The Insides of Emptiness

by SilentFrenzy

In the harsh pure-blood society it is imperative that everyone play their cards carefully in order to end up on the top, but what does getting to the top entail? Is anything left of these witches and wizards once they've achieved their goals, and can they maintain them? Drastoria. Draco Malfoy/Astoria Greengrass. Adrian Pucey/Daphne Greengrass. OC/OC. Not Cursed Child Compliant.

62. Chapter 62

Hey! How are you guys doing? Sorry I didn't mention my update schedule in the last chapter, of course you'd want to know that. Ummm I don't really have a schedule, but I HOPE to be able to update more frequently but obviously it's the holiday months right now and I'm extra busy, and I'm also working more because I spent soooo much money on gifts (and on myself because of all the sales..). It was also finals just last week. Don't worry, I'm always working on the chapters, and they are a lot longer than previous ones, but I really don't want to have to rush them especially since we are near the end. A lot of times endings are rushed and I would like to avoid that as much as possible! Thank you for being patient, and thank you for the kind words on the previous update! I hope you guys are having an awesome December! This is a particularly dark chapter, and I apologize for any discomfort.

Warning: This chapter contains disturbing nonconsensual scenes.

I don't own anything from Harry Potter

"Now, now. Don't be a tease, pet," Adrian Pucey, seventeen, chided the uncertain looking girl in front of him before drawing her to him by her wrist, kissing her knuckles.

"Sorry," the girl told him, smiling apologetically and inhaling deeply when his lips touched her skin, her large eyes giving away how taken she is was with him. "It's.. A lot in here."

She nodded, agreeing with her own words while looking around and appearing overwhelmed at the dark, crowded party. She bit at her lip nervously when her eyes fell on a man who had his woman pressed against a wall with her dress shamelessly pushed up to her ribcage as his hand disappeared between their closely drawn hips.

Adrian rolled his eyes impatiently at her modesty, too high and too eager to stick his cock into something pretty to be sympathetic or considerate of the bitch's feelings. He definitely should have invited her to a party during the day, as he would be much more patient and a bit more morally sound, even a bit guilty about using a girl who was delusional enough to find herself infatuated with him as if she had any chance at his attentions once she gave him what he wanted. She was a sweet girl, nothing against her personally, but he was already bored.

And he was young for fuck's sake. He could spend time giving a damn about sentimental shit when he was middle-aged and his dick didn't work as well anymore.

He plastered an amused and charming look on his face when she, Dana, looked back to him and allowed him to guide her down into his lap on the couch. He fought the borderline cruel smirk fought to replace the set of his face when she adjusted herself from the more innocent way he had placed her with her legs across his to hesitantly straddle him.

They always gave more when they thought the man a gentleman.

"It's a lot," he confirmed, sliding his hands up her thighs slowly, appreciating the fullness of them. "But you wouldn't notice if you weren't painfully sober."

"I had a couple drinks," she insisted, averting her gaze while smiling sheepishly. "I can't get too drunk to where I can't see straight. I don't know how you are still seeing properly. I don't know how many shots I saw you take, I lost count."

"As did I, beautiful," he chuckled, realizing he shouldn't push her into getting so stupidly drunk to where he would be crossing the line into true piece of shit territory to try and fuck her.

"I'm not as boring as I'm being, honest. I'm just nervous. Well, boring next to you of course, but I'm pretty sure anyone would be," she said, her eyes glittering as she warmed up to their position and became less distracted by the loud and dark surroundings, resting her arms on his shoulders.

"I will have to humbly agree," he replied, dropping his voice lower into a near purr as she hovered her face down over his in a way of invitation, her light brown hair falling to the sides of her face as he sat up slightly to capture her mouth with his.

The girl promptly arched her back beneath his hand as it slid from her thigh and up her back until it reached the back of her neck, holding her in place so he could kiss her more to his own liking without her shying away at his firmness. He placed his other hand on the small of her back just as he drew her full lower lip that helped create the attractive pout she wore into his mouth, taking the opportunity from her distracted intake of breath to grind her down by slightly moving his hand from her back to her hip, raising his own hips to meet the motion roughly. He felt her shuddering breath as well as faintly heard it as her tenseness became non-existent as he dizzied her and distracted her from their surroundings, the full weight of her body covering his now that she had allowed it to relax.

It was so stupidly easy to steal a girl's shame.

The more innocent girls were fun for the right mood, so responsive in their adorable, near pathetic ways. So pliant in their inexperience, so amusing in their reactions. It was almost degrading, playing and toying with them just to be entertained by their responses, nearly humiliating them in making a show of how extremely little they knew. If Adrian were in the right mood and felt like taking his time he would toy with her much more, drawing out every sound and jerk of her body as she knew nothing of what to expect, every feeling unpredictable to her. He hoped she wasn't a virgin, though she certainly hadn't been with anyone worth noting in their capabilities of screwing properly judging by her mannerisms and the timidness of her.

He didn't have time for that.

She was already making him work for it, which he enjoyed occasionally, but at the moment he did not. Did she not realize that he had at least sixty other women just at his home alone right at that moment that would be willing to fuck him without any effort on his part? Well, yes, he supposed she did judging by how insecure she was acting particularly when looking at the other women present that nearly surpassed her in every aspect. She had no reason to be insecure as it was clear he intended on sleeping with her that night unless of course she thought she could keep his interests beyond that point.

Cute.

He heard his mother's language coming from a group of males lingering close to them, inwardly groaning when they addressed him just as he had gotten the girl to the point of heavy breathing and a near rhythm of a natural rocking of her hips in the few minutes he had been warming her up. He did not award himself that much credit in his abilities to turn a woman on to believe he could turn a prude into a shameless slut that would stay in his lap and continue her attentions in front of other men, and she would immediately be switched off as soon as she noticed their presence. Perhaps if he ignored them they would move along and she would not be phased by the close, foreign voices.

Wrong.

He released her from his grip when she pulled back, allowing her to slip herself off and to the side of him while fixing her dress in embarrassment, crossing her legs quickly in a rather telling way that her body had certainly been warming up to him in the way that he had intended it to. He patted her knee, chuckling quietly. "No worries, pet. I promise they won't be telling anyone anything of your activities with me," he told her, regarding the Ukrainian wizards with a sarcastic enthusiastic reaction.

He really didn't care for them, but they were friends of his family and their allyship was important. Their families and a few others from his mother's side of connections came along with her and were a large reason she was married to his father. The woman's friends were nearly as important as the woman when choosing a bride. It seemed they were playing nicely, however, as Adrian reluctantly spoke with them cheerfully as he was meant to as the host.

Always cheerful, always full of energy, always charming for the guests and cameras. It was the Pucey way, and it was exhausting as fuck, which was exactly why he deserved his high and the shag that typically came along with it.

A thick curtain of red hair fanned over his shoulder and over his chest as Tasya Endrin slipped in-between him and Dana over the back of the couch to touch her lips to his ear, her hands sliding over his shoulders to rub them slowly.

"Come have a chat with me, yes? It's important," she murmured, her lips brushing against the shell of his ear and he could feel the suggestive smile on them.

"Is it really important? Just have this feeling you're being dishonest, Endrin," Adrian replied, turning his head to look at her with raised eyebrows.

"Everything I have to say is important," she told him, cocking an eyebrow and standing up straight. "Make time for me."

Adrian avoided a smirk as he put on a reluctant face instead for Dana who was looking back at Tasya as she walked away with a look of insecurity before glancing at him and then away from him, seemingly embarrassed and angry, at him or herself he wasn't sure.

"Forgive me, beautiful. She's a family friend, be back in a moment, alright? I'll just be over there," he told her, the form of her blurring and glowing a bit as the effects of the potion he just tossed back took effect.

Her mouth opened as he stood, looking up at him in protest before looking at the other large and intimidating men worriedly, grabbing onto his hand gently in her silent request for him to stay. Her actions were almost sweet enough to sit back down with her, or better yet help her up with him and go somewhere quieter. He had paid enough attention to the men that it was acceptable for him to leave. Perhaps if he was only the smallest bit more clear headed, and his vision weren't doubling slightly he wouldn't have kissed the palm of her hand in reassurance that he would be right back before leaving her in order to weave through the guests to find his redheaded female.

But he wasn't more clear headed, unfortunately for the poor girl.

Unsurprisingly Tasya had no interest in telling him anything of importance as she so claimed, immediately pressing herself close to him and skimming her mouth up his throat, dragging her nails down his arms.

"What was that important thing you had to tell me exactly?"

Adrian wasn't sure why Tasya always made a point to regularly pursue him seeing as it was quite clear that it was her who would most likely be the next Mrs. Pucey, though he supposed it was her way of reminding everyone of the fact. Reclaiming him, flaunting him to the other girls.

