I'm back with another chapter! Lol, I know you guys are excited for this chapter. The pressure is on for me to write it decently. Oh, and for the question on the Puceys' motive to go to the Manor: yes, there was another attempt on their property. Please tell me your thoughts on this chapter! I hope your standards weren't too high just in case I let you down with it. It's also six in the morning, and I'm so tired. Blegh. To those of you who are particularly interested in Aldrich: this one is for you.
Warning: This chapter contains child abuse.
I don't own anything from Harry Potter.
Granger was directing the two Aurors that were along with her when Draco came down after waking up his wife, giving one to Blaise and the other to Olena and Rhys, claiming there was no need for all of them to be so "flocked together in one room in such a big home". Draco was sure the real reason was that they didn't want too many of them together at once as they outnumbered the Aurors considerably.
"Where is Astoria, Draco?" Granger asked, glancing around.
"There is no need to address me by my first name," he answered, examining her with distaste. "We are not friends, nor do we fuck. Astoria is coming, I'm sure she misses you as terribly as you seem to miss her."
Draco ignored her as she responded with some complaints at his inappropriate use of language as well as the way she was puffing her chest out in her temper, examining the very nervous looking woman next to her. She was dressed the same as the Eld woman, and he assumed this was the new psychologist. Lovely, another intrusive bitch to pick at their heads.
"So, Granger. This is the muggle-born that's meant to purposely misunderstand us so you can lock us all up easier?" Draco asked, eyeing the woman's thick curls that were much darker and more coiled than Granger's.
Was it not more professional to tame your bloody hair for a job?
Granger scowled, glancing at the woman next to her in confusion. "I'm not sure what you mean, Malfoy. She's just here for a second opinion."
"Because you didn't like the pureblood's opinion."
"I know you," Daphne said, her voice cutting through the two of them. "You're the mudblood who told my mother about Charlotte. I remember. You look exactly the same."
Draco caught Pucey's eye who was giving him a look he wasn't able to decipher, seeming to be attempting to communicate something to him.
"Her name is Ophelia, Daphne," Granger said, her voice slightly cool. "It would be appreciated if we all learn to address each other nicely. Your sister can be kind, why can't you?"
"Yes Astoria is so sweet, isn't she?" Daphne asked dully, rolling her eyes. "Ophelia then. Were you not the one from the bookshop?"
"Yes, that was me," the woman said reluctantly, avoiding Daphne's gaze.
"Novalie," Nott said loudly, staring at her accusingly.
Eld frowned at him, shaking her head, confusing Draco more. He apparently was nearly the only one out of the loop.
"Well please, don't leave the rest of us out of the fun. Do tell us about this exciting bookshop tale," Joseph drawled sarcastically.
"I actually have a few questions for you for you first, Mr. Nott," Granger said, stepping around the group of them to get to Joseph. "Novalie will help you, Ophelia."
Pucey cleared his throat, grinning at the new woman. "So, I volunteer to go first, as I'm the nicest of these arseholes so I'll help ease you into it."
"I've been a psychologist long enough to not require 'easing', Mr. Pucey."
"Apparently not long enough," Pucey said oddly, his voice tight.
Draco raised an eyebrow at him, shaking his head. "Do you two know each other?"
"Yeah, I think I was like a first or second year when she was graduating."
".. Were you a Slytherin?" Draco asked the woman dully.
"Ravenclaw."
"The smart house!" Pucey commented, laughing through his teeth as he shook his head her.
"So you just remember every single student no matter how many years ahead of you they were, Pucey?"
"Of course, Malfoy. I'm a Pucey. I have to charm my way around everyone, it's what makes me so adored by all."
"Oh good you're here, Tori. These men were doing my head in," Daphne complained, motioning for her sister to hurry and come to sit with her, frowning when she noticed Astoria's expression towards the Ophelia woman, turning her attention to her as well.
The room was suddenly frozen as he watched his wife's eyes meet the psychologist's, and he physically felt the temperature in the room drop as Astoria's face got that look, that look he had seen before when she lost her composure, that cold blooded look that seemed so misplaced on her delicate face. Misplaced, but believable enough to the point he himself was nervous.
