A/N: Okay, guys, this chapter is tricky. Writing it took a LOT of time and research. I hope my efforts were not wasted.
Draco limped into the dining room, he could hear his aunt yelling at somebody but couldn't make out what she was saying.
"My favorite nephew!" Bellatrix greeted, almost childishly as he entered the dinning room. "What did you do?" she demanded, her tone of voice suddenly changed into a serious one.
Narcissa Malfoy who was sitting silently in a corner stood abruptly at the sight of her limping son. "Draco! What happened to you?" the distraught woman asked.
"Noth.." Draco started to say when Bellatrix interrupted him, "Cissy, Cissy, your motherly affections can wait." she ordered.
"Now tell me Draco, what did you do? Did you find out who it was?" Bellatrix asked anxiously.
She had been waiting for her nephew to come back from his so called search ever since Narcissa told her he was looking for the traitor who helped the mudblood escape.
Bellatrix was ecstatic at the capture of Hermione Granger. She was having her fun torturing her, when a loud noise interrupted them. She went to inspect only to find that the stupid, filthy excuses of men that were gathered in the Malfoy Manor have tried opening a room that is hexed so only a Malfoy could enter it. Causing spells to fly everywhere breaking every breakable object all over the hall.
Had she enough time, she would've made sure they were all instantly punished, but focusing on the task on hand, she promised them all to inform the Dark lord of their foolishness before storming back to the room where she left the mudblood. It was only when Bellatrix reached the room, finding that the girl was gone that she realized it. The noise had nothing but a distraction. Somebody must have broken into the Manor...or maybe Harry Potter and his friend never left in the first place. She went furious and called for all the Death Eaters in the Manor to gather before her.
It was then that Narcissa approached her.
"Where is your son Narcissa? He was just here minutes ago when I was inspecting the damage!" Bellatrix hissed.
"He left once he heard the news about the mudblood running away, he said he knows who did it and he thinks it's one of us, I couldn't get any further information from him he said he had to go after him before he runs away" Narcissa said warily, lowering her voice so the men in the room won't hear.
"What? How does he know? And why wouldn't he give you a name? This is not time for riddles, Narcissa your son should know that. Which is more, why didn't he tell me this important piece of information?" Bellatrix fired question after the other at her sister, her low whisper coming out as a hiss.
"Because I'm his mother, Bella. He usually heads to me first." Narcissa fumed.
"And I'm the reason you don't have a dead son, Cissy. You had better keep that in mind."Bellatrix sneered.
Facing away from her sister, Bellatrix eyed the men in front of her suspiciously, her eyes lingering on each of them in turn.
"Where is Rowle? Wasn't he here this morning?" she interrogated raising an eye brow.
"Y-Yes he was. He told me you sent him to the dark lord to break the news of Potter's escape." Dolohov replied hesitantly.
Bellatrix's eyes widened for a second before exchanging a knowing glance with her sister.
"When Draco comes back, tell him to come to me instantly." she ordered before dismissing the men, ordering them to keep the news of the escape a secret then heading to her room.
Now Draco was back and she would finally feed her curiosity and hopefully avoid the Dark Lord's fury over the series of escapes that had been taking place lately.
"What took you so long Draco? It has been a whole day!" Bellatrix demanded, running out of patience.
"It took me some time to find the man and more time to bring him here." Dracoe said before opening a trunk he brought with him.
The trunk opened into five or six boxes over each other, varying gradually in size. He reached his hand inside the box and grabbed what turned out to be Thorfinn Rowle. The man had both his hands and legs tied and his mouth sealed, he had a black eye and several cuts covering his face.
"Rowle did it, he helped the mudblood escape." Draco reported.
"Explain, Draco." Bellatrix ordered, her eyes fixed on her nephew's.
"I have seen him creeping in the hall in front of the hexed room when you sent me to call my mother when Potter and his friend escaped. I asked him what was he doing and he said he was looking where everybody was but he got lost…a story I found rather unconvincing considering the amount of time he had spent in the Manor, not to mention that he knew everybody was gathered in the dining room after Potter's escape. But I told him to stay away from that room because it was hexed and I showed him the way before coming back with my mother as per your request." Draco stopped talking as the man on the floor starting letting out muffled words and writhing on the floor.
