Happy two hundred thousand words! Ahhh! I can't believe I've written that much! I also can't believe I'm at forty-five chapters. Wow. Again, are you guys bored yet? Lol, I'm glad you're still hanging in there through all of my nonsense slow burn (is that what fanfic calls it? Slow burn? Is that what my fic is? I've seen that floating around). I've been gradually putting songs into a playlist as I find them somewhat fitting to parts of this story (I'm lame), should I put it somewhere on here when I'm finished? Are you guys into that? The Tumblr fandom is so frustrating. Whenever I try to look through anything Draco Malfoy I find myself knee-deep in Drarry. By the way, yes I plan on Astoria and Narcissa having a talk together! I'm glad you enjoy their dynamics. I don't like when Narcissa hates her. I don't like when people make Narcissa very cold and unimportant. I have a soft spot for her and Draco's relationship. Anyway, enough rambling. Happy reading!

I don't own anything from Harry Potter.

"Don't you think you're playing a rather dangerous game, little mudblood?"

Ophelia froze, her blood running cold at the words. She was just slipping out of the empty classroom, having waited minutes after Edric had left to leave herself in order to not get caught being seen leaving together. It was after hours, and the students were meant to be in bed.

Apparently someone had noticed anyway.

Ophelia slowly resumed her steps, not turning to look at the source of the dark voice. She cringed when she heard sounds of the man coming up behind her and she moved to face him before she was pushed roughly against the wall of the corridor, her shoulder blades digging sorely into the uneven grooves of the stone. She looked up at the boy, wide-eyed as she prepared to scream.

"Scream, and I'll expose your precious little Head Boy. To the teachers as well, and he'll lose his cute little school title," he murmured, his face curling into a daring and cruel smile.

She didn't know the boy by name, but she had seen him before in at least one of her classes and with the likes of Rookwood, and she knew those Slytherins were particularly horrible. They weren't like Edric and Charlotte, they weren't like Corwin Higgs either. They were nasty, the type you would imagine to grow up and become killers; the stereotypical dark wizards that everyone talked about the Slytherins becoming.

"Good choice," he crooned, tapping his finger over her lips and she jerked her head back, pressing it against the wall.

He wouldn't truly do anything to her at school, would he? Not when someone could walk by at any moment..

"Care to offer your services to another one of your betters?"

She should have left before Edric. He had insisted as much, but she had told him no in that she knew some professors near the Ravenclaw Common Room occasionally liked to linger around at the same time Edric had left. Had she had left before him like he had suggested, perhaps he could have come out in time to spot this debacle to do something about it.

Would he have done something about it?
Yes, of course he would. He didn't care about protecting his reputation to that extent that he'd allow her to be harmed or touched against her will by this boy. He cared about her more than that, she hoped at least.

"No. I don't care to," she murmured, fighting a wince at the way her voice trembled.

She couldn't be that weak.

"No? Why not? I'm sure Greengrass is capable of sharing his toys.." His hot breath blew over the side of her face as he leaned close to her ear. "Am I not rich enough for you, mudblood? Is he paying you for your cunt? I may not be as rich as him, but I'm sure almost everyone could afford you and your filth."

Ophelia made a small strangled sound as she was unable to answer properly, her body fully trembling now at both his disgusting words and the smothering closeness of him. She couldn't even think to move for her wand, forgetting she was a witch in that moment.

"Pathetic little thing you are. Practically a muggle, aren't you? Haven't even made a move for your wand," he purred, his hand coming to wrap around her neck, stroking her pulse with his thumb. "Why are you trying to commit suicide, little mudblood? You fear me so, look at that little heart race, yet you're openly giving yourself to a man whose family would murder you should they find out, and they will find out. The only one who loses here is you. Do you want to die, little girl? What, you think because they put on pretty clothes and pretty faces that they aren't as dangerous as someone like me?"

Ophelia, reminded of her magic by him, immediately went for her wand, surprised when he stepped away from her in amusement.