"Are you truly here, standing in front of me?" Astoria said finally, her voice eerily hollow as she stepped towards the woman. "You've plucked up the nerve to show your face here? In my home?"
Daphne looked at Draco in confusion and worry as Adrian closed his eyes slowly beside her, glancing at Granger who was speaking with Joseph.
"Astoria," the woman said, her voice edged with guilt and remorse. "I never meant to-"
"After everything you've stolen from me," Astoria continued, her soft voice cutting off her words. "You have come back for my pride."
Astoria walked forward until she was only an arm's length away from the psychologist, and though shorter than her she still somehow seemed to dominate over the woman.
"Well you can't have it," she whispered.
"That's not why I'm here-"
There was a yelling coming from the other room as one of the Aurors called for Granger. Draco didn't turn to look as Granger rushed to exit the current scene to join her colleague, directing Eld to make sure things went smoothly.
Did she not see the look on his wife's face?
"You can't have it," she repeated. "But perhaps I can take yours. Not that yours is worth much, do you even have any left? You certainly have no shame, no shame in putting your filthy, unworthy hands on what isn't yours, what you never earned."
Draco could nearly hear the sound in his head when everything clicked together, understanding flooding him and from the edge of his vision he could see Pucey take a hold of his wife, drawing her near him cautiously. The woman stepped back from Astoria, seeming to try to get even further from her but her body jerked oddly, seeming glued to the floor.
"No, no. You're going to stand there like a good little mudblood and listen to what your superior has to say to you." Astoria's tone was chillingly sweet, and Draco didn't know how to react or know whether or not to separate the two before things got worse.
Would that not be denying his wife her chance at a bit of justice?
"What is it with you pathetic little girls, coming after our men the way you do? The way you romanticize them, but still turn your noses up at our ways. You want what we have, yet you look down on us for what we do in order to earn it. We are required to strip ourselves of everything that makes us human, become something inanimate; perfect until we are nothing but an overworked, obedient shell only to be looked at by the same men we kill ourselves to become worthy of as boring and uninteresting. What did you give up for your husband? What hours of useless language, music, dance classes did you take to impress conceited, judgmental women who will scoff at the very idea of you in their presence, let alone their son's, if you even have a hair out of place? What were your school marks like? Were they flawless so that your magical ability is proven in writing? The magical ability that will never go to use because you don't actually do much as a witch when your duty is to sit there, shut up, and look pretty next to your husband. Were you run down and pounded mentally into the ground by every single person including your parents at the pressures to be flawless? Of course not, of course you didn't do any of that. You're nothing. You're revolting, and not only because you're a worthless mudblood, but also because you were tasteless enough to take a real wizard from real witches simply because you're everything that we're not, and you did it without any shame, without any guilt when you know you don't deserve such a man. These men don't want us, they aren't impressed by our efforts, but our efforts are never really for them, are they?" Astoria spat and Draco winced, not unfamiliar with the idea that pure-blood women were more or less unwanted by them, but only just recognizing a sense of guilt at the fact. The room was deathly silent, and everyone in it seemed to be completely still as they watched and listened to Astoria unload years of fury onto this girl. Draco faintly felt his magic burn around him oddly as Astoria's strong emotions pulled at their bonds, communicating to him her fury as well as her deep sadness that was accompanied by jealousy, jealousy for this girl who did nothing but be the opposite of who Astoria was currently to take her brother away from her.
He did want her, and he was never impressed by her efforts because he had grown to expect them and looked at them from a negative perspective because, as she said, the efforts weren't for him.
