Posted: Oct. 29, 2004

Chapter Four: Dawn of a New Day

It was an hour before midnight as Angelina walked around the ground floor of the manor lit only by candlelight. It had been about two weeks since the incident with Draco. It had also been that long since she'd seen him. Hogwarts had let out for the summer a week ago and Draco had not returned home. There was a war going on outside these walls and, like Draco had instructed, she stayed within them.

Angelina did not want to admit it to herself, but she was scared. She worried for her friends who she knew would be involved with the battle, and also for her family. She tried to get an owl out to them, but her owl refused to go, and she couldn't blame it. She hated being in this big house by herself, especially at night. Though the house was new, it felt as if it had a soul of its own. Angelina constantly felt like she was being watched.

The days were a bit easier though, because she at least had Grayson to talk to when he would take his break to have tea with her. Having lunch together in the manor soon developed into an everyday thing.

Angelina had just reached the bottom of the stairs about to go up to her bedroom, when she heard a thud at the door. She turned to face it when she heard the sound. "Hello?" she called out, but there was nothing. She slowly walked towards the door. "Hello?" she called out again, but there was still nothing.

She pulled out her wand as she put her other hand on the knob and gently turned the handle. She opened the door and jumped back as the body that was leaning on the door collapsed to the floor. "Ahhh!" She pointed her wand to the body that was laying face down on the floor. She knelt down and turned the body over. "Draco?" she whispered to his unconscious form.

He was dressed in his Death Eater robe which was drenched in blood. There was so much that Angelina couldn't tell if it was all his. His face was also covered in the red liquid. It looked as though his white mask had shattered and some of the pieces from it had become lodged in his face, mostly on the left side.

Angelina dragged his body inside. She had to get help, but she couldn't let him be seen in his Death Eater robe. She struggled to get the robe off of him, and when she did, she gathered it in her arms and looked for a place to hide it. She ran to the living room and threw it into the fireplace and lit a fire. She noticed, as she ran back to Draco that the blood from his robe had transferred onto her housecoat.

She soon realized that Draco was too heavy for her to carry and that dragging him around the manor was not practical. She ran through the house and out the back door and to the cabin that Grayson stayed in on the estate. "Grayson!" She banged on the cabin door furiously. "Grayson!" Grayson opened the door and was surprised to see Angelina covered in blood. "I need your help." When Grayson saw her take off back towards the house, he followed.

"My God," Grayson whispered, as he came into the front of the house and saw the drag marks lined with blood, and the lifeless body of his boss on the floor. "We need to get him to a hospital," he said to Angelina as she knelt back down beside Draco to check on him.

"No, no hospitals!" she yelled, not realizing how hysterical she sounded to Grayson. She knew taking Draco to the hospital would eventually expose him as a Death Eater. He would then be put on trial and if that happened, Angelina knew that he would be found guilty and sentenced to life in Azkaban. "Please, let's just get him upstairs."

Grayson picked Draco up and carried him up the stairs, while Angelina slowly followed behind them. He put Draco down on the bed while Angelina went and got a bowl of water and a wash towel, along with a pair of tweezers.

She started with the broken pieces of the shattered mask. She carefully removed them with the tweezers, but it wasn't easy though, since many of the pieces were rooted deep into his face.

It had taken her about half an hour to recover all the pieces. She was going to start cleaning him up with the water and wash towel when to her horror she realized he was bleeding from his side. She looked up and saw that Grayson was still in the room. She had been so involved with Draco that she had forgotten that he was there. "Grayson, go to the bathroom, it's right down the hall, look in the medicine cabinet and bring me a needle and thread."

"Of course, Madam Malfoy." Grayson left the room to fetch the items.

Angelina started to undo the buttons on Draco's blood stained shirt. "It's going to be okay Draco. I got you." She whispered. When she opened his shirt she noticed the long gash on his side and cursed at herself for not seeing to it first, but it didn't seem to be bleeding before or else she thought she would have noticed it.

Grayson soon returned and Angelina went to work with the stitches on his side. When that was completed, she began to clean off his face realizing that the cuts on them were too deep to heal themselves. She decided it would be best if she seamed them up too. The deepest cuts were on the left side of his face. They formed into a cross.

