Part Two: Chapter Nineteen
Danielle couldn't believe her eyes when she walked into Alecto Carrow's office with Snape to see Tracy, Luna, Ginny, and Neville all on the ground looking in agony. They were on their hands and knees breathing heavily. What had happened to them?
"Any luck?" Snape asks the two death eaters.
"No," Alecto frowns, "they are a stubborn lot."
"I expected as much," Snape glares at the four before shoving Danielle toward her friends. "Are you a member of the DA?" he asks her. Danielle instinctively looks down at Ginny. If she said that she was a member of the DA then she was going to be in big trouble with the Malfoys. If she said that she wasn't than Ginny and all the others in the DA might lose all trust in her.
"ANSWER HIM!" Alecto shouts at Danielle.
"No," Danielle answers quickly. Telling these people that she was in the DA didn't help anyone. At least now the Malfoys might not be so angry about her causing trouble. Danielle suddenly remembered the bruise she'd found on Draco's face her first night at Malfoy Manor. Would Lucius hit her too?
"Why did you help them break into Snape's office?" Amycus asks her now.
"I didn't help them. I wasn't even with them," Danielle says. It was a sort of a half truth.
"What were they going to do with the sword?" Amycus asks and Ginny looks up at Danielle.
"I don't know," Danielle shrugs, "Why would anybody want a sword when they already have a wand?"
"Crucio!" The Carrow brother shouts and before Danielle can think she's on her hands and knees screaming in pain. So this is what they had been doing to her friends. She felt invisible flames licking at her skin, and stabbing pain as if there were knives carving up her insides. Danielle was relieved when it was over.
"Are you ready to talk now?" Alecto asks with a sick grin. Danielle didn't know if she'd be able to talk with the way her body was ringing with the aftershock of the torture curse. Danielle had always wondered what the Cruciatus curse felt like and now she wished she didn't know.
"They would never tell me what the sword was for," Danielle groans, "They don't trust me because of who I'm engaged to."
"CRUCIO!" Amycus shouts again and Danielle once again yelps in pain. The pain was increasing in intensity now. Danielle felt like there were millions of hot pokers jabbing her all over her body. It felt like electricity was being sent all throughout her nervous system. She was proud of her friends for enduring this and not talking.
"Tell us what the deal with the sword is!" Amycus shouts once he lifts the curse.
"Open your ears!" Danielle snaps, "I said I don't know! Don't make me say it again."
"Crucio!" The sister shouts now and Danielle clenches her teeth together and curls into a ball on the floor. It was hard to believe that there wasn't some wild creature tearing at her face with razor sharp claws and that she wasn't being dipped into a cauldron of boiling hot water.
"Alright, that's enough" Snape tells Alecto who lifts the curse allowing Danielle's muscles to unclench. She tasted blood and figured she must have bit the inside of her cheek at some point.
"I know why you all did this today," Snape speaks up again as he looks down at the tired kids, "You're trying to inspire the other students. You're trying to show them that they can change the way things are if they fight it. I hope you've all realized how wrong you were to make such an assumption." He paused dramatically before continuing, "Now, I want you all to go back to your common rooms and stop whatever nonsense you're trying to pull. It will not work. If you thought what you went through today was bad, you don't want to know what will happen to you if you are caught stepping out of line again." Snape then turns around and instructs Amycus to take Ginny and Neville to Gryffindor tower, and Alecto to take Luna and Tracy to the Ravenclaw common room. He asked that Danielle be left with him; apparently he wasn't done with her yet. Tracy gives her best friend a worried glance as she is pulled out of the room. Danielle tries to give her a reassuring smile, but she was pretty worried too.
"Get up," Snape commands after the two of them are alone. Danielle tries to push herself up but her arms are so weak that she falls back down. Danielle had never felt so humiliated. It took her several minutes just to be able to get up on her feet, and it took even longer for her to hobble through the halls after Snape to his office. Even using the walls for support didn't help her move much faster. When they get back into Snape's office, Danielle collapses into a chair with a sigh of relief. She felt like she could fall asleep right then and there.
"Stay here," Snape tells her, "I think there is someone who might be able to deal with you." Danielle just nods. She couldn't get away even if she wanted to. Snape disappears into his back room where Danielle knew the fireplace was. It was where she and Tracy had gone last year to get to the Malfoy's Christmas Eve party. That's probably where Snape was going now. Danielle wondered what the Malfoys would do to her. Stupid Pansy, this was all her fault.
