mouth, the blond-haired boy had already asked his question.
"Where are you taking him?"
"If you must know," Bellatrix said and a small smile appeared on her face. "The Dark Lord's chambers."
While Harry yelled: "WHAT!?", Draco yelled: "WHY!?"
"We do never question the Dark Lord's orders, Draco," she answered. "It is as useless as it is foolish. You shouldn't even know that Potter was here in the first place. If anything happens it is my responsibility, so put that wand away, before you poke his eye out! We mustn't harm him in any way."
Draco was obviously confused at this, but he didn't ask questions as he lowered his wand.
Harry was also confused. They mustn't harm him? Why not? If Bellatrix is not allowed, would that mean that no other Death Eater was allowed to harm him? That he was… as crazy as it sounded… safe here?
"There we are," Bellatrix suddenly said. She finally released Harry's arm to grab a key out of her pocket. Harry would do anything to not set a foot in that room, but as soon as Bellatrix released him, Draco grabbed his other arm, knowing exactly what he was thinking. It wasn't like he stood a chance without a wand.
The female Death Eater soon unlocked the door. She smiled widely while entering the room. Harry had never seen her this happy. Not even when she murdered Sirius, she had a smile like this on her face.
The room they entered was huge. It was bigger then any living room and seemed to have everything: The biggest bed he had ever seen, two sofa's, a fireplace, a dining table, two big comfortable looking chairs, a closet, three long bookshelves, a desk.
Everything.
There were even more doors in the walls, probably all leading to different rooms. It was hard to think that this was just a piece of an entire mansion.
Everything was green or silver though. Slytherin colours. It gave the beautiful room an eerie feeling.
Suddenly he felt Malfoy tug his arm. He had probably been staring for too long. But he didn't want to enter the room. The thought that Voldemort was resting here after he murdered innocent people wasn't really comforting.
Draco, noticing his hesitation, drew his wand again. "Move," he said. "Or I'll make you move."
Harry glared at him. "Then make me," was his response.
Bellatrix rolled her eyes. "Oh please," and she just pushed both of them inside and locked the door. "There, that's settled. He can't do anything without his wand anyway."
Harry felt his heart beat faster. Here he was. Voldemort's room. Glancing at Draco, he saw that he was just as uncomfortable as he was, maybe even more.
Bellatrix Lestrange, however, looked as if she was in heaven. She had a huge smile on her face and she started touching everything gently.
"What are you doing here?" Malfoy suddenly asked him.
"Trust me, it's not like I want to be here," Harry said back.
"But you're still alive…!"
Harry looked at him. "I don't understand as much as you do."
"Draco!!" Bellatrix suddenly called as if she realized something. "I want you to go out of this room now, before—" At that very moment Lord Voldemort himself walked into the room, furiously talking to one of his minions.
"—to kill him and his entire family. Leave no survi—" he stopped in the middle of his sentence when he noticed the three of them. Draco and Bellatrix instantly fell through their knees and Voldemort turned back to his minion, however, his eyes were set on Harry.
"No survivors," he repeated and with that the Death Eater left.
The door magically closed as the Dark Lord walked towards Draco and Bellatrix, who were still on their knees. He looked at them both for a while before speaking.
"Could you care to tell me why Draco Malfoy is in my room?"
"My Lord…" Bellatrix gasped, her face red. "I was training young Malfoy when we heard the alarm. I'm afraid he followed me, but he looked after the boy well so he wouldn't escape."
Harry noticed that Malfoy's hands was shaking. He was afraid.
Then Voldemort spoke. "Out." It was a single, simple word, but Draco immediately jumped up and ran for the door. None of them spoke until the door closed once again.
"You can stand up," he said and Bellatrix did what she was told.
"You're too kind, my Lord," she whispered.
Harry noticed that Voldemort was walking towards him. He kept standing, glaring at him.
"I believe so as well," the Dark Lord spoke. "I might be too kind."
"My-my Lord?" Bellatrix asked, confused.
"Have I not ordered you to bring Harry Potter unharmed back to my chambers as soon as the alarm goes off?" he asked.
"Yes, my Lord, of course, my Lord. I followed your orders. I brought him here, unharmed."
"Have you really?" And within a second he grabbed Harry's arm. "You call this unharmed!?"
Harry hadn't even noticed it until it was pointed out. His arm was bleeding through 5 small openings. He remembered how Bellatrix's her nails had been pinning into his skin, but didn't realise how much damage it had done.
Bellatrix stared at his arm with huge eyes. "M-m-my L-Lord, I-I…" she started but at the same time Voldemort had already grabbed his wand. "Crucio."
She fell on the ground, twitching, screaming from the pain, but Voldemort didn't stop.
Harry turned away his gaze, but couldn't block out her screams. It sounded horrible and Harry felt sick. He wanted to see her in pain after Sirius, but this wasn't satisfying to the least. It was horrible.
It lasted so long. He tried to think of something else, get it off his mind, but he couldn't. He could only think of how she was lying on the ground, suffering. And although he wasn't looking at her, he could still see her. See her twitching, hear her screaming… Too much… it was too much…!
"Could you stop it!?" he yelled. And by some miracle, the curse was lifted. Voldemort now turned his gaze on him.
"Do you think she is punished enough?" he asked him. "I think she still has a long way to go… What do you think, Bella?"
Bellatrix crouched on the ground, gasping for air. "My-my l-lord…"
"I am quite disappointed in you. I thought I could trust such an important task to you, but it seems that I was mistaken."
Bellatrix looked bewildered. "N-no…!! My.. lord…!!"
"I had the idea that you could be trusted with this, but you can't even do as much as following simple orders… That is too bad. Maybe you are as incompetent as that Steve LaCairy was."
Tears poured out Bellatrix's eyes and it looked like his words had hurt her more then the Cruciatus-curse had done. "My… lord… I.. am so-sorry…! Forgive me…!"
"Don't worry," he said. "I'll make sure you'll learn your lesson. But right now you are dirtying my floor. We will finish this another time."
"Y-yes, my Lord. Anything you say, my Lord."
"Leave."
Bellatrix could barely stand up but by some miracle, managed to get to the door. With a lot of effort, she bowed, nearly falling over, before closing the door.
Harry was staring at the door for a short while when it finally hit him.
They were alone now.