"They're for the system, the cycle. We are all the same to them, and as soon as we show any shred of personality.. Well, good pure-blood ladies don't have those, do they? But you're just so interesting, aren't you? Flawed, poor mannered, fun. You just give them that thrill of rebellion that we all crave. I'm sure your parents are even proud of you at the most unimpressive nonsense, even when you get yourself pregnant at school like a common slag. Isn't it lovely how we have to keep ourselves perfectly untouched, perfectly innocent because only a virgin is good enough for our men while they have their fun and make it a game to try and ruin as many of us as they can because at the end of the day we mean nothing to them, why not use us for target practice? Who could blame them really, we aren't special like you are. Here we are, boring and pure, yet you can be fun and sleep with them and still somehow take them from us. Of course your kind can never take the nasty ones either, you take the good ones that one of us may have actually been able to stand not offing ourselves after being married to them for a few months. Why do you take from a world that isn't yours? What right do you have? Aw, are your feelings hurt yet?" Astoria broke herself off to laugh lightly, the sound no more than a collection of breaths. "You don't know what it means to have your feelings hurt you pathetic slut. Oh, was it hard being called a mudblood sometimes at school? Hmm? No, hurt feelings are when you give everything, everything to make your parents pleased and they still compare you to another, still turn their noses up to you as if you could have done better. Hurt feelings are when your husband that you would do anything and everything for should he merely snap his fingers goes off and sleeps with other women every night because you're just not exciting and new enough for him, but don't you dare think of doing the same unless you want to be thrown out to the streets, stripped of everything you ever had. Hurt feelings are when after you've worked so hard for a name, the empty title that everyone tells you is so important to get you to the top you then find that all there is at the top is emptiness. Loneliness. And there is nothing, absolutely nothing you can do about it besides restart the cycle by doing your duty as a wife and raising your husband's children. Perhaps, if you're not too uninteresting, perhaps you can make him somewhat fond of you, but it's hard to remember how to be human enough to be interesting when you've spent your life being told to rid yourself of any traces of it. Hurt feelings are when you have earned the rights to respect that a man simply gets to demand, and he still doesn't give it to you. Hurt feelings are when a mudblood comes along and takes something so important from you and leaves you with nothing but a destroyed family and the sense of not being good enough for someone who promised you you always would be. Hurt feelings are when family chooses a stranger over someone who had adored them from the moment they had been born. So please, go cry to your friends that you actually have, your parents who actually care, or of course your husband who actually loves you, and tell them how badly I hurt your feelings when I'm finished with you, and just gain satisfaction in the fact that I have no one to go to with mine. I have to suck it up because no one cares, and weakness is unattractive, and you are worth nothing if you are unattractive. Gain the satisfaction that we have no one to love us unconditionally, not even our own parents, and no one who loves us enough to stick around when something new and shiny walks past."
Astoria paused, looking the girl up and down for a few moments before adjusting her own attire, smoothing down her hair.
"Well, I suppose I'm assuming too much, aren't I? Let's really get a look at what's going on in your head, what you're insecure about," she said darkly. The woman cried out words of protest, in what he assumed to be a response to Astoria invading her head space.
"What, you don't like it? That's unfortunate. If you want to be one of us you'll have to surrender everything you hold private. You're not allowed privacy, so let's hope you don't have any demons. Let's see then.. Look at you, so insecure, as if you have a right. Why are you insecure? What consequences do you have to face for being the ordinary, trashy mudblood that you are? You still have your prize, don't you? Ah, but you can't provide your one duty as a wife because you're not a true woman after all. All of your children die, including the one that you baited your husband with into losing it all. How pitiful to be such a failure at something so simple, so natural as a woman. The regret your husband must feel choosing you.. How sad. Here, perhaps I can provide you with some comfort, yes? Would you like that? Well, take into consideration that no silly mudblood whore would be permitted to prance along and create a branch of filth in the Greengrass line. Let's hope the fetus you're carrying now is female, and then perhaps you won't run into the same tragic issues you've had with your previous pregnancies. If you do manage to have a child, make sure to tell her that you killed all of her brothers because you're a selfish, greedy and stupid mudblood who tried to be something she could never even imagine being. I suppose I can understand why you have plucked up the courage to show your horrific face here as you need an example of what a real witch looks like, but I must say that you're completely unwanted by me, my family, and my people just as your unwanted by your pathetic muggle father and even your husband who just can't seem to move on and be satisfied with you. It's a joke that you would even believe it possible that anyone would find you satisfying. You're nothing but an easy shag in the broom closets, seeing as anyone would be too embarrassed to sleep with you anywhere else." The woman in front of his wife could seem to only stare wide-eyed at Astoria, tears running down her face as she was openly scorned in front of a room full of people who believed her to be as low as dirt, no one offering her any protection or way out.
