Welcome to parchment 18! we are finally getting out of winter break.

I wanted to do more with winter break, but it's taking too long, and i don't want to drag stuff out!

Thank you to Indigofrisbee, xXMizz Alex VolturiXx, and DizzyPotter for their wonderful reviews!

Enjoy!


Our Time Is Running Out

Parchment 18: Fear

Her head was almost spinning. The room was warm, but Lixella felt cold, all the way to her core. It took all of her willpower to keep herself from shivering in fear. It had been a few days since Christmas, and she was sitting at, yet another, one of Voldemort's awful meetings. The atmosphere in the room was making her nauseous, she would have looked sick, had she not been trying to compose herself.

Voldemort was sitting at the head of the table, every now and then he would get up and criticize everyone. Lita, who had come with uncle Zander, stood outside with the other house elves. Luckily, this time, uncle Zander was able to sit next to Lixella. She was pretty thankful, considering that last time she almost had to sit next to Bellatrix. Who, at the current moment, was sitting on the left of uncle Zander, staring at Voldemort with wide eyes.

"I thought for sure" said Voldemort, "that you would have it done by now, Draco. Why is it taking so long?"

"The cabinet, it's taking too long to mend" he had to force the words out.

If there was one thing Lixella despised, it was watching Voldemort question Draco. It was like watching a spider pick at a fly that had just gotten caught in the web. The little fly couldn't say anything, because it was using all of it's strength to get away from the spider. But, despite the fly's attempts, the spider just kept stabbing at it. It was one of those situations, where you just wanted to look away.

"Zander!" he shouted, "What cabinet is he talking about?"

Uncle Zander winced in fear, "It's a vanishing cabinet, my lord. It's supposed to be able to get he death eaters into Hogwarts, safely. I've been trying to mend it ever since…"

"Since when?" he screamed.

"Since my brother William, gave it to me"

The whole room went dreadfully silent. Lixella knew what was coming. Voldemorts cold eyes peered over to her. A crooked smile crept over his featureless face.

"William, you say?" he asked in a smooth tone, "Why…didn't he have a daughter?"

Voldemort slowly stood up, and made his way over to Lixella's chair. Her heart began racing, and a knot formed in her stomach. She was becoming more nauseous as he moved closer. Soon, he stopped right behind her chair. He wrapped his boney white fingers around the chair's back. Then, he flung her chair backwards, almost causing Lixella to topple over.

"Stand up, girl" he demanded.

Lixella stood up as quickly as she could. She was biting back fear, trying to keep her face expressionless.

"I want to be able to look you in the eyes, so I can tell if you're lying to me"

He stared at Lixella with his cold slits of eyes. "Tell me, Lixella…tell everyone…was that your father's vanishing cabinet?"

"Yes, my lord" she said. It surprised her that she was able to speak without stuttering.

"Ah….so we have a nice little heir here!" he turned to the table, "Well then, did he teach you how to use it properly?"

Lixella took a deep breath, she didn't want to answer. She knew what would happen if she answered him.

"Did he?" yelled Voldemort, looking her straight in the eye.

"Yes!" she shouted, "he….he did, when I was 11."

"Very good" he turned, and sat back down. He motioned for Lixella to sit as well, she went to push the chair in.

"Don't bother, Lixella….sit, please" he said.

Lixella sat in the chair, and with the flick of Voldemort's wand, the chair shot itself back to the table. Lixella nearly vomited when it stopped, she flew forward, clutching the table for support.

"Well" said Voldemort, "Draco, since you seem to be just as incompetent as your father, I'm going to let Lixella help you. You will help, won't you, Lixella?"

Lixella's eyes darted over to Draco, he looked at her apologetically.

"Answer him!" yelled Bellatrix.

"You seem to have lost your voice today, Lixella" said Voldemort, he pointed his wand to her, and a red light came flashing out of it. Lixella felt a rush of immense pain. She gritted her teeth, trying not to scream. Draco nearly shot out of his seat. Uncle Zander jumped, he wanted to help, but knew that he couldn't.

"I will not repeat myself Miss Cruxshade…answer me", he said with a look of insanity in his eyes.

"Okay" she mumbled between shocks of pain.

"Okay what?"

"I'll….help" she panted, gritting her teeth.

