"Sit like a lady, Maia!" Narcissa scolded her daughter-in-law as she wandered into the library, she gracefully sat down on one of the sofas crossing her ankles and laying her hands in her lap demurely.
"Cissa, the tutors have retired for the night and I'm all alone until tomorrow." Maia smiled brightly, not bothering to move from her comfortable space by the fire. Her blue silk dress was bunched up around her knees as her legs were tucked beneath her while she lazily leaned on the armrest to read. The other witch always harped on propriety and the need to be seen as a lady. It didn't make any sense to her since only family and tutors ever saw her.
"Well, it never hurts to always present yourself for company." Narcissa sniffed delicately, watching Mipsy levitate a tea tray over to her side. A small smile bloomed on her face as Maia closed her book to turn towards her mother-in-law.
"Thank you for coming, it's so boring. I wish I could just come home to Britain." Maia sighed sadly. The solitude made weeks felt like years and she didn't even know what her home really looked like. Intrusive thoughts had started to invade her days and nights, wondering if she was truly the only wife her husband had.
"Soon, little dove. Our Lord says the resistance has been terribly disorganized since Dumbledore's death. I'm sure once you're caught up on your studies you can come home to the manor and you can assist me in organizing some events." Narcissa said soothingly as she drained her cup. The older witch even reached across the table to pay her hand consolingly, happy for an excuse to leave the manor.
"You kn-" Maia started but the library doors were thrown open to reveal Draco, supporting his Aunt Bellatrix who was bleeding heavily from her abdomen and thigh. Maia and Narcissa leapt from their chairs to assist the blonde man in laying the unconscious witch down.
"Mipsy! Get the potions!" Maia shouted out as she ripped open Bellatrix's corset to get a better view of the wound. Narcissa was by her side, doing the same with the jagged gash on her upper thigh.
"Who did this?" Narcissa hissed in a low voice as she waved her wand in a familiar complex pattern and the wounds slowly started to close. While Maia only completed the first year syllabus, her tutors ensured she knew plenty of healing charms, just in case.
"Claudum Tergeum." Maia chanted softly, studying the way the skin slowly knit itself together before her eyes. The familiar pride swelled in her chest but she ignored it while leaning forward to continue chanting. "Claudum Tergeum. Dolorum."
"Finnegan got her chest with a cutter and an older man got away after he nearly cut off her leg." Draco said bluntly, taking the time to study each of the vials before tipping them into his Aunt's mouth. His mother cast the spells to force her sister to swallow before he could even ask.
"Did you get Finnegan?" Maia asked quietly, using a cloth soaked in calming draught to sooth the other witch's brow. Her spell had cleaned the blood from her skin but not her ruined robes and the smell of dark magic was distinct. With enough hate, her very skin radiated the sweet, rotten smell of turned meat.
"Yes, he's dead." Draco said bluntly as he pulled off his cloak and sat back on his heels with a sigh. He looked exhausted, specks of blood on his cheeks and deep bags under his eyes.
"Mipsy, fix a room for Bella and get me a dreamless sleep draught, please." Maia asked quietly after she applied another layer of calming draft. Her eyes turned to her husband, studying him critically for any injuries.
"I'm fine, love." Draco said impatiently, bringing her hands to his mouth to kiss her bloody fingers reverantly. Mipsy put a hand on Bellatrix's shoulder and popped her silently away to place her in a guest room.
"What happened?" Narcissa asked angrily after a long moment of silence, no one had yet moved from their places on the floor. She could only stare at the large smears of her sister's blood on the floor, her magic on the brink of lashing out instinctively.
"The Dark Lord recently set up some nurseries for the mudblood children, the ones too young to work. About a dozen men came, started to blow up the walls...they killed more of the children than they could have taken. It makes no sense, really. Bella was visiting, you know how she is with babies." Draco sneered derisively, standing to his feet before helping his wife and mother like the gentleman he was raised to be. "I was on patrol when she sent the message, when I got there most of the guards were busy evacuating the mudbloods. Bella was trapped in the infant wing where she was cornered by three of them. She took down one but the other two...she was trying to protect the spawn."
Draco, Narcissa, and Lucius sat in the healers' lounge, anxiously awaiting for Theo to come out with news. It had already been hours since Theo received the call from the aurors that his wife was deposited in the lobby of St. Mungos, already in labor. The Prophet was released with a front page article of Maia's abduction and the reward for her return. The WWW didn't go more than fifteen minutes without reminding the public of the Malfoy family tragedy. While Draco's robes were immaculate, he had purple bags beneath his eyes and his hair was mussed, looking the most disheveled anyone had ever seen.
