A/N: The movie has just come out. I'm so excited and I'm seeing it tonight. Enjoy the chapter and thanks reviewers!
Hate's Just a Word
Chapter NINETEEN: Suspicions and Trust
The rest of the night was spent planning an escape. There had to be some way to escape. She would as soon as she could. There didn't seem to be a solution yet, and she would occupy herself until there was. Night ended quickly, and dawn soon came. Lindsay was tired, but not tired enough to sleep. She laid down and waited until someone came to 'wake' her. About two hours after the sun had risen, she heard the knock on her door. She looked over at the door as it opened. It was Draco.
"You're awake early," He observed. She sat up and looked at him. "My father requests your presence at breakfast."
"Oh, breakfast? Considering I'm a hostage of some sort, I get treated pretty well," She said. Draco shrugged.
"Like I said before…he has use for you."
"Is there a certain dress code for breakfast that I must abide to?" Lindsay asked, getting out of bed.
"No, but you should probably change," Draco said. "My mother has a ton of clothes you can wear."
"I'd rather not wear her clothes," Lindsay said, bitterly.
"We'll just transfigure them, then," He said. Lindsay walked towards the door. The two walked towards the room full of clothes.
"I wouldn't trust you to transfigure clothes…" Lindsay said.
"McGonagall thought I was a good student. You're better at it, so you can do it."
"Magic's not allowed over summer break, rememb—" She stopped mid-sentence and it turned quiet. It didn't matter now, did it? There was no more Hogwarts. She could use magic if she wanted to, then. It was kind of sad. She wondered if everyone had been sent home. Had anyone noticed that she was missing? Probably not. They were probably all too busy to notice her… It was kind of sad, but it was expected. She wondered if everyone was alright. Harry, Ron, and Hermione probably did some fighting. Were they okay?
"Draco, who else died?" She asked, suddenly, as they entered the room full of clothes. Draco froze and stared.
"I don't know. One of Dumbledore's people…" He said, quietly.
"Did—"
"Potter's okay. He was running after Severus and me. Snape told me to go on, but I looked back and he was fighting Potter. Potter's okay, though."
Lindsay nodded, and looked away from Draco. As long as Harry was okay, there was still some hope. She walked over and looked through some clothes. She grabbed some random things and transfigured them. She was lucky that she was kind of skilled at transfiguration. She now had a simple shirt and skirt combination. Draco left the room as she changed. When she finished, she left the room and looked at him. He leaned against the wall, waiting.
"Okay, I'm ready for breakfast," She said. He looked at her and nodded. The two walked in silence and headed towards the gigantic dining room. The house elves had already prepared and placed the food. Lucius and Narcissa were already seated. Draco and Lindsay joined them.
"Good morning, Draco," Narcissa said to her son. He looked at her.
"Morning, mother," He said. He didn't sound tired or depressed. He sounded like his normal self. Narcissa smiled at the sudden change in his tone of voice. She shot a warm look at Lindsay, who forced a smile.
"Go on, and eat," Lucius said to the two of them. The each got food and ate it. Draco was eating, once again, but it looked as if he were forcing food into him as Lindsay was doing. Breakfast was kind of quiet and not much happened. Draco finished his food, but waited until Lindsay was down forcing food down.
"Father," Draco said, afterwards. Lucius looked at his son. "I was thinking I should show Lindsay around the house. So, she knows where the bathroom is and where the kitchen is… Things like that."
"Good idea, Draco," He said. "But I would first like a private chat with her."
'Great a private chat. I won't be surprised if it includes my death…'
Lucius stood up and motioned for Lindsay to follow him. Her felt for her wand in her pocket, before following him. She followed Lucius out of the room and into the next room.
"Are you comfortable here?" He asked her. She looked directly at him.
"Very," She said. That was probably the biggest lie she had ever told. "I must thank you, Mr. Malfoy."
"It is no problem," Lucius said. "As you can tell, I have not decided to kill you yet. You seem to be friends with Draco, and he would not associate with someone…unacceptable. There's still a lot I'd like to know."
"Ask away, Mr. Malfoy," She said, although she really wasn't up to making up more lies.
"Why is it that Draco has not mentioned you before?"
"I don't have much importance in his life. The Dark Lord is the most important thing in his life and what is the thing he focuses the most on. Not a trivial thing, such as me."
Lindsay felt a bit unsettled. She didn't know if that was completely a lie… Lucius seemed satisfied with that answer. She then realized something. Lucius was looking for an excuse to kill her. All her answers had to be perfect… The strange thing was that it seemed that he didn't want to kill her. He wanted her to be alive. He spared her life twice so far and he continued to do so. Why? Like Draco said, he had some use for her. If only she knew what it was…
"Who raised you?"
"I was raised in a wizard orphanage…" She answered. It was best not to mention she was raised by two muggle-born wizards.
"What do you know about the Dark Arts?" He asked. This one was a tricky question. She knew about four spells, none of which she had ever preformed or ever wanted to.
