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Chapter Twenty-eight
I studied everything I could on healing magic, and in all honesty, used Ollivander as a test subject. I couldn't hurt anyone in order to practice, and I would get caught if I hurt myself. Ollivander was the most convenient way to practice, and it was unlikely that I would hurt him worse than he already was.
As his wounds steadily healed, my outlook did, too. I felt...better. Better than I have in the last two years. The healing spells were so different from the Unforgivable Curses. I actually started to think that I could contribute to the war effort in the way I wanted to. I thought that if I could fix Ollivander's wounds, I could somehow heal my own.
But as usual, I was brought back down to reality when I was ordered to bring Ollivander another meal. They gave me two trays of food instead of one, each with a full portion. I wanted to ask why, but a threatening look from my father made the question die in my throat. I bowed my head and took the trays to the cellar. Wormtail opened the barred door, closing and locking it behind me.
"Draco?" a high voice called.
The voice was a girl's. It was dreamy and sounded somewhat distracted. It was easily recognizable. "Luna?"
The petite figure of Luna Lovegood extracted itself from the shadows. She looked the same from when I last saw her, but there has a blossoming bruise on her cheek and her lip was split and bleeding.
She glided up to me and looked me in the eye. "Are you here to bring us food?"
"Y-yeah," I stuttered, still recovering from the fact that she was here.
"Thank you, Draco." She took the trays from me and retreated back into the darkened cellar.
I glanced behind me and found Wormtail standing rigidly at his post with his back to me. I moved further into the cellar and drew my wand, lighting the tip of it blue. "How did you get here?" I questioned as she handed one of the trays of food to Ollivander who was sitting on the stone bench carved out of the wall alone without the aid of a wall.
Luna turned to me as she took a seat by Ollivander and rested her tray on her lap."Some Death Eaters broke up the Weasley wedding. They took a whole bunch of people." She glanced down at her meal and picked up her spoon. "They put me in here last night."
I looked down at my feet and shifted my weight uncomfortably, guilt bubbling up in me. I told Bellatrix where Potter was. I was the reason she was here.
I glanced back up at Luna as she swallowed a spoonful of the lukewarm soup. She hissed and gently bit the bleeding part of her lip.
I sighed and took a few cautious steps forward, waiting for her to force me away, but when she didn't, I took the chance. "Let me see your lip."
Luna looked up at me curiously. "What?"
"I can fix your lip," I clarified.
"It's alright, Draco. It doesn't hurt." As if to prove it, she put another spoonful of soup in her mouth, but she winced when it leaked into her cut.
"He really can fix it, you know," Ollivander voiced, glancing at me.
Luna tensed as her eyebrows drew together.
I crouched down on the ground so that we were closer in height. "I can help you, but only if you want me to."
Luna slowly turned her gaze on me and gradually nodded.
I smiled gently asked her to turn towards me. She handed her meal to Ollivander, who took it from her and placed it on the bench between them.
I slowly cupped Luna's jaw to get a better look at her cut. She tensed a little and lifted her hand, almost grabbing mine, but she covered her action by tucking several loose strands of her white-blonde hair behind her ear.
I suppose she had a right to not trust me. According to her knowledge, I was a Death Eater out to kill her and anyone else that stood in my way, but it still hurt to know that people actually saw me as one of them.
I cleared my throat and refocused on the spell. I had spent a few days committing multiple healing spells to memory so I wouldn't have to transport the books back and forth from my room and the cellar, and luckily, Luna's cut could be repaired with one of the simple and easy to remember ones.
I gradually raised my wand and leveled it at her injury. I held my wand far away from her at such an awkward angle that it hurt my shoulder, but I still had to put her at ease as best as I could. I whispered, "Episkey." My wand's glow intensified, and the thin stream of blood coming from the cut retreated back into the cut before it sealed itself, leaving no trace that it was ever there.
The glow of my wand dimed as Luna carefully prodded her lip. She looked back to me and smiled softly. "Thank you, Draco."
I nodded and returned her small smile. "Now, let's see if I can take care of that bruise, too."
Luna turned her head to let me see the purplish bruise forming on her cheekbone. I couldn't remember any spells for bruises, but Episkey sounded like a good bet.
I raised my wand again opened my mouth to say the spell, but the door to the cellar suddenly creaked and clanged against the wall. The three of us jumped and turned in the direction of the door and found my father rushing in with the angriest of looks.
I instantly extinguished the light on my wand, got to my feet took a few steps away from Luna.
"What are you doing, Draco?" he demanded, stopping his rushed march a few feet away from me. His voice was soft, but it was still powerful enough to remind me of what he's done.
"Nothing," I answered, pleading that my voice would remain steady through my nerves. "Just doing what I was told and making sure that they can eat." It was true enough, so maybe he would go away.
"Then why did you just heal her lip and ask to heal her bruise?"
Every part of me tensed. I had to come up with some sort of explanation now, but my mind was freezing on me.
"Come with me, Draco," he ordered, taking a step closer to me.
I took an equal step away from him, tightening my grip on my wand.
"Now," he demanded as he came at me. He grasped the back of my neck and dragged me out of the cellar.
I cried out as Lucius's grip grew ever tighter, digging into the pressure points at the base of my neck. I squeezed my eyes shut against the pain as he led me to who-knows-where, instinctively trying to pry his hand away.