A whispered conversation with the head healer and a small bag of gold had gotten the small family a private lounge. Draco had spent the first couple of hours pacing the length of the room, running through all the worst case scenarios. His mother had an ancient leather book in her hands, watching for any changes like a hawk. While Lucius feigned concern and sat beside his wife while she clutched the family tome in a death grip. It would update instantaneously if Maia died. Draco couldn't bear to look at it, he was bereft without their bond and the rings for comfort.
"It was Potter." Theo snarled, storming into the room looking obviously conflicted. He had barely a moment to hold his daughter, Georgiana, before his wife sent him away with a hurried explanation. "Daphne can't really remember where they held her, it's all fuzzy. So, it's somewhere under the fidelius."
"She tell you anything else?" Draco asked quickly, his face looking slightly green.
"No, she did say some bint with pink hair was chasing them...Maia pushed her into the floo but someone grabbed her before she could escape too." Theo said quietly, feeling slightly guilty that he was so happy that his wife and child were safe while his friend was suffering. Maia was a sweet witch, a naive little know it all who did not deserve what the order was putting her through.
"Andromeda had a daughter, I've seen her in passing. I'm sure that's how they were able to remove her ring." Narcissa said thoughtfully, completely ignoring the pleased smile on her husband's face. Lucius had an extra pep in his step, musing his plan to inform the Ministry of Potter's guilt aloud.
"I should have never brought her home..." Draco said weakly, his shoulders slumped in defeat.
He had no worries of her memories returning or the idiots of the order figuring out who his wife once was. No, he was terrified he would lose her permanently, nearly a year without a word from the order left him complacent. Once the Dark Lord moved the headquarters out of the manor, Draco was ecstatic to bring his wife home but still waited months just to ensure her safety. Now she was pregnant with his heir in the hands of his enemy.
"Draco, she was miserable being alone in France. You were just as eager to have her home with you as she was." Narcissa said soothingly. "You need to go home and get some rest, your father will handle the ministry and the snatchers the Dark Lord has arranged to search for her."
"Fine, but if she's not back by the time I wake, I'll burn London to the ground." Draco said emotionlessly, meeting his mother's concerned gaze before turning on his heel.
"I will of course make sure the aurors are on high alert." Theo said after a moment of uncomfortable silence.
"They've been searching for Potter for three years with no leads." Narcissa turned to glare at the man she knew since he was a babe. "We will not be idle while the ministry stumble about at their usual pace. Now, if you'll excuse me I need some answers."
"Where is she?" Bellatrix screamed in Molly Weasley's face as she held her wand to the plump woman's throat. The only response she received was a heated glare and the ginger woman spat in her face. "My darling nephew didn't want to hurt you, oh no he wanted to do an even trade...you see we've grown quite fond of my darling Maia, she's become the daughter I never had."
"Bully for you but I don't know where she is!" Molly snarled, inwardly she was terrified of what the mad dark witch would do to her but she couldn't let her see that. The years of freedom had restored her beauty and given her something she had not had in her youth, patience.
"Oh but I think you do...I know that your precious little hen house doesn't make a move without their mummy being informed first." Bellatrix took a step back with a sickly sweet smile, coyly nibbling on the tip of her wand. Her frustration was palpable, suffocating the panicking woman she circled like a shark.
"Trixie!" Narcissa exclaimed, watching closely the way her sister loomed over the bound woman without an ounce of sympathy.
"Cissie! You've come to join the fun?" Bellatrix called out happily in a child-like voice, trailing a manicured nail down the unkempt witch's cheek.
"You know we aren't supposed to leave any marks." Narcissa scolded her half heartedly, still not moving to intercede.
"But I haven't! I wanted to wait for you!" Bellatrix simpered as she merrily skipped around the bound redhead. Narcissa rolled her eyes, a small smile on her face as she gracefully stalked over to the pair. Molly's eyes widened in fear at the look on the woman's face, it was animalistic and her stride resembled a nundu stalking its prey.
"Now, I know your little boy had something to do with Maia's disappearance, his magical signature was in that alley." Narcissa said softly, pulling a blade from the pocket of her robes. It was uniquely shaped with a black handle with her maiden family's crest. "Some say the need to protect one's young is far greater than even our own survival instinct."
