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This here is a rather long chapter and I need to remind you again that I don't own anything.

For the next few months, things appeared eerily calm. And yet, we all worked hard to keep up the appearance. No word was to get public about the fact that several Muggle-borns had eluded the registration and were now on the run. What was published, though, was the story of Kingsley Shacklebolt fleeing, severely injured, after breaking the Taboo. Tom had made it crystal clear that he wanted everyone to know exactly what they had coming were they to rebel.

Harry Potter was meanwhile still out and about. On Christmas, Tom had come incredibly close to catching him and he had thrown a massive fit when the boy had escaped him again. In fact, that night I had to mend each and every plate in my house before I could eat.

Tom was now even more frantically searching for the Elder Wand. I considered it a ridiculous notion, but he would not budge. It was for that reason that he had left just before Easter. It gave me the chance, though, to pay a visit I had long intended.

I strode through the dimly lit hallway at Malfoy Manor as Wormtail suddenly crept from the cellar. He froze as he saw me and then bowed deeply. I fought hard to keep my face straight instead of sneering at his display. I ignored the man and hurried up the staircase. Upstairs, I turned another corner and finally entered the library.

Draco Malfoy was sitting at the far end, looking up from the book he was studying as I entered.
"You. What do you want?"

"Don't worry, I don't care for a warm welcome."

I walked towards him and he snapped his book shut. "I have nothing to say to you."

"Draco, please," I said. "I came to make amends. I obviously angered you, but you have to know I only ever meant to help you-"

"By causing my utter humiliation!" he hissed.

"At least you're alive," I reminded him gently.

"And for what?" he inquired darkly. "You have no idea-"

"You're right," I said quickly. "I know nothing about your life. But I know that you can't give up. If you don't want this, then fight."

"Like you did?" he challenged.

I opened my mouth to retaliate, but we were interrupted. Lucius Malfoy burst inside and skittered to a halt as he spotted me.

"Lorraine – Draco, we need you in the drawing room-"

"Lucius, we were just-"

"We got Potter!" Lucius said, his voice breaking with exhilaration.

"What?" Draco exclaimed.

"Have you notified the Dark Lord?" I inquired.

"No, see, his face is all swollen and we – Draco, we need you to have a look at him."

Draco, if possible, paled a little but dutifully got up and moved out of the room. I shared a glance with Lucius whose eyes were also glittering with excitement. We followed his son downstairs and into the drawing room. Fenrir Greyback was holding a struggling teenager. His face was swollen, all right, his features anything but distinct.

"Well, boy?" Greyback demanded from Draco, who was staring at the other boy warily.

"Well, Draco? Is it? Is it Potter?" Lucius urged.

"I can't – I can't be sure," Draco said.

"But look at him carefully! Come closer! Draco, if we are the ones who hand Potter over to the Dark Lord, everything will be forgiv-"

"Lucius," I snapped. "This isn't about your poor excuse of a reputation."

Lucius fell silent at once while I turned to Greyback. "What happened to his face?"

"It wasn't us," Greyback said defensively, a strange sound on a man like him.

"Looks like a Stinging Jinx to me," Lucius offered.

"We had better be certain, Lucius," Narcissa piped up. "Completely sure that it is Potter before we summon the Dark Lord... remember what he did to Rowle and Dolohov?"

"Why don't we worry about the important things right now?" I suggested. "What about these other two? Draco?"

He looked where I pointed to a girl with bushy brown hair and boy with the distinct red hair of a Weasley.

"Draco, isn't it the Granger girl?" Narcissa inquired.

"I... maybe... yeah."

"But then, that's the Weasley boy!" Lucius exclaimed. "It's them, Potter's friends – Draco, look at him, isn't it Arthur Weasley's son, what's his name-"

"Yeah," said Draco. "It could be."

He looked to me, almost pleadingly and I sighed. So it was them.

"What is this? What's happened, Cissy?"

I rolled my eyes and turned with the others to face the door. Bellatrix Lestrange walked slowly inside.

"But surely," Bellatrix breathed. "This is the Mudblood girl? This is Granger?"