"Not as much as I would like to know…" Lindsay replied, at last.
"Do you at least know the Unforgivable Curses?"
"Of course."
"Ever perform them?" Lucius asked. 'No, nor do I want to…' Yet, she had to lie more.
"On people, no. I've practiced on animals a few times. I wanted to have some experience for the day when I use them on actual people," She said, quickly.
"Your favorite one?"
She knew for a fact that his favorite one was the Cruciatus Curse. It would be wise to choose that one.
"The Cruciatus Curse, of course. What is better than watching them suffer before killing them?" She said. Lucius smiled, evilly, pleased with the answer.
"If the Dark Lord ever asked you to kill someone, would you do it?"
"Yes, of course. No questions asked, no hesitation."
"Even if it were someone you care about?" He asked.
"I doubt that would happen. There are very few that I care about in my life, but yes, even if it were someone I cared about."
Lucius stared, and then gave a nod of approval. She lied to him a lot that time, and he bought all of it. She hated being such a good liar.
"One more question, Miss Caldwell," Lucius said. Lindsay was glad that he stopped using the Richmond name. She didn't want him to use it in front of a Death Eater and end up dead. "Do you have your wand with you?"
Lindsay was hoping he wouldn't ever find out. She could lie, but he would eventually find out.
"Yes," She replied, honest for the first time ever, since talking to him.
"Good," Lucius said, and it ended there. They went back into the dining room, were Draco was still waiting.
"You may show her around, Draco," Lucius said. Draco nodded, and Lindsay followed him out of the dining room. They were silent until they were sure they were out of the earshot of the two Malfoys. They walked down a hallway.
"So," Draco said. "Did he say anything interesting?"
"Not really. I just made up a bunch of more lies…" Lindsay said.
"Oh," Draco said. He stopped, and pointed to one of the doors. "This is one of the many bathrooms in the house. There's one nearby our rooms. It's the very last door."
Lindsay gave a nod. They continued to walk.
"I told him that…" She paused for a second. She was interested in his response. "…the reason why you never mentioned me before is that compared to the Dark Lord, I'm quite trivial."
She watched him, and felt a warm feeling as he started chuckling. "If only he knew…"
"I also am interested in dark arts, but do not know much. I've practiced Unforgivable Curses on small animals, but not humans, and I would kill someone if the Dark Lord asked me to…"
"You don't know how weird it is to hear you saying all of this…" He said. "It's even weirder when you're saying it all seriously… It's kind of creepy, actually."
"I'm sure it is," She said. They continued to walk. There were some silences, and some small conversations. He continued to show her around. She was introduced to the other bathrooms, rooms that she was supposed to stay out of, the kitchen, and anything else of importance. They headed back to the area of their rooms.
"Draco," Lindsay said, once they had climbed the stairs. He stopped and looked at her.
"Yeah?"
"I don't think I'll be leaving anytime soon."
"Maybe not, but we'll get you out…er…you'll get out. Don't worry. It will happen…"
"I just wish it was soon. I don't think I can stand a week here. I'll probably die…"
---
A long week went by, and Lindsay was still alive and still at that house. She hated it more than anything. Everyday was the same as the day before. Lucius kept a close watch on her, so she couldn't even try any escape attempts. It was a strange atmosphere. Lucius treated her as a guest, although he knew that she wanted to leave. She constantly had to make up more lies about herself to gain acceptance. Everyday she wondered if this would be the day that she would die.
She really did not like the Malfoys. She hated their customs and their beliefs. Everything about them annoyed her, yet she had to pretend that she accepted them. Her relationship with Draco was quite interesting. It was awkward a lot of times. They talked, sometimes. They acted like they were friends when around the parents. They did not fight as they used to and they avoided all dark topics. They talked like they were friends, but mostly avoided each other. After hearing what happened that night, she wished that she didn't have to be around him. The only thing that kept her from turning on him was the fact that he wasn't able to kill Dumbledore.
She did nothing all day, everyday. She would eat three times a day, bathe, and spent most of the time in the guest bedroom, doing nothing. She knew that exploring could be bad, but she wanted to find out something. Lucius and Narcissa were careful not to talk around her. She would be able to get nothing out of Draco. Perhaps if she explored and went into the rooms she wasn't supposed to go into, she would be able to find out something.
It was probably an hour after lunch. She didn't know what Narcissa and Lucius did in their spare time, but they were constantly disapparating from the house, probably to do some Dark Lord stuff. Perhaps, they had left now. Lindsay decided that she was going to do some exploring. She left her guest bedroom and walked quietly down the hallway. Draco was probably in his room, brooding. She crept past it quietly, and walked down the stairs. She walked down one of the long hallways, leading to the other part of the house. Then, there were more hallways to be walking down from. She recognized a certain door. It was one of the rooms she was not supposed to go in for one reason or another. Draco said it resembled Borgin and Burkes. That was some dark arts store, and so the room probably had a lot of dark related items. She took out her wand, and opened the door. It was a messy room. There were tables with books on them, and tables with items on them. She walked into the room, carefully. She approached one of the tables with Dark items on them.