"You know when Cissie and I were little we would play a little game called 'marinate the muggle'?" Bellatrix purred in Molly's ear as the woman was frozen in fear, her breath was hot on the shell of her ear while Narcissa gently stroked her cheek with the blade. A thin red line opened that would never heal all the way, it would always be raised and inflamed.
"N-no.." Molly gasped as the blade touched her throat, making her jump.
"You have seven children...no six, right? Well, Trixie and I each have one. Draco and Maia...think about this, Molly dear. How far would you go to protect your children? Even though you have plenty to spare?" Narcissa whispered idly, dragging the sharp blade back up her face and along her scalp.
"I'm sorry, I don't know where she is." Molly said firmly and closed her eyes, trying to block out the sound of Bill's creams of pain. It all happened so fast, she thought it was her Ronald coming home from the emergency at headquarters but it was death eaters. They tore down her wards faster than she could get to her wand. Bill rushed to send off word to the order but a burly man caught him with the Cruciatus.
Tears filled her eyes and she was no longer in the barren windowless room. Instead she was back in the home she had made with her husband. Molly had been frozen in place, watching her baby boy writhe in pain. Laughter and screams rang in her ears while death eaters threw furniture and her precious keepsakes around as they pleased. It felt like an eternity before strong arms wrapped around her body, one around her chest the other grasping her jaw in a bruising grip. She could still feel the bones in her jaw rattling when he shook her.
"Where is she?" A deadly voice whispered in her ear, she couldn't even turn to see who it was because even with the way he violently shook her she could not look away from her boy.
"W-who?" Molly whimpered as even more men came in to search the house, she could hear them up the stairs tearing through the rooms. Flinching at the sound of breaking glass, her captive didn't like that and his nails sunk into her skin.
"My wife." The silky voice snarled and Molly closed her eyes, taking a deep breath. She knew exactly who the man was now, some of the order became obsessed with the idea of taking the woman to try and convince her to spy. Why? Because she was nice to orphans and wanted to improve creatures' circumstances?
"I don't know..." Molly whispered brokenly when she opened her eyes to see Fenrir Greyback crouched over her son. She immediately started to struggle in the man's hold but all Draco did was grab her by the back of her head and slam her face first into the stone counter.
"Greyback, take this..." Draco drawled as he threw the disoriented woman at the werewolf's feet. The beast licked his lips gathering the limp woman into his arms, not shying away from groping her crudely. She shuddered as he buried his nose into her neck and took a deep breath, her stomach rolled when she felt his tongue on her neck.
"Let her go!" Bill screamed from the floor under a masked man's boot. Draco loomed above the ginger man with an impassive look on his face, as if he was bored with the scene in front of him. There were reports of seeing Draco Malfoy in the areas where convenient deaths happened. There were never any impulsive large scale attacks like in the first war, something had changed. Only whispers of the Malfoy heir and his trail of death, he never wore a mask.
"Crucio." Draco's voice was a caress, his lips curling into a cruel smile at her son's screams.
Molly's knees gave out and she clawed at the werewolf's arms in an attempt to get to William but he was too strong. It felt like he enjoyed her struggles and when he ground his pelvis into her backside the fight left her completely. She could only watch as William's back arched off the floor and he twitched as Draco bore down on her son, twisting his wand as if to put more power behind the torture curse. Her son's scream was delayed, as if his body failed to understand the amount of pain he was in. The eyes he had inherited from his father rolled into his head and she worried that he would lose his mind in only minutes.
"Tell him what he wants to know, lovely." Greyback whispered, his breath hot on the shell of Molly's ear. Molly could take bile on her tongue when the werewolf continued to hump her much like the dog he resembled.
"Mummy." Bill rolled to his side whimpering, Molly wasn't sure he was even in the room mentally. He had not used that tone since he was a small child with a tummy ache and she couldn't hold in the wail of despair.
"Where's my wife?" Draco demanded as soon as he lifted his wand, releasing Bill from the spell. The redheaded man curled into a ball, holding his knees to his chest and let out a strangled sob of relief. His entire body was twitching and a puddle of urine was spreading beneath him rapidly.
"We don't know!" Molly shouted when Draco raised his wand to curse her son again. "Please, not my boy!"
"Hostignis!" A deep voice boomed from somewhere above them, Draco let out an annoyed sigh as he reached into his robes and pulled out an intricate silver blade. Before Molly could call out, he brought the dagger down, slicing straight through Bill's trousers, leaving deep bleeding wounds on the back of his knees.
