I Can't Say Goodbye.
Chapter 3. A Lonely Tomorrow.
"You ask me how he was before he was sentenced to Azkaban two years ago? Well, Lucius Malfoy was very well respected. He had his share of enemies, but for the most part people liked him. He donated to many charities, it was almost insane for just one family. It was impossible not to respect him. I haven't seen him since '96 but god knows what he's doing now. After hearing all this new news about him though, may he be condemned to Hell."
War does not determine who is right – only who is left. ~ Bertrand Russell
Hermione stared at Voldemort while her heart beat madly in her chest. She had heard many stories from Harry about how truly frightening he was. Of course she'd believed him; but she could never experience and completely understand where he was coming from. Not until now. Words could not describe how she felt. It wasn't just that there was a mass murderer in front of her, well that was a big part of it, but the presence he had. It was like none other. No matter how much she wanted to move, reach for her wand, even breath, she just couldn't. 'Oh God! Ron and Harry are still in the house!' Hermione thought suddenly.
She was done for, she knew it, she accepted it; embraced it even. At least it would give time for Ron and Harry to escape and they could win this war. Of course she didn't want to die, not this early. But she knew this war was bigger than her, and she had played her part. She thought about how she probably won't live to see tomorrow, but if she did, it wouldn't be pretty.
She shifted her eyes up towards the sky and saw a figure flying away from the house but then it looked back and paused. 'Ron...Harry...go...Don't worry about me. Please please please don't turn around for me.' As if hearing her thoughts the figure flew away.
Her heart was torn, but she knew they would be safe. The Death Eaters and him were too distracted by her standing there in the doorway to the Malfoy's house.
"My Lord, what shall we do with this girl?" One of the hooded figures asked, and it snapped Hermione out of her trance.
"Well Dolohov," 'Dolohov...he was one of the people who escaped from Azkaban...' "I am feeling exceptionally nice today. I guess we can keep her alive, for now. She can be...entertainment for us." Voldemort stated with a menacing smile. His red eyes bored into Hermione's, as if he was looking into her soul.
Before she knew it there were two Death Eaters grabbed her arms and another Death Eater moved to stand in front of her. She was barely able to register anything else before the spell hit her.
"Stupify!"
Then the darkness came, and she was still.
Hermione woke up what seemed like hours later. She tried to sit up but searing pain shot up her spine. She felt back with a shuddering gasp, eyes darting wildly about. Where was she? The ground was cold and hard beneath her. She figured that she was lying on concrete.. The room she was in was completely dark and barren except for a small candle in the corner. 'Why in the world would they even give me a candle?' She thought.
She looked up at the ceiling, which was maybe at the most ten feet high. There was a small window up at the top of the room on the farthest wall away from her. It was dark outside, apparently she'd been unconscious for a while.
She attempted to sit up again, but the pain was still too great. 'What did they do to me..'
She moved her hands, surprised that the movement didn't hurt. Thick warm liquid seemed to be all around her, 'Blood? Am I bleeding? I must be. But where is it coming from? If only I could at least sit up.' She thought while attempting to sit up again and failing miserably.
A soft whimper suddenly sounded through the room. Hermione froze; was someone in the room with her? She wasn't sure, maybe her mind was playing tricks on her. But then she heard it again, louder this time. 'Someone has to be here. That couldn't have just been my imagination.'
"Is anyone there?" She asked her voice raspy and soft. It felt weird to talk even though she has only been silent for a few hours.
"Hermione?" She heard the voice say back.
"Oh my, Ginny. Ginny you're alive, that's great." She said slowly, as it took her awhile to process her words.
"I'm so glad to see you, I mean I wish it was under better circumstances...but still," Ginny said as she stood up and came out of the shadows.
"My god Hermione, you look absolutely dreadful. What did they do to you?" She asked in horror.
Ginny looked down at Hermione and hardly recognized her. Her leg was twisted in an extremely unnatural position, bent to the point where her bone jutted out from under her skin. She was lying haphazardly-as if her spine was twisted. Her wrist was bent back so her fingers stuck up; they appeared dislocated. She had many scratches on her face and two black eyes to match. She also had a big gash in her head that seemed to still be dripping blood. Ginny turned away, closed her eyes, and took a deep shuddering breath.
