Chapter Fourteen
I'm gone before Hermione leaves the bathroom.
I left a note on the coffee table for her explaining that I will be back by dinner and I leave the house elves with strict instructions to not let her leave the room, but give her all of the amenities she will need to be comfortable in it. I don't have many errands today, but I do have to schedule a meeting with someone important and if I get the chance to speak to them today, it will take up most of my time/ Not to mention the surprise meeting I now have with the anonymous someone who sent a house elf I'd never seen before to me just as Hermione closed the bathroom door. Particularly good timing on the elf's part, if I'm being honest.
The elf had given me an address and instructions on how to access the place and nothing else before disapparating back to wherever they had come from.
Trying to act as naturally as possible, and praying Bellatrix doesn't attempt a surprise visit today, I disapparate from the manor and reappear in Knockturn Alley. Once my feet hit the ground, I make haste in the direction of the shop I'm looking for.
The streets are all but bare, as per usual, but the atmosphere is strikingly different; yes it's usually a tad on the somber side but now it's as if pure evil emanates around the darkened shops and up and down the clumsily cobbled streets. It make's me more than uncomfortable; it makes me downright frightened.
I reach the corner, look on either side of me and then tap three times on a shabby looking wooden door with my wand. The door is on the side of a building with no windows and there isn't any street sign advertising that there's even a shop here. If one weren't paying attention, they could walk right by it without a second glance. It creaks open slightly, and an arm grabs me and pulls me inside.
"No one saw you, correct?" The sweet voice of my mother fills the small room illuminated only by a fireplace in the left hand corner.
"No, mother, there wasn't even anyone on the street when I knocked." It's hard to make out her face, but I can tell that it relaxed slightly. I'm then pulled into a hug, and I realize I had almost forgotten what my mother's embrace feels like. I hug back, squeezing almost too tightly.
"I'm so glad to see you, love. It seems as though it's been ages." She releases her hold and turns towards the fire. There's two large figures I barely make out to be arm chairs that are facing the fire directly. In the center of them is a small wooden table with a teapot sitting on it and two cups on either side. "Would you like some tea?" She asks making for the kettle.
"No thank you, mother. I can't stay long; it's a safety concern." She let's out a little sigh, pours herself some tea and takes a seat in the farthest arm chair. She motions for me to join her and I do so.
As I sit, the chair breathes out a sigh of dust. I look at my mother, seeing her for the first time in the firelight, and I have to hold my breath. Her face looks disheveled, her hair is slightly messy and she's sporting a black eye.
"Who did that to you?" I say, suddenly angry.
"Who do you think?" She replies calmly and takes a sip of her tea.
"Bellatrix." I mutter hotly and I put my face in my hands.
"Indeed." My mother agrees, and a degree of her calmness is gone. "She caught me trying to write a letter to you. She thought I would be distracting you from your duty to the Dark Lord and she took it upon herself to punish me for it." She puts down her tea cup a little harder than intended and I do my best not to stand from my seat, apparate to Bellatrix and 'punish' her for what she did to mother.
I had figured there was a reason I hadn't heard back from my mother via owl, and I'm glad she didn't give up on trying to make contact me, but this is a risk that if discovered, the punishment may be too high.
"She needs to be stopped; this all needs to be stopped." Is all I say instead.
"What do you mean?" My mother looks at me with concern.
"Mother, how did you get here today? You had to sneak out, correct?" I pause for a second, but continue before she can answer, "If you're caught sneaking back into whatever camp he has created, you could be killed! Father could be killed. You need to find a way to get out of there, with Father. You need to find safety elsewhere. Our family can't do this anymore; it's too dangerous and I know for a fact that at the very least the two of us don't agree with their tactics, or anything he stands for anymore!" I say, standing and throwing my hands up into the air. "Please, mother, I will help as best as I can to come up with a plan to help you and Father escape, but please don't try and dissuade me from this. I'm trying to do what's best for our family." I come and kneel next to her, my flurry of emotions finally relieving my chest, and for the first time in a long time I can breath.
I didn't realize that I had been feeling all of this, nor that I had wanted to plan this if I ever got the chance to meet with either of my parents again. But, I know now that this is the only option; it's always been leading up to this and no twist in destiny could change that.
I finally make eye contact with my mother, as she had been avoiding mine and I soon understand why. Her beautiful gray eyes had filled with tears, and she lifts a hand to her mouth before speaking.
"Draco, of course I will do this. You're very right in that I don't want to be apart of this life anymore, but I cannot go back to get your father." She takes a large breath, and the heaviness of what she's about to say hits me like a ton of bricks.
"Mother-," I begin but her words and an added sob cut me off.
"I can't go back for him, love. He is dead; they killed him."
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