"How dare you believe that you could stand before me as if you were my equal. Actually, I'd prefer you to kneel, I'm feeling theatric today." The woman's legs buckled and she was forcefully brought to her knees under Astoria's focused and cold stare. "Did you make sure to get all of that down on your little clipboard, Hermione? Darling?" Astoria looked around for Granger and a small, crazed giggle fell from her lips when she couldn't find her.
"Astoria," Draco began, feeling as though he needed to end this before she truly attacked the woman. It was exactly what they didn't need when his home was filled with Aurors who were hoping for something like this to happen right under their noses, besides the fact that this was beneath his wife, and she wasn't thinking straight to be allowed to act on her own impulses. Eld certainly wasn't doing shit to handle the situation, as she was just standing there observing the two in fascination.
"Its unfortunate for you that your fellow mudblood trusted me enough to leave you alone with me. Perhaps stupidity is just an unavoidable trait of your kind, but I suppose I am a good actress. I'm not the only one of my blood who pretends to tolerate you rats when in reality your presence turns my stomach, am I? You have to have come to recognize good acting by now. I can't imagine how sick I'd feel laying beside you every night, a constant reminder of my biggest mistake. I honestly can't understand how your still alive, but my father is a man of fairness and choices I suppose. Well, I'm not him." Astoria was moving now, moving for her wand and Draco stiffened, repeating her name again loudly, but she didn't so much as flinch at the sound.
"Draco. I would advise that you do something about your wife," he heard Joseph say tensely behind him.
"Surely you were told not to show your face around here just as your husband was told, just as he was warned. It seems you did not listen to that warning, or him," Astoria cooed, stepping towards her even closer as she trained her wand towards her. She tsked, tilting her head to one side. "Can't even follow your husband's directions? Why, I can't imagine what positive qualities are left for you to posses. I'll have to show you the consequences of not listening to the warnings of those above you."
"One," Draco began counting as if she were a child, raising his wand to the back of her. He truly did not want to use magic on his wife in defense of the girl who broke up her family, but he was being left with no choice. "Two."
He heard her wand clatter to the floor as she stumbled back to face him, looking at him with a fearful and searching expression, her face clear of the hateful appearance she had been holding only moments ago. In only a small moment she had switched back to appearing small and innocent, unable to really hurt anyone and he faintly wondered if he was going mad. Daphne made a strangled sound of shock beside them, her gaze directed at the entrance of the room where Edric Greengrass stood frozen, looking as if he was unable to move himself. Astoria's eyes moved from Draco to the man there, their matching eyes meeting each other and holding on. It was likely Edric could feel his wife's predicament just as Draco had felt his wife and Draco, perhaps foolishly, had left his wards open to the Greengrass bloodline. Astoria's whole body shook, her eyes filling with grief and Draco moved to reach out to her, fearing she may fall. She moved back before he could grab her, tripping backwards and nearly running from the room as a familiar smoke-like substance pooled at her ankles. His head snapped over to find the Pensieve uncovered and filling the room.
Daphne ripped her gaze from her brother herself, seeming to lean towards the direction Astoria was going in order to follow her before she froze at the change in the room, their surroundings dissolving into the memory they were forced into.
"Astoria, love," Sylvia Nott called a much younger Astoria over to her, her eyes gleaming with something cruel as she smiled at her. "Come here, won't you?"
Astoria blinked and walked over to the woman, looking up at her curiously as her pink tinted cheeks were pushed up with her smile. She twisted slightly where she stood almost impatiently, the skirts of her powder blue dress moving with her.
"I was wondering if you could find your brother for me. I know he recently finished school, and I wanted to ask him about that. I think I saw him stray from the event and go outside.."
"Alright," Astoria replied, scowling. "But I've never seen you two talk before, ever."
"Don't talk back like that or people will think of you as a brat. Go on then," Sylvia quipped, motioning her away.
Astoria pressed her lips together, watching her with her scowl for a moment before turning her heel and scanning the ballroom, looking for the exit before slipping out of it. She walked around the building for a while, glancing down the street at the nearly empty town area before turning to slip around the back of the building until she spotted her brother speaking with the muggle-born girl and two older muggles with her. Astoria frowned and squatted down, sneaking around to remain unnoticed as she got close enough to hear them.