"Yeah I feel as if I got hit by a train." Hermione commented.
"I at least need to reset your leg. I don't think you want to see it though." Ginny said in tight voice as she walked over. She would have to do it before they came back for her. It was for her own good.
"Um...How do you reset a bone?" Ginny asked kneeling beside Hermione's bloody leg.
Hermione reluctantly smiled at that, even though the situation was horrible. Everyone depended on magic for everything, they had no reason to learn to do anything by hand. But with her growing up as a Muggle, she knew basic first aid.
"You have to set the bone? How bad is it? My god, well where is the bone?" she asked.
"It's near your knee. So I guess your shin bone?"
"You mean the tibia?" Hermione corrected her.
"Even in a situation like this, you just have to correct me on something as simple as what a bone is called?" Ginny chuckled.
"Well, old habits die hard I guess. Okay place one hand on my thigh, and your forearm on the bone, push down as hard as you can. Now, as much as I don't want it to, it will hurt, but you need to continue no matter what until it's back in place..."
"Oh...wow. Okay, I can do this." Ginny mumbled. She did as Hermione said and placed her hand on her thigh, and then on the bone. She wasn't sure if she could do this right, but she had to try. She knew what these people were capable of and she needed to get Hermione as healthy as she could.
She then started to push the bone down into place and Hermione let out a whimper of pain which lead to a cry, which then turned into a scream of agony. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry..."Ginny kept repeating. She felt horrible putting Hermione through all of this.
After what seemed like an eternity to Hermione, Ginny was finally done. Once it was over there was a lingering pain but it wasn't too bad. She lay still breathing heavily while her heart thumped almost painfully against her ribs.
"This is just unexpected and random," Ginny spoke up. She grasped Hermione's hand in hers. "Why are you here? How did you get captured?" Hermione thought for a minute. She couldn't tell Ginny it was for her. She wasn't sure how she would react, and she just couldn't put that burden on her.
"Um, well the Death Eaters infiltrated the Burrow... I'm pretty sure you can guess the rest."
"They did what!" Ginny shrieked, "What if they caught other people as well? What if they have mum and dad? Did you see anyone else?" Hermione could have kicked herself. 'Now Ginny is going to be worried sick about something that didn't even happen. Great.'
"No Ginny its fine. I was the only one captured, the rest escaped. I stayed back to try and fend off some of the Death Eaters because I thought I could handle them...despite people trying to get me to leave. But I saw your family and Harry leave. It's alright."
"How could you be so dense? You really thought you could handle them? Have you seen what these people can do? Hermione...ugh," Ginny stood up and rolled her eyes. She knew Hermione was the smartest witch of her age, so for some reason she couldn't quite believe her story. Hermione knew she couldn't handle even one Death Eater, let alone several. But then again what reason would there be for her to lie? Even so, Ginny wasn't sure if she would ever see get out of here alive, and now with a friendly face here, she couldn't let suspicions ruin anything she had left.
Hermione turned her head towards the cellar door; she heard footsteps coming. Ginny sat as still as a statue and squeezed Hermione's hand even harder. She knew what they were coming for, and all she wanted to do was to disappear. At that moment the cellar door swung open, revealing a hooded figure.
"You. Up." It was a man who spoke and he was directing the command to Ginny who still sat in her spot. "Don't make me have to tell you again. Get over here now you filthy blood traitor." He didn't even have to yell, and you knew that he meant business.
Ginny slowly got up and walked over to the door. The man grabbed her arm and dragged her upstairs. He shut the door behind him leaving Hermione alone in the room. She thought about what she could do now. She couldn't run away, much less sit up. She was in no condition to go anywhere.
All of a sudden a wave of fatigue washed over her, and all she wanted to do was sleep. She welcomed the darkness, because at least while she was sleeping, her dreams could take her away from her real life nightmare. She awoke sometime later to loud raucous screaming. Ginny's screams. They echoed off the walls and panic washed over her. 'Ginny oh god Ginny. What are they doing? I need to stop them somehow..I need to..' She thought as she sat up slowly. Her whole body was in pain but she at least needed to sit up. She finally got to where she was sitting up against the nearest wall. She felt something poking against her thigh and looked down.