"Thank you, Grayson," Angelina said to him when she was finished. "You can return to your cabin now. I have everything under control." She smiled tiredly.

"Are you sure?" he asked her. Angelina simply nodded, and Grayson made his way out the door.

Though tired, Angelina decided to get Draco out of the rest of the stained clothing; though she could do nothing about the sheets; she wanted to move him as little as possible. She then, once again, took the wash towel and wiped the rest of the blood off of Draco's body. She went and found his purple pajamas, but only managed to put on the bottoms. She didn't want to risk undoing her stitching by trying to put on the top. When she was finished she found herself lying beside him, staring at the black skull and snake tattooed on his left arm. She gingerly swept her fingers over the Dark Mark; it hadn't been there five short months ago, when he had paraded himself in front of her.

She then thought back to that day at the café when he looked like an innocent child, and she realized that then, he was. But she knew now he was a completely different story. She knew that he had witnessed others being killed, and that he had probably participated. Angelina didn't want to face it before, but she had to now; her husband was a murderer. No, he was more than that, he was a Death Eater. At that thought, a shiver ran down her as she readjusted her pillow. She was exhausted from all the activity and soon found herself drifting asleep.

When Draco woke up the next morning, he was a little disoriented, but soon became aware that he was at home, in his own bed, but couldn't remember exactly how he got there. He turned and saw Angelina; she was so exhausted from what had happened that she hadn't even bothered to take off her housecoat. So the sight of her covered in blood, accompanied by more of it on the sheets, instantly threw Draco into a world of panic.

"Angelina!" he screamed as he shook her. Her eyes flew open at the sudden sound of her name and being shaken violently. Draco relaxed, but breathed heavily. "I thought you were- urgh." Before he could finish his statement, he was overwhelmed with a surge of unbelievable pain. He grabbed his side and fell back onto the bed, groaning.

"Don't overexert yourself." Angelina sat up and rested on her knees. She then began to check the stitches.

"Where did all that blood come from?" Draco asked her.

She looked down at herself and then at back at him. "It's yours," she explained. "You were in pretty bad shape last night." She lightly touched the stitching on his left cheek. "I did the best I could, but you're going to have some scars."

Draco's hand snapped up and grabbed Angelina around the wrist tightly. She tried to pull away, but she was yanked back towards him. He looked at her suspiciously. "Why didn't you leave me to die?"

Angelina looked at him for a moment. "Why didn't you?" she asked, referring to what had happened that night in Diagon Alley.

He let go of her wrist and looked around the room as if looking for the answer. "Because you're my wife," he finally said, looking at her. "It's my duty to protect you."

"And you're my husband," she replied. "And I have that same duty." And at that very moment, each had gained the respect of the other. "Not that I'm saying I would die for you or anything," she added as she smiled.

Though still very much in pain, Draco managed, to Angelina's surprise, a warm smile as he responded, "Likewise."

OoOoO

It was two days later and Angelina found herself nodding to sleep on the couch in the living room at two o'clock in the afternoon. Draco had been having a hard time sleeping. He would often wake up, several times, in the middle of the night screaming, usually drenched in sweat. Angelina had told him at anytime he was willing to talk about his dreams, she was willing to listen, but he told her that would not be necessary.

Forcing herself off the very comfortable couch, Angelina went to check on Draco, whom she practically had to force to stay in bed until his side was well enough. "You 'sleep?" she asked, as she stepped into the bedroom and got no reply. She looked at him tucked under the fresh sheets and was relieved that he was finally getting some proper rest.

As she was about to leave the room, she heard a strange sound. She turned around and found that it was coming from Draco. He seem to be talking in his sleep, so Angelina moved in closer to see if she could make out what he was saying. "I lied, I lied . . ." he murmured, "the book . . . time . . ." Angelina couldn't understand anything after that. Just then the door bell rung and Angelina went downstairs to see who it was.

She opened the door to find a tall man with short, curly, black hair and eyes the color of midnight. "What do you want, Montague?"

He slightly pushed the door opened and let himself into the house, much to Angelina's dismay. "So it is true," he said once inside, turning around to face Angelina. "Malfoy has caught himself a little Gryffindor," he smirked.

"Either state what you want or get the hell out." She looked at him angrily. "No, scratch that, just get the hell out." She pointed outside the door.

