captive | d.m.

chapter 6

-unedited-

...................

-Terra-

I sat on the floor staring at the Diadem in its enclosed case. Mercutio hovered over and planted himself next to me.

"Why is it here?" I asked.

"Yeah, that's not mine. He brought it in around the same time you arrived."

A sudden thought occurred to me. "Can you reach it?" I tilted my head to gaze curiously at Mercutio. He lifted a brow in thought.

"I can float through the walls and ceilings. A glass case with enchantments? Let's give it a try." He floated over to the case, staring for a few moments before sticking his hand straight through the case. A crooked smile adorned his face as his fingers brushed the Diadem. "Well what do you know?" he grinned but then his smile drooped as his fingers moved through the crown. "Pity." He retracted his hand and floated back over to me. I studied the crown with intensity.

"Nagini wouldn't say what it was for."

"You're a parseltongue?" Mercutio asked incredulously.

"I'm Voldemort's heir, are you really surprised?" I snorted.

"I guess not." Mercutio shrugged his shoulders.

"You seem awfully...ecstatic sometimes for recently being murdered by a man who has claimed your home."

"I have nothing to live for anymore." Mercutio shrugged. "If I've got nothing to live for, I don't believe I should be sulking all day over my own murder. It's irreversible." He peered down at me with a soft smile. "But you? You're young and strong. You have to live, for your baby. My wife and I were never able to have children. It's a blessing, really."

"At my age, though?" I asked. "I'm 17 and unfit to be a mother. My body itself will be struggling, as it already does, says Umbridge."

"As much as you throw your negativity at me, I will only return it with my optimism for you." He pressed his lips together in a firm smile. I studied him for a moment. His appearance was silvery white so I did my best to predict his hair color, and eye color, and the tone of his robes. The wedding band on his ring finger glinted at me.

"I'm glad I have you," I said finally. Mercutio floated back over to me and sat down cross-legged.

"I, too, am pleased to not be entirely alone in this castle." Suddenly his eyes widened. "Someone's coming." With a flash he disappeared under the floor and Nagini apparated into view. She slithered towards me, this time not flashing her fangs.

"Come to have lunch?" I asked while forcing a smirk to my lips. Nagini didn't say anything. She only circled her way around me, stopped at the Diadem, then circled again. And then she disappeared.

I let a strangled gasp escape my lips, releasing the breath I was holding in. Mercutio's head popped up from the floor.

"Let's begin you wandless magic."

We started small. Practicing to levitate the small spoon from my soup bowls or casting a lumos. It was difficult. I was frail and weak, the pregnancy made me want to sleep all day. Though due to Mercutio's urges, I had started eating better. The color returned to my face, and I didn't see black spots whenever I sat up quickly. Only because I had been falling asleep on time.

On the fourth day, I managed to levitate the spoon. It took all my focus and concentration to fight against the dark magic in the room, but I managed to let the spoon hover without so much as a falter. Mercutio cheered and clapped, urging me to get excited with him.