Serpents.

twenty-two

I'm not sure how long i've been here...i know days have passed but I can't say how many, i lost count after fifteen.

it's a scary thought...time. it passes so swiftly but so slowly. it's impossible for time to be slow and fast at the same time...right?

i can't help but wonder what Draco is doing right now, i wondered if he stopped looking after the first week...thinking i was dead. i wondered if he's just glad he and river made it out alive. i know he has to wonder why they just wanted me, if they only wanted me why did they take us all...they think the others know about me, they don't.

i should've turned myself in a long time ago...maybe everyone else would've carried on a lot easier if i would've just ripped it off like a bandage.

"hey! princess...got a problem?"

i was brought back to reality, looking down at my hands chained together and my ankles tied to the chair.

"Estella...why did you refuse for so long? you know you belong here, why didn't you just save your friends a heart break and stay with me?" the dark lord tucked a strand of hair behind my ear, unchaining me with the flick of his wand.

"i don't know" i whispered

"we'll you're here now...that's all that matters" he sighed

"your mother would've been disappointed in you" he sat down on the other end of the table.

my mother was Martha Clarke, she married Tom Riddle when i was three. by the time i reached five he had poisoned her...no one believed me, after all i was a five year old accusing her lover of murder. as i got older i fought against him and ran away a few times. once i turned eleven he forced me to attend Hogwarts and uncover many secrets hidden within.

i became friends with the serpents who were the children of many death eaters, he wanted me to recruit and build an army from the inside. i tried. but something changed third year, Voldemort knew that, which is why he captured us all...this lead to the  "memories" and "dreams". there's one person who can see them too, draco. i still haven't figured out why.

Voldemort tried to make us all forget, erasing our memories and replacing them with fake ones. i'm still not sure what happened to the full extent but i can be certain to find out...that's why i've turned myself in.

"cut the bullshit...you're going to tell me what's going on" i spat

"i should kill you right now" he scoffed

"you can't...." i smirked

"and why's that?"

"if you COULD kill me, you would've already. you need me alive...for something. so either you'll listen to me bitch the whole time you keep me locked up in this shithole...or you can answer some questions...your choice"

his smirked dropped and he cleared his throat.

"and what questions would that be?"

"i want to know why you erased my memories of third year...as well as my friends"

"i didn't.." he sneered

i slowly grabbed my table knife and held it to my throat

"what are you doing!" he raised from the table

"answer the question!"

he drew in a few deep breaths and calmly sat back down.

"there's an object i'm searching for, something your mother stole from me...it's powerful, enough to make me reign power once more"

"what's that have to do with me?"

"when you were thirteen...you figured it out i'm not sure how you found the object but you and your friends found it. i had to do something, you would've made sure i never found it."

"so you erased our memories? for that?" i spat

"not exactly...we locked you all up in rooms , hoping it would drive you crazy until you decided to finally tell me! it didn't work, you escaped...you almost killed yourself even. i had to take matters in my own hands and erase it from all of your minds so i had time to find it" he continued

"did you?"

"no...that's why i needed you all to return, i was hoping you would remember and i would force it out of you under my own circumstances." he sneered

"and how would i know what it is?"

"you've gotten back some memories...correct?"

"yes"

"it's in one of them..it has to be"

he was right, i had to have seen it somehow.

"may i be excused?" i stood from the table

"we haven't ate dinner Estella"

"i'm tired...and i'm not hungry"

"take her to her room" he ordered the same large man that brought me everywhere

the man grabbed my arm and drug me down the hall and threw me into my room.

***
Narrator's pov:

Days turned to weeks, the serpents have spent the entirety searching for any signs or reasonings to estella's disappearance. was she part of it the whole time? what was she hiding from them? why didn't she tell them if she was in trouble?

"find anything?" milo plopped down on the couch by emerson

"no." emerson said blankly, it's became a habit..saying no, she's been saying it for weeks now.

"have you tried asking around?" Blaise sat by draco

he shook his head, unable to form a coherent sentence since she's left.

"what about the dreams?" pansy suggested

"yeah, bub...have you tried the dreams again...that could help" river continued

"i haven't been able to have them...it's like...they've disappeared since she's been gone"

"just keep trying, they've helped before and they can help again." Emerson encouraged him

he let out a sigh, stood from the couch and went to his dorm. he laid down on his bed, unsure how he'd be able to dream when he can't even sleep...but he'd try...if he knew it would bring her back, he'd try anything.