Chapter 8

"What happened to him?"

"A couple of Aurors were trying to interrogate him. They probably used the Cruciatus Curse."

"Did he tell them anything?"

"I don't know."

"Honestly, Mulciber! The poor boy was just tortured and all you care about is that he didn't give away any information?"

"It's not like it's unusual for the Order to torture people."

"Mulciber's right about that, Sky. Don't you remember the first war? I'd say that the boy is lucky that they didn't kill him, but on the other hand, he'd have to answer all of their questions before they killed him. Maybe that means that he didn't give anything away. They were still trying to extract information from him when we came. Wait, no; maybe they just had a lot of questions to ask, and they only got through half of…"

"Really, Avery, we'd love to hear all of your theories about what happened, but do you really have to talk for an hour at a time?"

Draco awoke to a conversation between four people. He recognized the voices of Barty Crouch and Sky Lorrel, but he had never heard the voices of the two other people. Draco opened his eyes and saw the group of people gathered in his bedroom. Barty Crouch was pacing back and forth, staring down at the floor. He had a long gash on his face that ran from the bottom of his left eye lid to his upper lip. Sky Lorrel was busy with an assortment of potions. Next to her were two men. Both of them were thin and filthy.

One had sandy brown hair and pointed features. His eyes darted around the room nervously, but he was grinning and looked rather excited. The other man wore a sullen expression and stared blankly at the wall. His face was lined, and he had dark, untidy hair. His eyes landed on Draco. "Your patient is awake, Sky." he said. "Someone, go and get his mother and aunt." said Sky, not looking up from her tray of potions. Barty Crouch stopped pacing and left the room.

The sullen man got up and walked over to Draco's bed. "Did you tell the Order anything, boy?" he demanded. "No." said Draco. "Then, how did they know who you were?" questioned the man. He sounded irritated, but Draco could see no reason for him to be angry. "Nymphadora Tonks told them." answered Draco. "Why didn't you lie?" demanded the man. "Mulciber, leave Draco alone," groaned Sky. "He's been through enough."

"I agree with Sky," said the other man. "I know that you've got a few things against Lucius, but that doesn't mean that you should take it out on Draco. Draco is Lucius's son, right, Sky? They really do look similar, don't they? Draco reminds me so much of Lucius when he was a teenager. Yes, I remember Lucius strutting around with his prefect badge. Lucius was a prefect, right? You were one too weren't…"

"I could see the resemblance from a mile away," interrupted the man called Mulciber. "He has Lucius's revolting white-blonde hair and traitorous grey eyes…"

"Please, Mulciber," sighed Sky. "Not now." She carried the tray of potions to Draco's bedside.

"How are you feeling?" she asked.

"Tired." said Draco.

"Do you feel stressed or slightly ill?"

"Yes."

"That's typical. I have something that might help you."

She took out a bottle of pale blue liquid and poured some of it into a small glass. She handed it to him and said, "Drink it. It'll make you feel better. I'd recommend gulping it down. The taste is sort of… strange." Draco took her advice. The potion tasted something like ice and pepper. He coughed, but managed to swallow the whole glass. "In a few minutes, it should work." said Sky.

She turned around to face the two men. "Ah, of course!" she exclaimed. "Introductions! Draco, this is Mr. Avery and Mr. Mulciber. They just broke out of Azkaban and came here after the Order left…"

"I think that 'Mr.' sounds a little bit too formal," said the man with the sandy brown hair. "Just call me Avery. Just don't call me by my first name, James. Ever since I went to school with James Potter at Hogwarts, I've asked everyone to never call me by my first name. James Potter… he and his bunch of friends were always bothering the Slytherins at school, especially Severus. Poor Severus… I remember the time when..."

"Avery," groaned Sky. "You can finish your story another time."

"I'm not too fond of being called 'Mr. Mulciber'," said the other man. "I'd rather just be referred to as 'sir' or something like that. In fact, I'd rather that the boy doesn't talk to me at all."

At that moment, Narcissa Malfoy ran into the room. Immediately, she hurried over to Draco.

"Draco!" she cried. "Are you alright? What did they do to you? We heard your screams and we came as soon as we could!"

"I'm fine." Draco lied. He was still aching a little and he did feel a bit sick, however, he was beginning to feel slightly better. The potion that Sky had given him was definitely working.

"Where's Bellatrix?" asked Sky. "I thought that she'd want to see whether Draco was alright."

"Bellatrix?" said Narcissa. "Oh, she's busy with something downstairs. I don't know what it is. She refused to come upstairs."

"This is Bellatrix Lestrange we're talking about," said Mulciber. "I don't think she really cares about whether Draco's fine or not. If there was something that she considered extremely important, Draco could be bleeding to death, and she would barely notice."

"She didn't pay much attention to me when I was bleeding to death," added Avery. "I recall Sky trying to heal my leg that night. Mulciber was standing by my bedside, saying something to me. I don't know whether you were there, Narcissa, but Bellatrix was. We were at our old Headquarters, and the Dark Lord was there. Bellatrix just wanted to be around the Dark Lord. She knew that I was injured, but she barely noticed me. I think that she was just irritated by all of the noise that the three of us were making. I guess that…"

"I'm sure that Bella is concerned about Draco," said Narcissa before Avery could continue. "He's her nephew. Whatever she's busy with downstairs, is probably something very urgent."

Suddenly, the door burst open and Bellatrix sprinted in. She looked elated. "The Dark Lord is here!" she shrieked.

"What?" exclaimed Narcissa.

"He's here! The Dark Lord has just arrived!" screamed Bellatrix.

No one else seemed as enthusiastic about this as Bellatrix. Avery's grin faded and he was now very pale. Narcissa and Sky looked worried. Mulciber's expression did not change.

"Does the Dark Lord wish to see any of us?" he asked.

"He wants to meet with everyone here who has the Dark Mark," said Bellatrix. "Draco, he wants you to come also. Cissy, you may come if you please."

"What does the Dark Lord want Draco for?" demanded Narcissa.

Bellatrix shrugged. "I'm not completely sure," she said. "I think that he probably just wants Draco to become one of us."

"You're sure that the Dark Lord wants to see everyone with the Dark Mark?" asked Avery.

"Yes, I am absolutely sure." replied Bellatrix, frowning at him.

With that, she darted out of the room. Avery sighed, got up and limped to the door. He was followed by Mulciber and Sky Lorrel.

"Come, Draco." muttered Narcissa. She helped him to get up and led him down the spiral staircase. Draco gulped. He was sure that if Bellatrix was so thrilled, whatever the Dark Lord wanted to see him for was not going to be particularly pleasant.