Chapter 4

Ariana tossed and turned for what seemed the umpteenth time that night. The sun had long since set and she was attempting to ignore to grumbling of her stomach. She knew food wouldn't be delivered until the morning. Her more impertinent issue was getting some rest.

After a round with Lucius Malfoy, finding a comfortable sleeping position seemed impossible. Her arms took on the brunt of the damage this time. Ariana had had the sense to shield her face with them before the attack began.

She spent the about an hour and half of her water allotment trying to cleanse the open cuts. A couple small healing spells managed to allow most of the cuts to scab over, but it was frustratingly difficult to perform with no wand.

Her arms were as clean as they were going to get while existing in this dungeon of a cellar. Besides, if her injuries became infected to the point where she fell ill, her private tutor would provide a small anti-infection potion just like last time.

She found it odd that despite Malfoy's hatred of her, he still clearly desired her to be alive for some reason. Of course, a cat rarely liked to play with a dead mouse. She wrinkled her nose at the expression.

No, she felt more like a bird trapped in a cage, stolen away from whatever the outside world had to offer. Too weak to leave, but still alive to provide some semblance of entertainment. Then there was Lucius Malfoy, constantly clipping her wings least she gain any sort of hope for a different life. She despised it.

Also, arm injuries caused sleeping on either side to be painful. After another bout of fidgeting around, she resorted to squishing her pillow together under her head as she lay on her back and burrowing under her blanket. While her scrapes and bruises certainly made comfort unlikely, they were nothing compared to her racing thoughts.

Her encounters with Malfoy always lived far longer in her mind than they did in real life. Her injuries would fade over time, becoming mere scars to glance for weeks, months or years later. But his voice was still present, sneering obscenities at her. Disgrace. Insolent child. Blood traitor.

His eyes still glared menacingly at her long after he had departed for the night. She knew from experience that sleeping through the entire night after a confrontation with the master of the house was not a feasible option.

Ariana had no tears though. How could she? This was simply how life was. She had long since abandoned the notion of crying. If her sobbing was overheard, she would pay dearly for it. Instead, she avoided eye contact, kept her head bowed and waited for the end.

But would it ever really be the end? she pondered to herself. What if... What if he went too far one of these days?

He had certainly expressed a more violent rage the normal tonight. What if he went further? She shivered at the thought, but couldn't shake it out of her head.

Would he kill her? He certainly hadn't yet, but there was no Dobby any more to patch her up and tell her it would get better. The was no Draco to drop off snacks and boast about Hogwarts with. Even her private tutor had sold her out tonight.

A dark thought crept into the girl's mind as she pulled her blanket up to her face. What if... dying wasn't so bad?

It certainly couldn't hurt as bad as living here did. She would never have to face the wrath of Lucius Malfoy ever again. It was terrifying how much relief the very idea brought her.

Part of her cursed herself for even thinking about taking her own life. Dobby would be terribly upset if he ever found out. The house elf had already done so much for her. And while he may not care about her significantly, she liked to think that Draco might be the least bit bothered by her death too.

And what if she really did have family out there? What if they mourned her?

But the other side of Ariana was sick of the abuse. Sick and tired of always being in the wrong and having to suffer the consequences. She knew she would never be good enough to anyone in Malfoy Manor. She had long since abandoned trying to please them.

It couldn't be too difficult, could it? She was sure her potions textbook contained a plethora of deadly brews. It had been a while since her private tutor had been by to supervise her for potion brewing though. It was also unlikely that Malfoy would let her keep any of the potions she made either. He never had before.

She supposed she could simply stop eating, but that was hardly far from her current situation. It seemed that death was just as much evasive as it was attractive. She reminded herself to think it over in the morning. Sleep was beckoning to her no matter how much her body and mind ached.

Ariana felt her eyes close as she finally drifted off, her last thought praying for a better tomorrow.

A loud crash yanked Ariana from her slumber in a matter of seconds. She shot up out of bed, ignoring the ache of her wounds, as a fearful relegation crossed her mind. Was Lucius back for round two? It was very late at night, but not unheard of. She could feel her body shaking at the thought.

A flurry of swishes and bangs fired off back and forth from upstairs. She heard muffled yells. Definitely more than one. That couldn't be Lucius then. Intruders perhaps?

She rolled over and forced herself up, stumbling only slightly as she stood up and felt around for the bookcase.

It sounded like an attack. She could definitely make out the sound of Mrs. Malfoy screaming and the pops of death eaters apparating into the manor.

Her heartbeat was pounding from all the commotion. She tried to climb onto top of the bookshelf to sneak a glance at the commotion or perhaps hear better, but her arms failed her. She slipped and crashed against the hard unforgiving ground with a thud. A hiss escaped her lips, but she tried to focus on the sound of the fight.