Her trophy.

"Ditch the mouse, Adrian," she told him, untucking his shirt to move her hands underneath so she could slide them up his bare skin. "She isn't worth your efforts, and I've seen you put in quite a bit tonight just for a mediocre shag."

"Jealousy? Is that you? You're lucky green compliments redheads," he told her. "Haven't you heard that men like a good challenge?"

"You and I both know I'm not jealous," she laughed, looking up at him with amused eyes. "Nearly insulted actually. My future husband should put his energy into bedding far more worthwhile women. She is hardly a challenge, a chore would be the appropriate word really."

"Since I've put no effort into bedding you and yet I have bedded you multiple times due to you throwing yourself at me does that mean you aren't a woman who is worthwhile?"

"I'm worth everything," she purred, unbothered by his mocking. "Don't try to wind me up, you'll have to bring in a more threatening bitch for that. Not that anyone would ever threaten my claim to what's mine, but it would be adorable for you to give it an honest try."

"That cockiness may bite you in the arse one day, Endrin."

"You could be biting me in the arse if you would follow my advice."

"Tempting, but shouldn't leave the poor and defenseless girl with the Ukrainians. Even I'm not that much of a dick," he told her as he felt the wetness of her tongue against his neck as she sucked at the skin there and he inhaled, truly tempted as he had claimed.

"She isn't even drunk. She'll be fine. She can show herself out or find another man to be a cock tease to."

"You can bet she'll be worse than drunk if she sits around them for too long," he told her, his senses coming back a small amount as he scanned the room in the direction he had came, attempting to spot the girl. "Even cock teases don't deserve to be thrown to dogs."

His head head was turned forward by his chin as Tasya kissed his open mouth, pushing the small tablet from her tongue into it before pulling back and grabbing the nearest drink from a nearby table and tipping it against his lips, pouring the strong and burning alcohol down his throat along with what she had slipped him.

"Drugging me now, are we?" He asked her, preparing for his thoughts to become even more unclear as he was being pushed past his limit of being able to still act accordingly and pass as an adequately behaved host.

"They do when it's such a quality cock they're teasing," he heard her say as he closed his eyes to his head rush, humming his approval when her hand came down to rub itself against the victim of teasing she was referring to.

"You think flattery will get you what you want?" He nearly breathed the last words as her probing hands became even more persuasive and he caught her wrist in his hand. "Now you're just playing dirty, Endrin. Practically sexual assault happening here."

"Flattery gets me everywhere," she answered, smirking at him as she used her free hand to hook her fingers into the front of his pants and tug him closer before pushing her way down between the fabric and his skin, coaxing him without any barrier now. "And how does anyone get anywhere without fighting dirty?"

Her face dropped into a needy, hungry expression when he moved his other hand to reluctantly go for her other wrist though his efforts were already halfhearted at that point in that he couldn't remember exactly why he was resisting.

"Adrian, please," she half moaned, whining the words, only barely missing the mark of her tone of voice being irritating. "You can come back to the girl when we are finished."

He allowed her to drag him down by the collar of his shirt to roughly kiss him, a possessiveness about her as she seemed to drink him in, her voice growing resonant in his ears as the blaring sounds of the event began to fall away. "After you've fucked me. I need you to fuck me."

Yes the girl, that was it.

Not his responsibility, not his problem. No reason to decline, though he doubted he could at that point. It was too good, much too good, and his body simply would not obey should he tell it to pull away. Oh well, like Tasya had pointed out, he could return to her when he gained the satisfaction that the shy girl had been taking too long to give him. He moved his arms around Tasya now, his hands dragging and caressing the bits of her as he gathered her flush against him and dipped his head kiss her neck, enjoying the way their skin seemed to mold together as the blissful blanket of false peace he had become so reliant on swept over him, a peace he was not able to find sober.

"I suppose you'll have to earn it then," he said against her skin as he ran his lips over it, savoring the velvety feel of it while aided by his heightened sense.

His voice was dark in its teasing while his hand pushed up her dress to move between her thighs and cup what was his due to her own insisting, taking a sense of power and satisfaction in the way she immediately rocked herself forward to stimulate herself against his hand instinctively before apparating them to his bedroom where he knocked her back against one of the bedposts hard enough to extract a sharp sound of pain from her. "Don't think you'll be returning as quickly as I will be unless you want to sport mascara and spit dripping off your mess of a face, pet, unless of course you've fixed that frequent gagging habit of yours."

Adrian placed his hand on her head and coaxed her down to the ground, keeping her as backed up against the post as he could manage so she wouldn't be able to jerk her head too far back when choking on him. He was unaware of the girl who had watched him with Tasya, wounded and humiliated enough to finally except what the five dangerous men with ill intentions were coercing her to take in her insecurity of being boring, and insecurity that was now heightened many times over due to the scenario she had found herself in in that moment.

Unaware of what happened to the girl soon after she had taken their bait.

---

Draco tensely watched Astoria attempt to reposition herself in her discomfort, the chains that led to both of the girls' wrists too short for them to sit up all of the way, forcing them to lie down or prop themselves up halfway. He wasn't sure what their captors had been playing at, but he suspected it was simply to be degrading and malicious by making the men watch the women squirm about on the ground, as close as the ground as possible to imply where their captors felt the girls "belonged". The dark magic that he had placed on Astoria through her markings was not set off, so he could at least find a bit of comfort that no one with disgusting intent had touched her. He could prevent the magic from harming her should he be forced to, wand or not.

He shuddered at the thought, making himself believe he wouldn't have to face a reason to do that, to have a reason to aid her from less pain while being touched by another man who only wished her harm. He moved his eyes over their surroundings again, attempting to find anything that may give away their location. He doubted it would help much, they were imprisoned no matter who had taken them, but perhaps knowing their captors would better help him choose a route in which to escape. Not that he had even one idea of any route to take as of that moment, but he had no choice but to come up with one. He would not sit and do nothing while his pregnant wife was harmed in any way, not like his father had, and not like he himself had.

He would not fail his family again.

"Hold on, hold on," Blaise said, shaking his head as he squinted towards the cuffs around the girls' wrists. "Look there. See if they are marked."

"I already looked," Astoria murmured, turning her body anyway, moving until her ankle caught behind her, lifting her wrists close to her eyes as she strained them to get a look at the metal in the dim lighting. "I don't see anything."

"Look on the underside," Adrian urged her, leaning forward to focus his eyes more on her wrists as though leaning forward would aid him whatsoever in being able to see anything. "Pure-bloods have to write their name on all of their shit. We can't seem to help ourselves."

"I can't," she replied, wincing as she tried to rotate her wrist a bit in the cuff. "They are too tight."

"Her wrists are already going raw," Daphne confirmed, propping herself up better. "Help me, Tori, hold onto mine while I try to see my own."

"Raw?" Draco asked flatly, breathing unevenly in his surge of anger at the thought of the bastards intentionally making his wife's too tight simply to be extra cruel, straining himself as Pucey did, attempting to see any damage on her porcelain skin.

"It's not awful, Draco, it's nothing," Astoria told him, her tone reassuring though he still did not believe her despite how sincere she sounded.

Daphne dropped to her elbows as she put her face close to the cuffs, twisting her wrist and moving it to peer between the skin and the metal. "If I were as skinny as I was as a Greengrass I would be able to see," she grumbled.

"Terribly sorry that the Pucey family upholds the value of not starving ourselves," Pucey told his wife dully, his concerned gaze not faltering from her efforts.

"I do.. See something. Looks as though it has rubbed off," she murmured, pushing her face even closer, hissing softly when she forced her wrist in an even more unnatural position. "I can only make out the first letter 'E'.. Perhaps an 'N' or an 'R' as the second.. A couple letters I can't make out.. 'E' again? Or 'O'.. 'T'? 'R?' I'm not sure what that one is."

"Treacle," Adrian said, grimacing at her. "Say it a bit more clearly. Take your best guess."

She looked up to glare at him before looking back down for a while. "'E' 'N'," she started. "'E' and 'R'. With letters in-between that are too worn."

"Starts with an 'E?'" Nott asked, looking up at the ceiling as he thought. "How many letters would you estimate?"

"Ah.. I would say at least more than five.. There are a few bits after the ones I can make out.. What I think is the last letter has a straight vertical line."

"Could be fucking anyone," Pucey sighed, shaking his head tiredly. "Probably not anyone we know. Weren't they chasing a foreign trail last time we heard?"

"Astoria? Any ideas? It's your mission in life to study every single pure-blood family, no?" Draco asked her, watching her eyebrows come together in thought before looking to Edric, finding him shaking his head slowly, a manic smile creeping over his face that was covered in disbelief.

