Hey Friends! Usually I update more frequently than this but this chapter took a bit of time to rework! Lots of action in here and lots of surprises! Excited to be back!
It had taken a lot of convincing from both Hermione and Draco (on separate occasions) for Eleanor to actually take her Potions OWL. She was convinced that it was useless for her to go. She knew she wouldn't pass, but Draco had finally reminded her that she wasn't one to give up, so reluctantly she went. After taking that OWL and knowing she did terrible on it, she wasn't so keen on going to her others. It had been a hard year and no amount of studying towards the end could save her now.
Each day, each test was like a fresh stab to Eleanor's pride. She hated doing poorly. Sitting in the rooms and hearing the clock tick by was a new brand of torture that Eleanor had never experienced and wasn't keen to continue. The most relieving feeling was when the fireworks began in the hall.
Hogwarts was a mad flurry when the Weasleys began setting off their various pranks throughout the halls. Eleanor pushed her dreaded test away and shot up with the rest of her classmates who went to the courtyard to watch the fireworks.
"They did that for you." Draco's voice came into her ear as they walked with the crowd.
"They did that for everyone." Eleanor replied laughingly.
"I was watching you sigh and groan the entire time. You benefited from it more than anyone else." Draco chuckled. "Let's use this time to study for your next one." He suggested.
"I might use this time to run far away and never come back." Eleanor scoffed. "No more bloody OWLs."
"El," Draco pulled her back to him as the fireworks faded, "the library. You'll feel better if you do."
Eleanor groaned because she knew he was right and followed him to the library as the fun began to die down. Draco pulled out all of his old tests and essays for Charms and stacked them in front of her. "You'll be grateful you did this when everyone else is getting yelled at."
"You have no fun." Eleanor hummed but began to read Draco's most recent essay. Eventually the light from the windows began to grow darker as dusk fell around the castle and Eleanor was tearing through Draco's old tests and taking her own notes from them.
"I'm going to grab dinner and see the damage." Draco announced as he pushed away from the table in the library.
"I'm going to get a few more essays read." Eleanor replied, giving him a thankful smile. It seemed only seconds after Draco left that Hermione rushed in, dirt on her face and twigs in her hair.
"We need to go." She said frantically.
"He's supposed to be here." Harry said, staring at the aisle where he had seen Sirius being tortured. "H-he's supposed to be right here." Eleanor watched him and thought about how she still didn't know how her parents died, and looking at the Department of Mysteries, it became easy to understand why. This place was a maze, an awful maze filled with magic that didn't make sense.
"Harry, this one's got your name on it." Neville's soft voice announced. The whole group turned to look. It was with sickly fascination that Harry grabbed his orb, holding it in his hands and staring at it.
"Sirius isn't here." Eleanor said. "We should go back to the Order and figure everything out." She needed to get out of this place, she needed to be away from where her parents had lost their lives. How had that happened? Why were they here? Eleanor suddenly had no desire to know.
Then the footsteps approached. A slow walk, a gleaming face walked towards them. A Death Eater. All of their wands pointed squarely at the figure.
"Where is Sirius?" Harry demanded. The Death Eater tsked disapprovingly.
"You know, you really should learn to tell the difference between dreams and reality." He said before whisking away his mask.
Eleanor couldn't breathe.
"Lucius." She choked out. How was this possible? This man had helped raise her, he had taken her into his home, protected her, looked after her, mourned her parents, raised a man she knew in her heart she loved. This was not possible. Eleanor pushed by Harry, lowering her wand.
"Eleanor, don't." Harry called as she walked closer to Lucius.
"What the hell is this?" Eleanor demanded, seething, crying. Lucius looked stunned to see her, as though he had not expected her to tag along with Harry, as though he had forgotten they were friends.
"Eleanor," Lucius faltered, his confidence now withering away. He knew that she would have to die or he would lose his son's loyalty. That would have to be the outcome of this night. But if she died, than the Dark Lord would surely kill him for taking away his access to her money and friendship to Harry Potter. Her presence here changed everything.
"You come here, to the place where my parents died, and conspire to kill me and my friends in the same hallways." Eleanor spat out, her heart breaking and boiling all at once.
"Oh, Lucius." Came a high and pouty voice from behind him. "She still thinks you had nothing to do with that." She laughed loudly.
Tears were falling down her cheeks now. "What?" She gasped.
"You haven't told her?" Bellatrix Lestrange made her appearance, looking sinister and absolutely delighted at Eleanor's heartbreak. "Oh dear, well, I guess cat's out of the bag." She giggled. "Lucius and I teamed up, you see, he got them to sign you away, then I came and finished them off." She sounded boastful. Eleanor lunged for her, but a hand on her arm pulled her back towards her group. Tears were flowing furiously down her face.