Her wand, they'd forgotten her wand. These people were supposed to be smart weren't they? Yet they didn't search her well enough to take it away from her. 'It's probably because they think I'll give them some sort of disease if they touched me.' She thought. These people thought anything lower than pure-bloods were unfit to walk the earth. They probably didn't even want to touch her so they left her alone. 'Fools.'
"Episkey." She mumbled while she pointed the wand at her wrist, her back, her eyes, then her head. She was pleased to note that most of the wounds healed alright; only the soreness remained.
She heard footsteps coming down the hallway up to the door again. She quickly tucked her wand back into her jacket and paused. The door opened with a bang and in came yet another hooded figure, but this time he wasn't wearing a mask. His blonde hair came out from underneath his hood.
Lucius Malfoy.
He was carrying a plate that looked as if it had a small piece of moldy bread on it, and a small glass of water.
"Here." Was all he said as he stood in the doorway and looked around everywhere else but at her.
"Well...aren't you going to take it? I don't want to stand here any longer than I have to. I could just take this back and you can go hungry and rot down here for all I care." He said.
Hermione attempted to stand up and managed to get herself all the way up thanks to her previous spells, but then she collapsed under her weight. Her leg, she forgot to try to heal her leg. How could be she be so stupid?
"Stupid Mudblood." Lucius mumbled as he let the plate fall to the ground and turned around to leave.
"Hermione..." She stated.
Lucius stopped dead in his tracks and turned around slowly. "Excuse me?" He asked with a hint of annoyance in his voice.
"Hermione. I'm Hermione Granger. Not 'Mudblood'" She said as she tried to stand again.
Even though she was in here, trapped, she wasn't going to let these people get the best of her. She was going to say what was right, no matter where it got her. That's the least she could do. She refused to let these people control her.
"You dare to talk back to me Mudblood? You are nothing. You don't deserve to be called by your so called 'name'. There is only one thing that could describe what you are, and that is what I will call you. Talk back to me one more time, and you will wish you had never been born." Lucius said in a deadly voice. He was struggling hard to control his rising anger.
"You're the one who is nothing," Hermione said as she tried to look him straight in his eye's as best as she could, but he kept looking elsewhere. "You are a coward. You can't even look me straight in the eye." Lucius stood there for a moment, turning redder and redder by the second.
"CRUCIO!" He yelled.
Pain shot through Hermione. Pain, a simple four letter word that meant so much. She felt as if she was on fire, with a bunch of needles stabbing into her skin. Acid was flowing through her veins, her blood was boiling, her bones were breaking, then release.
She lay on the floor panting. She had no energy left to move after that. She never would have thought one simple curse could cause so much agony. She lifted herself up and looked up at that man who caused it. He looked stone cold, with no emotion what-so-ever.
She hated this man before, but this situation brought it to a whole new level. He was simply Draco Malfoy's father, just another person who hated Harry. She knew he was a Death Eater, and hated him for that, but she never would have guessed to have something first hand happen to her by him.
He finally was looking down at her and she looked at him in the eye. His eyes, she noticed, looked like eyes from a corpse. They showed nothing. Hermione always believed a person's eyes were a window to their soul and if his were anything to go on; Lucius Malfoy had no soul. She looked away and wiped her wet face. 'I won't cry in front of him. Never again. I won't show any emotion around him. I won't give them what they want.'
"Filthy Mudblood," he sneered. "You will soon learn your place in this world. Consider yourself lucky that I'm not in charge of what happens to you, for if I were, you would be long dead by now." He strode off after that leaving a defeating silence in his wake. Hermione sat there for what seemed like an eternity. She just stared straight ahead at the door. She thought it was about time Ginny should be back, unless...No. She couldn't let herself think like that. They were going to be fine, and they were going to get out.
She looked over at the glass that was full of water, and the moldy bread. Her throat felt very sore and scratchy from all the screaming and crying. The only thought that came to her mind was that she wanted water. "Accio glass." The glass fly towards her and she caught it deftly. "Aquamenti"
Water filled the glass. Thank god for her wand, she thought. She gulped down the cold, icy liquid and refilled it again. She did this for a few more times and then finally set the glass down beside her.