"You know it?" Draco asked, watching him intently, excitement and impatience pricking at him.

Edric coughed out a laugh, his eyes searching in front of him as he began to chuckle in a slow burning, mad fury. "'Wreak havoc on his life'," he quoted in an amused tone before shaking his head again his eyes flashing as he chuckled on. "'Why have good intentions?' Ah, the worthless, classless little cunt."

"What," Blaise said flatly. "What is he on about? Perhaps the muggles have really crushed his sanity."

"Which classless cunt? I could name a few," Pucey pressed, leaning forward even more as he watched him expectantly.

"Enderson," Edric finally said softly after sucking his teeth, his upper lip twitching slightly as if wanting to curl and he shook his head once more and tipped it back. "What a fucking idiot I am, allowing Ophelia to keep such a-"

"The Endersons," Astoria said flatly in her doubt. "And how do you gather? I don't think you're correct."

"No I think," Daphne started slowly, looking at the cuff again, her pretty features pulled into a frown in her moment of dawning. "I think actually he may be right.. The name fits. I saw her not too long ago at our house. She reacted bitterly when I mentioned the fall of her family at father's doing, and then she called Charlotte Blythe over to start something with me. I always thought she just found entertainment in petty drama, but-"

"Charlotte Blythe," Astoria snorted, laughing dismissively. "The delusion she must have to think she could rival-"

"I gather," Edric answered Astoria coolly, seemingly fighting himself to stay patient and kinder to his younger sister while he handled his temper. "Because the woman has been in and out of my home for nine fucking years, best friends with my wife, the only muggle-born she has ever associated herself with, the one who relentlessly encouraged her to pursue me and destroy my family, the one who always seeks to stir up as much trouble as she possibly can manage amongst the pure-bloods, maliciously- hold on. She went to Pucey's house? Spoke to you? Brought my previously betrothed over?" Edric paused as he considered this before smiling and continuing pleasantly. "Beautiful. Just lovely, really. I'm going to end her life and ensure she is screaming throughout the entire process."

"Yes, that's right! I remember them together. Enderson and.. Ophelia." Daphne hesitated before awarding the woman an actual name instead of the slur. "At the Ministry's Christmas event. She called mother over, then Astoria."

"Mmm. That she did, the conniving whore," Edric replied humorously as he stared without focus, a mad glint to his eye.

"I'm only faintly aware of who you're talking about, but a woman having it out for your family due to the fact your father ruined her family's life doesn't explain said woman going out and framing our entire community for continuing the Dark Lord's work," Draco said, watching them as he tried to think of the few times he had come across the Enderson family aside from the Ministry events his father had attended.

"Yes it does," Pucey said, nodding as his eyes moved around as he thought over everything himself. "They embrace being named blood traitors, their daughter latches onto one to 'prove' they aren't prejudiced. Don't think he's saying that the sole purpose of all of this is to get back at his family, but motive for them to have something out for the community."

"Obviously the Enderson family isn't the only family behind this, just as Malfoy Manor was used as a base for the Death Eaters this is likely just where they are keeping themselves at the moment. They were quite relevant before they fell, as were many of the families they now associate themselves with. The pure-bloods who gain nothing from their purity anymore and are forced to act as though they are not prejudiced as the other pure-bloods who get away with it are just so they can be accepted by the other side as they are no longer accepted by the former, and still constantly have to prove themselves to them if they want to maintain any sort of social status in any community at all. I'd imagine the Enderson family and those similar became exceptionally angry when after the second war the pure-blood circle remained intact despite who the victors of the war were. I'll have to personally commend Enderson in her commitment to her role she played at school as well as to my wife before I destroy her as well as compliment her efforts in knowing every possible detail of everyone. On the very rare occasion that anyone knew anything before me it would be her." Edric cut off, snorting at the thought before rolling his eyes to the ceiling. "Through Ophelia she could easily find herself having access to her work files and find a psychologist to cooperate; Eld. Not to mention anything of my personal belongings that she could easily fuck with while having free access to my house, belongings that would be very useful."

"Sounds like a lot of assumptions," Astoria said, still doubtful, pursing her lips. "And I don't remember-"

"You don't remember a lot of things," Daphne snapped irritably. "I don't suppose you have any better ideas?"

"Leave her. She'd argue the color of the sky if she didn't observe it first," Edric said dismissively.

Well, Draco certainly couldn't disagree there.

"Well, I do see the possibility," Nott said. "The toss aways theory anyway, not too familiar with this Enderson family enough to make many observations about them, but the rejects would have no qualms murdering us or mudbloods."

"Amazing. Wonder how many 'toss aways' your father is responsible for. Curious just how many of them are waiting to get their hands on you and take turns ripping you apart to send the pieces to your parents," Pucey muttered to Daphne, his tone rigid as he closed his eyes.

"Pucey," Draco said coolly. "You're not helping the situation by furthering panic."

Pucey said nothing in reply as he kept his eyes closed and Daphne's eyes fell to the floor at his words, turning her face slightly away from her husband.

"We won't let anything like that happen," Edric told his sister, looking between both girls, concern and pain replacing the anger on his face for the moment. "You will survive this. I would die to make sure of it."

"Greengrass is long overdue to finally receive what has been coming to him," Blaise finally interjected kindly, his malicious expression not matching his tone of voice. "Can't say I don't believe he doesn't deserve it. Thought you said not to speak our thoughts out loud?"

"Mmm. I sincerely hope Violet is aware of my promises regarding her fate," Edric said softly, his eyes scanning the walls before the ceiling.

"Or Violet has nothing to do with this and you look like a fool," Astoria said quietly under her breath, adjusting herself again before stiffening along with her brother, looking towards the edge of the room.

"Keep all of your witty comments to a minimum as well as your tempers," Edric murmured quickly, his voice now hushed as he watched the spot. "Try to remember that we are at their mercy for the time being, and we can hand whatever they give us back to them when they are at ours."

"I will not grovel," Astoria ground out, glaring in his direction.

"That isn't what I said, Astoria," he nearly hissed, though there was a hint of desperation mixed with his tone in his worry for her. "I'm telling you not to be an idiot. Do not allow pride to suppress your sense."

Two well dressed, younger men stepped into view, one several steps closer to them than the other as he grinned at them, the man unrecognizable to Draco. He struggled to make out the second who was waiting behind somewhat in the shadows, but couldn't see him well enough to decide whether or not he knew him.

"Enjoying your stay?" He inquired cheerfully, glancing at all of them. "Everyone comfortable?" He paused as he waited for a response, only receiving resentful and sneering looks from them before he tsked, stepping closer and squatting next to Astoria. "What about you, lovely? I know that bitch wasn't too kind in chaining you up."

Draco was unable to move or look away as he watched the man tap Astoria's cuff with a jagged knife, tilting his head at her thoughtfully as she looked up at him unflinchingly, her expression blank as she didn't say anything in return.

Draco's furious protests were halted before they were voiced when the man's eyes narrowed slightly, his cheerful expression still remaining and he lifted the knife to Astoria's cheek, tilting it so the point of it was pressing against her skin just enough to create a dent but not pierce it.

"I'm afraid it seems your wife was never taught the 'speak when spoken to' rule, Malfoy. Better correct her before I correct her for you."

Draco's pride burned as fury coursed through him, knowing he was in no position to be refusing the man's direction and neither was Astoria. He was left with no choice, cornered.

Again.

"Answer him, Astoria," Draco told her quietly, his tone towards her gentle in his desperate need for her to actually listen the first time he asked her to do something.

"I'm comfortable enough," Astoria said, her response monotone as her eyes never left the man's. "Thank you for your concern."

"That's a girl," he complimented, tapping her cheek with the knife before standing straight, relieving just the smallest amount of tension in Draco before he felt himself shaking in anger as his throat constricted, watching as the man placed his shoe on Astoria's back, stepping on her so she was forced to collapse from her raised position on her elbows, though she had seemed to put up a fair amount of fight in resisting him seeing as he nearly had to stomp on her to get her down.

"You're chained the way you are for a reason, you little slut." He stopped, his grin stretching across his face once more and he slowly took his foot off of her spine, looking down at her. "But since you insist on not keeping your nose in the ground where it belongs, why don't you and your sister provide some entertainment, yes?"

Draco's blood ran cold as he came to a conclusion on what the man was applying, grinding his teeth to the point he was sure he may crush them as he fought himself on snarling out his disgusted objections to the man, Edric straightening stiffly in the corner of his vision. In his years spent with dark wizards who tormented their prisoners for sport he knew nothing positive ever came from voicing objections. In fact, protests were desired in order to torture further as punishment. He thought to look to Pucey to make sure he was keeping himself in check, but he couldn't move his distressed eyes from his small wife now pushing herself from the floor, straightening her elbows and Draco could see a small amount of blood slip from the sides of one of her cuffs when her skin broke at the amount of friction that had been too much for her soft skin.