"You fucking coward!" She screamed at him.
"Hand over the prophecy." Lucius bit out, his words directed at Harry but his eyes locked on Eleanor. He wanted to explain to her everything, how he had been warning them, trying to help them, how everything had gone wrong, but he couldn't, not here.
"If you do anything to us, I'll break it." Harry warned. Hermione held onto Eleanor's shoulder tightly as she ground her teeth and cried silently. Bellatrix Lestrange let out a high pitched laugh at his words, then returned her eyes to Eleanor and smirked.
"I'll kill you." Eleanor bit out, she didn't mean it, she couldn't kill anyone, but there was an inhuman part of her that craved revenge.
"Let's all just calm down." Lucius raised his hands slowly. "All we want from you is the prophecy."
"Why did Voldemort need me to come and get it?" Harry retorted.
"You dare speak his name?" Bellatrix looked as though she had been hit. "You filthy Half-Blood."
"Now, now Bellatrix, the boy is just curious." Lucius tried to appear calm, but Eleanor saw his hands shaking ever so slightly. She knew that he was not expecting his secret to come out tonight, and it was killing him. Eleanor found a bit of solace in the fact that he at least had enough humanity to feel regret. "Prophecies can only be retrieved by those about whom they are made, which is lucky for you, really." Lucius began walking towards them, Eleanor didn't want to take her eyes off of him, but felt a slight squeeze on her arm from Hermione that alerted her to the hoard of Death Eaters now slowly surrounding them. "Haven't you always wanted to know about the connection between you and the Dark Lord? Why he was unable to kill you when you were just an infant? Don't you want to know the secret of your scar? All of the answers are there, in your hand." Lucius looked down at the glowing blue orb that rested in Harry's fingers. "All you have to do is give it to me. I can show you everything." Harry looked at the orb himself, then to Eleanor whose face still shown with tears.
"I've waited 14 years." Harry stated.
"I know." Lucius sounded as though he was trying to be sympathetic, Eleanor wanted nothing more than to punch him square in the jaw.
"I guess I could wait a little longer." Harry stated definitively before giving the signal to his friends. All of them shot a stunning spell out of their wands and ran towards the door they had entered. They stayed together for a time, but Death Eaters would materialize in front of one or the other, causing them to split up.
"Enough of this shit." Eleanor muttered to herself, escaping from Hermione's side, just hoping to run into Bellatrix or Lucius on her own.
"Eleanor?" Hermione called out nervously at her friend's disappearance.
Much to the dismay of the tear stained girl, neither Bellatrix nor Lucius showed themselves to her, a few other Death Eaters did, but Eleanor would throw a stun their way and weave through the aisles of prophecies until she bumped into the group again and immediately saw Ginny's wand raised and heard her shout "Reducto!"
It took a moment before all of the prophecies began to fall, thousands, if not millions shattering on the floor. "Get back to the door!" Harry instructed, the seven of them ran at lightning speed, Eleanor's mind could barely keep up with everything she had just seen, her feet carrying her when her brain just wanted to stop. They fell through the open door and stepped into nothing.
Eleanor relished in the feeling of falling. Her tears dried against the rushing air, she thought she would die at the end, and would that really be so bad? Or she would stay suspended in the air forever, and that wouldn't be the worst thing either. Everything she had thought had been a lie. Any trust she had for people now seemed extremely misplaced. Everything was wrong. There was a slight tug on her navel as her body jerked to a soft stop a foot above the ground before landing on the hard surface. Eleanor laid on the ground while Harry muttered on about voices and Hermione begged him to leave. Eleanor sat up slowly but didn't listen to anything they were saying until Harry said in a serious voice: "Get behind me."
Eleanor scrambled to her feet and huddled in between her friends while they got ransacked by clouds of black. Eleanor felt herself being tugged to her feet and held by her hair against a tall man. She watched on helplessly, struggling only slightly and getting a wand tapped on her throat to remind her that she could still die, just like her parents.
Harry was the only one left, and Lucius stalked towards him, malice clear in his face. "Did you actually believe, or were you truly naive enough to think that children stood a chance against us?" All Eleanor could think about in this moment was Draco. How had Draco come from this man? This dishonest, cruel, evil murderer? There were times when Eleanor had called Draco cruel, but he didn't even hold a light to his father. Eleanor had trusted him, defended him, shared joys with him, and he was still capable of this evil? It did not make sense. "I'll make this simple," Lucius extended his hand to Harry, "give me the prophecy now, or watch your friends die." Lucius could have vomited at the words coming out of his mouth, he knew that it would only be a matter of time before the Dark Lord held his son to a similar ultimatum.