"Yes, yes it's her!" cried Lucius. "And beside her, it's Potter! Potter and his friends, caught at last!"

"Potter!" Bellatrix screeched. "Well then, the Dark Lord, must-"

"Stop!" I said, trying to lay all the authority I had in my voice. "We aren't certain yet. What's the rush?" I turned back to the prisoners. "Why don't we try and get his face back to normal so that we can be sure."

"Yes," Lucius said. "Of course. And then I'll call-"

"Oh, I don't think so, Lucius, I will-" Bellatrix interrupted.

"May I remind you that it was us that found him-"

"Enough," I hissed and even got Greyback to fall silent. "If it really is Potter, I will call the Dark Lord and when he's here you can all claim how well you did. Let's just take one step after the other."

"What is that?" the hysterical voice of Bellatrix suddenly said. I turned to face her again, but she pointed at one of the Snatchers.

"Sword," the man grumbled.

"Where did you get it?" Bellatrix hissed, stalking towards him. "Give it to me-"

"It's mine, I-"

"Stupefy!"

The man fell at once and Bellatrix hauled the sword from his grip.

"What are you doing?"

"The prisoners into the cellar," Bellatrix ordered.

"This is my house, Bella," Lucius said suddenly. "You don't give orders-"

"Do it!" she shrieked. "You have no idea of the danger we are in!"

I rolled my eyes at her antics but as no one else seemed to move, I ordered. "Greyback, prisoners, cellar, hello?"

"Yes, Ma'am."

"Wait," Bellatrix said. "All except the Mudblood."

"No!" the redhead suddenly shouted. "Take me, you can have me!"

Bellatrix hit him right across the face. "If the she dies under questioning, I'll take you next."

"Please, Bella," I said. "No one's dying around here yet."

She sneered, but reached wordlessly inside her robes to pull out a silvery knife. The two boys struggled even more as the Snatchers dragged them away. The girl, though, was forced to remain and her eyes were fixed warily on the knife in Bellatrix' hands. Bellatrix stalked towards the girl, the knife twirling in her hands.

"I give you one chance," she offered, though it was clearly not honest. "Tell me where you got the sword."

"We found it," the girl breathed.

Unbeknownst to her, that caused the Death Eater to snap. Bellatrix practically leapt onto the girl, who gave a terrifying scream as Bella obviously drove the knife into her.

"Where did you get the sword?" she screeched. "Where?"

"We found it – we found it! Please!"

The girl screamed again so loudly that I wished to cover my ears. I looked over to see Draco shaking as he watched.

"Get out," I advised him quietly but he just stiffly shook his head.

"You are lying, filthy Mudblood, and I know it! You have been inside my vault at Gringotts! Tell the truth, tell the truth!"

The girl screamed again and I turned to see what Bella was doing; I involuntarily took a step back as I saw her carving into the girl's arm with the knife.

"What else did you take?" Bellatrix demanded. "What else have you got? Tell me the truth or, I swear, I shall run you through with this knife!"

"No," I said, stepping forward. "Bella, stop."

She did not, maybe she did not even hear me; but she continued carving at it became very clear what she was doing. MUDBLOOD was carved deep into the girl's forearm.

"I said enough!" I yelled. The knife suddenly disappeared from her hands and her head whipped around to stare at me, for I was the one to hold onto it now. I sighed heavily, staring down at the knife in my hand. "Will you look at that," I commented. "Nonverbal and wandless. The anger is fuelling me."

"What are you playing at?" Bellatrix hissed, getting up and walking towards me.

"I told you it's enough. We're done torturing children," I told her.

"If the Dark Lord learns-"

I paid her no mind, but stepped past her and reached out to pull the girl up. "Up you go, girl."

"Lorraine-"

"I don't want to hear it, Lucius," I hissed. "Chair, please."

Ironically, it was Draco who pulled up a chair and I sat the girl down on it. "Dear, look at me," I said, causing her to sharply meet my eyes. "Tell me where you got that sword."

Despite what Bellatrix might think, I was not stupid. If these three really had been in the Lestrange's vault, they might as well have taken the Cup. Taken a Horcrux and put it Merlin knows where. Or worse, destroyed it. We needed to know.

