Aurora | Harry Potter

chapter seventy-two

"Bring her here!"

I struggle to keep my eyes open as I feel absolutely exhausted, but when I'm sharply dropped from Scabior's grip and my body slams against the wooden floor, the sudden pain causes my eyes to snap open slightly. 

I see Bellatrix confronting a goblin that I think I recognise from Gringotts, shouting at him about the Sword and how it is now not in her personal vault, with the goblin claiming that he's uncertain about how the Sword was found. 

"LIAR!" Bellatrix shouts as she slices the goblin's cheek and pushes him aside, adding that he should consider himself lucky. As she turns around to face me, I see a single, twisted hair fall onto the sleeve of my jacket; one of Bellatrix's hairs.

"The same won't be said for this one," Bellatrix murmurs, glaring at me with her pointed and devilish eyes. She slowly kneels down in front of me and grabs my face, squeezing my cheeks tightly with her sharp, claw-like nails. "Scabior had his fun with you, but I'm not finished having my fun with you yet," she growls, withdrawing the now blood-stained dagger and leans closer towards my face, the blade scratching against my cheek.

Suddenly, her head snaps around and I hear a series of spells being fired, large cracks and snaps popping continuously. I try to turn my head but Bellatrix again pulls me up angrily and roughly by my hair, pulling my head up and holding the dagger against my throat, the blade slightly cutting into my skin. 

 "STOP! DROP YOUR WANDS!" Bellatrix announces, both of us now standing on our feet. The cracks and snaps stop almost immediately and after the witch demands they drop their wands one more time, I hear a couple of wands clatter against the floor and someone scrambles to collect them. 

"Well well well, look what we have here," Bellatrix marvels, pressing the blade harder against my throat, causing my breath to hitch and more tears to fall from my eyes, "it's Harry Potter! He's all bright and shiny and new, just in time for the Dark Lord," she continues as she holds my head up painfully, my neck starting to cramp.

Bellatrix then demands for someone to call Voldemort through the Dark Mark and out of the corner of my eye, I make eye contact with Draco, whose eyes are red and puffy. As I look at him, his face falls, he looks to the floor and moves backwards, refusing to obey Bellatrix. 

My head gets pulled back even further, so now all I see is the ceiling and the large chandelier hung from it with... a very familiar looking house elf on top of it, who seems to be unscrewing something. 

Dobby.

I feel Bellatrix's head move up at the source of a squeaking noise and just as the chandelier falls, she pushes me away and my body falls against the hard wooden floor again. Just before the chandelier crashes, I feel two pairs of gentle and kind hands pull me away from the chandelier's reach. When I turn my head to either side, I'm greeted with the faces of Ron and Hermione, who each give me a brief, sorrow filled smile. 

Harry manages to retrieve the wands that Draco is holding onto and when he retreats back to the rest of the group, the goblin and Dobby are standing with us too. "Stupid elf!" Bellatrix cries aloud, "you could've killed me!" I hear Dobby scoff ever so slightly and delivers a sarcastic comment that his intentions were only to injure, before he disarms Draco's mother after she raises her wand to fire a spell.

"How dare you take a witch's wand! HOW DARE you defy your masters!" Bellatrix shouts, her anger levels now through the roof. My vision starts to get foggy and I feel myself starting to black out, as my body starts to grow weaker and weaker. The last thing I see is a dagger flying towards the group before I pass out.

-

My eyes slowly flutter open and I realise that I'm tucked into a bed, underneath a warm, thick duvet and my head is resting on a pair of comfortable, fluffy pillows. As I look around me, I realise that I'm in a fully decorated bedroom, with various picture frames hung on the walls and shelves decorated with several plants.

I hear a door open and when I turn around, I see... Fleur walk inside, carrying a tray that she sets down on a nearby table. "Fleur?" I ask in a hushed, almost croaky voice as I try to push myself up, my arm is quite sore and feels like it's burning ever so slightly. As I sit up and lean against the bed's backboard, Fleur sits down beside me and before she says anything, she pulls me close to her chest and presses a very light kiss to my forehead.

"Hi darling," she says, her tone coming across as kind and motherly, which instantly makes me relax as I didn't realise how tense I still was. "You're safe now, you're here at Shell Cottage. Me and Bill live here, so you're in good hands," she explains with a sweet smile, taking my hands in hers. 

I smile back at her, before I feel myself wince in pain. "How long has it been since we arrived?" I ask, wondering how long I've been asleep for. "You arrived really early this morning, it's nearly six in the evening," she answers, her response taking my breath away slightly. That's quite a while to be asleep for after falling unconscious, so I hope that the others haven't been worrying all this time.  

"How is everyone else doing?" I also ask, to which Fleur sighs slightly and pats my hands, confusing me slightly. "I'll let them tell you," she replies as she stands up and opens the door again. I watch her walk out, then I hear a few whispers before I hear a series of footsteps and I see Harry, Ron and Hermione walk into the room.

As soon as they see I'm awake, the worried looks on all their face disappear and they are replaced with relieved eyes, relaxed body language and their familiar, lovely smiles. "Hey guys," I whisper, smiling at my friends.