"Don't give it to him, Harry!" Neville cried, earning a harsh tap from Bellatrix's wand. This utterance, apparently, did not persuade Harry, because he placed the prophecy delicately in Lucius' hands, looking around at his friends in the clutches of Death Eaters.
The moment Harry had given over the prophecy, a beam of white light entered the room. Sirius appeared behind Lucius.
"Get away from my Godson." With a swift and hard punch to the jaw, Lucius fell to the ground, crushing the prophecy. The Order started arriving quickly then, Remus ignored all other Death Eaters present and ran to Eleanor's side.
"My love, what are you doing here?" He asked, pulling her in a bone crushing hug.
"Harry saw Sirius being tortured, I had to come and help save him, I couldn't let anyone else die here." Tears began bubbling in Eleanor's throat again, Remus held her close for another moment.
"Stay here, please." He begged, as he fled to help the other members of the Order. Eleanor, for lack of better judgement, did. She watched while the Order fought for them, fended off Death Eaters, and Eleanor took this moment to breathe. Harry had, of course, joined the fray. But Eleanor didn't trust herself, her judgement, or her aim in this battle. Her hands shook wildly and she felt as though she would throw up on the pavement when she saw Bellatrix cornering Sirius. She looked around, no one was paying attention, only Harry, who looked desperate and confused.
Eleanor's childhood flashed before her eyes as she watched the woman who stole her parents from her prepare to steal Harry's godfather as well. A surge of passionate energy went through Eleanor's body as she screamed the only thing she could think, feeling as though her parents were right beside her.
"Expecto Patronum." And a giant, white lion, one that resembled very much the lion on the Gryffindor house crest, flew from the end of her wand, shocking her, because the last time she produced a Patronus, it had been a small bobcat, nothing to write home about. Her Patronus rushed through Bellatrix, knocking the woman to the ground and leaving Sirius stunned, but very much alive.
Without thinking much more, Eleanor shot up from her spot to where Bellatrix's wand had fallen and held it in her hands. "What are you going to do with that, Eleanor?" Lucius' voice rang out in the now relative silence. Death Eaters had been apprehended by Order Members, her friends were safe. Eleanor trained her eyes on Malfoy, she knew Bellatrix, who was half unconscious from the blow and also wandless, was not much of a threat, only Lucius. "Turn it into the Ministry and get her arrested for all her crimes?" He was taunting her, the man had the audacity to taunt her after what he had done to her parents.
"I could break it." Eleanor let out quietly.
"Ah yes, because broken wands defeat great Witches and Wizards." He remarked snidely, Eleanor noted how his hands shook, how his eyes looked half crazed.
"My parents loved you." Eleanor clenched her teeth. "And you killed them."
"I tried to stop them from dying." Lucius lashed out, brandishing his wand, causing Remus and Sirius both to take a cautionary step forward. "I gave them a way out, and their pride caused them to refuse me."
"So you killed them." Eleanor stated.
"I didn't kill them!" Lucius yelled madly. "She killed them," He jabbed his wand in Bellatrix's direction, "I put them in the wrong place, at the wrong time, I didn't know she would be there." Lucius took a deep breath and closed his eyes, as if remembering the moment. "I did something worse to them. I stole…" He trailed. Eleanor furrowed her brows.
"Stole what?" She demanded.
"You."
"Lucius!" Bellatrix snapped. "Don't betray our Lord's secrets!" She was up in a moment, hands wrapped around Eleanor, grasping for her wand. Eleanor elbowed her sharply in the gut and ran towards Lucius, who looked equal parts crazed and defeated. Months of keeping dark secrets that hurt those he loved was driving him to insanity.
"Eleanor, that's enough." Remus grabbed his daughter and pulled her close to him. "Sweetheart, he isn't worth it, we will figure this out when we are all safe." He whispered lowly to her.
Bellatrix took this as her chance to run, which caused the domino effect of Harry chasing her, leaving Sirius to chase him, Death Eaters struggling to chase the two of them and the Order following suit until only Lucius, Remus and Eleanor stood in the room.
"What did you do?" Eleanor asked slowly, keeping her eyes trained lethally on Lucius.
"They were trying to protect you from Him." Lucius breathed out raggedly. "I warned them that He wanted you to join Him and they didn't accept my help, they went behind my back, behind His back to set everything up for you to be in control of yourself. If they had just-" Lucius shook his head. "I was ordered to Imperius them to legitimize you as my ward, then I could promise you to the Dark Lord. Bellatrix decided to tie up loose ends and kill them before they realized what I was doing. I was trying to keep them alive." He was begging Eleanor to understand. "I was trying to keep you alive. You only fall to him if I fail." He gestured around. "I just failed."
