The Amazon, who lies in the Hunter,
has again cruelly felled her prey.
Woe betide the kinslayer -
Even were it an accidental death
She laughs, and laughs, and laughs.
I am Helen of Troy, trapped in my own mistakes.
Light my candle in my stead.
Draco very gingerly fed his Mother's great white owl, in an absentminded sort of way. He didn't even notice when it flew out of the Great Hall, its heavy wings ruffling his hair.
Instead, he stared at his mother's missive. It was... more detailed than he'd been expecting. Although he had to admit he wasn't at all surprised to hear Bellatrix Black had killed her cousin. From the stories he'd heard, she was a fanatic among fanatics... Even if she grieved, she wouldn't show it to anyone.
His mother didn't know if it had been intentional or not, Sirius' death - Bellatrix would be unreliable at best on the subject - deliberately lying to burnish her reputation at worst.
That wasn't the part that made his heart ache, though. It was his mother's description of herself. She wasn't the Face That Launched A Thousand Ships... but she was definitely regretting her marriage into the Malfoys.
Whatever was going on in Malfoy Manor...
His mother could no more leave than he could go to her.
She was doing this for him, Draco knew deep in his heart.
Draco crumpled the note into a tattered rag, trying at the same time to hide the ache in his heart.
I cannot save her.
[a/n: Draco, at least, knows who he can help, and who he can't. Bear in mind, if he's met Bellatrix, it was when she was in prison.
Leave a review. High times in River City coming soon.]