"Go on then, mudblood," he told her, nodding towards her raising wand before he took out his own. "I want to show you real magic."

Before she could open her mouth over a spell, the wizard before her had beaten her to it with a spell she had never heard of, followed by a silencing charm. A spasm went through her arm and she looked down to see lumps moving beneath her skin, almost as if there were insects crawling under the surface. Her eyes widened and she dropped her wand, screaming in alarm at both the feeling and the sight of it, finding her scream silent.

"I learned that one from my parents. A rather tame spell if you ask me, but obviously it works on clueless little magic leeches like you. You see, one of the reasons you're as inferior as you are is that the only magic you know is the pathetic shit they teach at this school. The magic I know, and the magic every real wizard or witch knows comes from generations of knowledge, parents teaching their children. Your disgusting muggle parents could never have prepared you for my small and practically harmless tricks, let alone anything worse I could do to you. One little spell, and you've already lost your wand. You dropped it, you worthless bitch. I bet you expected me to duel you fairly. That's what this school teaches, doesn't it? How to fight fair? No one fights fair in reality, I'm glad I'm here to give you a real lesson."

Her stomach rolled and she scrambled to grab her wand, but he had already scooped it up and she looked back down at her arm wildly as she backed away from him, his spell already fading as her arm was returning back to normal.

He had taken her wand.

"I don't believe you need this to be completely honest with you," he said sweetly, backing up a few steps. "I'll relieve you of what you can't handle. Free of charge."

Both of their heads snapped to the side as a thump sounded and Ophelia's eyes followed Edric's cat as she jumped from a nearby ledge, sprinting out of sight at the sound of the approaching figure.

Ophelia's wand was plucked out of her attacker's hand magically and she whirled to see the source of the spell, disappointed to find it was not a teacher but another Slytherin.

"Sorry, Wilkes. Finders keepers," Corwin Higgs told him confidently, smirking at him without looking at Ophelia. "Teacher is coming. Don't want to get caught playing with mudbloods at this hour, yeah?"

"She wishes I would play with her," Wilkes replied, regarding Ophelia coldly, repeating the same action to Corwin before his face fell into an indifferent expression as he turned to slink down a nearby corridor.

"I told you they weren't as friendly as we are," Corwin sang, waving her wand in her face.

Ophelia slowly took her wand back from him, her hand trembling pathetically. She felt horribly defeated as well as humiliated. She knew how to defend herself, she was a good witch, why had she been so cowardly before that man? Why was she unable to think quickly on her feet when she needed to? Surely she was more clever than that.
"His older brother was a big follower of you-know-who. Probably not the best company to keep considering your blood status, poppet."

"Why are you out after hours?" This was all she could manage, though it was definitely not a question she needed to ask or cared to know the answer to.

"That means 'thank you' in what language exactly?"

"Thank you," she whispered, lowering her wand stiffly at her side, sincere in her words. He did help her after all, for what reason she wasn't sure.

"Welcome. Don't cry unless you want to get their dicks up," he warned and she nearly vomited at the thought.

"He said Edric's parents would kill me," she said slowly after a few moments. "If they found out. They wouldn't actually kill me, would they?"

"Hard to say. Perhaps, though no one would know if they did anyway. It wouldn't trace back to them, probably look like an accident on your part actually. Why? Want out now? Sorry, it's a one way ticket into this madness. If you wanted a good time, you should have come to me first. I normally don't do mudbloods, but I could have made an exception for the one who fucked Blythe over, or at least handed you over to some willing half-bloods."

Ophelia rubbed her tongue along the back of her teeth as her head pained her with all of the alarm bells going off inside of it, warning her to get out as soon as she could.

This wasn't a game. These people were dangerous. Why had she underestimated them? Why hadn't she believed the gossip?

"Will he tell anyone?"

Corwin shrugged. "Doubtful. No one would believe him, and I doubt he'd risk setting one of the ancients on him over a rumor that could easily be denied." He stopped to smirk mockingly at her. "People are likely to believe me though, if I felt like sharing. Night, friend."