"-got her pregnant. You're expected to take responsibility," the muggle man said, his voice strong.
"It's fine, Uncle. You don't have to-" Ophelia said, looking mortified and upset.
"I do have to! How could you both be so irresponsible, so-"
"Mr. Hale. I'm prepared to take care of it, but please keep your voice down," Edric interrupted him, looking behind them towards the building, appearing tense.
"Why? Are you embarrassed? That you should be!"
"Frank," the muggle woman said, shaking her head. "Cornering him this way isn't going to help anyone, and is only making the situation worse. How do you plan on taking care of this, Edric? I do hope you plan on actually taking responsibility."
"I will figure it out, Mrs. Hale," he said, his mostly calm tone sounding slightly strained. "You will have to give me a bit more-"
"No. You will go by our timeline," the man directed. "Do you have any idea how serious this is?"
"Mum," Ophelia said quietly, squeezing her eyes shut. "Please, can you both give us a moment?"
"Well, I'm not finished. It's not just up to your mother when-"
"We can talk about this all together in a more appropriate setting," Mrs. Hale said harshly, grabbing her brother's arm. "Let them talk. Ophelia, we will be waiting by the robe shop."
"I'm sorry," the girl began as they walked away, looking up at Edric. "I'm so sorry. They made me tell you we had to meet immediately, I don't think they actually thought it through, I-"
"It's alright, Ophelia," Edric said softly, his eyes unfocused. "This is very bad."
"I know!" She rushed out. "I know.. I'm sorry. I really just.. I don't know what to do. I'm just sorry. I'll fix it. I don't know what I'll do, but I will fix it."
Edric's eyes fell to the girl when she started to cry, covering her face with her hands as she turned away from him. His face softened slightly and he turned her around, tilting her head up towards him with his hand. "I will take care of it, Ophelia. It isn't your fault. I was careless," he told her gently, brushing her hair out of her face.
"We are so stupid," she sniffled, looking up at him tearfully. "So, so stupid."
"We are," he agreed gravely, inclining his head forward to grace her lips with his. "But we will still get through this."
She looked surprised at his kiss, searching his eyes in both confusion and happiness. "You're kissing me still? We are out of school now.."
"Yes, well. You're also pregnant with my child, which falters my plans for a clean break considerably."
Astoria slowly shrunk back, retreating to where she came from, panic covering her face as she nearly ran back around the building, entering the loud and crowded event once more where she tried to side step Sylvia, but the woman stepped in front of her.
"Did you find him? Are you alright? You look spooked." Astoria ignored her and squeezed past her, heading to the other side of the room and away from her father.
She ducked next to the older couples there, attempting to catch her breath as she bumped into an older witch who snapped at her, complaining about her lack of manners. She ignored them, her eyes looking across the room wildly, her body stilling when her eyes found her father's as he stood next to Sylvia. He held her gaze for several moments, his face slowly twisting into fury before he broke it, starting towards her. Astoria tripped as she attempted to navigate her way out of his sight, scrambling back up to sprint towards the exit again, her feet pounding against the ground as she ran back around the building and all the way towards her brother who was now alone as he stood there, appearing much more stressed and unsure without the girl with him.
"E-Edric," Astoria grabbed onto him, sobbing as she looked behind her frantically. "He saw.. Father saw.. What I saw.. What you did.. P-Please don't leave. He's so angry.. He's so, so angry.. I'm sorry! Please don't be mad at me! I'm sorry!"
Edric stared down at his sister worriedly, shaking his head slightly with confusion as he took in her words. The color drained from his face as realization dawned on him and he knelt down, his body stiff as he kissed her forehead, wincing when she began to choke on her sobs.
"I will only give you two options, Edric, and you will only have one chance to choose so listen carefully. You will forget the mudblood, and I will dispose of her appropriately so she will not go opening her mouth the same way she has opened her legs and so she will not go birthing filth to this world that holds our blood that has been tarnished by hers. Or, you will go with the mudblood and you will disappear. You will no longer be recognized by this family, and you will never see any of us again. But, if you can keep your mudblood safe, you can keep her."