A few minutes later Danielle hears Snape's voice in the other room and fear creeps through her. The door opens and Snape walks back into his office. It isn't Lucius or Narcissa that follows him in though, it's Draco. Danielle didn't know if she should be relieved or horrified. Conflicting emotions surged through her as soon as she saw the blonde boys face. Would it be Draco that punished her? Danielle didn't know if she could bear that kind of humiliation; especially since she was actually happy to see him, which was something she hadn't really expected to feel if she ever saw him again. Another feeling that surprised her was the concern she felt at his appearance. He had a cut above his left eye that looked to be a few days old, as well as a few other bumps and bruises. He looked extremely worn down and completely exhausted, not at all in the mood to deal with the little stunt she had just pulled. Now Danielle felt another surprising emotion; guilt. She felt terrible for adding to Draco's stress. Hadn't she made the promise to herself to try and make this boy's life easier? Suddenly Danielle realized that Draco might be angry with her, and for some reason that made her feel oddly ashamed.
"Let me know when it's done." Snape tells Draco before heading out of his office. When it's done? That didn't sound good. Maybe being away from Draco these past couple months had caused all his feelings for her to disappear. Maybe, in her absence, he had turned back into his old self. Perhaps he would not hesitate to hurt her at all now.
"Draco," She croaks out. She'd lost her voice from all the screaming. She tries to push herself out of the chair but the muscles in her legs protest and she falls back down into the seat. Draco frowns at her weakened state and quickly comes to kneel in front of her.
"What did they do?" He asks softly even though Danielle could see anger etched in his facial features. She wasn't sure if the anger was for her or not though.
"Cruciatus," She mumbles feeling a bit embarrassed. She hoped she didn't seem too pitiful. She frowned when she saw the muscles in Draco's jaw tighten as he looked away from her for a moment. Danielle figured he was annoyed with her since he had warned her about this before and she hadn't listened to him.
"Are you going to be alright?" He asks her after a moment.
"I think so," Danielle shrugs even though parts of her were still tingling with pain. "Are you ok?" She wondered what horrors he had been through since their last meeting. Judging by his bruised and battered appearance, she guessed that Voldemort hadn't been taking it easy on him at all.
"I'm not the one who's just been tortured," Draco sighs.
"You and your parents must be furious with me," Danielle says then. She didn't want to beat around the bush. She wanted to know what her punishment would be.
"My parents don't know what happened, and I don't plan on them ever finding out" Draco looks at her seriously, "Thankfully, Snape came right to me. I'm not sure why he didn't go to my parents, but we're lucky he didn't. I don't even want to think about how they would have reacted or what they would have done." Danielle didn't know how to respond to that. Draco was protecting her again.
"What about Snape?" Danielle asks then.
"Surprisingly, Snape just asked me to talk to you" Draco continues with a shrug, "He said you might be more compliant if I was the one to question you." This comment caused Danielle to frown. Draco smiled a little, "Don't worry; I knew I wouldn't have any more luck with you than he did. I am curious though; about why you would try to steal a sword form Snape when you could have just hexed him."
"We were stealing the sword for Harry," Danielle suddenly blurts out causing Draco's eyes to widen in shock and fear. Obviously he hadn't expected her to tell him anything.
"Potter?" he gasps, "You know where he is?"
"No," Danielle replies honestly, "nobody does."
"Danielle," Draco looks down and rubs his face in his hands, "you shouldn't be telling me this. The dark lord could pull all of this out of my head in an instant. And for all you know, I could be planning on taking all of this information right to him anyway."
"Go ahead and tell," Danielle shrugs, "if he and the death eaters had half a brain they'd be able to figure out why we went for the sword. Dumbledore left the sword to Harry in his will; which the death eaters have complete access too since they're in control of the ministry. It really isn't that hard to figure out."
"If it wasn't important to keep all of that a secret than why didn't you just tell Snape?" Draco looked horrified, "You could have avoided getting tortured by the Carrows."
"Because I refuse to give in to them," Danielle states boldly, "even a little bit. The whole point of this thing was to show them that they don't have control over us. They can change the rules all they want, but that doesn't mean that anybody is going to follow them. People obey orders out of fear or respect, and I feel neither for Snape." Danielle was taken aback by the look of amusement that came onto Draco's face then.