Astoria blinked slowly at him, tilting her head to the side as the man did with her, his gold toned eyes cruel and threatening in response. "I haven't the faintest idea of what you mean by that," she told him and Draco cringed, halfway closing his eyes as if he were waiting for the blow to his face himself, afraid he was about to watch his wife get struck by their captor.

Instead the man only frowned at her, his eyebrows pulling together as he kneeled beside her once more before he pushed his knife against the fullest part of her lower lip, cutting into it and letting the blood drip to the ground before he spoke. "Do you really wish to act coy right now, little girl? I'm being much kinder than some of the older men would be. There are some men up there who are into fucking the youngest women they can find, children even, and as you're the youngest here.. Well. It's easy to tell which female would be fought over first," he told her in a concerned tone, his knife still against her lip as he pushed it forward again, blood dripping quickly to the floor now. He watched her expectantly until she cried out in alarm and pain, yanking her face away and slipping down to her elbows so she could cover her mouth with her hands as a tremor of pain went through her body.

"Cute. Can't imagine how you'd handle the poison with more than a prick, sweetling. I must say your indignant little act was adorable, but I would hope that now you have learned to drop it. Now, you should be thankful we allowed you contact with your sister. Very merciful of us, don't you think so? Show your thanks by doing as your told. Get used to providing entertainment. Being a show-whore will suit your place nicely once you've been knocked down a few pegs.. Or quite a bit more than a few. Should be easy for you, just pretend as though she's your husband after you've climbed on top of her." He stood up, towering over her as his face became more set, commanding. "Get on with it, and make it convincing. If I have to speak again before you are complying I will have your brother come over and show what is to be done to both of you, which I hope I don't have to do, as it would be much less enjoyable for me to watch that level of incest."

Draco swallowed hard at the bile rising threateningly in his throat, feeling himself pale at the strong waves of nausea he was feeling, beyond sickened at the scene he was being subjected to with the woman he loved and his sister-in-law.

Sickened, but not shocked whatsoever. That was what he had been fearing. That was why he fought getting attached to Astoria. All the girls could do was comply, and he hoped they would comply. Not only could he not bear Astoria to get very hurt, but their child could not bear it either. He watched Astoria bring herself back up, the strength she had before much more muted as the man grabbed Daphne by her hair and dragged her against the ground to position her in a way that allowed their chains the space they needed to have adequate access to each other. He kicked Daphne over from her stomach to her back, dropping her head abruptly to the point it smacked against the ground. Draco winced at the snarling sound from Pucey and silently begged him to keep his mouth shut when Daphne yelped quite similarly to a dog being kicked when her skull made audible contact with the stone of the ground, rocking slightly to the side as she held her head, pieces of her hair catching in the links of her chains.

Astoria calmly pushed her sister flat on her black, gently pulling her hair from where it had caught as unnoticeably as she could manage while she crawled over her, carefully manipulating her arms and their bindings to go along with the position, her wrist dripping scarlet similarly to her lip now.

Draco's eyes flicked up towards Pucey who was staring at the scene, his body language defeated and tremor went through him, his face painted in anguish, making him nearly unrecognizable to his usual appearance. Draco looked back towards the two girls reluctantly, unsure of how much he could stand to watch, but also couldn't stand to leave them alone under the eyes of the heinous man. His wife's face was more composed than all four of them, and he could feel the small sense of pride for her under his suffering at her stubbornness to not show her weakness to those much below her as they were undeserving of any display of her vulnerability. She was determined to give the man as little satisfaction as she possibly could, and for that she was stronger than most.

Stronger than him, his brilliant little witch.

His breath was caught in his throat once more as she adjusted her posture to straddle her sister, her sibling, more suggestively, her back curving as she leaned over her. The screaming truth of how incorrect and immoral this incestuous act the girls were being forced to perform was deafening, and Draco suddenly recalled several different streams of comments from growing up made by boys and men his age about how appealing watching two sisters fucking around with each other would be. To experience it in person as it was forced as well as personally knowing the women involved, knowing of their close relationship made the perspective completely different, and he was disgusted at himself for the fact he would have been perfectly fine gaining entertainment from such a situation in the past.

Astoria took her sister's hands from the front of her head and Draco noticed how she squeezed them gently, rubbing her thumbs in comfort against Daphne's fingers as she moved her arms back and out of her way, licking the blood from her lip to avoid it dropping onto the woman beneath her. He couldn't look at the man, afraid he would lose his tight and strained hold on his tongue and begin furiously shouting obscenities at him, attempting to throw curses at him wandlessly which would not match up to the man's advantage of having a wand as well as not being bound on the ground, his hands not behind his back like Draco's were.

Draco knew the purpose of most of this was to humiliate him and put shame to his family name by degrading his wife to a lowly whore's status by pushing her into the ground under his boot, physically harming her right in front of his face, but it wasn't his pride or the pride of the Malfoy name that he was focusing on. It was only her, and the fact he had failed her so horridly that she was in this terrible position. He knew how she was hurting, could feel it through their magical ties, and all he could do was sit there and hurt for her in her pain and fear. His eyes twitched in their desire to close when she gingerly took Daphne's face in her hands, dipping her head down to kiss her fully on the mouth, her lips slightly parted.

Make it convincing.

Make what convincing exactly? He was directing the both of them to convince him that they any sort of desire to lay on top of each other while both wounded, dirty, cold, and bound while touching each other for their captor in front of several men including their own brother? That was what he was expecting them to convince him of?

"Don't want to watch, Greengrass?" The man asked innocently and Draco's attention was drawn to the man being questioned who was averting his gaze in horror, his face tormented and his body language portraying his extreme discomfort. "Perfectly fine. Suppose you should save your passion for when you're forced to torture your wife to death. That will make a pretty headline won't it? Even the disowned said to love mudbloods aren't to be trusted, we'll make sure of that by the time we are done with you."

Draco didn't see Edric's reaction as he quickly looked back to the girls, Daphne shakily pulling her hands to rest in Astoria's hair, doing a much less convincing job than Astoria was. He couldn't feel much from his wife at the moment, and she seemed to have shut herself off, only focusing on doing what was needed to survive the situation by utilizing her eery skill of disconnecting herself from her body and its actions.

The small areas that were bleeding on the girls were being spread over each other in their movements, only causing the scene to seem more sinister and disturbing as their blonde hair became more and more colored with red. A dark, slightly victorious chuckle came the man when Astoria's mouth brushed up and reconnected to its mark a few times, effectively smearing the blood from the cut made in her lip between their mouths. Draco's eyes dropped to the ground beneath the two girls, noticing the dark puddle of blood that only caught his attention when it had spread enough to catch a bit of light from the lantern, moving his eyes around wildly to gauge the amount of blood coming from Daphne's head injury, jerking slightly when the entrance of their prison erupted in sound as someone roughly banged at the door.

The man ordered the girls to pause, looking towards the other man who Draco had forgotten about till now as the man was keeping his distance and not awarding them his attention, seemingly not into the same sadistic games as his partner.

"Watch them. I'll see what the fuck they want now. Though if I have to deal with Enderson's cunt mouth again I'm going to snap."

Ah, there it was. Enderson.

The other man barely nodded, not looking at all interested in 'watching them', and as soon as the door slammed Astoria immediately dropped her composure after quickly noting the other man's disinterest and reached behind Daphne's head to find the wound, gently working her hands underneath her scalp that was resting against the wet stone, whispering her sad apologies when her sister protested in pained moans. The bastard must have thrown her head down as opposed to dropping it considering the amount of damage that appeared to have been inflicted.

"Daphne, sweetheart, are you alright? Head injuries always bleed a horrible amount, but are you alright?" Pucey asked her, his voice a bit frantic as his eyes traveled back and forth from the blood to Daphne's face as she whimpered and tried to turn her body to curl up on her side, Astoria's position on top of her preventing her from doing so. Astoria held her hands still against the back of her head, appearing unsure of how to help before she kissed her sister's forehead sympathetically.

"Astoria, make sure she doesn't become unresponsive. I doubt any understanding will be awarded to her should she fall unconscious," Edric said quietly in a strained, mournful tone that slightly broke when Daphne didn't answer Pucey, watching both of the girls in distressed and frustrated worry, glancing at the other man to confirm he was still not concerning himself with them. "I don't believe she can afford much more injury.."

