Be warned. This chapter contains violence.
Chapter 3
Meanwhile, at Voldemort's lair, 7:00 A.M.
The Death Eaters were experts when it came to torture. There was no doubt about that. Every single one of them had to be in order to even join.
However, when the traditional Crucio just wasn't enough, they often had to improvise. obviously, this led to many, 'inventive' methods and tactics that were common among the ranks.
One of which was chaining the victim upside down from the ceiling, naked, by their heels. It was one of the more common methods used. It gave the one doing it the opportunity to inflict extreme pain upon the victim.
That was exactly what was happening to Narcissa Black and as of recently, formerly Malfoy as her ex-husband, Alecto Carrow, Amycus Carrow, Basil Mulciber and Edric Nott watched Lord Voldemort torture her with the Cruciatus Cruse.
The screams that echoed across the room, filling everyone's ears, nearly made them cringe in fear and terror as Voldemort finally let up on it. The screams from Lady Black did nothing to sway any mercy or leniency from the Dark Lord, as he had none.
"Why? What have I done to warrant such action?" Narcissa cried out in a desperate attempt to persuade him to stop.
The Dark Lord looked at her with absolutely no emotion as he explained, "Punishment by proxy, Narcissa, for your sister electing to flee from my side in the dead of night with her husband, brother-in-law and Dolohov. Crucio!"
As the pain hit Narcissa, Voldemort didn't let up one bit until the youngest Black sister had passed out from the pain. As he did so, many of the Death Eaters walked out of the room, except for Basil Mulciber. Finally releasing the curse, the Dark Lord turned to Basil said, "Basil, you may do as you wish with Ms. Black. Kill her when you're done."
Basil seemed to become even more demonic looking as he heard his Lord's instruction and said, "Yes, milord. I understand."
Being the most evil and dark Lord in all of Britain, despite what most thought, was not at all an easy job. It was highly stressful, what with having to deal with idiots on a daily basis, planning his revenge on Harry Potter and plotting to take over the world or at the very least, Britain.
However, this did not mean he didn't understand his Death Eaters. He understood them very well. For example, Basil Mulciber was one of the more vicious of his followers. They were all vicious, as it was part of the job description, but he was one of the more depraved as Voldemort knew that he often did things to the female prisoners that would leave anybody wishing for death immediately afterwards.
He departed from the torture chamber and went to another room in the Manor, finding five fairly new recruits stretching. They were Jamal Blum, Reginald McDonald, Ian Thompson, Conrad Bouquet and Matthew Murphy, all former Aurors for the British Ministry of Magic. He had gone back for them after offering them revenge against those who had wronged them during the initial breakout from Azkaban.
He asked conversationally, "Are your quaters acceptable?"
"Yes, milord. Thank you for rescuing us." replied Jamal Blum.
"Good."
Meanwhile, in the Torture Chamber
"Help. Please," whispered Narcissa Malfoy as she watched Basil Mulciber lock the door before walking over to his work bench, where Narcissa knew he kept a variety of tools to help with the…'fun', as he so called it.
Having heard what the Dark Lord had done, Narcissa knew that she was to be Basil Mulciber's play thing until he was done. That had given her enough adrenaline to call for help.
A soft pop brought her out of it, and Impy, Narcissa's house-elf appeared. He whispered, "Mistress call Impy?"
"Get me out here, Impy. Take me anywhere, just so long as it's far from here." whispered Cissy, trying her best not to draw Basil's attention.
"Yes, Mistress." replied Impy as she grabbed onto Narcissa and with another pop, apparated her out of the chains and the Manor.
Tonks Residence, 8:30 A.M.
"Mum! Get out here now!" yelled out Nymphadora Tonks from outside the house in terror.
Dropping the book she was reading immediately, Andromeda Tonks ran outside to the front of her home. She found Tonks holding the nude, bloodied, scarred and barely alive form of her younger sister in her arms.
Though she was not on the best of terms with her sisters, it still struck Andromeda with shock and surprise to see Cissy in such a way. "What happened?" Andromeda demanded.
"I found her on the steps like this." Tonks said as she wrapped her estranged aunt in a blanket she transfigured.
"Get her in the house, Tonks. She needs immediate attention or she's going to die!" Andy instructed, her Healer training kicking in as she helped her daughter get Narcissa into the room before transfiguring a bed in the middle of the room.
Settling Narcissa on the bed, Andromeda pulled out her wand and began doing a series of diagnostic charms on her younger sister.
It wasn't good. Her left eye had nearly been destroyed. 4 of her ribs were broken. Someone sliced her face from ear to ear but had stopped the bleeding. Her internal organs were severely bruised and damaged. Her heart rate was low, but it was still there. Bruises and cuts adorned her body.
The sight of the injuries was nearly enough to make Andromeda sick. At that moment, Andromeda didn't see the haughty woman that she hadn't spoken with in 28 years. She saw a broken woman that desperately needed her help.
A groan brought her out of her nostalgia. Cissy was still alive and awake though barely. She asked, "Andy? Is that you?"
"Yes. It's me, Cissy. I'm here to help you. I'm not going to let you die. But I won't lie to you. These are serious wounds." said Andy as she began casting healing charms on her sister with everything she had.
While doing so, Cissy murmured something. Andromeda asked, "What?"
"I'm sorry, Andy. For everything." Cissy nearly whispered as a tear flowed down the eye that wasn't swollen shut.
"Shhh. It's alright. I've got you." whispered Andy in replied as she continued to heal her sister.
"No. It's not," Narcissa gasped, her voice small and weak from the pain. "I'm so sorry for what we did. If this is the end for me, I wanted you to know that." continued Narcissa, ignoring her older sister's statement to shush.
