Chapter 28: The Dark Lord Comes to Call

Khyana's gaolers were not pleased with the noise. Her brother showed up at the door with Rodolphus and Bellatrix Lestrange, all three looking mutinous.

"What do you think you are doing?" Lucius hissed angrily, pointing his wand at her head.

She shrugged, struggling to hide her fear and revulsion behind sarcasm. "Getting your attention."

"Well, you've got it. What do you want?"

"I want out of here."

Bellatrix gave her a maniacal grin. "I'm sure you do. Unfortunately, the Dark Lord's instructions were quite clear: you are to remain separated from the other prisoners. They may be placed together, but you must be kept alone."

"You weren't supposed to tell her that, Bella," Lucius hissed.

Bellatrix shrugged. "You tell, you're dead."

Lucius rolled his eyes. "Get her out of here, Lestrange."

"Get your hands off me!" Bellatrix screamed as Rodolphus dragged her out of the hallway.

"Now," Lucius hissed at Khyana, his face inches from hers, "You keep quiet. I don't want to hear another sound from you."

Khyana had a sudden urge to spit in his face, and she did so, to his fury.

"You insolent little-"

"Lucius!"

He spun round. Dolohov was standing just behind him.

"What do you want, Dolohov?"

"Lestrange sent me to cover for him."

Lucius looked as suspicious as Khyana felt. Lestrange wouldn't do that unless…

Khyana laughed. "Rodolphus doesn't think you can handle me by yourself, Lucius," she said snidely. "He thinks you're too weak."

"Shut up, brat," Lucius spat. "I don't want another word out of you."

Khyana returned to her room, looking around yet again and struggling not to be sick. Then she began speaking, stories she had heard when she was younger from the other children, memories she had of her friends and school days, anything that came into her head.

"Shut up!" Lucius screamed again.

Khyana began to speak louder, defying her brother's orders.

Lucius entered the room long enough to slap Khyana hard across her face. She fell onto her side but, though she could taste the blood in her mouth, she didn't stop speaking. She didn't even know what she was saying anymore. All she knew was that she had to keep speaking; if she could keep Lucius here, maybe send him for Voldemort, it would save Kelria. She didn't know how she knew that, she just felt it in her bones.

"I've had enough," Lucius hissed angrily. "Dolohov, stay here."

"Where are you-?"

The door closing cut off Dolohov's answer, but Khyana had a feeling Lucius hadn't deigned to answer him anyway.

She continued speaking, even though she was pretty sure no one could hear her. She'd just reached the Tale of the Three Brothers when the door opened again and someone walked in. She didn't need to look up to know it was not Lucius who had entered. It was someone much more sinister than Lucius, and that could only mean one thing: The Dark Lord had come to call.

Kelria was returned to her cell by Malfoy, who kept muttering under his breath about Khyana. Kelria caught random words that he said, like "annoying", "she'll pay"…mundane things Kelria didn't care about. She knew Khyana was more than capable of taking care of herself. Although, admittedly, she didn't have a wand, and she was up against the evillest wizard in history…maybe she could use a little help. Kelria began looking for a way to get out of her cell. Khyana had saved her life. The least she could do would be to return the favour.

Sirius was furious.

"How could she do this to us? HOW?! Is she a complete brainless idiot?"

"Sirius!" Lily cried, shocked. "How do you know it was her fault? Maybe Lightfingers tricked her."

Sirius glared at her. "She trusted Lightfingers. She told us he was okay! So even if he tricked her, she still brought him to us in the first place!"

"I don't think he tricked her," Frank pointed out. "He brought her the information about Cam and Laura in the first place, and the information about the dates and whatnot. I think he's alright. I think they were both tricked."

"Well, what are we going to do?"

Suddenly, there was a faint pop and Dumbledore appeared in the middle of the room.

"Professor!" Lily cried, surprised.

Dumbledore looked grim. "Who wants to find some prisoners?"