She let the bread stay where it was at, for she had no appetite to speak of, and even if she did, mouldy bread was the last thing she would want.
After awhile, she decided she would try to stand up and walk. "Episkey." She mumbled as she pointed her wand at her leg. It healed a little, but not enough to where she thought it was suitable.
She pushed against the cold wall to lift her up, but winced at the pain in her leg and back. She got herself to stand all the way up and then she started to walk. She limped along almost tempted to hop on one leg.
She walked over to the wall with the small window. Even though the walls weren't tall, she still couldn't see out of it. She couldn't jump to try to see out of it, so she just turned around and started to walk over towards the candle, when she heard a set of footsteps in the hallway outside the cellar.
Something compelled her to walk over to the door, and even though she fumbled a lot along the way, she persisted.
She reached the door and almost collapsing against it, weary from her exertions. She noticed a tiny peep hole that was a little taller than her normal range of sight. She stood on her toes and attempted to look out. She could see that there was actually a long hallway outside the door. It looked nothing like upstairs. It was all made of cobblestone, and had torches along the walls. It reminded her of those dungeons she had seen in old muggle horror movies. It looked though as if the cell she was in was the only room on this floor though.
She saw about three blurry figures walking down the hallway, with one dragging a body. 'Ginny...' Hermione said as she frowned. She couldn't tell what exactly was wrong at the moment, but they were clearly walking towards the cell, so she would see in a few moments. Quickly she backed off of the door and fell backwards by accident. She just sat there as the figures slammed the door open and threw what looked like an over-sized Raggedy Ann doll inside. Ginny looked horrible. Hermione had no time to really examine her though before one of the Death Eaters were yelling curses.
"Imperio!" one of them yelled at they pointed their wand at Hermione. Instantly Hermione felt a rush of relaxation come over her. All her worries and anxiety vanished. She was barely aware that she was walking out of the cell, following the Death Eaters. She had no idea where they were taking her, but she didn't care. All she knew at this moment was that she was happy. Everything seemed surreal, like a dream.
They walked and walked. It seemed as if the hallway went on forever. Hermione would have loved-in the state she was feeling-just to walk and walk and not have to return to reality. After awhile they reached a staircase that went up in a spiral. They went up and up. 'Is everything in this house never-ending? How big is it in here anyway?' She thought. When she was running down the hallways a few hours earlier, they all looked the same and it seemed to never end. Now the hallway and staircase seemed to go on just as long.
After what seemed like an hour they reached the top of the stairs and walked into a big empty room. It reminded Hermione of the room she was in earlier when she ran into Bellatrix, except the chair was gone, and the fire was out. Hermione normally would be scared out of her wits, but under this curse it seemed like nothing. She didn't have to think for herself, or do anything, and again, she was actually happy for once.
What was so bad about this curse? She knew it was illegal, and could see why, but then again anyone who was put under it was in the most relaxed state they would ever be in. Who wouldn't want that?
They walked into the room and Hermione noticed they were the only ones in there. She expected to find more people, but maybe she was wrong.
All of a sudden it felt like a weight fell on her, and she fell to the ground. All the anxiety and depression settled back in. She guessed the curse was lifted. She was sitting in the middle of the room surrounded by at the most four other people.
None of them had their masks on, which to her, was a bad sign. Why would they show their faces? 'They know I'm not going to get out of here.' She, sadly, recognized all of the adults surrounding her. Malfoy, Rodolphus Lestrange, Antonin Dolohov, and Bellatrix formed a circle around her, with Bellatrix being the closest.
"Well, well, well," Bellatrix cooed as she began to waltz around Hermione. "Look what we have here. Such a sweet little...Mudblood. Now what were you doing all the way out here?" She asked in falsetto.
Hermione earlier decided she wasn't going to give these people what they want. She was never going to tell them anything. They could torture her, use spells on her, do whatever they wanted, but she refused to talk.
"So you are deciding to be silent aye? Don't think you are the first to give us the silent treatment. We have our ways, and we will have you talking in no time. Don't you fret. Us girls, you know, will become very close before we kill you." Bellatrix purposely emphasized every word in the last sentence.
Of course her words didn't surprise Hermione, but to hear them out loud, was a whole different story.