"Silence!" Bellatrix hissed at Rowle who seized movement at once.
Draco took his aunt's nod in his direction as a permission to continue, "When the noise erupted I was in my room, changing my clothes. I went instantly to see what was wrong and I noticed everybody was there except for Rowle. I asked Dolohov where Rowle was and he said you had sent him to inform the Dark Lord of Potter's escape. Something I knew can't possibly be true. I know my own aunt, you're smart enough not to want to face the consequences." he added, empathizing his words and hardly fighting back the content smile that played on his lips when he saw Bellatrix flinch momentarily. She glanced at Dolohov who just nodded his head subtly.
"That was when I told my mother the information I had and asked her to deliver it to you. I apologize for not reporting it myself but I was in a haste to follow them. I found them hiding in a forest not so far away from the Manor, apparently the mudblood has a thing for forests." he smirked and the men in the room laughed loudly only to be silenced by Bellatrix's glare.
"I was about to catch her when Rowle attacked me injuring my leg" Draco said, lifting his trousers' leg to show a fresh wound at which Narcissa Malfoy gasped holding her hand to her mouth.
"It wasn't easy but I managed to catch him, the mudblood escaped though, by the time I was able to take Rowle down she was gone. It doesn't matter, though, because right now, I think he is more important." Draco remarked, glancing at the man on the floor.
"Speak up, Rowle." she ordered coldly, waving her wand swiftly at his direction.
"I didn't do it, Bellatrix! The boy is lying. You know I'm faithful to the Dark Lord. I have always been...I didn't do it. I swear I didn't..the boy is lying. He's LYING!" Rowle erupted in speech, panting in between words as he tried to stand up.
"How dare you talk about my son like that!" Narcissa thundered, her hand flying to her wand.
"Cissy, please." Bellatrix put her hand on her sisters shoulder, her tone authorative enough to silence Narcissa.
"What exactly is he lying about, Rowle? The fact that you were the only absent one when I came to see where the noise came from? Or the fact that you claimed I sent you to report the mudblood's capture? He's not the only one confirming this, you see." Bellatrix demanded, her eyes never leaving Rowle's.
"I wasn't there because Narcissa came and told me you requested my presence, sh.." he was interrupted with a scoff from Narcissa Malfoy who opened her mouth to talk but stopped when she heard her sister speak.
"Cissy didn't leave my side all day long and when she did, she was in her chambers, where I left her." Bellatrix replied, her coldness slowly turning into fury as Rowle offered one lie after the other.
"Then it wasn't her, maybe somebody drank a Polyjuice potion to look like her, it is possible." Rowle argued.
"Yes…yes it is possible, but who do you think would do it?" Bellatrix wondered slowly, looking as if she's thinking about what the man just said.
"Him!" he said pointing at Draco. "Her son must have done it." Rowle accused, nodding his head frantically.
"Yes but how could he do it when he was with us the whole time? Draco was present when Potter and his friends were brought to us. He was present with the rest of the men when I came to inspect the noise, it was only when the mudblood escaped that he was absent, and he was because he was chasing after you." Bellatrix explained, her eyes burning into Rowle's.
"It wasn't me, I swear it wasn't. You know anybody could've drank Polyjuice potion and disguised as him." the man argued again.
"Did any of you conspire with my nephew to set up the mighty Thorfinn Rowle?" Bellatrix asked sarcastically, smirking at the men in front of her.
"You see, Rowle, the people in this room are the only ones present in the Manor. So unless one of them drank your so called potion and disguised as my nephew, my sister or anybody else you're going to come up with, I pretty much doubt it was possible." Bellatrix reasoned with the man calmly.
"Bellatrix, I.." the man plead desperately.
"Why did you do it Rowle? What else did you do? How long have you been betraying us? HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN BETRAYING THE DARK LORD?" Bellatrix roared.
The moment she pointed her wand at him the man started screaming in pain and writhing on the floor and everybody in the room knew what was happening to him.