Khyana stood straight, coming barely to Voldemort's shoulder, but she didn't care that he was taller than she was. She glared at him, furious.

"What seems to be the problem, Miss Malfoy?" he asked, his voice dripping with false sweetness.

"I want to move," she answered in a clear, firm voice.

He laughed softly. "Oh no, girl, I'm afraid that is not possible. You see, this is part of your torture, to be placed in the same room you used when you were a girl. Don't you have fond memories of this room?" he added nastily.

"No," she replied, furious. How dare he?

"Oh," he said, pouting as though he cared. "Well, too bad then."

Khyana was furious. "By the way, Bella told me that I'm not supposed to be put with the other prisoners."

Voldemort's eyes were slits of anger, and his lipless mouth pursed angrily.

"I will deal with her later. In the meantime, I'm dealing with you currently. You have been bothering my Death Eaters. Crucio."

There was no fancy segway into the curse, it just came. And Khyana was totally unprepared. Thankfully (or maybe not so thankfully), her teeth were clenched when he did it, so she didn't scream, which made her happy and him furious.

"My Lord!"

Voldemort ended the curse and turned, furious, to the Death Eater who had spoken. It was Travers. He glared at Khyana angrily, and Khyana remembered vaguely that Kelria had killed his older brother when she was in seventh year.

"What?" Voldemort asked angrily.

"We have intruders."

Voldemort swore loudly and left with Travers, leaving Khyana's door open and no guard.

She wondered if she should just stay where she was, but knew better than that. If the intruders were there to save her, then she would do better trying to find them than sitting around waiting for them. They would probably assume she was in the dungeon and look for her there. But they wouldn't find her. And they wouldn't know where her rooms were.

She left the corridor quickly, going down three flights of stairs on the back staircase, which brought a flood of memories.

There were giggles behind her.

"Stop it, Bella! If we get caught, we're going to be dead!"

Bella stopped laughing and shot Narcissa a grin.

"I love breaking rules," she whispered.

"Me too," Khyana agreed, and the two girls giggled softly.

"Won't your house-elves find us?" Andi asked, ever the cautious one.

"Oh hush, Andi. Khyana knows what she's doing, don't you?"

Khyana glowed under Bella's praise and nodded. It was so good to be Bella's favourite…

Khyana shook her head. That was a long time ago. She was no longer Bella's favourite. She was, in fact, Bella's least favourite. Well, maybe second least. Sirius was very least.

The thought of Sirius made Khyana's heart soar. Maybe he was part of the rescue party…

Just then, she caught sight of a group of people. She quickly hid herself in an alcove off the side of the hallway, not sure if they were friend or foe.

"-Have to split up," James' voice drifted toward her hiding place. "Sirius, you follow this corridor with Frank, Harvey and I will go this way."

"Right," Sirius replied. "See you in a bit. Be safe."

"Always."

Khyana stepped out of her alcove as Sirius and Frank approached.

"Who's there?" Sirius asked loudly, he and Frank both holding their wands up pointed at Khyana's chest.

"It's me, Khyana," she replied.

Both wands dropped quickly, and Sirius enveloped her in a tight hug.

"You scared me. You have a lot of explaining to do."

Khyana nodded. "Later. Remus and Kel are downstairs."

"Where are we?" Frank asked, holding his lit wand up to look at the pictures on the wall.

Khyana shivered. "Malfoy Mansion."

"I thought you said-"

"I know what I said. I was wrong, okay?" Khyana snapped, and Sirius shut up quickly.

"Okay, sorry," Sirius said.

"Come on. We have to get Remus and Kel."

A/N: Alright, there y'all go. I apologise for the LOOOOOOONG delay, I ended up being gone longer than I expected. I leave again tomorrow, but only for a week this time. But then I'm going to be super busy, so we'll see what happens. You might have to wait until school starts...and I'm dreading it. Hope you liked it, R&R!