Ophelia didn't move as Corwin retreated, and she faintly registered the tears that began to drip from her chin and onto her uniform. It was minutes before she finally made herself move and when she did her steps were horribly unbalanced. She was not used to this darkness. She had never encountered any of this before she became involved with Edric. She didn't want to become used to this. She stopped when she saw his cat perched near the entrance of her Common Room, staring at her. She walked over to her after staring back for a while and gathered her in her arms, sinking down the wall near her Common Room, no longer caring if a teacher found her. She'd risk the detention. She pressed her face into the cat's fur, using it to muffle her sobs. What had she gotten herself into?

She was nervous going into her Potions class the next day as that was the class she shared with that boy that had attacked her, but when she sat down she didn't find him in his normal spot in the corner grouped with his other nasty looking friends. She hadn't gone to breakfast that morning as she had slept through it from being up too late, and she also didn't want to see the boy in the Great Hall anyway.

"Glad I decided not to fuck with you," Corwin chuckled into her ear as he made his way over to his own seat. "Tell Greengrass I did you favors. He owes me one now."

She stared after him as he went to sit down, not understanding what he could possibly mean. The fact that Wilkes wasn't there? She hadn't told Edric what had happened, and he couldn't have known. What could he have done without admitting guilt?

Ophelia scanned the Slytherin table at lunch, her nerves eating at her as she ignored the food in front of her. The boy wasn't there. Maybe he was just sick and skipped that day, or just skipped because he felt like it. It certainly didn't seem as though he cared much for the rules or the school at all.

"Guessing you heard about Wilkes, yeah? What an idiot," Violet said in her usual excited tone when there was gossip going around, sitting beside her at the table.

"No I didn't hear about him," Ophelia answered, her stomach dropping. "What happened?"

"He's at Mungo's now. He was well past needing the Hospital Wing. He was found vomiting blood this morning, just everywhere. I saw some of the mess. It was disgusting. Apparently he took his own poison that he had made following the directions in this dark arts book that was found in his things, switched it out with a sleeping potion on accident. What kind of moron accidentally takes their own potion? I swear, it's no wonder pure-bloods are becoming fewer and fewer. Well besides.. You know," Violet stopped to throw her a suggestive look. "Anyway, if he lives he's expelled anyway. Don't think anyone will miss him, though he did have that sick and twisted masochistic vibe that was a bit sexy."

"If he lives?" Ophelia choked out, feeling the blood drain from her face.

"Well, duh. Don't be so put out. He's a terrible person, but yes. The dark arts hardly care if someone lives or dies, Fee."

Ophelia stayed a fair distance away from Edric as she stared at the ground that night after class, unsure of how to approach him, nervous he would be furious with her for being caught by Wilkes in the first place, till clueless to how he knew at all.

"Are you alright?" His voice wasn't angry, but light and concerned to her slight relief.

"Y-You.. You did that. To Wilkes. How did you.. When did you.. You saw? And you didn't do anything?" She asked, her voice small as her gaze searched the grass as if the answers were there.

"Of course I didn't see it, Ophelia," he nearly snapped. "Do you think I would have just done nothing if I had? No. I have other means of knowing."

"So you did do something to him?"

"That's not what I said. The last I heard of the matter was that it was a foolish accident."

"Edric!" She cried, grasping at her head. "Please!"

"He threatened me," he said simply after a while. "Not that he could have done anything, but even so. It is not appreciated."

"If he couldn't have done anything then why-"

"He degraded you. Suggested you were a whore to be paid for sex. Insulted you as a witch. He touched you. He took your wand. Do you understand the disrespect of taking someone's wand that way, Ophelia? Do I need more reasons than these? Do you expect me to allow him to do such things to what is mine? To my witch?" His voice was different now as he spoke, angry and possessive.