"Very light pressure, Astoria. Don't push on the injury just in case it is more serious than I suspect, but I'm sure it's just a laceration. If there is a chance her skull is fractured you need to be careful," Draco told her gently, speaking to her calmly so she would remain calm as well before looking again towards the man 'watching' them, debating on if it would be wise for him to attempt to direct her in an attempt at a healing spell wandlessly. For one injury it wouldn't be too difficult, though he in particular was talented with healing so perhaps it was too difficult for others. He wasn't sure how Astoria was with healing, and if she was caught performing magic by their captors they were likely to lash out and punish her for it, though they had no reason to feel threatened seeing as the lot of them would not be able to get very far even if they succeeded in a bit of decent wandless magic, their punishments only purely for sport.

"What then? You don't like to watch siblings snog each other unwillingly on the filthy ground while broken and bleeding?" Nott asked the man mockingly, his own anger in his eyes in response to the situation clear and unmistakable before he gave Draco a directing look, turning back to eye the man who was now finally awarding one of them his attention, narrowing his eyes at him as he scanned him up and down. "The both of you must be a hit with women seeing as you're so desperate to see just the smallest amount of a woman displaying sexual behavior, no?"

Draco raised his eyebrows slightly in surprise that Nott was actually attempting to work with him instead of against him for the sake of Daphne. Draco didn't know how much help his offensive mouth would be, but Daphne's head was still bleeding and if they didn't want her to pass out they would have to accept whatever small wrath Nott would cost them.

"Well, women of your own family of course. As that's the kind of shit you're into apparently. Tell me, are all of the new and improved Death Eaters inbred? Perhaps that was the secret. No wonder we failed as Death Eaters," Nott went on as Draco carefully fed Astoria as much quiet direction as he could from the distance away from her he was without being noticed.

"I may not have any interest in wasting my attentions on you for amusement, but don't believe that I won't cut you open as well," the man said coldly, stepping towards them, drawing his wand. "Perhaps not with the same theatrics as with a poisoned knife, but I'm sure it will serve its purpose all the same."

"Not sure, Theo. Perhaps he never got any from his own family and he can't bear to watch it or the jealousy would consume him," Blaise drawled, his tone bored and uninvested.

Ah, about time he began acting as Draco's best mate again. He had missed him.

"Probably knew he couldn't control his hard-on and was too humiliated to allow us to see how small his cock is."

Draco grimaced as sounds of torture filled the room as the cruciatus curse was thrown at Nott, glancing over to find him keeling over in pain, their captor fully distracted in his agitation with the man who had been mocking him. He expected Astoria to be thrown off, but instead she jumped on the opportunity to repeat the incantation clearly and properly, too focused to be emotionally touched by what was happening to her former friend and love interest beside her. The noisy sounds of pain cut off into a quiet panting and Astoria nodded slowly to indicate her success, though she kept her hands in place as if she were still trying to stop the bleeding with pressure alone in a show for the man.

Eventually Astoria pulled her hands from under Daphne's head, rubbing her cheek with her thumb worriedly as she peered down at her and Daphne opened her eyes too meet her sister's dizzily before angling her neck to look at her husband and Draco saw Edric exhale in his relief, his eyes closing as his shoulders fell with his release of the breath he had been holding.

"M'okay," she mumbled out to Pucey, nodding slightly before resting her head back down. "Lightheaded."

"Well," Astoria replied, pushing herself up slightly and grimacing at either the pain from her wrists or the sticky mess she had just stuck her hands into before lifting her hand in a point to show off how it was now coated in blood. "I can't imagine why."

"Are you really okay, Daphne?" Adrian asked, his voice weak in its unbearable need to do anything to help his wife, still throwing Draco off with how much raw emotion he was presenting that Draco didn't know Pucey was capable of holding for a woman.

"Mhm," she replied, looking back at him again before looking at Astoria. "Would be better if this overweight bint got off me."

"No. There's blood on the ground that I don't want to sit in," she told her firmly, her tone not quite matching the unfazed words of her response. "And it's cold. Besides, I weigh practically nothing. Don't be ridiculous."

"Astoria, please be still," Draco breathed, closing his eyes as more blood ran from from her wrists, feeling worse at the fact the girls were attempting to play off what they had just been forced to do and what had been inflicted upon them to keep their men from suffering more worry.

"Enough," the man snapped impatiently, shaking his head up at the ceiling as he reluctantly acknowledged them again after the small, unpleasant exchange with Nott and Blaise. "Stop talking. All of you. I could hurt the girls further if you'd like."

Draco's jaw tensed at his words, his eyes opening to look at him hatefully, his heart rate speeding up again at his threat and he moved his eyes back to watch his wife silently as she lowered herself back down slowly to rest more comfortably against Daphne, laying her cheek on her chest.

She had become blurred as his vision unfocused as he struggled to keep himself still and in control while they waited for what came next for them, carefully trying to think again on how to get the two of them out and what spells he was capable of doing confidently without his wand. He could not worry about the others. His wife was his priority and the rest would have to figure it out on their own, he would not risk losing an opportunity to save his family by concerning himself with anyone else's fate.

Astoria suddenly jerked, startled by something on the ground before crying out in pain when her ankle roughly yanked against it's cuff, cutting into the skin of her ankle in its tightness. She cried out again immediately when she followed her natural reaction to curl in towards her ankle and disturbed the chain to her wrist, her cry cutting off into a helpless whimper.

"What is it now?" Their quiet captor demanded, caught off guard by the sudden noise that broke the silence.

"I don't believe there is any reason for her skin to be torn open when she is not attempting to escape," Edric said slowly, his tone odd and calm, almost persuasive as he watched the man intensely. "Do you?"

Was he attempting to risk using a form of Legilimency on him? In the vulnerable position that they were in?

"I would think it would be wise to not punish your prisoners for obeying, otherwise they may find no reason to obey any longer, don't you agree?" He went on, keeping a steady hold on the man's gaze as he looked back at him for a moment before breaking the eye contact, his expression falling back into its previous as he looked over at Astoria.

"As I've heard they are remarrying off the better picks, so yes I suppose Stockholm Syndrome would be the better route," the man said in reply, looking at Draco with a slight smugness in his dull expression before lifting his wand lazily towards Astoria.

Draco froze in anticipation of the magic sent towards his wife, watching as the man flicked his wand and moved his eyes away again, dropping his arm before the spell could barely reach her. Astoria's cuffs shifted once to a more appropriate level of tightness before they shifted once more so quickly that he almost missed the fact that they shifted twice, the magic intervened by another to heighten the spell and open the cuffs even wider, providing enough space for Astoria to slip out of all of them completely. Their magic may not have been cleared to have an effect on the locks to their chains, but interrupting another's spell was another matter.

He couldn't keep his reaction neutral as he looked around in alarm, noticing Edric examine her bindings without shock, a look of satisfaction and relief on his face.

Astoria carefully tucked her wrists slightly and shifted her body in a way that hid how much her cuffs had been loosened, favoring her wrists in relieved pain and shifting her ankle to hide it from their captor slightly, and Draco could fully see the damage inflicted by the unnecessary maliciousness of whichever captor that had chained her to the floor.

Fuck, he needed to be near her, needed to heal her. He couldn't handle seeing her perfect and undeserving skin marred in such a way.

He almost wished her brother hadn't released her like he did. It gave her no choice but to take the opportunity to escape in time before the other bastard came back or they were moved. If she were caught that way she would be tortured severely for it, likely separated from the rest of them as well, separated from him.

Absolutely not.

"Thank you, Marius," Astoria said, her voice small and innocent in her thanks, not so surprisingly knowing the man's name.

"Don't start," he replied dismissively.

"Are your sisters here?" She pressed on, watching him closely, her expression close to that of the one she used when she was trying to get what she wanted out of Draco, an expression and voice he never wished to hear her use towards another man, but he knew jealousy was not appropriate for their circumstances.

Was she attempting to give him a heart attack? The more she drew the man's intention onto her the more likely he was to spot the fact that she was free.

"I know minding your business is hard for you, but I'd advise it."

Astoria deflated slightly, though Draco could tell it wasn't genuine, and looked down at her sister's chest quietly for a few moments.

"When is your brother coming back? You said they were remarrying us. So you won't be killing us or framing us?"

Shut up, Astoria. For fuck's sake.

"Well they can't very well waste highly valuable pure-blood women can they? It is still intended to keep the family lines pure," he drawled out. "And as their access to the best had been taken from them; they stole their access back. And here you are."

He would soon cut his own eyes out before he allowed any man to take Astoria from him, just the idea of another man's name following Astoria's made his insides burn and the idea of her sharing another man's bed made his head spin. Not his witch, his perfect and delicate witch.

She was a Malfoy and she would die a Malfoy.

