The pain that they felt from the Cruciatus Curse was the worst that they have ever experienced; they couldn't bear it for one whole minute, let alone for one hour. The Dark Lord punished them severely for the incident that occurred earlier. But this was not the worst of their problems, for even though that the worst part of their punishment was over; they continue to live in fear and worry of the Dark Lord's wrath.
Earlier that evening…
Days turned into weeks and weeks turned into months as the Dark Lord continues to control the Ministry of Magic and have Death Eaters and Snatchers hunt down the Order of the Phoenix and Harry Potter and his friends.
And due to the fact that the Dark Lord was on a quest to find the Elder Wand, (although his followers don't know what he was searching for), he has not held meetings at Malfoy Manor for weeks, much to Lucius, Narcissa and Draco's relief, but the Death Eaters were still lingering there from time to time, but the three Malfoys were still comfortable enough to relax despite the presence of the sadistic wizards and witches.
Lucius, Narcissa and Draco were spending time in the dimly lit drawing room, the three of them were sitting in artistically decorated chairs that were settled in front the grand fireplace; Draco was staring at the fire blankly, while the elder Malfoys were silently drinking firewhiskey from champagne flutes and held hands together with their arms paced on the wooden carved arm rests, this simple gesture of affection helped them relax more.
Narcissa's attention was taken from the fire when her husband silently brought her hand to his lips and kissed it, Narcissa and her husband both smiled at each other when they mutually faced each other with her hand still near his chin.
But the moment was soon broken when they heard several loud footsteps and some growling noises outside the room; the sounds were muffled so that means that those outside were probably still at the manor's entrance door.
"I'll go and see who it is." Said Lucius while standing up.
"No, it's alright, I'll go." Insisted Narcissa while rising from the chair.
"Are you sure?" he asked.
"Yes, don't worry about me." She assured her husband.
"Alright."
Narcissa walked towards the entrance, and much to her dismay; the werewolf, Fenrir Greyback, and his group of Snatchers, as well as some prisoners, were the one's who were making the racket.
The moment that Greyback and his Snatchers claimed that they have captured Harry Potter was when the Malfoys' fears and worries started to overcome them; they were all worried about the circumstances concerning the Potter boy.
Lucius and Narcissa kept on stating facts that support the suspicion that the boy and the other prisoners that were captured were really Harry Potter and his friends, but their hopes were always thwarted whenever their son, Draco, who knew the Potter boy throughout his years at Hogwarts, kept giving uncertain answers and statements whenever they asked him.
At that time, Narcissa was inwardly uneasy about the situation, although on the outside she retained her mask of impassiveness. Lucius on the other hand, while also equally troubled as his wife, was eager at the opportunity to earn the Dark Lord's forgiveness and approval once more.
"Look closely and carefully son." he spoke to their son, "If we we're the ones to hand over Potter to the Dark Lord, all will be forgiven-"
"No, we won't forget who actually caught him, I hope Mr. Malfoy?" said the werewolf menacingly.
"Of course not! Of course not!" said Lucius impatiently.
Things started to take a turn for the worse when Bellatrix Lestrange, Narcissa's older sister, intervened.
"Potter?" Bellatrix exclaimed while looking at the boy that was kept hold of by Greyback. "If we are sure that's him, then the Dark Lord must be informed at once!" at this, she started to roll up her sleeve in order to touch the Dark Mark.
Lucius reacted instantly to his sister-in-law's movement; he didn't want this one chance of once more gaining the favor of the Dark Lord. So he restrained her from touching her Mark by taking hold of her wrist.
"I was about to call him, Bella…" he started, "I shall summon him, Bella, Potter has been brought to my house and therefore upon my authority-"
"You lost your authority when you lost your wand, Lucius! Now let me go!"
During that time, Lucius, who was unfazed by Bellatrix's words, continued to hold her back, determined to save his family and himself from further contempt and cold treatment from the Dark Lord, whereas Narcissa, who wasn't able to notice the things that seemed unimportant to her, for the only significant thing to her at the moment was the circumstances with the Potter boy, as well as the possible consequences for her and her family, should that not be him, remained outwardly detached, but inwardly frustrated at her sister's interference.
When Bellatrix ceased trying to throw him off due to a distraction, Lucius grabbed the opportunity and was about a half-inch away from touching his own Mark, but froze immediately when Bellatrix screamed.
"STOP! Do not touch it; we shall all perish if the Dark Lord comes now!"
From that point on, the situation became graver, and even more so when the prisoners escaped.
The prisoners were taken down the cellar with the exception of the Granger girl, who Bellatrix was torturing, to gain information from about a sword that the Snatchers brought. And then the interrogation of the goblin, Griphook. But the worst happened when the captives revealed themselves.
It all began with the Weasley boy, and then yelling and disarming Bellatrix by the element of surprise, then Potter Stupefying Lucius and then finally the duel between Narcissa, and Draco against the two boys, and Bellatrix interrupting it by threatening to slit the Granger girl's throat with her knife.
