captive | d.m.

chapter 5

-Draco-

There were more Order members now. Some were people who had managed to leave Hogwarts before getting captured. Others were people I didn't recognize. Friends and family of the captives. Few of them paid me sour looks as I sat in the back and silently observed.

I didn't care. I didn't care how any of them looked at me. My mind was simply trained on this girl I had no memory of. Everything Aunt Dromeda told me that she knew had stuck in my head for the past week now. She was a Slytherin, originally placed in Hufflepuff before she lost her memory. Yes, Dromeda had told me the entire story of Terra's miserable run-in with amnesia. Apart of it made absolutely no sense to me.

A few days ago I had discovered a quill in my bag. It didn't seem all too special at first until I turned it over and found some engravings in the side of it.

Keep this Safe & Sound

I showed it to Dromeda who seemed just as confused as me.

"I don't remember receiving it," I had said. "Do you think it was hers?"

"No." Andromeda shook her head. "No, all her belongings disappeared remember? This quill is yours, Draco."

"If I don't remember it...she must have given it to me." I stared at the quill, observing the engravings. Did the words have some sort of hidden meaning? I didn't get it. It didn't make sense. I toyed with it aimlessly. Testing out the ink then quickly realizing the quill itself never ran out of ink, running my fingers over the words as if something were to happen. This was the first piece of actual evidence that made me realize that maybe I had in fact, not been alone in the first place.

But what did it matter? Because we had no idea where the Dark Lord was keeping her.

And so I listened to the plans of the Order, wishing nothing but to vanish in thin air. I hated this war, I hated feeling conflicted, I hated that I didn't loathe these people anymore. Though I did my absolute best to steer clear of Potter and the Weasley clan. Granger wasn't an issue, she stayed away from me on her own.

Potterwatch was disabled since we had all piled ourselves at Grimmauld Place for Order meetings. The newspapers told us about the Hogwarts captives and the threats from the Dark Lord. We were losing, we were losing this war. Potter still had the stupid Horcrux, and we had no clue where the next one could be. He complained about his scar, but could never give us an indication of where the Dark Lord was keeping his Horcruxes.

I wanted to curl into a ball and just sleep forever. I missed my mother and the whisper of her voice whenever she lovingly said my name. I wanted to save her, take her away from the horrors of being in the presence of Voldemort. But I knew, I simply knew I couldn't do it alone. It was almost impossible now that Malfoy Manor was infested with Death Eaters.

The only thing that kept me on my feet was knowing that Zabini, Nott, and Parkinson were in that castle, sitting somewhere as prisoners. Nott's father was a Death Eater and yet Theo was there, under Death Eater control.

Nevertheless, I grew up with the lot. They were my friends before I left Hogwarts. They didn't deserve to die in it. So I kept at it. I made little interaction with the others but simply shadowed Remus whenever they gathered to repeat their plans.

"It's been a week," said Shacklebolt. "Who knows how starved they are or tortured? We must make our move."

"I agree," said the Arthur Weasley. "I'm going to get my daughter out of there."

"They're smarter than we think." Lupin sighed as he stared over the strategies they had come up with. "I fear that we'll be walking into some sort of trap."