"You're trusting me with all of this. How do you know I wouldn't go to the school-" She broke off, a thrill of fear she couldn't help stopping her words. "I'm not threatening you, I'm-"

He had strode forward without hesitating, without checking around to see if they were alone as he usually did, without taking her closer towards the trees to conceal them better as he took her face in his hands as she spoke, forcing her to look at his bewildered and bright eyes.

"Why are you saying that as if I would ever hurt you, Ophelia?" He asked, shaking his head slightly in confusion.

"Because you.. Wouldn't you? If I really did threaten you?" She asked, her throat growing thick.

"He made you cry," he said, his voice dropping into a weak tone as his eyes fillied with remorse. "He made you weep. What do you expect from me? Why are you looking at me as if you're afraid of me? We take care of our own."

Weep? She hadn't wept until she had gotten to her Common Room, and she knew no one had been around then to see it.

"And you consider me to be a part of your own?"

"Yes," he bit out firmly, looking slightly offended at her words. "Do I truly come off as if I don't care about you? Do you think I'd risk everything if I was just using you for petty fun?"

Ophelia relaxed, chastising herself for practically melting at his words. She nodded slowly before glancing around them, looking towards the castle. "We should be careful," she whispered.

He kissed her deeply in response, obviously ignoring her words, still cradling her face in his hands. "I'm sorry," he told her quietly, his voice thick with regret. "I don't know what I would have done if someone hadn't come and he did worse to you."

"I didn't realize the danger I'd be put in over a forbidden fling," she said slowly, resisting the urge to forget all of her concerns and bury herself in his arms, reveling in his show of care for her.

"I never claimed selflessness, but please don't think I am taking your safety lightly. Now, is there anyone else I need to deal with who has found out about us?"

Ophelia stared at him. Surely he would have known about Corwin if he had known about the rest?

Realization hit her and she thought of his cat who had run off as soon as Corwin had arrived, the way the tag on her collar had felt oddly warm against her skin when she had hugged the animal to her but she had only dully taken note as her mind had been on other things.

"I.. I mean. Violet," she breathed. It wasn't exactly a lie, and she could get away with holding back the truth. She never said Violet was the only other person who knew.

Edric rolled his eyes, breaking their embrace and she shivered in her reluctance to let him go. "She knows how to keep her mouth shut. She should know from her father by now to let us be. Besides that, she even more so than Wilkes wouldn't be believed."

"What?" Ophelia asked, her face scrunching up in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"Perhaps you ought to ask your friend why you're her only muggle-born friend. Though I suppose you already know, seeing as you did call yourself her 'token muggle-born'."

"Come here you little brat. Let me take a look at you," the large, darkly cloaked wizard leered at Astoria, around ten years old.

Astoria was completely still, not making any move towards the hideous, ragged looking man in front of her.

"Are you deaf, you stupid girl? I said come here. You think you can lurk about and listen to what doesn't concern you and then blatantly disobey your elders?" The man hissed, walking towards her.

Astoria watched him, her face expressionless as she didn't move, didn't breathe at his approach. The man pushed his face close to hers, his foul breath brushing over her face as he got into her personal space. "I asked you a question."

"I do not require to answer to half-bloods," Astoria replied clearly as she watched his eyes unflinchingly.

The man's lip curled and he jerked back in anger. He raised his hand, bringing it back down to backhand her across the face with a fierceness in his fury at her insolence.

Astoria jolted in the bed next to her husband, inhaling the still air deeply as her dream cleared, the comforting smells of his bedroom calming her. Her face throbbed at the ghost of the bruising sting the hit had caused, as well as it had cut her lip so deeply against her teeth that blood had began to stream almost immediately after the Death Eater had struck her, only to have her look back at him with an indifferent defiance. Her dreams had consisted of strips of disturbing imagery in the recent nights, darker memories her mind had concealed on its own in its distaste towards them. She supposed it could be in result of her growing fear of the Manor being attacked, or the Pensieve downstairs haunting her with the possibilities of unwanted knowledge about her own family that she might be shown at any moment, unable to stop it. She looked over at Draco who looked surprisingly peaceful, undisturbed by her sudden start. Odd, he was usually one to wake up easily by even the smallest of things.