He ceased torturing her. Lixella sat back in her chair, gasping for breath. Her stomach was now twisting with sickness. She wanted to be somewhere else, anywhere but here.

She could feel tears running down her face. Her uncle reached a hand over and patted her on the shoulder. Lixella began coughing, but quickly stopped.

"Well, now that, that's over" he shifted in his seat, peering around the table for his next victim. Bellatrix gave a small giggle towards Lixella's discomfort. "I heard a very interesting story the other day, from our allies that communicate with the dementors. They told me that a girl and a boy were flying around their territory the other day."

Lixella and Draco instantly locked eyes. They looked at each other in fear.

"How?" she mouthed, not making a sound.

Draco shrugged his shoulders, and shook his head.

"Apparently, they were fought off by a banshee, in a forest near here." his gaze shifted from Draco to Lixella, "I also heard that the girl was able to produce a full patronus. Apparently it was a gryphon. Now, I know that patronus charms are not taught at Hogwarts. However, you didn't go to Hogwarts until this year, did you, Lixella?"

"No, my lord" she didn't hesitate to answer this time.

"AH…finally found that voice of yours" he said, several death eaters began snickering. "So, Lixella, tell me…at that school of yours, Lunareth, do they teach patronus charms?"

"Yes, my lord. Fifth years are required to know them for their O.W.L. exams" she looked down.

"Ah….could you, perhaps, demonstrate for us?" he motioned to the other side of the table.

Lixella shuddered, and headed to the front of the room. It was eerily quiet as she walked. She didn't want to prove Voldemort correct in his assumption, but she had to. She took out her white willow wand, and tried her hardest to picture something happy.

Her normal memory was of the first magic trick she ever did. It was one of the few that she could remember.

She was 11 and had watched a weeping lotus blossom fall from a vine outside of her house. She picked it up and as she held it in her hand, it blossomed and turned different shades of pink. Suddenly, It began fluttering away, it spun around, and turned into a pixie. It was the most beautiful memory she had. Now it was even more beautiful, because her mother was in it. She was there to congratulate her on being 'such a skilled witch!' Lixella's face became brighter as she smiled. She allowed the memory to fill her up, entirely.

"Expecto Patronum!" she chanted.

She waved her wand, and as it stopped a figure began to emerge. It was large and vividly bright. It was a gryphon, with the front of an owl and the back of a big white cat. She had only seen this animal once, in a favorite story book of hers called, "They Gryphon and the Forest".

The gryphon darted across the dinner table. Everyone stared at it with wide eyes, except for Voldemort who studied it thoroughly. As the gryphon reached the end of the table it spread it's large wings and glided up above Voldemort's head. Just as it reached the top of the room, it vanished into splotches of pure white light.

The room of death eaters watched in amazement. Then, all attention turned from her, to Voldemort. He sat at the end of the table with his hand on his chin, pondering something.

"The banshee that we have locked away in the chest, downstairs. It seems to have, escaped." He rose out of his chair, and glided over to Lixella. "Do you know who let her out, little banshee girl?"

Her breathing became heavy. She could not answer this question. She was sure that Voldemort would kill her, or torture her again, as punishment. She calmed herself down, and focused on looking innocent.

"It wasn't me, my lord" she said, "I didn't even know that she was still alive."

It was a convincing argument. Voldemort glared at her, he couldn't read her expression.

"Well, who else would've let her out?" he said in a harsh tone.

"No idea, my lord" Lixella responded.

"you're a good liar, Lixella…almost as good as your Father. But, that is a terrible trait to have. If I cannot bring it out of you willingly, then I will have to force it"

He removed his wand, "Cru-"

"No!" screamed a voice from across the room. Lita had run in through the doorway, and fell on the floor. "It was me!" she shouted. Voldemort turned to the house elf, then glared back at Lixella. Lita walked over, and stood in front of her. "It was Lita, who set the Banshee free." Lixella shook her head, she wasn't going to let Lita die. "Lita has been working for Arclese and Tidon. I'm supposed to protect Miss Cruxshade, and return her to them."

"Well" said Voldemort, looking at Lixella one last time, "Those two are dead. And, soon, you will join them."

"It was me! She's lying!" shouted Lixella.