Though Andy continued casting every healing spell that she could think of to repair Narcissa Black's body, she was also able to say, "Mother and Father cast me out of their house. I took you into mine. The fact that you are apologizing tells me everything. Now forget such talk about death. You are going to make it, Narcissa. See? All done."
Narcissa looked confused as Tonks explained, "It's done, Narcissa. Mum has always been good at mending and healing, especially those she loves."
Looking at the younger woman, a realization struck Narcissa. "What are you going to do with me? Have you summoned your fellow Aurors to take me into custody?"
"No crime had been committed by you that I know. I have no reason to make any arrest." Tonks said, looking at her estranged aunt. "You needed a Healer more than you needed a Ministry tribunal."
"You have your mother's heart, which is more than what I have." Narcissa said, cringing when she attempted to sit up, only to be brought back down by the pain.
"Don't move, Cissy. Considering what you have endured, you need plenty of bed rest to regain your strength." ordered Andy, placing a cool towel on Cissy's forehead.
"Narcissa, I do have my Mum's heart but I don't believe that you're a heartless woman." Tonks said as she held her aunt's hand.
This banter continued between the three women before Andromeda finally addressed the elephant in the room.
"How's Bellatrix, Cissy?"
"She ran away in the dead of night. I don't know where she is. What I do know is that she has gone into hiding from the Dark Lord. He did this to me as punishment for her betrayal."
"My sister has left Voldemort?" asked Andromeda, shocked at the fact her estranged sister, a woman most believed to be the incarnation of the Devil, would leave the Dark Lord.
Flinching at the name, Narcissa nodded. She then said, "Don't reach out to her, Andy. If you do, it will only bring upon the Dark Lord's wrath and he will come for all of us."
"If he does, we'll be ready for him." Tonks said with as much confidence as she could muster under the circumstances. Unbeknownst to her mother and aunt, Tonks already had a plan forming in her mind to seek out Bellatrix Lestrange.
The Next Day, 3:00 P.M.
Wormtail was startled as light suddenly filled the cellar he was trapped in. It was appropriately scary with the damp floor, pitch black darkness and iron chains on the walls. In the light, it looked very much like a dungeon. It would have made Argus Filch proud.
Three people stepped into the room, wearing Death Eater robes and masks. Their wands were drawn and aimed at him.
It dawned on him what was about to happen and what value he had to the Dark Lord now. It would not be quick in at all but it would be painful in every way possible.
In his life, Peter Pettigrew had never shown an ounce of bravery. There were many times when he wondered why the Sorting Hat put a such a coward like him in Gryffindor.
That was his last conscious thought before two voices yell out in chorus, "Crucio!"
It felt as if someone had submerged him in a vat of battery acid as the flesh on his body seemed to be torn straight off the bones itself. The pain was unimaginable.
"This is long overdue for you, Peter Pettigrew! You should have known the Dark Lord would never forgive you for not seeking him out!" yelled out the one Death Eater that wasn't torturing him.
Wormtail could not argue with that statement. He knew that he was paying for all his crimes and betrayal of Prongs, Lily, Moony and Padfoot.
He should have killed himself. He should have turned his wand over to Sirius Black after the Potters and let the man blast his brains and guts out all over the hills of Scotland and England. It would have been a lot more merciful compared to what he was now enduring.
Though Wormtail still felt no guilt over what he had done to James and Lilly, in hindsight, he realized that when he had joined Voldemort, he had, for all intents and purposes, made a deal with the Devil. And the Devil didn't take refunds.
After what seemed like an eternity, the two torturing him finally stopped, allowing him a brief moment of reprieve before the third raised his wand. Wormtail could only pray that his death would be quick and that what people said about the Killing Curse-that it was it completely painless- was true.
Before the words could leave the Death Eater's mouth, the doors quickly flew open and voices yelled, "Aurors! Drop your wands now!"
"Stupefy!" was the last thing Wormtail heard before he was hit by the stunning spell from one of the Death Eaters.
"You're not getting away with this!" yelled out Antonin Dolohov as he fired off a stunning spell at the wall to make it seem more realistic.
Who Wormtail had thought to be servants of the Dark Lord were, in reality, Bellatrix and Rodolphus Lestrange in their Death Eater robes and masks. The third person was actually Anfis Dolohov, who wanted to play along.
The two "Aurors" were Rabastan and Antonin. Though Rabastan was a stoic man who showed little emotions and Antonin was the same way most of the time, it was taking every bit of self-control they had not to burst out laughing as they, as well as Bellatrix, Rodolphus and Anfis, continued to fire off curses and hexes at the walls around the Tavern to make it look and sound like a real fight between Aurors and Death Eaters.
The reason they were doing so was because of Wormtail's memories. They knew that the Ministry was most likely going to look over his Pensieve memories, to detect any sign of doubtfulness, added or altered memories. That was why Bellatrix had proposed the plan in the first place. It was a sure way to show that Sirius Black was never a Death Eater.
In the middle of the mock fight, Rabastan noticed that liquid was pouring out of Wormtail's pants leg. The little rat was pissing himself. He supposed that that urban legend was, indeed, true.
Making the universal sign for 'cease-fire', Bellatrix declared, "Damn that was fun!" as she jumped up and down, much the way a 4-year-old would do on Christmas Morning.
Lighting his corncob pipe, Rabastan turned to Anfis Dolohov and asked in his low pitched, monotone voice, "Anfis, if you and Alex could turn this rat over to the Ministry discreetly, it would be an extremely big help to us."
"No problem, Rab. That was the most excitement I've had in a while!"
So what do you think?