"We haven't been in the vault," the girl breathed. "It's... it's a copy. Just a copy."

"Draco," I said without taking my eyes of her. "Bring the goblin; we let him be the judge of that."

The girl whimpered quietly as Draco hurried out of the room. It took him a while to bring the goblin; when he finally dragged him into the room, the goblin appeared as glum as any of his sort. He examined the sword in every detail, running his long fingers across it.

"Well?" Bellatrix inquired. "Is it the true sword?"

"No," the goblin said. "It's a fake."

"Are you sure?" she said.

"Yes."

"Good!" she exclaimed. "And now – we call the Dark Lord!" She pushed up her sleeve and pressed her finger to the mark. I threw up my hands in defeat.

"And I think we can dispose of the Mudblood. Greyback, if you want her-"

"No!" I said, but I was not the only one. Just then, the Weasley boy burst into the room, directly followed by Potter. By now, it was obvious it was him; his face had almost returned to normal.
The Malfoys had whirled around; Lucius was stunned practically at once. I had drawn my wand, too, sending a stunning spell towards Potter, but he had quickly rolled behind a sofa.

"STOP OR SHE DIES!"

It was when I turned to look at Bellatrix that I realized my mistake; when I had drawn my wand to shield myself, I had dropped the knife. Bellatrix had it again, and she had dragged the girl up, holding the knife to her throat.

"Drop your wands. Drop them, or we'll see exactly how filthy her blood is!"

The two boys both straightened, eyeing Bellatrix carefully.

"I said drop them!" she shrieked.

"You're in disadvantage," I told Potter, whose eyes only shortly flickered to me. "Drop them and I promise you I'll let the girl go."

"You can make no such-"

"I can do everything, Bella," I interrupted her harshly before focusing on Potter. "Go on, drop them. He's coming, you're dead either way. But you can save her."

"You promise?" he asked hoarsely.

"You have my word," I confirmed.

The boy simply opened his hand and the wand he held fell clattering to the floor; his friend, the redhead, did exactly the same.

"Good," I said. "I'm coming over to pick them up."

Slowly, I walked over to them and bent over to pick up the wands. Very quickly, my eyes met with Potter's and they appeared almost numb as he glanced back at me.

"Now," Bella said softly. "Maybe we should tie these little heroes up again. Greyback, if you still want the girl-"

"No."

She rolled her eyes at me. "We're not going to set the girl free."

"Yes, we are."

"No, we aren't!"

I crossed the room between us with three large steps and pointed my wand directly in her face. "Don't push me, Bellatrix."

Icy grey eyes glared at me, but I did not budge. I had given the boy my word and I had meant every word of it.
There was a loud grinding noise and both our eyes shot up to see the chandelier swinging dangerously. It was swinging only for a second, though, for in the next, it was already falling. I shrieked and seized Bellatrix' arm to pull her away. We fell, but we were lucky; the girl and the goblin, though were buried underneath it. Pieces of crystal pierced my arm and back. When I rolled over, I found Draco doubled over, blood streaming from his face.

Our two prisoners had taken their chance; I could hear Potter yell, "Stupefy!" while the Weasley boy hurried to help the girl.

"Dobby!" I looked around to find Narcissa pointing her wand towards the door. 'Dobby' apparently was a house-elf, who strutted into the room just then.

"You must not hurt Harry Potter!" the little creature announced.

"Kill him, Cissy!" Bellatrix encouraged, but there was a loud crack! and the elf was holding Narcissa's wand.

"You dirty little monkey!" Bellatrix sneered. "How dare you take a witch's wand, how dare you defy your masters?"

"Dobby has no master!" the elf squeaked. "Dobby is a free elf and Dobby has come to save Harry Potter and his friends!"

"Ron!" Potter yelled. "Catch – and go!"

Potter had grabbed the goblin while his friend helped the girl and now they seized the elf's hands. Bellatrix shrieked angrily and hauled her knife at them. It flew, the elf glared; and both the knife and the group disappeared in a whirl.