She continued to stare at the ground, trying not to meet the gaze of any of the onlookers. She did notice they looked farther away from her than where they were to begin with.
"Still not saying anything? I'll give you one more chance. Why, missy, were you here in a home, that you have no business being in?"
'Like I would tell you,' Hermione thought. "I guess I just got lost." She replied arrogantly, as she looked up at the angry Bellatrix. It seemed all the color had rushed from her face, but just a moment later, her face turned as red as a tomato. Her eyes widened and then, "CRUCIO!"
Needles, acid, red hot irons, knives, fire, ice, anything and everything associated with pain shot through Hermione. She writhed on the floor and screamed out in pain. Tears immediately stung her eyes and face.
It seemed like forever until Bellatrix finally lifted the curse. Bellatrix was laughing hysterically when she stopped. "Now, do you feel up to talking now Mudblood?" She yelled across the room.
'Damn, tears. I said I wouldn't cry, but this is too much. But, I can't. I just can't tell them anything. But then again, what would hurt if I...lied?'
"Still nothing?" Bellatrix tilted her head some as she asked, as if she actually cared about the answer.
"I-" Hermione started to say before she was interrupted.
"Crucio!" Immense pain once again shot through Hermione, and it all started all over again. Her bones were breaking, her skin was being shred into pieces, she was being punched over and over, and then after forever, it stopped. Only this time Bellatrix wasn't laughing, or looking like she was taking any enjoyment from this. "Take that thing back to her cell now! I don't want her in my sight. And Lucius, I want to have a word with you, alone." She said as she glanced over at the other two that were standing against the wall. Bellatrix looked furious about something. Hermione almost wanted to know what caused the sudden change in attitude, but at the same time she was just hoping to God it wasn't directed towards her.
Before she knew it, she was being dragged back down the stairs. She wasn't put under the Imperius curse this time, but the two men were dragging her so hard, she could barely get balance to walk. Her feet were dragging on the ground and she kept tripping over everything.
They reached the stairs and started to descend. They kept on pulling her down and she kept on falling on her knees because she couldn't get her balance. They would pull her back up and keep on going down. Finally they reached the bottom and walked down the long, stone hallway towards her cell.
They reached the door and it opened automatically.
"See you in a little bit, sweetheart." One of them said. She turned her head to see who said it, but they already threw her inside and shut the door before she could get a closer look.
She had seen many Death Eaters before, but had no idea what they sounded like. It was weird for Hermione to think that she didn't know something. She didn't know everything, she knew that, but yet it bugged her when she couldn't figure something out.
She pushed herself up and saw Ginny curled up, and in the same spot they left her in when they returned her to their cell. Hermione dragged herself as best as she could over to her. "Ginny? Are you alright?"
No response.
"Ginny?" Hermione shook Ginny a little bit, to at least get a little reaction out of her. Ginny rolled over very lazily, and stayed on her back. She looked as if she were dead. There were big gashes all over her body, and there was blood coming from her eyes. Both of her wrists seemed to be broken and her fingers were going in all sorts of directions. Her ankle was all the way against her calf, and both bones in one of her legs looked broken. She was a bigger mess that Hermione had been.
"Hermione..." Ginny could barely get her name out. "I can't see you..." she mumbled.
'Oh god, she's dying.' "Ginny, hold on, I'm here. I can fix this." Hermione blurted out in a rush of panic. The only healing spell she knew was Episkey, but then again that only healed minor injuries. It could never heal all of Ginny's. But what did they have to lose if she tried? She pulled out her wand and pointed it at one of Ginny's fingers. "Episkey," The finger seemed to straighten out and looked somewhat normal. She continued to do this with about three other fingers until a thought came to her.
'They have to know what they did. They will know that her fingers healed. They will search us even more. I'll lose my wand, and the only sliver of hope we have.'
She left the four fingers she healed, and pointed the wand around Ginny's eyes. "Episkey," At least Ginny would be able to see, hopefully. With her wounds healed up and Ginny seemed to move her eyes more.
"Can you see?" Hermione asked softly.
"Barely," Ginny whispered. "But pain, there's so much pain." Ginny's eyes shut and a tear trickled down the side of her face.
