Short one, but full of suspense!
She's done it! Molly Weasley pulls through yet again!
Her performance at the Ministry of Magic has reporters going wild! I truly have chosen a friend that is crazy, loyal, and breathtakingly emotional. She's a bloody Gryffindor—of course she'd go affronted at the drop of a hat! Quite the incredible little firecracker she is. I knew the minute she saw Lucius in person she'd lose her mind on him. Absolutely perfect.
Although I've reached a little bit of a snag that is not so perfect in my plan. Draco is sick. Not just mentally and emotionally, but physically. He's got a fever, a terrible cough, and he's extremely run-down. Why is this a problem? Because we can't exactly go to St. Mungo's to have him looked at—that involves personal work; blood samples, medical scans, DNA. Most importantly, DNA. I'm trying every potion I know to try to bring down that fever, but sadly it's been getting worse over the past few days. Draco's cheeks are flushing and turning a bright shade of pink every time his temperature spikes. I don't know what to do about it—we can't go to any of the neighbors; it's too risky. No one can be that close to either of us. Looking at "Roger Vane" from a different angle might immediately cause them to think that he looks astoundingly like Draco Malfoy, and then there goes our whole plan. So I make him lie in bed all day, cooking up soup and potions and playing the mummy I used to be for my little boy except without the ordering husband standing over me, demanding to know why the baby wasn't getting better, commanding that I take him to St. Mungo's because I clearly wasn't doing my job right. Sweet little Draco huddles under the blankets, faintly murmuring to himself when the fever spikes and makes him delirious. I've always wanted to be a Healer. Maybe now I'll get my chance.
But as I wait for the strongest of all the curing potions I've brewed to finally enter the last few steps, I think back to what's still left to do in the Missing Malfoy case. I make a checklist in my head.
Keep a fake diary: check.
Hide the diary: check.
Make a mess of the bedroom, show signs that there was a struggle and that a vulnerable being was raped: check.
Use Draco's blood: check.
Change hair color and clothing: check.
Take the withdrawn money and buy new wands: check.
Move to a secluded development: check.
Wait for the diary to be found: check.
Wait for Mother and Father to testify: check.
Wait for Molly Weasley to testify: double-check.
Allow Lucius to continuously stumble over himself when he can't answer the personal questions about us: check.
But, oh yes! There is one more little surprise I left for Lucius. I know that the Aurors are going to want to inspect anyone and everyone I mentioned in my diary—those that are still alive, of course. Since they've made it to the Molly Weasley part, there's one more to follow that's going to lead to a shocking discovery on their part. I hate to say I'm banking on this, because if it doesn't happen the way I expect it's certainly not going to ruin things, but I definitely can't wait to see it happen.
Harry Potter will give his information on us.
And he knows the three Malfoys best of all. Draco? He knows Draco as a very confident boy that lost everything about his demeanor during the war and became a scared, sad young boy. Me? He knows me as the woman who saved him—the woman that was more Gryffindor in that moment of decision than Slytherin. Lucius?...Ah, this is where the fun comes in. He knows Lucius to be sneaky, manipulating, self-interested. He's seen Lucius use Dark Magic on innocent people; he understands how terrifying my husband can be. If he complies, he'll spill every single spell and dark deed Lucius performed to the authorities, further incriminating the man that swears his innocence. I've said it before and I'll say it again: he may not have physically killed us, but he murdered our spirits, our inner pursuit of good, and that's basically the equivalent in this world.
So what's the surprise for Lucius? Well, he won't know that Potter is going to say all that. He won't know that the Aurors will check his wand that I've hidden (since he'd been on strict no-magic probation since the war ended up until the trial) in the dresser upstairs, where he promised the officials it would stay until his release date. I left him a little spell on his wand there. One to really seal the deal, pardon the pun. Just before Draco and I left, I grabbed one of Bellatrix's old dolls that I'd kept when I found her attempting to pull the head off violently when we were kids. Lucius had told me it was silly to keep such a thing for so many years; he even threw it against the wall and cracked its porcelain cheek during one of our pointless arguments. Anyway, I cast a Full-Body Bind curse upon it using his wand, which showed no effect, as it was glass. And then I replaced the wand like nothing ever happened. The doll? What happened to it? Oh, how silly of me to forget to mention. That's part two of his little surprise.
I put the doll down in the cellar, hair ripped out in clumps, cracked face, dress torn and twisted, a noose tied around its neck, and I hung her from one of the beams. She's a beautiful blonde doll—one that Mother and Father got for each of us girls one Christmas. We had one that was identical to us specifically.
So as I sit here pouring a mug of potion for my little boy, I smile as I think about what it's going to look like when someone decides to be brave and go into that haunting cellar.
A pretty little blonde girl.
Once perfect and now tainted with imperfections.
Hanging by her neck.
Because of Lucius Malfoy.