"Don't toy with me!" yelled Voldemort, "I don't tolerate games!"

"Lita tell him the real truth!" said Lixella, Lita backed up, covering her mouth. "That's an order, Lita! The truth, now!" she shouted.

"It wasn't Lita!" Lita shouted through her palms.

"Crucio!" shouted Voldemort as he pointed his wand towards Lixella. She fell to the ground, this time she couldn't hold her screams back. It was that sensation of electric needles, biting at every cell in her body. She began writhing around, reaching for something to hold on to.

"Liars, Lixella" said Voldemort, in a loud and forceful tone, "will not be tolerated here. If you pull something like that again. I will be forced to kill you! Got that?"

"Yes!" she pleaded, "Stop, please!"

He stopped the curse. Lixella pushed herself up by her arms. Tears were pouring from her eyes. She was physically exhausted.

"Levicorpus" he said, and she shot into the air. She floated over to him, and he glared up at her. "Do not try to be brave, little gryphon" he exclaimed in a low, cold voice, "brave people, don't make it very far in this group."

She landed on the ground with a thud. Her muscles were refusing to move. Her body had taken enough damage. She just lay there, tears falling down either side of her face, and dripping onto the floor.

"And you, Draco" he said, walking back towards his seat, "You should know better than to chase after a girl. Especially one who is stupid enough to fly into a storm of dementors, without means of protection."

"She had protection" he thought, "just not from you"

Draco didn't respond. He couldn't believe that Voldemort knew. He knew, somehow, that the two of them had begun caring for each other. Draco just stared across the room, at Lixella's lifeless body.

"Stupid girl" he thought, "I told you! I told you to not mess with anything Voldemort has! Now look, he's gone and beaten the life out of you. Why did you free that damn banshee?"

He couldn't verbally scold her, so he mentally scolded her. He couldn't believe that she'd even thought of freeing the banshee in the cellar. She had to have been out of her mind. Nothing, would ever make Draco want to go so far as to set free a creature that Voldemort had trapped. But, Lixella wasn't like the other death eaters. She wasn't there as a follower, she was there as a weapon. In Voldemorts eyes she wasn't even a person, just a means of power. Therefore, he could torture her as much as he wanted. He thought, by doing this, he could break her spirit faster. However, this was proving to be more difficult than Voldemort had anticipated.

"I hope that, with the events from today, I will see some progress in our mission, very soon." He said, and then apparated away, leaving a cloud of black smoke.

The death eaters at the table all stood up and made their way out of the dining room door. A few of them kicked the house elves, before departing. Uncle Zander stood up and rushed over to Lixella, who was still on the floor. Narcissa and Draco followed him. Zander put and arm around her, "Lixella, are you okay?" he asked.

"Yeah" she said, "I think so…"

"You've got the nerve of your father" said Zander, "trying to go up against Voldemort, like that. He wasn't the type of person to give in easily."

"You're mad" said Draco, "Why would you do that?"

"She needed my help" Lixella scolded, "I couldn't just leave her in there to die."

"I can't believe that you two fought off dementors" said Narcissa, "when did this happen?"

"About a week or two ago" said Lixella, "It was pretty early."

Uncle Zander was able to hoist Lixella to her feet. Her legs began shaking, but she was able to stand.

"Do you really know about that cabinet, Lixella?" asked uncle Zander.

"A bit…I know how to send things, and return them. But, I don't understand why it would be broken."

"Your father did tell me that only a true Cruxshade would know how to fix it!" he chuckled, "and this whole time, I thought he meant me."

Uncle Zander helped Lixella up to her guestroom. She sat down on the bed, tired and out of breath.

"We'll be by to pick you up tomorrow. Hogwarts starts back in a day, right?" he asked. Lixella nodded. "Well, then I guess we'll get to see you at least once before the school year resumes. I'll be downstairs if you need me.

Lixella laid down on the bed. She stared out of the window across the room. The sun was setting, turning the sky several shades of pink. Lixella was reminded once more, of how much she didn't want to be there. She missed her family, and her house. All she wanted, was to go home. She fell asleep hoping that, when she woke up, this would all have been just a terrible dream.


This chapter was a bit shorter, since the others have been super long!

I hope you all enjoyed it ^_^

See you in my next update...thanks for reading!