She turned over onto her stomach, watching his face under the strip of moonlight that peered through the curtains, the pale pink of his lips illuminated in a curious, alluring way. His features were soft in his deep sleep, making him appear almost innocent, his blonde hair falling back from his eyes gracefully. One would never imagine him dangerous or cruel if their first impression of him was this. Astoria hesitated before sliding closer to him, lightly grazing the tips of her fingers over his smooth, bare chest as she admired his almost sweet features. She was used to his face being slightly troubled when he slept, his eyes moving underneath his lids as he dreamt and his mouth was always set with an unpleasant tenseness. It was lovely to see him at ease for once.

They would truly make beautiful children.

She continued to move her hand up his chest until she reached his collarbones, tracing them lightly. She never got the time to really touch him herself, and their relationship was quite rocky as it was, but she always had an urge to touch him and evaluate what was hers properly. He felt good, solid and unmarred. He had good hygiene habits to the point where he was slightly feminine in them, but his family had always worked in that fashion. They were similar to the men in her own family, but just a bit more into their vanity than the Greengrass men. He didn't flinch or stir under her touches, which led her to shift slightly to gain better access to him as she explored his body. She stared at his lips, following the perfect and pronounced curve of his cupid's bow that made the top half of a heart shape. She reached up slowly to gently trace his lips with her thumb, cupping the side of his face carefully as she did so. She stilled when he shifted, only to break into a smile when his face pressed into her hand, still completely asleep.

She bit her lip gently, leaning forward until her lips only barely grazed his, feeling his light breaths against her skin. She very slowly pushed her lips down on his, closing them over his bottom lip, kissing him curiously, experimentally as he was unable to take demand of the kiss. She was in control for just a while, able to explore him how she pleased, just as he had done to her many times. She pulled back to examine his face again, stroking his cheek with her thumb as he seemed to enjoy her touch based on his reaction, pulling up her other hand to caress the opposite side of his face. Leaning forward, she pressed a kiss to the tip of his nose, knowing that it was unlikely she'd ever do so when he was awake and aware of her actions. She wiggled her body up slightly so she could reach his eyes, kissing the lids of them when she had gathered herself high enough before finally kissing his forehead, her breath catching when she felt his arms wind around her and gather her against him as he turned his body to the opposite side she was on, pulling her with him in his sleep. She tucked herself deeper into his arms neatly when he finally settled onto his side comfortably, her head under his chin as she cuddled up close to him, quickly falling back asleep in his tight embrace.

Draco woke to find Astoria balled into his arms, her hair brushing against the underside of his chin and her breath warming his throat. She had somehow ended up on his side of the bed, and he assumed he had dragged her there. She was so small, so breakable in his arms he didn't want to disturb her in her childlike slumber. He moved only the slightest bit and her body stretched out slightly in response, pressing against his as her legs intertwined and curled around his, now clinging to him needily as she breathed deeply, letting out a loud and tired sigh. A thrill of affection went through him when she nuzzled her face against the crook of his neck, and he instinctively held her tighter to him. She fit perfectly against him, and though she couldn't invade his personal space much more than she currently was he wasn't bothered or overwhelmed by it and had no desire to shove her away. He searched for his usual thread of resentment for his wife, but couldn't find it in this moment. She was too sweet, too undeserving in her sleep as she clung to him as if she loved and needed him.

He allowed their position for at least an hour after waking up, drifting in and out of sleep with her before he forced himself up, laying her back down carefully onto his pillow and pulling the blankets back over her before going to the shower, preparing for the Aurors that day as usual. He knew they had to be fed up by now, as well as bored out of their minds watching them while not quite knowing what to say or do. They simply monitored them really, occasionally jotting down notes though Draco wondered if they were actually writing anything or if they were simply making a show of it to get the message across that they were watching them. Draco didn't care, they could write down what they liked. It was clear enough that his family had absolutely nothing to do with the uprising and he doubted that they could come up with a decent enough excuse to try to put him away for it.