Edric looked at his father who had approached them, his overall composure calm aside from his furious eyes, his smooth voice threatening to slip into a snarl as he spoke.
"I can't let you do anything to her," Edric responded finally, his usually sure voice broken and hesitant.
"No, no, no," Astoria cried, grabbing desperately at her brother's suit. "Please d-don't.. Don't do this to me! I love you.. Don't you love me? Please, Edric!"
"So you've made your choice then," Aldrich said, his eyes flashing dangerously and his nostrils flaring.
"No! Choose us instead!" The small girl was barely coherent as she tried to speak through her despairing cries, her face smeared with tears.
"No, he doesn't love you, Astoria. He loves his mudblood," Aldrich hissed. "Come with me. Now."
"Please.. P-Please don't go! Take me with you! Please, I'm sorry! Please don't leave me! I love you, E-E-" Astoria's stream of desperate pleadings were cut off as she was strangled by her sobs, crying out loudly in protest when her father yanked her away from her brother as she clung to him.
Edric's body shook as his sister was torn from his arms, tears falling from his eyes as he watched her get dragged away, wailing for him.
"Mum," he croaked out, finally managing to speak as she approached, watching her pleadingly as she wouldn't look at him as she calmly followed her husband, her expression cold.
"Leave, Edric. Don't come back. You aren't wanted," she told him, her tone holding no emotion.
Aldrich, his eyes growing more furious as tried to get a handle on his struggling daughter, decidedly apparated, leaving Freya behind.
Aldrich dragged Astoria through the Greengrass mansion, pushing her into a random room as she continued to weep, choking out unintelligible begging.
"Astoria," he snarled, his eyes wild now with his loss of temper. "You are not to cry over blood traitors. You have exactly three seconds to silence yourself or I will give you a legitimate reason to cry, do you understand?"
Astoria shook her head hard, holding up her hands as she stepped back away from him.
"One."
Astoria whimpered loudly as she tried to stop her cries, holding her her stomach as she shook.
"Two," he said, his voice dangerously quiet as he drew his wand carefully, pointing at her.
She took more steps back in fear as a fresh set of sobs slipped past her lips, looking up at him in anticipation as her reddened face glistened in result of being soaked in her sorrows.
"That's three, Astoria."
Astoria grabbed at her face wildly, her eyes looking around the room as if she couldn't focus on anything. "I can't s-s.. I c-can't hear!"
"Crucio."
The little girl's screams ripped through the entire mansion and she doubled over before falling to the floor in her extreme pain. Aldrich's eyes narrowed at the sound, his wrist twisting slightly as he held the spell on his small daughter for much too long, especially for someone so young. The girl began to gag, her nails digging into the floorboards desperately as she struggled to suck in more breath before more screams spilled from her lips, her voice quickly becoming hoarse. The next time she ran out of breath, causing her screams to pause as she twisted and writhed on the floor, she seemed unable to gather in another breath, her weak and tiny body seemingly having enough as it fell into unconsciousness.
Aldrich lifted the torture spell from the limp girl, his wand lowering slowly as he stared through his child as if he was completely far gone from his mind before he raised his wand again to place a silencing charm on Astoria before leaving his daughter broken on the floor.
Instead of fading, the memory shifted back slightly to Freya apparating into the Greengrass home shortly after her husband. She walked forward quietly, looking around to see where they had gone before the screams began, her body jerking to a halt, her stance losing composure as her hand reached out to steady herself against the wall as her eyes filled with shock and horror. A tremor rocked through the woman's body and she clumsily slid down the wall she had reached out to, her hands violently shaking as she brought them up slowly to cover her ears, her eyes squeezing shut as she endured her child's screams. She cried out in fear when her daughter's torture didn't seem to end, and she clapped a hand over her sobbing mouth when everything went completely silent. Freya didn't move for many minutes, and the only sound in the mansion was Freya's muffled weeping as she held her hand tightly over her lips before she forced herself up, stumbling through the halls as she searched for the source of the previous screams. She jumped when knocker sounded, seeming to fight with herself on going to the door or not as she needed to get to her child. The knocker was heard again and the sound of the house-elf opening the door and announcing the two Aurors flooded the home.