"I don't understand." Remus said. "I'm her father, legally, guardianship falls to me. Her parents made it so that she was able to be in control of her own assets and not split them."
"Yes." Lucius agreed. "And the Minister will not recognize the documents I made them sign as legitimate. Once the Ministry falls and the Dark Lord chooses to recognize those documents, your loyalties and your money will legally belong to your husband."
"I won't get married." Eleanor reasoned.
"My dear, you won't have much of a choice. Your feelings for my son are obvious, and the Dark Lord will use them against you." Lucius revealed quietly.
"That's if he ever comes to power." Remus amended. "Enough of this nonsense, you need to get home."
Eleanor still didn't understand what Lucius had revealed to her, the legality of things was confusing and overwhelming. In anger, she snapped Bellatrix's wand in half and threw it at Lucius' feet. "I loved you, and I love your son is twice the man you are, and I'm not ashamed to love him." She said with a level voice before turning to the exit. Remus kept his wand trained on Lucius until he was out of sight. When the two were finally alone, Remus pulled his daughter aside.
"Are you hurt?" He asked, searching her face and body for any sign of trauma.
"Not really." She shrugged out of his grasp. "I don't understand what he meant. I don't know what's going on."
"You're safe for now." Remus assured, wiping a bit of blood from a small cut on her face.
"Is Draco?"
"I would imagine the boy has some hard times ahead, but yes, for now he is also safe."
"I want to see him." Eleanor was nearly in tears now. She didn't want to ask him questions, or wonder about his loyalties, or even talk about his father. She just wanted to see him. Things were going to get worse, they were going to get darker, and she just wanted to be with him.
"I should imagine you do." Remus gave her a soft smile. "Let's go join the others."
As they approached the fountain in the main lobby of the Ministry of Magic, the duo stopped dead in their tracks, seeing Voldemort in the flesh standing over Harry's eerily still body. Mad Eye was restraining Sirius and everyone else watched helplessly. Dumbledore looked calmly over Voldemort and Harry.
"That's-" Eleanor breathed. Remus gave a nod and positioned himself in front of Eleanor as they walked towards the group. All traces of Death Eaters were gone, and fireplaces started to light up as the Minister and other officials walked onto the scene.
"I need to get Sirius out of here." Remus whispered to Eleanor, putting a hand on Sirius' shoulder, DisApparating the two of them.
"He's back." The Minister breathed out the moment before Voldemort disappeared.
Eleanor rushed to Harry's side as did Ron and Hermione. "Eleanor, you saved him." Harry gasped out, crushing Eleanor into his chest. "He should have died, he almost did, you saved him." His breathing was ragged and despite being weak, held Eleanor tightly to him.
"We didn't need any more deaths in the Department of Mysteries." Eleanor smiled sadly at Harry. She knew they would all have to talk to the authorities and reporters soon about what had happened that night, but she wanted to spend a single moment basking in the fact that no one had to lose their life that night.
"Lucius, he killed your parents." Harry breathed out. Eleanor gave a singular shake of her head.
"No. We'll talk about what Lucius Malfoy did or didn't do later." She assured, rubbing his arm and raising her eyes to the surrounding circle of Ministry officials offering hands to help the children up and flipping open notepads to get their stories.
Another fireplace flashed green. "El! Ellie!" A voice called out. There was only one person on the planet who called her that.
"Draco?" Eleanor spun to find him running towards her. He looked as though he had been awoken from bed, his hair a mess, the wrinkled clothes from the day before thrown on haphazardly and buttoned improperly.
Without a care, she threw her arms around his neck as their bodies collided with a breathless thud.
"Are you okay?" Eleanor detected desperation, even tears in his voice. "When I heard that you had left to the Ministry and that my aunt, and my fa-" he choked on the last word. "I thought you were dead." Eleanor buried her face into his neck while he hid his tears in her long hair. They stood like that for a long moment.
"I'm fine." Eleanor finally said, kissing the divet where his neck met his shoulder. "Draco, I love you." She admitted, pulling away from him to look into his light eyes. "Our lives are about to get so much harder, but I need you to know that I love you, and I'm not going to stop." Draco smiled widely, not caring that Harry Potter and his friends saw his inexplicable joy. He wrapped his fingers in Eleanor's hair and brought his forehead to hers gently.
"I've been waiting my whole life for you, El." He whispered softly. "I love you. More than you know."