Unplanned Liars • Draco Malfoy

27. Imprisoned

And so the next morning I Apparated in front of the Malfoy Manor.

I barely stepped over the treshold and greeted Narcissa when Bellatrix appeared out of nowhere and dragged me to the so-called dining room.

"Let's see what old Snapey managed to teach you," she said and started sending spells at me. I barely had time to take out my wand.

After an hour, she seemed satisfied.

"Better than I thought, very well..." she hissed, thinking about something. "Now let's check your Occlumency skills."

I was quite confident about Occlumency, because Snape said I had managed to empty my mind. So I sat down, waiting for Bellatrix to try and penetrate my mind.

She was happy with that, too and let me go after thirty more minutes. This was when I finally managed to meet Draco.

"What did you tell them?" he asked as we sat down in his room.

"That I was going to Blaise's house. Blaise this, Blaise that, they think I like him and let's stick to it."

Draco sent me a surprised look.

"But it isn't the truth?"

This time I was taken aback. I raised my eyebrows as I eyed him curiously.

"Of course it isn't, you know it!"

He nodded halfheartedly and changed the subject. We were talking for hours, discussing what might happen now that Voldemort will take over. It was a very warm day and we spent the evening on the balcony. Once the sun was out of view, I decided to take a shower.

I felt the happiest in days and, giving Draco one last smile, exited his room and took off towards the bathroom. I barely unzipped my sweatshirt when I saw in the mirror that silvery and blueish something was hovering in the air right behind me. I turned abruptly in shock. It was a ball of light which suddenly became bigger, leaving blueish rays of light all over the room. It transformed into a peacock.

My heart skipped a beat. My father's Patronus was a peacock. But Patronuses can repeat, can't they? It was just a coincidence that this one was exactly like my father's...

And the Patronus spoke.

"We know where you are. We're taking you straight back home."

It was all it said, then disappeared. I didn't need repeating twice. I burst out of the bathroom and darted towards Draco's room which I stormed into.

"Draco, they know. My parents - they know," I panted.

He didn't need repeating either. He understood.

The worst thing was that Narcissa had no idea that my parents didn't know about me being close with Draco, staying at their house, and that they feared and avoided the Malfoys to the extreme now.

Draco looked down, then closed his eyes out of frustration.

And then came this one, horrific moment.

"Aurora! Come down here, your parents came!"

Draco and I exchanged frightened looks.

"They can't take you by force, can they?" he said, gulping. I said nothing. I didn't move as Narcissa called me again.

"Don't come with me," I told Draco quickly. "It'll only make it worse if they see you," I turned towards the staircase.

"But what now?" he grabbed my wrist.

"I... I don't know," I said as Narcissa called me for the third time and I had to run downstairs.

Both my parents were standing in the door, pretending to be smiling, but I could already see the fury in my Father's eyes. They told Narcissa it was an urgent situation and that I had to go with them, and it would look very odd for her if I refused. My Father summoned my trunk at once and told me to grab his arm. We Disapparated into my room before I could register it.

I wonder how they found out. Knowing them, they visited Blaise's house on purpose to check me... And they know his mother, so she must have been surprised... And Blaise must have told them...

This might have been the last time I saw Draco.

My Father was hovering over me with flared nostrils.

"Go out," he said to my Mother and she closed the door, looking at me with concern. He turned to me.

"How could you... How could you even talk to him after all what happened? His father being in Azkaban wasn't enough?!"

I knew my Father was beyond himself, but it wasn't like I wasn't going to argue.

"It wasn't Draco's fault he landed here!"

"YOU LIVED UNDER THEIR ROOF! YOU KNEW WHAT I HAD TOLD YOU ABOUT IT!"

I've never heard him being this angry.

"They cared for me more than you do! Draco isn't a monster!"

But I could shout all I wanted.

"YOU EVEN DARED LIE TO US!"

Oh, then was I supposed to come home and say, "Hello, I helped to get Death Eaters into the school and I'm in love with Draco Malfoy, you know, the one you tried to set me up with but then you began to hate him"?

Wonder what they would have said.

"I'd only be grounded faster, happy?" I crossed my arms.

"DO NOT TALK BACK!" he shouted the loudest of them all. He was standing there, breathing heavily and I was almost ready to take out my wand. But what he said later threw me off my feet.

"You won't be able to get out of this room from now on. No wand."

Now that was scandalising.

"You can't take my wand!"

"Yes, I can! And I can take your owl, too!" and before I noticed, he summoned my wand and the cage.

"I'm already seventeen, you can't take my things!" I shouted at the top of my voice.

"I can as long as you live here! You aren't going back to school!"

He was red in the face and I knew he meant it. But this was just ridiculous.

"How come I am not going back to school?!"

"BECAUSE I SAID THIS! THAT'S MY FINAL WORD!" he burst out again. "Two in one. Punishment and protection."

"Parent of the year award!" I raised my hands in mocking celebration. "I can move out, then! I do not need to live here!"

But he didn't say anything as he slammed the door behind him.

I felt tears gathering in my eyes. Now this was trouble.
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Happy Easter!