"Hmm, hand of glory… light only to the beholder. Fun." She continued to look around. "This looks like a death locket of some sort. "
She walked over to the table full of books. All the books were old, black, and dusty. Half of them were in Latin.
"Useful Dark Spells," Lindsay read. She picked up the book and put it aside. "I wonder what's so useful…"
She opened up the book and flipped through the pages. "A spell for making them blind…gesiht… A spell for making them deaf heorcnia Oh, very useful…" She continued to flip through pages, unimpressed. "This one looks disturbing. Flaying of the skin flean… Removal of the organs, painfully organa removere…" She stopped on a page that looked especially complicated. "Torture the victim. Bring them to a world of illusions and slowly torture them… Illusio. That looks creepy." She continued to flip through, until a certain page caught her eye. There was a single spell on it. There was no explanation or description. It was just the word. "Radere." She shrugged and put the book aside. She walked past the first two tables and looked at the third. The first item that caught her eye was a key. She picked up. It was black and gold with an R engraved into it. She shrugged and put it down. The next item was a necklace next to a piece of paper.
"One wish in exchange for one memory," She read aloud. "That's not so bad now, is it?"
She wondered… if she could wish herself out of here. It was only one memory…It wouldn't be that bad. She picked up the necklace and held it in her hand.
"I wouldn't put that on if I were you," A cold voice said from behind her. She turned around and with the necklace in her hand and her wand in the other. Lucius Malfoy stood at the doorway. She couldn't look panicked. She let out a sigh of relief to show that she wasn't alarmed to see him. He stepped forward. "It'll grant your wish fine, but it will take away your most precious memory. I'm sure you don't want that."
She smiled and put the necklace back on the table. She stuck her wand in her pocket.
"What are you doing in here?" He asked. She shrugged.
"Just looking around, I suppose," She replied. He walked into the room and looked around, as if he were looking for something.
"Find anything of interest?" He asked in that bone-chilling voice of his. She shook her head.
"Not really," She said, heading towards the door. Lucius looked around more, and followed her out. She hid her fear well. What if he suspected her or wanted to punish her?
"Now, Miss Caldwell, I can see that you were obviously bored, but I would advise you not to play around in that room."
"Okay," She said, simply. He dismissed her, and she wandered away. It was unsuccessful. That experience told her something she already knew. The Malfoy family is into dark arts. She didn't find any dark secrets. She would have to try another forbidden room, later. He probably figured that she didn't know any better, and she would use that to her advantage. She went back into the guest room to sit and do nothing.
The next day, she made sure that Lucius was not around when she was going to go exploring. She saw him disapparate out of the house and went to go look for another forbidden room. She remembered there was one somewhere near the kitchen area. She wandered through the house, looking for the particular room in one of the many hallways. At last, she found it. Well, it looked familiar anyway. She put her hand on the doorknob and turned it. It didn't open.
"Locked, perhaps?" She muttered to herself. She pointed her wand at it. "Alohamora." She tried opening the door, once more. The door opened. "That was easy." She proceeded to walk through.
"No!"
She turned around to see Draco. She let out a sigh of relief. It wasn't Lucius this time. She turned back around.
"I wouldn't go in there if I were you," Draco said from behind her. She turned her head and looked at him.
"What? Will I die?" She asked, sarcastically.
"You'll set off an alarm, probably get attacked or cursed or something, and if you survive all of that, my father will kill you. So, yes, you will die. You need Malfoy blood to get into that room."
She turned around, frowning.
"So, what's the big secret?" Lindsay asked, crossing her arms. Draco shrugged. "You can go in there. Go find out."
"I'm not sure my father would appreciate that. And even if I did find out, I wouldn't be able to tell you."
"Why not?"
"Once again, the word 'death' may resurface…" Draco said. "My father told me about your little adventure yesterday. Looking for anything in particular?"
"You're sounding so much like your father," She said, coolly. "It might make it easier to hate you. Don't want that, do you?"
Draco frowned. "Listen. You shouldn't do that—wandering around. It'll make my father suspicious."
"Fine, then," Lindsay said, starting to walk away. She looked back at Draco. "Oh, and you can tell daddy that I wasn't looking for anything particular. I was just wandering around."
She continued to walk away. Lucius suspected her of looking for something particular in that room. So there was something that was obviously important in that room, as in the room that you needed Malfoy blood to enter. Perhaps, she would be able to get into one of those rooms, again, but not now. She had to gain Lucius's full trust before attempting anything again.
For the rest of the week, Lindsay met a horde of Death Eaters. She met D.E. Nott, D.E. Jugson, D.E. Macnair, and D.E. Avery. She hated them all the same way she hated Lucius Malfoy. She complemented them all, and then behind their backs to Lucius, she would tell him that they had this certain flaw and wished that she could be more like him. Lucius was always happy to hear things like that. On second thought, she hated Lucius Malfoy more than all of them.