Once dressed, he went back to Astoria to shake her shoulder until she woke up herself, blinking up at him in such a nauseatingly sweet way he had to press his lips into a hard line to control his affectionate reaction.

"Up," he told her, clapping his hands together twice in front of her face before stepping away. "All the way. Don't fall back asleep. You don't have very long." He didn't wait for her response before he left the room, allowing her to get ready on her own.

"Good morning, darling son-in-law," Astoria's mother announced when he reached the bottom of the stairs. "I was just going to find your elf to see if either of you were awake yet."

Draco regarded the woman guardedly, seeing her much differently now after the memories he had seen of her in recent times. Knowing of her past made her kept and flawless appearance all the more unnerving.

"Mrs. Greengrass," he greeted her neutrally. "I just woke her up. She will be down shortly, though only because the Aurors are coming. If not for them, she'd sleep until the afternoon."

"You allow that?" She asked, her face wrinkling up in dismay. "What a lazy little brat."

"For now, as there is nothing else for her to do, and I'm not one to enjoy breakfast."

"The Aurors? When? I'd prefer to not be present," she sniffed distastefully just as Granger peeked around the corner.

"Draco?" Draco grimaced at the use of his first name by the bitch, his eyes traveling down her form irritably. "We're here now. Bit early I suppose." Granger's eyes fell on Freya who inhaled deeply through her nose before smiling at Granger, her smile not reaching her eyes. "You are..?" Granger inquired, examining Freya curiously.

"My mother-in-law, Granger. She's only here to see Astoria, not to be interrogated," he replied dully, walking reluctantly into the sitting room to find two other female Aurors that he had only seen once before, Freya following him.

"Oh, Mrs. Greengrass! I've heard so much about you. I was actually just telling your daughters about what a shame it was about your family's property. So much history in that house!"

"Yes, truly a shame."

"So, I'm not really sure where to start. There's a lot of shit.. A lot of shit. Mostly your sister and your mother, if you want to know about either. Your sister being Astoria, Daphne is doing amazingly of course seeing as I've saved her from her miserable life," Pucey said, looking up towards the ceiling as he squinted at it, thinking everything over.

"Just spit it out, Pucey," Edric replied irritably, having no desire to picture his little sister with someone like him, though a part of him was relieved Daphne had ended up with someone who didn't seem overtly cruel or a man who had followed Voldemort, and he would have no connection to his sisters at all had it not been for Pucey.

"Well. First of all. Astoria cheated on Malfoy," Pucey started.

Edric felt his face fall in disbelief, shocked and horrified at the thought. Of all the stupid mistakes.. To be unfaithful to a pure-blood husband was practically suicide.

"With Theodore Nott. Which I did warn him about. I told him he'd try to pull some shit, that that family still had issues with what Freya did, did he listen? No. No one listens to me, though I'm smarter than all of them."

"What?" he hissed, stepping back in his horror. "That stupid girl. Is she still at the Manor? What did Malfoy do to her? How do you know? Did Nott make it public? Why the fuck would she do something so foolish? Has she not learned any sense since I last saw her?"

Nott. The same Nott that Edric had informed Astoria multiple times not to befriend. Was she capable of listening? Absolutely not. Not when Edric was still in her life, and apparently not even now.

"Right," Pucey said slowly. "Well, I can show you what happened before-hand. She's still at the Manor, yes. He locked her in a room for a length of time, and didn't let Daphne see her. Which Daphne did not appreciate, I'll tell you that much, and-"

"Show me," he snapped, turning to walk to his study, expecting Pucey to follow as he fought disturbing imagery of his little sister and Theodore Nott.

"Alright, well calm down a bit we're just getting started," Pucey grumbled. "I've barely told you anything yet and you're already throwing a fit."