Aside from that, if these outcasts truly cared for the lasting of the pure-blood lines they would not eliminate some of the oldest and most well preserved names, which is what would happen were they to strip the men of their women and murder them.

"Well," she said, looking back to him as her voice grew even smaller while an odd edge was added to it. "I certainly wouldn't wish to end up with your brother, and it seems you two must have some level of authority in all of this as well as an older line so I would assume you two would be given women from 'the best'.. I also wouldn't like to end up with a stranger.."

Draco couldn't help the icy possessiveness that cut through his body as well as the way he was hurt by her words that held such implications, not to mention her tone of voice that was too heartbreakingly vulnerable to be shared with anyone who wasn't her husband. He kept his face from faltering at her words, knowing they held no meaning, knowing she was attempting to gain more favoring from him for their benefit.

But if they held meaning?

She was a surviver after all, and if she saw no way out of this, at least no way out of this with her husband remaining by her side, of course she would try and aim for the most ideal alternate ending for herself.

The alternate ending without him.

His doubts were quickly shut down when he felt her strong sweeping feelings of uneasiness and discomfort, causing him to feel guilty and ashamed for assuming that of her when she was being the bold one in trying to get them out of there when it was his job to do so, she was a survivor and she was doing what she could to help them survive. She was raised with traditional values, and she devoted herself to being a good wife, not to mention the fact that she was pregnant and wouldn't give up the father of her child with such little reluctance or without second thought.

"You say they as though you are not a part of them," she went on before the man could respond after recognizing the way his cold demeanor dropped slightly at her words, his guard towards her faltering and encouraging her to manipulate him with full force. "Are you not?"

Either the man's ego was in desperate need of a good stroke, or Astoria was just talented at making everyone bend to her will.

"I am."

"I think that you don't want to be," she said confidently, the persuasive edge to her tone thick now, similar to that of her brother's, and her voice seemed to almost hollow out. "You don't want to be, right?"

It was more of a commanding statement rather than a question, and Marius was returning her gaze now, looking slightly confused, confirming Draco's worries that she was using more than just her soft-spoken words on him.

"And weren't you close with the Ableworths? The Cranstons? More of your groups victims, no? You didn't want to do that to them. You didn't want to betray your real allies. Your half-brother doesn't understand the proper pure-blood way, just as it seems none of them do. You are heir, you could work to bring your family name back to where it was without destroying the pure-blood community's image as a whole and killing half of the oldest families. Your younger brother will only dig a deeper grave for your name with his actions, and what will become of your sisters in this mess? You don't want to be a part of this chaotic revenge that does nothing but wreck your real people and allies. You don't want this."

Astoria shifted slowly when he took a step back, his eyes locked onto hers as any expression of authority completely fell from his face and was replaced with a dazed look and she slipped out of her cuffs very slowly and quietly as she began to push herself up.

"They won't win, not ultimately. Which means you won't win, not when you remain on their side. They will throw the community into wreckage as they intend, the whole system of things thrown off temporarily, but in the end they will not achieve what they are hoping. They won't replace us, and they will never be able to pluck off all of us, and then it would have been worth nothing. You're on the wrong side. You do not return to good graces by turning to those who are in even worse status than you are for direction."

She stood carefully, cautiously, and Draco nearly threw up at the sight of her presenting herself for slaughter, the man currently under her little mind tricks or not. The moment he broke through the haze she would pay for them dearly.

And still he would only be able to watch.

"And when the rest of the community figures out what is going on, who is doing this, they will fight back, and your sisters will likely die in result of the repercussions from the community. If they don't they still will suffer from the fact that they will have to be married off to very low and cruel elderly men if they have any shot at marrying a man of pure blood. And then you will be a failure. A failure to your name, a failure to your family, a failure to your sisters," she said, her voice dropping in temperature as she slowly stepped towards him as he made no move to stop her or reach for his wand.

"A failure because you allowed this to happen. You, the eldest son, allowed your family to be dragged into a petty mess of vengeance due to your bitterness towards your family receiving consequences for not following the rules properly. No, my apologies, let me correct myself." Astoria stopped in front of him, her face now covered in something cruel and cold and Draco held back his choked and fearful protest as she was now within arm's length of the man, standing before him bloody and weak on top of being a small, wandless girl as the room watched in stunned silence, just as defenseless as she was.

"You are a failure," she told him clearly, harshly, cocking her head to the side a bit when he winced back slightly, still staring back intently at her, neither of them flinching at the loud banging on the door to the cell, shouts requesting if it were safe to return ignored. "And you don't deserve to be heir any longer, don't deserve anything from our world. You are a blood traitor in the worst sense of the word; preying on your own blood, purely magical blood. If you destroy the roots of magic then you don't deserve magic." She held out her hand, watching him coldly for several seconds before he finally moved, the rest of his face covered in deep shame while his eyes were frantic with alarm as he handed her his wand and she quickly stepped back once her fingers were curled around the wand, having dropped the intense focus from her face.

She seemed to struggle with pain for a moment as she cringed slightly, her eyebrows coming together before she composed herself and held up the wand warningly when he also began to compose himself after stumbling away from her when she dropped her hold on him. He was watching her resentfully but tiredly as well, as though he had accepted his loss.

"Tell him to come in," she told him, ignoring the quick and hissing objections from all of them as they were able to speak without punishment. "And that you have everything under control."

Draco watched miserably as Marius watched her for a moment before complying, Draco's heart sinking lower once more as Astoria did not look away from Marius, didn't prepare herself from the sick and unpredictable man entering the room, proving to him again that things could always get worse.

He had to rid himself his habit of underestimating his wife.

The man hadn't even stepped into visibility before Astoria quickly moved to viciously throw her arm in the direction of the entrance with the wand, the shadows that she threw her curse towards lighting up brightly in green as it struck him.

Astoria, innocent appearing Astoria, had just murdered a man. Quickly and without hesitation, as if it were so simple to her to take another's life in an instance.

"Please fucking tell me he's dead," Blaise said loudly, breaking the shocked silence at the young girl so suddenly murdering a man in front of them. "And please tell me you're going to get bitch boy over here to let me the fuck go."

"He's going to go and fetch our wands for us while I let you go," she murmured, watching Marius closely. "And then he may have his wand back in exchange."

"Are you mental?! You can't let him out of here!" Nott snapped at her in disbelief as Draco and Adrian came at her with their own vicious commands for her to not allow anything she had said.

She ignored them, holding her hand out for the keys to their restraints. "He won't cause us any problems or else I will snap his wand in two, whether he brings people back down to help him or not. If we are worth a broken wand then he is truly pathetic."

"Astoria obviously has more of an idea of what she is doing than all of you," Edric told them all, interrupting more protests. "Perhaps you should stop belittling her by insulting her choices." Despite Edric's confident words as he defended his sister, his face held a cautious concern for her as she waited for Marius to nod, his face hard with contempt as he left to comply after handing her the keys, stepping over his dead brother without stopping to look at him. "Tori, you need to sit down please," her brother told her, his voice dropping into a softer tone. "You held onto him for too long."

Astoria slowly and finally moved to release them, ignoring the angry criticisms in the disbelief at her allowing the man to leave despite Edric's words of defense, her face still carrying that distant and cold look as if her mind wasn't present with her actions. Draco took the wand she was holding out to him once she had walked over to him and released him. He watched her distant eyes cautiously before setting the wand down and wrapping his arms around her legs so she would collapse forward onto him, drawing her close to his chest. He impatiently pressed her into him, having a hard time not crushing her as he was desperate to feel every bit of her safe and alive against him, placing several kisses against the side of her head in relief as she buried her face in the side of his neck with a whimper of pain, shuddering with quiet weeping as she frantically looped her arms around his neck, holding him so firmly against her that he was surprised by her strength. He closed his eyes, savoring the sounds of her breathing and her quiet sobbing as well against his flesh, rubbing her back and appreciating how his hand felt running along the feminine curve of her spine, noting how cold she was and how the tip of her small nose felt frozen against his throat as she began kissing it.

"I'm sorry, Astoria." His voice broke slightly as he brushed his lips over the hair that was falling out from her undo to cover her ear while he spoke softly to her. "I'm so sorry I've let this happen to you."

She shook her head fiercely against his neck, hitching herself even higher in his lap with her legs, now straddling his stomach more than his waist, bewildering him once more at how the innocent and childlike girl was the same woman that had just murdered a man with impressive, dark skill and zero hesitation as if she had killed many times before. He glanced up for a moment to see the others slowly gathering themselves together, walking around the cell to check all of the corners. Adrian quickly crawled over to Daphne to scoop her gently into his arms , lifting her head up carefully to examine the back of it as he carefully moved her blood caked hair aside.