And suddenly, it stopped.

Curiosity was almost to much for her as she considered scaling the bookshelf again. That's when a blast came from behind her as the huge metal door flew right off its hinges and into the wall behind it. Instinctively, she dove behind a pillar, unprepared for the intruder now barging into her room.

Footsteps echoed off of the ground as the intruder began came a tentative few feet into the cellar.

"Ariana?" A man's voice called out in an urgent whisper. "Ariana, are you in here?"

It was a stranger. She definitely didn't recognize the voice. Swallowing every ounce of bravery she possessed, she poked her head out from around the pillar to glance at the intruder.

It was a strange sight to be sure. A man, or rather the skeleton of a man, stood before her. His dark hair was all knotted up, descending to his shoulders and his robes hung over his thin frame like a curtain. His wand illuminated the dark room around him, no doubt revealing her hesitant form to him.

"Sweet Merlin, it really is you." The compassion in his voice was a foreign sound to Ariana and she wasn't sure if she could trust it. They gaped at each other for a moment, each unsure of what to make of the other. However, the commotion resumed from upstairs and ceased the stare off immediately. "Come with me!"

Ariana remained where she stood. Just who was this man and where on earth did he plan on taking her?

"Please!" He whispered impatiently, sticking out his hand for her. "Quickly if you want to get out of here!"

But it wasn't his request that made her move. It was the loud near animalistic yell of Lucius Malfoy getting closer that made her decision for her.

"FIND HER!"

His scream pushed her body into flight or flight mode and she found herself diving for the stranger's outstretched hand without a second thought.

He all but dragged her out of the cellar and up the stairs, blasting away a death eater who stood at the top. They swerved left, just barely dodging a waiting hex.

The man kicked the side door open just in time for Malfoy himself to catch up to them. If Ariana thought he was angry before, he was positively irate now. His robes were hastily tied, his white man was flowing around him in a frenzy and his teeth were clenched together in anger. Her scars burned at the intensity of his glare and she slammed her eyes shut when he sent a stunner their way.

But it never hit. She blinked, recognizing the faint hew of a shield charm over the two of them. It appeared that the stranger had thrown it up just in time to block before sending a stunner of his own in retaliation. Malfoy dodged it, but only barely. The speed of it was greater than any Ariana had ever seen.

"You dare break into my own home?" Lucius shouted, firing spell after spell. The man blocked them with the ease of a skilled dueler and Ariana wondered for the third time just who this man was. She gripped his cloak from behind him as to avoid accidentally being hit by the flurry of spells going back and forth.

"I'm simply taking back what you stole from me!l He shouted with a fury that easily could've rivaled the master of the house. She jumped when her pulled her close and fired a quick "instant darkness" at Malfoy, but she didn't have a second to spare as they took off towards the front garden. The entryway burst into darkness behind them, stalling down the wizards while the two escapees trampled down the stairs.

"Hold on tight!" Ariana was then yanked forward at the same time the man ducked down. She should've crashed against his back. Or perhaps flew forward over him.

Instead however, she found herself thrown onto the back of a bear sized dog running on all four massive paws at full speed ahead.

Gasping, she gripped the fur behind the dog's frantically racing shoulder blades and held on for dear life.

She spared a quick glance behind her to see that Malfoy was just now coming out of the dark cloud that the man, now the dog, had cast. He sent a hex their way, so she yanked the dog to the left to just narrowly miss it it. The same on the right. They were past the garden now and just a few hundred yards to the front gate, where it looked like another figure was waiting for them.

A jet of red flash distracted her from looking further and the dog let out a sharp wine as it dove into his right front leg. The canine beast stumbled and Ariana found herself nearly falling off if not for her ironclad adrenaline induced grip.

Malfoy and a couple others were gaining on them now. Only a few hundred feet separated them, but Ariana and the dog were the same distance to the fence.

The dog tried to pick up his speed, but it was clear they had lost their advantage.

"Avada Kadavra!" Ariana felt the words rather than just hear them and something flashed in her mind.

'A blonde woman. Crumbled on the ground, looking up desperately with her arms outstretched. Begging. Pleading.

"Avada Kadavra!"

"No!" Her eyes slammed shut, her body tensed and, for a split second, the world stopped.

And then everything exploded.

The ground nearly split open. Rocks and rubble flew everywhere like a mini atomic bomb had gone off between them and their attackers.

Someone was screaming. It sounded like her.

The dog leapt out to the man behind the iron fence, his paw connecting with the man's outstretched hand. In a split second, Ariana felt the world turn in on itself.

Then her sight became enveloped in darkness.