Edric felt Ophelia on his arm, feeling her concern radiating off of her and he brushed it off, turning expectantly to Pucey before motioning to the Pensieve impatiently.

"You're a bit rude with your demands, and you don't even say the magic word. You're lucky I'm such a good brother, Eddy."

Edric narrowed his eyes coldly at Pucey, staring him down warningly. The idiot may be doing him a favor, but he had little patience for the man at the moment given the situation at hand.

"I'll.. Get some tea.." Ophelia murmured softly, exiting the study to give them space as Pucey pulled out several vials.

"Look. I came prepared," he announced, tipping one of them out into the Pensieve for Edric to watch as he leaned down to look into it.

Images of his confused little sister, gorgeous and well mannered, looking confused at Pucey's accusations appeared before him, his father's Pensieve revealing her performing the Cruciatus curse, followed by the fighting that broke loose between the men before his sister attacked Nott herself, afterwards falling into a breakdown. As he pulled back from the memory, all he could see was his sister's face crying and broken, bleeding from where she had dug her ring into her own skin deeply enough to break it. The humming she had used to comfort herself while she was all alone in her pain echoed in his ears, taunting him, reminding him of his abandonment. He hadn't been there for her, hadn't been there through any of it. It was his fault.

All of it.

"When she left the Manor," he started, his voice tense as he spoke as he thought of her humming herself down into an eerie calmness after standing in one place for much too long before leaving. "She went to Nott? That's when she did it? Right after she had been so angry with him?" He felt the slightest bit of pride to think of her attacking the piece of shit, though mournful as well as her heartbreak was written clearly on her face as she had thrown the curses at him. She had been relentless, powerful. Her temper always had been strong.

"That's what I connected. They didn't fuck. If they had I'm sure Draco would have done more than just imprison her in a room for a couple of weeks. He only just let her out recently. She was thinner though, and she looked a bit haunted the first time I saw her again after Malfoy's little punishment period."

"Did she appear beaten?" Edric asked quietly, fury rising through him at the thought of Malfoy punishing his sister, his baby sister. "Show me."

"Hold on. I'll show you in a bit, but there are other things that happened in that memory that I don't want to get to just yet. Trying to take this one at a time, maybe we should do this in sessions. No. Draco told me he didn't touch her, told me he wouldn't even speak to her actually. He just left her in a room, alone."

Edric's eyes fluttered closed and he attempted to keep keep his temper down, nearly shaking at the thought of Astoria abandoned and alone with her grief. He could imagine that she would have preferred to be beaten.

"Well.. I suppose he did brand her with dark magic.."

His eyes snapped open to stare at Pucey, bile rising in his throat. "What did you say?" He asked softly, stepping towards him.

"Alright, alright," Pucey said, raising his hands. "I didn't brand her, now did I? Don't come at me. Yeah, they must have something that sets them off because I couldn't see them when I first got there, not that it would be very practical to have your wife covered in multiple brandings all of the time. Wouldn't look great in formal settings."

"Branded.. Like livestock?" He faintly heard his wife ask in concern as his vision began to cloud.

"'Property of Draco Malfoy'," Pucey said, clearing his throat.

A ringing began to sound in Edric's ears and he knew he was shaking now, his head spinning wildly at the thought. He didn't want to see that, no not that. Not on Tori, not on his baby sister he was meant to protect, who he had promised to protect. His wife responded to Pucey, but he couldn't make out any words until: "seemed to cause her a shit ton of pain, Malfoy just stood there calmly. Don't know how you can see her like that and not weep at the sight, poor thing. She's practically a child."

She was a child.

Memories of his sister attacked his mind, beating him nearly senseless in their reminders of his guilt, images of her face as a little girl mixing in with the images of the girl she was today; empty and obedient, but still innocent and undeserving. It wasn't right, it wasn't her. She didn't deserve any of this, he didn't care what she had done to Malfoy. She deserved a man so much better, a man that understood her, a man that didn't break her spirit. But Malfoy hadn't been the one to do that.

He had been the man that had broken her spirit.