"I know it hurts," Hermione said gently. "But I can't heal you. They will know I have my wand and we won't get out of here. I am so sorry Ginny. I want to help you more than anything. I really hope you can forgive me."
"Hermione, I'll be o-," Ginny trailed off at the end of her sentence. She closed her eyes and her breathing became shallow. Hermione wasn't sure if she was sleeping, or if she had, well, she couldn't think it. Tears began to roll down her cheeks and it took all of her restraint to not howl in anger. This should never have happened. Ginny didn't deserve to die, she hadn't done anything wrong. Gently Hermione picked up Ginny's wrist and cradled the broken bone in her hands. "Ginny..." she choked. "Please don't die...".
Lucius
Screams filled his ears. Lately that was the only sound he'd been hearing from people. But this girl was different. He had killed kids younger than her, and yet, a tight feeling came into his chest when he saw her on the floor screaming.
You know what people say about car accidents and train wrecks right? How it's so horrible, but you can't seem to pull your eyes away from it? That's exactly how Lucius was feeling at this moment. He had tortured people before and enjoyed every minute of it, but this sight was almost too much for some reason. It was so horrible, but there was something compelling him to keep watching.
He hated this girl, this Mudblood. She was less than the dirt on his shoe, and he knew she was nothing. Plus she was Harry Potter's friend; His worst enemy. Everything about her he hated.
So then why did he feel like this when he saw Bella torture her?
He started to think of when he first saw the girl at the Manor.
He though he saw the girl's eyes land on him for a split second, and then she looked away. He could have been seeing things. It wouldn't be the first time he thought he saw something. When he had gone to give her the food and water, she had stared at him, almost examining him; He hated it. He felt like as if she was trying to read him, but she's was fool. He didn't show any emotion, nothing at all on the outside.
He particularly liked that about himself. Nobody could tell how he was feeling, and that got him far with the things he had done in the past. Anyways, she stared at him and he tried as best as he could to look everywhere else but her. He would glance by accident though a few times. She was ugly; The ugliest thing he has ever seen in his life. But her eyes, he could easily get lost in them.
'Those eyes. Narcissa had those eyes earlier. Maybe it was her, but that would be impossible. What is wrong with me? Since when have I ever cared about eyes? Or anything to do with beauty for that matter?'
Lucius realized that he was just standing stupidly in the doorway so he sneered at her and shook the plate in his hand a little. "Here," He wasn't going to waste his breath on talking to her. He would die first before he really talked to her. But all she just stared at him. 'Damn those eyes. I can't just walk in and give it to her. She's disgusting, but I can't seem to do anything when she's looking at me like that. Just get your damn food so I can leave.' "Well aren't you going to take it? I don't want to stand here any longer than I have to. I could just take this back and you can go hungry and rot down here for all I care." It was all true. He didn't give a damn about this Mudblood. But then why did his words seem so forced?
He looked down at the girl trying to get herself to stand up. It was quite pathetic really, she couldn't even stand up on her own. After she got herself almost all the way up, she collapsed and fell. "Stupid Mudblood." He jeered and rolled his eyes. If he or any Death Eater needed reminding on why they were wanting to rid the world of people like her, well, she is a perfect person to go to. She really wanted to make him kill her and every other Mudblood and muggle on this Earth.
He just dropped the plate and figured if she really wanted to live, she would get the bread, and maybe he would be back with water. They hadn't received orders to keep her alive, so they could do basically as they pleased at the moment. He turned to leave until he heard the thing speak.
"Hermione..." He heard her say. Why was she telling him her name? He wasn't stupid nor ignorant, so why? She must be insulting him.
"Excuse me?" He stopped and turned around.
"Hermione, I'm Hermione Granger. Not Mudblood." He noticed she tried to stand again, unsuccessfully. Pathetic fool... "You dare you talk back to me Mudblood? You are nothing. You don't deserve to be called by your so called 'name'. There is only one thing that could describe what you are, and that is what I will call you. Talk back to be one more time, and you will wish you had never been born." Lucius was beyond furious now. There possibly was never a word defined that could describe how he felt at this moment. A Mudblood had the audacity to talk back to him. The nerve...