"Drop your wands! I said drop them! Pick them up, Draco! Well, well. It really is Harry Potter." She darkly laughed, "Your doom approaches. The Dark Lord is on his way!"
The moment Bellatrix finished talking; they heard a squeaking sound up from above. And they soon realized that one of the grand chandeliers was falling down upon them.
All of them ran out of the way as the glass shards flew around, Harry wrestled the wands out of Draco's grip, and then Narcissa dragged her son out of harm's way, and as Lucius stood up again, he was Stupefied by all three wands that the Potter boy had, and then she soon laid eyes on the culprit.
"Dobby!" she screamed whilst pointing her wand at the house-elf, "You dropped the chandelier-"
"You must not harm Harry Potter!" he squeaked.
"Kill him, Cissy!" Bellatrix told her.
As Narcissa started to flick her wand, the house-elf disarmed her.
"You dirty little monkey!" screeched Bellatrix, "How dare you take a witch's wand, how dare you defy your masters?"
"Dobby has no master." The house-elf squeaked courageously, "Dobby is a free elf, and Dobby has come to rescue Harry Potter and his friends!" and those were his final words before he started to Dissapparate with the prisoners, but before they completely left, Bellatrix threw her knife and it left with them.
"Arrgh!" screeched Bellatrix, "I can't believe that they got away! All thanks to a filthy house-elf!"
"Yes. Indeed an infuriating outcome." Whispered a velvet, but frightening voice.
The three Malfoys and Bellatrix stayed frozen in place when they heard it, and soon, there was a dark emerald trail of smoke surrounding them, and out of it, appeared an all too familiar, and horrifying, snake-like face that was ghostly pale and wore an expression of disappointment and anger.
The Dark Lord was, at the very least, most definitely displeased.
"My L-lord!" cried Bellatrix while kneeling down, "Please! Forgive us, we-"
"Silence!" he bellowed in a deep, hissing voice full of anger. "You have summoned me here, from an extremely important quest, just to see that you have captured the Potter boy and his friends, and let them escape. I am certainly disgruntled."
"My Lord-" started Bellatrix.
Bellatrix was the only one that had the ability to speak to the Dark Lord in such a dire situation, the Malfoys weren't able to do this for they were too frightened and worried that they might just suffer more if they even said as much as two words to the cruel man.
"Enough!" the Dark Lord interrupted her, "You have made me waste precious time, and for that, you must be punished!"
The Dark Lord raised his yew wand and yelled: "Crucio!"
Pain ran through every muscle they had; twisting and pulling every nerve and tissue; like hot-knives stabbing in and out repeatedly against their bodies. The aching and the sound of their screams of pain seemed to last for hours, and slight relief came to them when the Dark Lord stopped.
"You have disappointed me." He hissed, "But you are all still members of the Pure-blood Wizarding Society, and I cannot bear to see such clean, untainted, magical blood go to waste. So I will not punish you any further, but none of you are allowed to leave this mansion without my express permission, do you understand?"
"Yes, My Lord…" said Bellatrix weakly, still writhing in the floor, and attempting to stand, "We are humbled by your mercy and understanding."
"You're most welcome." He said as if he was never mad before Dissaparating again to resume his journey.
As the earlier events were pushed to the back of their minds, the three Malfoys were struggling to move correctly due to the immense pain.
"Draco?" Narcissa called out to her son, whilst crawling towards him, "Are you alright?"
"M-Mother…" her son started faintly, "It was so painful and unbearable…"
"Shh… It's all over now." She told him softly as she shakily placed her hand on his pale cheek.
After an hour or so it seemed, the three Malfoys were able to stand up, despite wincing from the still-present pain.
"I'm… going… upstairs." Draco stammered from the pain.
Lucius and Narcissa nodded slowly before Draco limped to leave.
They walked slowly to the lush dark green sofa, and sat down on it carefully in order to avoid aching even more.
"Narcissa." Began Lucius, "I'm so sorry."
"For what?"
"For getting you and Draco involved in all of this." He replied with small tears forming in his eyes.
Narcissa knew that the tears weren't a result from the physical pain, but rather the pain that her husband felt for having her and their son drawn in to all of this madness.
"Lucius, you shouldn't apologize for this. None of us knew that this was going to happen, and we became involved because we believed in the Dark Lord's point of view. So don't apologize, dear." She said while gently rubbing his cheek, "Besides, it's unlike you to do so." She tried to make the situation lighter with that last line.
Lucius smiled at his wife; he was forever grateful that he had this wonderful, forgiving woman.
"Thank you." He said.
"What are thanking me for?" She asked.
"For staying with me despite all that's happened; I consider myself lucky that I have you and Draco." He answered.
"Oh, Lucius." She sighed.
They smiled at each other, and then held each other in a gentle embrace that brought peace and comfort to them.