"Let's go, take her with us. I'm sure the remaining Weasels will trade her for my wife." Draco ordered in a cold voice while he straightened his robes, looking down at the puddle in disgust. The cursed fire was already spreading throughout the house, Molly was starting to sweat as Greyback roughly shoved her towards the door. Masked men rushed down the stairs, laughing and pushing each other playfully as the cursed flames licked at their heels.
"Mummy!" Bill cried out, trying to crawl across the floor, blood pooling around him. The last thing she saw before she was forcefully shoved out the door was her oldest son reaching out to her as a large snake made of flames slithered towards him.
"Oooh, did little Mollywobbles get a little lost?" Bellatrix cackled in her ear, bringing her back to the present. Molly took in a shaky breath and realized she was crying. Both of the witches loomed over her with matching maniacal smiles, no one could deny that the two were sisters seeing them like this.
"Please, I don't know anything." Molly choked on her tears, closing her eyes as Bill's screams echoed in her mind. Bellatrix stepped behind her and covered her head with a burlap sack.
"Shh, shh, it's alright. We just need to be sure that you're not lying." Narcissa cooed, roughly patting her covered face in a mocking impression of empathy. Molly twitched, barely able to see the lights through the rough material.
"Mipsy has the juice." A small well dressed elf squeaked when she popped in beside Bellatrix with a large bucket filled with a thin reddish yellow liquid. All of Maia's personal elves had their own uniforms; her husband's quickly followed her lead once she moved to England.
"I see why our Maia likes you so, such a devoted little elf." Bellatrix sneered, using her wand to elevate the bucket over their captive and making sure not to spill a drop. Narcissa smirked at her sister before casting bubble head charms over the both of them, as well an impervious charm on their robes.
"Mipsy loves her Mistress Maia. Redheaded banshee know where Mipsy's Mistress Maia be?" The elf turned to glare at the bound woman, a deep scowl on her face. The black bow in her hair quivered comically at the force of her rage.
"Elf! You are not needed!" Bellatrix barked, losing patience with the devoted house elf quickly. When Mipsy popped away, she cackled as she slowly tipped the bucket over to let a light steady stream onto Molly's head. Narcissa flicked her wand, yanking Molly's head back and securing the sack to the back of the chair so that Molly was facing the ceiling.
"What is that?" Molly whimpered as the first drops fell on the porous sack, she could smell something like ammonia or a very strong cauldron cleaner. As more of the liquid permeated the sack and seeped into her skin she screamed. She felt as if she was drowning in the potent liquid that burned like fire on her skin.
"Tut tut, no use tiring yourself out now, Mollywobbles!" Bellatrix cackled while the bucket continued its endless stream over her face. The woman beneath her alternated between sputters and screams, gagging on the noxious liquid they were pouring over her.
"Do you remember who took my daughter?" Narcissa said coldly after Bellatrix pulled the bucket back.
"We were just supposed to talk to her!" Molly shouted out hysterically, the burlap sticking to her sensitive skin. Her throat was on fire and she finally realized what they were using, dragon urine.
"Oh, why did you need to talk to her?" Narcissa persisted, looming over the woman, close enough so that Molly could feel her presence but not close enough to actually touch her. When she stayed silent Bellatrix snickered and she tipped the bucket once again, Molly shrieked as the steady stream choked her once again.
"Please! Please!" Molly gurgled after only a moment, the flow stopped immediately and she was sickened by Bellatrix's throaty chuckles.
"Well?" Narcissa demanded after a moment of Molly catching her breath and her sister practically dancing in anticipation.
"They wanted to turn her into a spy!" Molly wailed, her entire body felt as if she were cursed with burning boils, even her throat.
"What on earth makes you think you could turn her into a spy?" Narcissa asked curiously, absently flicking her wand and the bag was removed from her head. Molly's face was was shiny and red from the mild burns she received from her torture, taking deep gulping breaths she looked between the sisters wildly. Then she vomited into her lap, sputtering at the burning pain that returned on the piss making its way back up.
"I thought it was ridiculous, that's why they didn't tell me. Please, where's Bill?" Molly whispered brokenly, letting out a weak sob. "I'll tell you anything if you heal him, please. It's my boy. My first born boy."
"Billy burned!" Bellatrix cackled as she lowered the bucket to the ground and with a wave of her wand the floor was cleaned. Molly broke down in renewed sobs, she prayed that they took her son too. In her mind she knew she heard her son's screams coming from the blaze that was once her family home but the small flare of hope she had in heart died as the mad woman danced around her.