"You're the one who is nothing." The girl spat back. She stared at him again as he tried to avoid meeting her gaze. "You are a coward. You can't even look me straight in the eye." Lucius stood there for a moment, angrier than ever.
"Crucio!" Before he knew it he had yelled the unforgivable curse and it felt too good. He meant it more now than he ever had. Her screams fuelled him. He stopped the curse and saw she had been crying. Lucius had never seen a person bear the pain of the cruciatous curse and not cry. He was still looking forward to the day when he could witness that.
He finally released her from the curse. She pulled herself up and looked at him. Lucius couldn't resist; He stared back. Her eyes seemed like pools of chocolate, and they made him almost...happy. Lucius never felt deeply happy; He didn't even know what the true emotion felt like.
Now, looking at her eyes, he felt a rush of guilt. He tried his best to still look stiff and emotionless. It looked like it was working with the way she was looking at him; With pure hatred. He welcomed that. Hatred was all he had ever felt in his life. It was the one emotion he could really count on. "Filthy Mudblood. You will soon learn your place in this world. Consider yourself lucky I'm not in charge of what happens to you, for if I were, you would be long dead by now." He sneered. His words weren't what he felt inside, but he wasn't going to let simple emotions like guilt get to him, for it never has, and it ever will. He looked at her one last time and left.
Ever since then, he has been beating himself up trying to figure out why he was acting the way he was around her. He was sure he still hated her, so then, what else was there?
After awhile Bella wanted to meet with her, since, for now, she was the one who was put in charge of the filthy Mudblood.
So now here they were, watching her torture this girl. He normally would be happy but now he just felt stressed and anxious about something he couldn't place, but he knew it had to do with this girl.
He watched the scene unfold before him, and Bella torturing her more and more, as she tried to get information. At last he couldn't take it. "Bella, it's obvious why she was here. Just put her back in her cell and stop doing this." Bellatrix didn't stop the curse, but she slowly looked over to Lucius.
She looked crazy. He wasn't sure if it was directed toward him, or if it was still from her dealing with the Mudblood.
After a few seconds the girls screams stopped and she lay still, tears streaming down her face.
The sight made Lucius sick. He looked back up at Bella when she ordered the other Death Eaters to take the girl back down to her cell, and she declared that she wanted to talk to him.
'Oh no,' he thought. He had known Bella for most of his life, and the way she was acting now meant a storm was coming. Dolohov and Rodolphus left with the girl and he was left standing alone in the room with Bella. Usually he wouldn't be bothered by it, and he would have his usual condescending smirk on his face as Bella would yell at him for something. But this time he knew he was acting strange, and even he didn't know why, how could he explain it to her?
"Lucius,"
"Bella," He replied as he tried to put on a false front. He wasn't in the mood for one of her talks, so he tried to look as normal and serious as he could.
"What was that all about? Why did you want to stop me, hmm?" She raised an eyebrow.
"I just think it is pointless to be torturing her to get information that you and I both know."
"That has never stopped you before... Hmm, could it be that you are...attracted to that Mudblood perhaps?" The though immediately repulsed him. He was speechless. She thought that? How could she even think that ridiculous concept could be true?
"Oh lord, Bella, really? Are you honestly implying that I would want that when I have someone as wonderful as Narcissa? And that girl is less than half of my age and is a Mudblood none the less. That is repulsive!" Lucius rambled. Bella just raised an eyebrow and turned around to walk away.
"Whatever you say, Lucius," Bella carolled. "Just be careful; You wouldn't want anyone else finding out about this."
"Bellatrix..." Lucius shook his head.
"All I'm saying is be careful. You aren't exactly hiding the look you have when she's around. You are a Death Eater and pure blood, you can't waste your time on that. But even more important than that, you are married to my sister, and don't think I will hesitate to end everything for you right then and there, if I find out you are cheating on her, and with a filthy Mudblood at that." And with that she walked out of the room, leaving Lucius standing there in absolute shock.
He started to walk, not really paying attention to where he was going, expecting to just walk around the house. When he finally realized where his feet had taken him, he was standing outside her cell.
He pushed open the door to see the most pathetic sight ever, but it didn't stop him. He didn't look at her as he spoke, but he was going to make sure to get his point across.
"We need to take care of something." Was all he said as the door closed, leaving the two of them alone.