"Still mad, I see. You sure can hold a grudge, can you?" he said as he walked over to the door and tried to close it, but struggled with Angelina. "I'm not leaving, Johnson." He sounded agitated. "Not till I get what I want."

"What? What is it?" She stopped fighting with him on the door and he closed it.

"I'm here to see Malfoy." His eyes scanned around the room. "We have business to discuss."

"Draco is preoccupied at the moment." She reopened the door. "So sorry you came all this way, really hate to see you go." She gave a cartoonish smile.

Montague closed the door again. "I know he's here, because I brought him here the other night. And I know he isn't in any shape to go anywhere."

The cartoonish smiled dropped from Angelina face. "How come you didn't see to him?" she asked. "He was practically dead when I got to him."

Montague shrugged his shoulders. "He refused help, he's stubborn that way. Malfoys always are." He paused. "So where is he? Upstairs, perhaps?" He began walking towards the stairs.

"Stop!" Angelina blocked his way at the bottom of the stairs.

"We aren't in school anymore, Johnson. I'm tired of playing games. So move." he hissed.

"I'm a Malfoy now, I'm stubborn, remember?"

"Please, you were always stubborn." His dark eyes seem to sparkle and his lips played with a smile. "You always had a fire about you." His eyes looked her over. "Too bad Malfoy got to you first. We could have had some real fun," he said huskily, and blew a kiss. "We still could." He winked.

A little unnerved by his sudden advancement towards her, Angelina wanted to take a step up the stairs to create some distance. But she didn't want him to know that he had rattled her. So she decided to do the opposite, she took a step closer and met him dead on. "You wish, because you know, as well as I do, you could never handle a real woman like me," she told him. "And like you said yourself, I'm like a fire, so step back or you're bound to be burned."

"Aw, I've missed your riddle like threats. But tell me, Johnson-" he was interrupted.

"Get out. You're not welcome here." They heard a powerful and gruff voice from upstairs. Angelina turned her head and saw that Draco was at the top of the stairs. Other then the stitches on his face, he stood as if he were in perfect health.

"You and me aren't done yet, Malfoy." His somewhat playful façade towards Angelina turned to stone the moment Draco came into his view.

Draco eyes never left Montague. He would not, could not, show weakness. "Another day, Montague."

"Mal-"

"I said another day!" he yelled angrily.

"Fine," Montague spat, and then looked back at Angelina. "I know when I'm not wanted."

"Funny, took you long enough," she told him, before he turned to walk out the door. As soon as the door closed behind Montague, Draco dropped to his knees at the top of the stairs.

"What the hell are you doing out of bed?" Angelina kept a touch below a yell as she walked up the stairs.

"No, it's okay really, I'm fine," Draco said sarcastically from the floor. "No need to fuss over me."

"You're more trouble than you're worth, you know that?" She had Draco put his arm around her neck and she helped him off the floor and down the hall to the bedroom.

"Hmm." Draco noticed Angelina's fragrance. "You smell funny."

"Well, you don't smell like a rain fresh meadow yourself."

"I didn't mean you smelt bad." He rolled his eyes. "I mean you smell like tulips."

"I don't see how I couldn't. You got the whole place littered in the things."

"I thought you liked tulips," he said, as Angelina helped him back into bed.

"What gave you that idea?" Angelina looked down at him.

He seemed to be thinking. "I don't know. You just always seemed like a tulip kind of girl." He smiled, "Tulip."

She gave him an odd look. "Okay," she simply said, as she got in on the other side. She laid with her back to him like always. "Draco?" she asked after a little while.

"Yes?"

"What will happen if you are found out to be a Death Eater? What will happen when You-Know-Who is defeated?" she asked.

"Tulip, what are you talking about?" he began. "Potter put up a decent fight, but like I told you, he had no chance against our Dark Lord." An evil grin crept onto his face. "We were victorious."

Angelina turned around faster than she thought possible. "What?" She didn't know whether to be relieved because the battle was over, or horrorstruck because the wrong side had won.

To Be Continued . . .

Preview Of The Next Chapter:

Angelina stood outside the cemetery gate; she had been standing there for at least ten minutes. She was afraid to step inside, afraid of what she knew she would find there.