"What have you been doing, Draco?" Lucius shouted, using his grip on my neck to throw me to the floor.
A door slammed shut, and I flipped onto my back and supported myself on my elbows.
"Healing books?" he laughed. "Out of all of the books you could have used in this library-potion books, dangerous spells, books you could have used to help the Dark Lord-you chose healing books?"
His questions were more like statements, and I didn't answer them. I carefully got to my feet and held a hand out towards him to keep him at bay. Somewhere along the way, he had gotten my wand, so I was completely defenseless, but that didn't mean I couldn't try to save myself.
I woke up sprawled on my bed like someone had carelessly thrown me on it. I groaned and groggily pushed myself into a sitting position. I swung my legs over the side of my mattress and held my aching head. The fire popped behind the grate, making me jump. A sharp pain coursed through my throat as a startled gasp attempted to leave my lips.
The grandfather clock in my room chimed, indicating that another hour had passed. I looked over at it, and found that it was eleven o'clock, and a quick glance out of the window told me that it was night. Last I remember, it was almost lunch.
I remembered Luna and something about my father. He found out that I was healing her and Ollivander and dragged me away, but there was nothing after that.
A faint, brief memory of Lucius rushing at me in one of his libraries flashed in my mind. He had a wand out, and his hand was grasping for my throat.
I jumped at the memory reached my neck, suddenly feeling his hand wrap around it. I swallowed deeply to dispel the feeling, but it sent a fireball of pain down my throat. I thought water would soothe it, so I forced myself to my feet, only to be thrown back down onto my bed by a wave of dizziness so strong that my shaking legs couldn't support me.
I had to sit holding my spinning head for several minutes before it settled, but the spinning had left me sick to my stomach. Water would help both my stomach and my throat. Once I took care of those, I could focus on trying to heal myself.
I forced myself to stand again and leaned against the wall as another bout of dizziness nearly pushed me over. Using the wall, I eventually managed to limp into my private bathroom, but when I finally let go, I stumbled and fell into the sink, catching myself on the edge of the vanity.
I groaned and winced as I my throat burned and my head spun violently. I squeezed my eyes closed against the nausea rising inside of me. I put my cool hand to my head to try and stop the spinning, but it was still a few minutes before it did.
I gradually opened my eyes and caught my reflection in the vanity mirror. I looked terrible, like I was just tortured. The worst part was the bright red mark on my neck. I leaned forward, the edge of the sink pressing into my already upset stomach, and tilted my head to the side to get a better look at the mark.
Vague impressions of fingertips appeared on my skin in the better light.
My breath quickened, and my chest tightened as I stared at the mark on my throat. I backed out of the bathroom and away from my reflection.
I shut the bathroom door tightly and scanned my room for my books and wand. My wand was resting on my bedside table, but my books were nowhere to be found. The shaking of my breath spread to my hand, and the constant tremor increased to a terrible peak. I could barely grasp the edge of my comforter to throw it to the other side of the bed.
I glanced around the underside of my bed and didn't find the books of healing magic. I checked my closet, my desk, my dresser, even the inside of the grandfather clock, but I couldn't find my books.
I didn't sleep the entire night. Every time I closed my eyes, faint dreams-or memories, maybe-of my father trying to kill me startled me awake. No House Elf entered my room to renew the fire, so by the time I had officially given up on sleep, the wood was nothing but smoldering ashes, and the sun was beginning to rise.
Listening to that radio station I found a while ago seemed to help me sleep before, so maybe it would have the same effect tonight-this morning actually.
I reached under my bed and pulled the small machine out from underneath. I placed it on my bedside table and flicked the switch. The radio lit up, and the speakers filling with static. I scrolled through the stations to the same frequency as before, but the station wasn't there. There was nothing but more static. I had to find it somehow.
I didn't know why I was aching to hear Dean's and Seamus's voices. I never liked them at school. They were loud and annoying, but I suppose Seamus's tendency to blow things to smithereens without even trying was entertaining at times.
I scrolled through station after station, passing by music and news reports that were of no interest. I started to lose hope that I would find them again, a leadened ball taking place of my heart at the thought, but eventually, I found them.
"Lightning was reported to have escaped the attack along with Weasel and Brown Mane. Some people were taken prisoner, but we hope that they are being kept alive."
I thought it was Dean who said it, but it didn't matter. Hearing even one of them was enough to make me feel better.
They talked and talked about various things including Hogwarts and Snape, so I laid down and closed my eyes, hardly paying attention to them. After about an hour, I finally started to drift in and out of sleep until a change in voice made me open my eyes and stare at the radio speakers in curiosity, as if I could see who the new voice belonged to if I only stared at the radio long enough.
"And now for the list of the dead and missing," the grave but familiar voice announced. The man listed name after name that I didn't recognize, but the more I listened, the more I thought that the voice belonged to Professor Lupin. I couldn't be sure, but it sounded like him.
As the listed names continued to come, guilt grew inside of me in an equal amount. I didn't cause these people's deaths, nor did I make them disappear, but I might as well have.
After a while, who I thought was Seamus came back on. He sounded bright and excited, like he was trying to lighten the mood. "Join us tomorrow on a frequency nearby!" A whine came from the radio speakers and then faded to static.
See you soon for Chapter Twenty-nine!