"You and your rants," He says, "The manor isn't the same without them you know. You should come back with me." He was trying to sound like he was teasing her, but Danielle could see that his request was serious by the pleading look in his eyes.
"I can't leave now," Danielle tells him seriously, "Snape forced my sister to come back here and I need to make sure she stays safe. Plus, my friends are here, and I promised Tracy I would never choose you over them."
"And I don't count as your friend?" Draco asks with a frown before suddenly flushing in embarrassment after realizing what he had just said.
"You don't count ME as a friend." Danielle states feeling surprised by the sudden turn their conversation had made.
"What would I count you as then?" Draco asks sounding irritated. Danielle had to think about this for a moment. Despite her attempts to try and deny it, the truth was that she did feel a little bit of a bond with Draco now. She had spent so much time with him over the last year that it was hard not to. She cared about his well being, and it seemed like Draco might care about hers as well. So really, what else was really required in order to call someone your friend? There wasn't really a required set of criteria to earn the title. The only thing that worried Danielle was that Draco had been so mean to her and her other friends before. She would not be able to be his friend if he continued to look down on Harry, Hermione, and Ron. But then again, Danielle was friends with the three Gryffindors even though they were mean to Draco. He still had the scars on his chest from the curse Harry had sent at him the previous year. Draco had almost died that day yet Danielle was still friends with Harry. When she thought of it that way, the idea of being friends with Draco didn't seem so crazy.
"Well, I admit that I'm quite honored to be friends with a Malfoy" Danielle gives Draco a small smile. He returned the gesture but Danielle could tell he felt a little uncomfortable with the sentimental stuff so she steered the conversation away from the topic, "but even still, I can't go back to the manor. I need to stay here so that I can continue to fight."
"You're foolish," Draco lets out a sigh.
"A trait that has benefited you on more than one occasion," Danielle raises her eyebrow at the boy.
"Whatever," Draco says. "I stole your game by the way." Danielle can't help but laugh at that.
"I knew it!" She shakes her head at the boy, "and just so you know, you did not steal it; you borrowed it. I'll want it back at some point so that I can finally beat Heart gold."
"I guess you'll just have to come and get it then," Draco says and Danielle can tell this is his way of insuring that she'll come back to the manor eventually.
"You are such a pain sometimes," she laughs before reaching into her robes and pulling out her wand.
"What are you doing?" Draco asks her.
"Healing you," she replies as she aims the tip of her wand at the cut on his face. After a few seconds, the gash and the bruises were completely gone. She couldn't erase the signs of stress and exhaustion though. "If anybody gives you a hard time about it, just blame it on me for trying to be a considerate fiancée."
"Thank you," Draco mutters as he feels around his face and finds no pain.
"No, thank you" Danielle responds, "you've saved me from getting into serious trouble a couple times now."
"I couldn't save you from the Carrows today," He tells her.
"I knew what I was getting myself into," Danielle says honestly, "it is my own fault that I'm in the state I'm in now."
"Can you stand up yet?" Draco asks her, "I should probably call Snape back soon, and I kind of want you to head back to your common room before I do it. I don't want to have to leave you alone with him."
"I'll try," Danielle says even though she didn't want to leave Draco yet. "I might need your help though." Draco nods and puts his arm out for her to hold onto as she pushes herself out of her chair. Thankfully, the pain was mostly gone and she was able to walk on her own again.
"Can you make it back to up to your common room?" Draco asks.
"I think so, it's only two floors up" Danielle nods. The two stand in silence for a moment after that before Draco suddenly steps forward and pulls Danielle into a tight hug. This surprised Danielle but she hugged him back anyway. He must not want to leave yet either.
"I wish you-know-who would have let you come back to Hogwarts," She tells him. She feels him nod his head as a response. Danielle realizes then that this is the first comfort Draco has had in two months. Since she came back to Hogwarts, Draco hasn't had anyone he could relax and be himself around. She felt bad that he had to go back to the manor alone. When she pulls away from him she looks him right in the eye, "Hang in there for me, ok?" He nods his head quickly but doesn't say anything. "I'll see you soon," she adds before waving goodbye and leaving Snape's office.
I hope you all enjoyed seeing Draco again! It's been a few chapters since he's been around. I think this is another big moment for the two of them too, don't you?