"Mrs. Greengrass.. Are you alright? We were passing by that gathering your lot was having on patrol and we saw your family leave in a bit of a rush. Is Aldrich home?" One of the visiting Aurors asked when Freya managed to compose herself enough to go to the door.
"O-Of course I'm wonderful," She responded to the man on the right, not meeting his eyes. "He's out. We are all alright of course. My daughter fell ill. We had to leave early."
"We thought we heard screaming when we were coming up," the one on the left said, watching her face closely.
"Yes.. That was Astoria. She has night terrors."
The same Auror stepped forward, watching her cautiously. "Mrs. Greengrass, are you sure everything is fine? You don't have to lie. If your family is being mistreated you shouldn't be afraid to report it, your husband working with the Ministry often or not. He looked very angry from what we saw, chasing after your daughter. Was she the same one screaming?"
Freya met the man's eyes, opening her mouth to speak before the Auror on the right snorted loudly, smiling at Freya. "Sorry, Mrs. Greengrass. We don't mean to come unannounced to your home accusing your husband. Aldrich is one of the only one of those stiff pure-blood types I can stand."
Freya faltered, glancing back towards the other Auror, looking just below his gaze again. "It's quite alright. We appreciate your concern, but everything is perfectly fine with us. Thank you for your efforts, even if they were unnecessary."
"Well, that's our job," the same Auror said, nodding. "Besides, who wants to miss a chance to get a look at one of these insane castles you people call houses? I was feeling a little too good about myself until now, thank you for that. Ah, to live your life of luxury."
"Yes," Freya replied, smiling tightly. "Well, normally I would invite you in, but I really have to tend to my daughter."
"Of course! Of course, Mrs. Greengrass. We hope she feels better!"
Freya slowly backed away from the large door after she closed it on the two men, her eyes refilling with rears before she resumed frantically looking for her child.
"Tiptoe! Where is Astoria!" Freya cried out in frustration.
"Master told Tiptoe to let her sit by herself," the house-elf replied, appearing next to Freya.
"Tell me where she is! She isn't making any noise!"
"Master has taken Astoria's voice away. Astoria was making too much noise," Tiptoe explained.
"Tell me where she is," Freya snarled at the elf, yanking open more doors furiously.
"Master told Tiptoe to let her sit by herself."
"I'm your master as well, you worthless thing!"
"Tiptoe is trying her best," the elf sniffled, its ears flattening. "But Master to told Tiptoe to-"
"Enough!" Freya snapped, pulling out her wand to begin on the locked doors.
Finally, Freya managed to open to door to where Astoria was curled against the wall in the dark and Freya lurched forward, falling to her knees next to her, drawing her into her trembling arms. "Astoria, love, please tell me what hurts and what you can move properly," she told her gently, her voice breaking.
Astoria didn't say anything as her hands moved weakly to cling to her mother, her hands searching the same as her eyes were. "Astoria," Freya repeated. "Tori?"
Freya whimpered desperately as she carefully lifted Astoria from the floor when she didn't respond again, taking her from the room.
"Master told Tiptoe to let her sit by herself," the elf said nervously, following Freya.
"She can't hear me," Freya said through her teeth. "Or see me."
"Master took Astoria's eyes and ears away so she could sit by herself."
Freya slammed the door to Astoria's room on the elf, taking her to her bed and curling around her, holding her gingerly as she tried to hold back her sobs. "I'm sorry," she wept, brushing the hair out of the child's face. "I'm so sorry. My baby.. I should h-have done s-something.. Forgive me." She kissed her daughter's face shakily as she cried with her, eventually forced to call for the house-elf again for pain potions.
Draco's head spun as the Pensieve retracted its hold on the room, his stomach rejecting everything he had just seen, threatening to make him sick as he felt around for something to hold onto. He was unable to focus his attention on anything or anyone and their reactions, only faintly registering the distressed cry from Daphne as she reacted to what she had seen. He needed to move, he needed to go to Astoria.
She was sitting by herself.