"I felt you get so jealous," she murmured sadly into his now wet skin. "I would never allow myself to be another's wife, never want-"

He shushed her gently kissing the side of her head again, feeling ashamed at his envious reaction towards her trickery to help them all survive.

"Don't apologize for anything. I can't handle it right now, not in my shame. If I lose you-" he cut off, swallowing thickly as his fingers curled into the fabric of her clothes at the small of her back. "I can't lose you. I won't lose you, Astoria. I love you."

He felt her still in his arms for a few moments before pulling back to look up at him, her puffy and reddened eyes colored with surprise and curiosity as her expression shifted into another strong emotion. His eyes zeroed in on her injured lip, frowning as she opened her mouth to speak as he ran his thumb over her lip, shaking his head.

"Don't say anything. Let me see your wrists," he ordered her, distracted from his confession of feelings by his recollections of all that had been done to her while he sat and watched. She didn't move for a few seconds, following his direction to not speak, before she moved forward to kiss him lightly as he felt the strong waves of affection from her and she touched her forehead against his for a moment before she loosened her arms, gravity bringing her back down properly in his lap as she showed him her bloodied wrists.

"I wish I hadn't killed him so kindly," she said simply before her eyebrows gathered together tightly as she squeezed her eyes shut, breathing her next words before clutching her forehead. "My head feels as though it's being torn apart."

Draco sighed and gently took her hands in his to pull them down to look at her damaged skin better, loathing the pain she was in and the fact that her head was hurting her because of what she had to do to in order to get them released from their chains, what she had to do due to what he hadn't done. He picked up the wand he had set beside him, readying her wrist to be healed.

"I would rather you use your own," she replied weakly, almost panting as her eyes remained closed as she handled the pains of her head. "I don't.. I want your wand to heal me. It would just feel more correct."

"You're hurt now," he told her. "And we will see if I ever get my wand. I would like to trust your judgement, but I can't believe you fucking did that, and I'm trying quite hard to remain calm while we wait and see if Marius follows your direction after you just murdered his apparent brother."

"Half-brother," she corrected quietly, her voice still giving away how much she was hurting, and Draco refrained from spending too much time on learning about the two men. "He will come back. He doesn't want to be here. If he did I wouldn't have been able to have control over him to that extent. I'm not as talented as my father, and it's not the same as the Imperius curse."

"Someone needs to be ready at the door with the wand when our friend returns," Blaise snapped loudly towards them, approaching them. "Give it to me. I would rather not be chained back up due to the fact you two are too distracted with your blubbering to each other."

"And why do you think yourself the most capable of protecting us, Blaise?" Nott drawled. "Don't recall seeing you duel very much. You are best at avoiding."

"I won't give it to you," Astoria told him. "If we have to escape quickly you would only help yourself and leave us defenseless, and I don't want you to snap his wand when he returns with ours in revenge. I have to stick to my word."

"And why the fuck would we have to escape so quickly, princess? Oh right, because you let-"

"Stop speaking to my wife like that," Draco told Blaise, narrowing his eyes. "She is the reason we have the ability to escape."

"What is it, Greengrass? The mudblood entertainment festivities start?" Draco turned when he heard Nott speaking dully to Astoria's brother, catching the way his incredibly pained and distraught face glazed over with disgusted fury. "Perhaps you will be lucky and they won't stretch her out too much, would hate-"

Draco heard Astoria's sharp intake of breath when Nott's offensive words were cut off by her brother's knuckles as the man punched him hard enough to knock him flat on his back, his nose unpleasantly spewing blood at the impact and Edric followed him as he fell, grabbing hold of the back of his neck with one hand as he lifted it about a foot from the ground.

"Again," he told him softly enough to where Draco could barely hear. "Talk about her again, and your skull will be split against the ground and you will never be able to open your worthless, classless mouth again. Do you understand, or would you prefer to test my threat? I'm sure nobody would mind the results should you choose to challenge me. Being separated from the pure-blood circle does not mean I have changed in what I'm morally fine with doing, and I'm certainly not above murder."

"Nott, please shut up," Daphne practically cried. "What is wrong with you? Let him go, Edric. He was tortured for me, we owe him now."

"I don't know about that," Astoria said without emotion. "I don't think he does anything for anyone else."

Edric dropped his hold on him at Daphne's direction, stepping back and away from him as he brushed the front of himself off, his eyes narrowed on Nott as he sat up after he was dropped, cursing as he spit blood out of his mouth and onto the floor, surprisingly not attempting to fight back. Perhaps it wasn't too surprising seeing as Greengrass was slightly taller and much more broad shouldered than Nott who was lankier than him. Nott was cocky and proud, but he wasn't an idiot when it came to combating with others, and he should be well aware that he'd be foolish to attempt to physically fight a man considerably larger than himself. Maybe when his wand was returned to him he would try again. Draco wasn't sure what was going on with Nott and his desire to get under everyone's skin, but he could tell that he was fully aware he was acting as a child, just as Draco could recognize he himself acting as a child when he was stubborn in something that upset him to the point of taking it too far, too prideful to stop as well as admit to himself that he was wrong.

It made him uncomfortable how Astoria was acting towards Nott, as it was only proving how hurt he must have made her in his recent treatment towards her for her to drop all warmth she had for him, not even phased by him being tortured or his life threatened. It wasn't only that she was shutting off her feelings for the sake of their marriage and to refrain from making Draco jealous, but she intentionally had been going out of her way to display her resentment towards him, as if a switch had been flipped.

She had been pushed too far, and her forgiveness had run out.

Draco's possessiveness aside, he hoped the piece of shit would get over himself and apologize to her and reassure her that his behavior was due to his own tantrum, not due to his true feelings towards her. He thoroughly loathed him, and the images of them together were forever burned into his brain as well as Astoria telling Nott that she loved him, but Draco also loved Astoria and didn't want her memories of one of her very few genuine friendships tarnished by her being under the impression that his feelings for her were never genuine based on the way he had been recently treating her like she was something he wished to dispose of.

"Fair enough," Nott grunted out, reaching behind him to shove himself off the ground.

"I disagree. I believe I haven't been fair whatsoever, fortunately for you."

---

"No, no," a cruel voice said and Ophelia looked upwards at the new approaching figure as she was watching the Death Eaters bind her silently, feeling the intense pressure behind her eyes as she watched them with pure loathing.

What cowardly, weak excuses for men they were, forcing them all into unconsciousness and chaining them up without facing them in a fair fight, taking their wands as well. Even with moving Ophelia into a room and out of what seemed like an attic with the rest of those she assumed were muggle-born like her, even with moving her to be in a new room by herself, there were still three man holding onto her. Pathetic.

A sense of familiarity at her surroundings nagged at her, not that she had been able to get a good look at her environment, but something told her she should know where she was. She knew where she was, but she couldn't know where she was, could she? She searched her memory in confusion, not finding anything to explain whatever was telling her she should recognize where she was being held captive.

"It doesn't need chains. I can handle the worthless thing."

It. Thing. Clever, very clever. He would have to try a bit harder than that.

She didn't move her defiant gaze from the man's predatory one as he dismissed them, the other men dropping the chains onto the floor beside her, causing her to tense slightly in anticipation for her husband's irritation at the unnecessary clanging of metal, but of course he wasn't beside her. Edric was not terribly hurt, she knew, but she also knew he was not alright either. Their bonds had been violently triggered in Edric's emotional pain and feelings of desperation, and that had come after the fact she had felt his first emotions of waking up without her, so something more had to have happened. It was her fault he was here, what the fuck was wrong with her? She knew better. She wasn't a child anymore for God's sake.

And yet she had those moments, those moments she hadn't had in quite a while, where she just felt compulsive and acted without thinking against her better judgement, her head hazed and her more sensible thoughts cut out, almost as if she were under a spell. She felt horribly guilty, forcing Edric into that situation. She didn't care anymore about Astoria's rant towards her, they were just words, and she didn't know Astoria. Her husband loved his sisters, and because of her he was left vulnerable to them after so long of hurting over them. She felt terrible for the girls as well, but Edric was her priority of care, and she couldn't help but feel a small amount of bitter resentment and protectiveness when one of the girls made a nasty comment or ignored him entirely. She understood why, but at the same time she didn't understand why. Looking at them as patients she could understand, but looking at them as Edric's wife she could only hurt and be frustrated with them.

"How does he stomach having you in his bed every night, between his washed sheets, how does he ever feel clean?" The man mused, circling her slowly as his eyes ran down her figure, bringing her out of her head where she attempted to avoid the fears of dying.

Panicking never helped any situation, at least not in her own experiences.

