Chapter Trigger Warnings: torture, action and talk of dubious consent and rape, objectification

Chapter 111:

Entrenched Answers

Ariella blinked as she slowly came back to herself. She could feel searing pain through her abdomen and bond mark. She could feel softness surrounding and cushioning her body. More importantly, she could feel eyes on her.

Turning her head, she saw Theo sitting in a chair by the bed. He looked tired; his face drawn. Looking at the decorations behind him, she was surprised when she didn't recognise any of them.

Bringing her gaze back to the chair, she saw his eyes now open and on her.

"Thank Merlin. How are you feeling?"

"Sore. Tired. What about you?"

"About the same."

Tension was thick in the room; almost suffocating.

"I am so, so sorry, Theo – Sir. I never – "

" – don't. None of what's happened is your fault. Do you hear me? None of it. This lies with Lucius and Draco Malfoy."

He could tell she didn't quite believe him but watched as she nodded gratefully to him all the same. He watched as she shifted and winced, clearly in pain.

Suddenly, he sat up straight as a thought occurred to him. "You are forgiven for using my name and you have my permission to use it going forward. You also have my permission to use anything you need or want whenever you are here."

Ariella could feel the magic sweep through her. It wasn't as powerful as when the person was directly attached to the bond, but his words still held power. Particularly given how much…leeway Draco had given to Theodore.

"Thank you, Sir…Theo."

He gave her a stiff nod. "You're welcome."

She still looked exhausted, drawn.

"Go to sleep. I'll wake you if something happens."

She nodded gratefully, curling back up into the soft bed.

Draco stalked into his bedroom, stopping short as he realized something immediately felt wrong. His bed sheets were astray, too much for what he had left it as, let alone what Ariella would have left it as; even if she had slept in it.

Furthermore, things in his own lavatory were out of place; the only one besides him who would have touched them was Ariella and she wouldn't have moved them this far from where they belonged; she knew how particular he could be.

He walked over to his bedside table, when he noticed red. He saw blood. It was light and it was small, but it was there. He swallowed hard. What the hell had happened?

"Nott? You in here?"

He had only been here a few times, but it was enough. Especially to get from the floo to his friend's room.

"Nott?"

Inside the bedroom, Theo stiffened. He glanced towards the bed and saw her shift, scared, even mostly asleep. He shook his head. "Stay here. I'll intercept him."

Theodore headed towards the door, doing as he promised. "What do you want?"

"Nott? What is this?"

"What do you want?" Theodore keeps his tone measured and even.

"What is your problem, Nott?"

"Me? What about you? What about what you forced me to do, forced Ariella to do?"

"What the bloody hell are you on about?"

"Seriously? Are you seriously going to pretend you don't know what I'm talking about right now? What happened earlier today? Are you bloody kidding me, Malfoy?"

"I don't know what the hell you're on about. I haven't done anything of the sort. I've been out all day."

Nott suddenly stopped short; figuratively speaking. "What?"

"I've been gone since five this morning and it's been a hell of a day, Nott. I swear, whatever you think I've done, I haven't, but I need to know what's going on."

Stiffly, he nodded once, leading Malfoy into the bedroom to find Ariella sleeping restlessly in his bed. Draco strode over to her, gently pulling back the comforter just enough so that he could gain access to the bond mark.

"Stay asleep," he murmured quietly.

With a single glance backwards at his still stoic and angry friend, he pressed hard against the bond, making it allow him entry. Draco looked around once it did and found the section that held her memories. He found the most recent and pressed into it. And then watched in utter horror as 'he' forced his servant and friend into having sex, as he tortured his servant beyond anything he had previously done.

He felt sickened, disgusted by what he was paying witness to, what he was apparently capable of.

Draco pulled out, stumbling, partially in the usual dizziness of coming out of the bond, partially in shock and revulsion as he tried to make sense of what he had just seen.

"You honestly didn't know?"

Theo watched as his friend shook his head, sinking to the floor, more distraught and vulnerable than Theo had ever seen him. He could feel some of the anger leeching out of him as he realized the truth of Malfoy's words, the sincerity of them.

"If you don't remember, if you didn't know, then what the hell happened?"

"I – I don't know. But I have two suspicions. One gives us more answers than another. Regardless…I am sorry. For…whatever this actually is."

"If this wasn't actually you, then you don't have anything to be sorry for."

Draco didn't respond.

"What are your suspicions?" he prompted, sitting back down into the bedside chair.

"The bond's reaction, or lack thereof can signal one of two things. Either it didn't recognize who it was because Ariella herself didn't know who it really was underneath whatever concealment or Polyjuice the person used. Or – "

" – or the bond allowed it because it did recognize the person beneath the concealment or Polyjuice," Theodore finished in realization, "and as someone permitted to…use her in such a way, particularly without permission."

Draco just nodded slowly and sullenly.

"Which do you think it is? Or are both options easily as plausible?"

"Don't know. Sometimes, the bond seems to read things more thoroughly then I could ever dream; other times, it seems oblivious. Which this is, I don't know. But as much as I don't want to think him capable of it, I wouldn't put it past my father to have…you and I both know he loathes how I treat her."

"You mean, as if she's an actual human being? Yeah, I've caught onto that once or twice," Nott replied dryly.

Draco snorted half–heartedly in response and ran a hand through his hair, leaning back against the drawers, looking over at the still body before back up at his friend.

"Legally, it's not…legally speaking, she can't be raped."

"What?"

"She's property in the eyes of every law. If someone rapes her, all they can be charged with is stealing property, using it without permission. And that's someone outside of the bond. Within it…there's no recourse. At all."

"So if it was your father, there's nothing we can do."

"It doesn't matter who did it; there's nothing we can do. Except…I can confront my father. See what he knows."

Slowly, he watched Nott shake his head. "No. I hate to say it, but it may be better not to. To try and play his way longer and better. You have to get better at it. For all our sakes."

Draco swallowed hard. "I'm sorry for what happened. For how…deeply you've become involved in this."

"It's what friends do."

He snorted again. "Yeah, having sex with a friend to protect her from another friend is totally normal."

"Point taken. It's what friends in our position do. I wouldn't leave her alone to handle that."

"Still…thank you for…for seeing her through whatever that was, for taking her away to here."

"Like I said, friends take care of each other, no matter the circumstances. And she's always welcome here. As are you, when it is actually you, of course."

"Of course."

Th two sat in silence for a moment.

"Are you going to wake her?"

Draco shook his head. "You are. I need you to not tell her anything; simply make sure she's…as refreshed as possible, then send her back. She can't know most of it. It won't do her any good if she's questioned. I need to return now before anyone grows even more suspicious. If you're right, if this was a…a test, I need to act the part better than ever before."

"You want me to lie to her?"

"It's what friends do, isn't it? Keep each other safe? Isn't that what you just said? Well, this is the best I can do, Merlin help us all."

"But why?"

"The less she knows, the less she can answer. No matter who it actually was, they're going to suspect her, suspect us if she's anything less than terrified, than almost perfectly subservient to me after what happened. If she doesn't know, it won't be an act. Then, if questioned, she can't lie and set the bond off."

"Alright," Theo agreed grudgingly. "I'll see you after the hols then. Send word if I can help further. And for Merlin's sake, watch your back."

"You, too. And thanks."