She didn't answer him, and suddenly her face was stinging like mad, her head snapping to the side as she was slapped full handed across her face and she lifted her own hand to the side that had been assaulted in more shock than anything, stumbling back a few steps. She had certainly never been hit by a man before, not that this man hitting her was anything surprising, but seeing as the social understanding had always been "Boys don't hit girls!" she couldn't help that her first reaction was bewilderment. She felt her face harden when he inclined his head in a reprimanding manner, clicking his tongue.

"Acting wounded already? Weak little creature, aren't you? I barely touched you, I slap my wife like that. You deserve much, much more. In fact, that's why I'm here."

The wizard was not anyone very savage looking, and he appeared to be in his fifties. He was not unkept, and his robes were of good quality. She could tell that when he was younger he was probably decently handsome. He looked as though he could be an average father, and didn't look at all like a man to dehumanize and torture a girl for sport.

"Perhaps it's because he can degrade you in the most disgusting of ways, in ways he could never feel it just to do to a real woman. Is that it, mudblood? Does it get your owner off to see you on the ground of his cellar covered in his piss where you belong? Right in your place? That's the only possible thing I could see myself doing with one of you, using you as a fuck toy after taking all of my frustrations from the day out on you and then grinding you into the filth of the dirt with my boot," he told her, his tone casual and light as if he were discussing something as tame as the weather. "Nothing feels quite as satisfying as beating the life out of the worthless garbage that has come to take all that is yours from you."

She watched him in slight wonder as well as her strong disgust, a strange sense of pity crossing her mind. It always confused her how such anger and irrational hatred came from such regular looking people, people that looked just like her, proving that they were in fact human beings spewing such vile things from their mouths. It wasn't shocking, as both the wizarding world and the muggle world had proven several times over that simple humans were capable of the most horrific and unexplainable things, but it was wonder where they managed to fit it all; that anger.

She cried out, instantly covering her face with her hands as she was knocked off of her feet at his blow, struck by the back of his hand instead of his palm, feeling the ghost of his hard and bony knuckles that had knocked into her nose and against her lip to split it against her teeth.

"I am confused as to why you believe you don't need to answer my questions."

She caught herself before her face smacked against the floorboards, staring at the dust covered wood dizzily as she recovered from the head rattling pain of the blow, watching the blood from her nose fall before she squeezed her eyes shut as the throbbing pain in several different places on her face surfaced completely. She pushed herself up, knowing full well she would probably end up back onto the ground soon enough, but she would avoid being kicked at for as long as she could manage.

"Perhaps you're right," she offered him in a monotone voice after swallowing the blood that had filled her mouth. "I was always confused myself, so I couldn't tell you why."

She braced herself to be hit again, but instead the man's eyes flashed with a cold humor before he strode forward and she immediately retreated backwards, glancing behind her to veer away from the wall she was about to hit only to have him lunge toward her and grab her arm, yanking her back and slamming her against the wall.

"Well, at least you were intelligent enough to think about not being cornered. Normally I would be up for an entertaining chase, but I don't have the patience for it at the moment I'm afraid," he told her, inclining his head to speak against the line of her jaw as he moved his mouth to talk into her ear, his hot breath blowing into it, causing her to cringe to the side in discomfort. Her shoulders stiffened when his hands began grabbing at her clothing, pulling her uniform robes apart greedily, his head bowed near the crook of her shoulder as he focused on his task and she grit her teeth hard as she forced her thoughts together. She would not start sobbing, she would not give that to him.

"Don't cry unless you want to get their dicks up."

She ignored her irritation that the only notes of advice she had been given over the years coming to mind were the words of Corwin Higgs of all people, focusing on her route out before her body reacted on its own accord. She couldn't fight yet, he would be ready for that, and obviously screaming would do nothing.

She jerked and choked on a panicked sob, fully yanked out of her calm and rational thinking when his hand pushed under her underwear and began savagely probing her flesh, forcing her into the earth shattering reality that what was happening to her was real and there was very little chance that she would not be raped, heinously and mercilessly. She sobbed for Edric in her mind, frantically bringing their bonds to attention as she completely dropped her attempts to try and not torture him with worry when he was unable to do anything.

Please, please. Don't let this happen, not this, anything but this.

She forced herself to freeze instead of thrash viciously against him as her instincts screamed at her to do, feigning acceptance. She was sure she wasn't the first for him to do this to, she was sure he knew the way women would go limp and check out during rape, and she needed him to believe she wasn't fighting. She forced herself to make her face go blank as her stomach rolled threateningly, jumping in pain at the rough intrusion of his fingers into her body with intent to hurt her. When she couldn't register what mocking and smug thing he muttered at her she realized she was truly slipping into acceptance and she quickly fought it, yanking herself back into attention as he released her hands that he had been painfully holding above her head, scraping her skin against the wall in the process. She dropped them to her sides, not making any move aside from that as she trembled slightly with adrenaline in her gain of hope as he appeared to believe that she wouldn't fight, busying his hands with his own clothing. She stopped herself from attempting to run then. There was nothing she could do to hurt him well enough to get away right at that moment, and she would ruin her opportunity if she tried anything then. She also risked her opportunity of being free of his grip by waiting, but she had to take that risk. She would have to allow him to take it further.

Ophelia held her breath when he crooned at her about being such a good girl and holding still for him, attempting to ignore the salacious words he was throwing at her, suggesting how she wanted it. She swallowed hard, choking on her anticipation when his touches stopped as he paused to move his clothes aside, the adrenaline pounding in her ears as she prepared herself to be her own savior.

They happened quickly, his actions meant to lead to his goal of unwanted penetration, and she nearly panicked to the point of being immobile at her lack of time to brace herself properly, to work up her nerve, and he was yanking her underwear down to the middle of her thighs.

A strangled, disgusted and despairing sound of protest ground out in the back of her throat when she felt his penis brush her thigh as he went to knock her feet further apart and hot, furious tears filled her eyes before she maneuvered her leg around his as his feet were not firmly set on the ground and violently drove her knee into his exposed groin with as much strength as she possibly could when she had complete access to it as his legs were parted. The strength of her assault was aided by her intense burst of adrenaline and the man crumpled over her in his cries, near screams, of pain and she moved to the side, slipping out from under his weight and grabbing hands before grasping onto his shoulders and neck, shoving him towards the wall, using her grip to add more force and intentionally drive his head into it. She dropped to her knees beside him at the sound of his head hitting the wall, quickly scrambling to push her hand into the tangle of his robes to yank his wand out, throwing herself back when he reached for her in his tortured fury and she kicked his arm away as she pulled her own out of his grip.

She began throwing every curse that came to mind at him with his wand, unable to help herself in her humiliation and revulsion, her vehement emotions overcoming the more sensible option to stun him and run due to the likely case that his sounds of pain had been noticed, though there were many cries of agony echoing throughout the halls so perhaps they wouldn't be acknowledged. Her mind grabbed onto the few dark spells she knew, mostly learned from Edric in his attempts to advise her that she needed to know them, advice that she usually argued with in her claim that she would rather defend herself in better ways.

Fucking rubbish.

No, she wanted him to suffer in the worst ways she could manage, her intentions purely vindictive as she wasn't concerned with survival at the moment, her only focus on completely tearing the soulless wizard apart even though she knew she wasn't accomplishing even a fraction of what someone who had knowledge and experience in dark magic, as well as a proper sadistic imagination, could do. Not to mention that half of the curses weren't successful in her foggy memory on how to go about using them. In a blur she watched his body contort, unsure of which curses were causing the different injuries and sweepings of magic around him as she finally ceased her relentless stream of attacks when she felt his warm and sticky blood hit her face, her breathing ragged before she grit out a constricting spell on his throat, her eyes unfocusing as she held it for what felt like several minutes. She dropped her hand that fisted the wand painfully hard to her side, still staring through the now lifeless man, unable to help her creeping horror at what she had done. Rapist or not, she had murdered this man, and not cleanly either. She was dripping with his blood, dirtied with his pure blood as well as other fluids he had soiled her with, her underwear still pulled down around the tops of her legs.

Move, run for God's sake.

With another choking cry from the back of her throat Ophelia pushed herself back by her heels as she shoved herself up and onto her feet, pressing her ear to the door to listen quickly if she could hear anyone near, though her head was pounding too loudly for her action to be very productive.

She slipped out of the room on impulse after unlocking it with the wand she had stolen, sprinting down the hall as soon as she jerked her head to look down both directions of the hall to see if it were clear. She quickly realized this was not a large mansion like Malfoy Manor, and with a horrified bewilderment she looked around wildly, realization of why she had found her surroundings so familiar dawning on her while she wasn't looking ahead and she smacked into a hard body, the arms of it catching her before dragging her forcefully into the closest room and she found herself in the hold of a real, original Death Eater as opposed to a copycat.