Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
────── 〔✿〕──────
xl. FORTY
THE MUDBLOOD HUNT
────── 〔✿〕──────
THE MINISTRY BELONGED TO THE DARK LORD. And to now have Death Eaters who were also serial killers, mass murderers or generally just supporters of the most cruel wizard to exist, wandering the streets freely, was something that worried the general population. Fear latched itself onto walls, houses and people. The smell of it was so intense, that regular citizens of towns had locked themselves inside, not daring to put themselves at a vulnerable point.
Atlanta Rowle was someone who found the entire thing quite amusing. Yet laughing at the witches and wizards that ran in the opposite direction to her, sheltering their children as they left, seemed to annoy the other Death Eaters largely. She was then told rather sharply to watch over a Muggle town, which filled her completely with pure rage. Dragging Melora along with her, the pair walked aimlessly down a cobbled road.
"Hey, I've been meaning to ask you something," Atlanta said when nothing interesting had happened for a solid half an hour, and their conversation had been quite limited. Melora gave her an odd look. Conversations that started like this never ended well. Atlanta offered a smile, but it was obviously forced. "I heard about your little disappearance over the summer of last year. I just wanted to ask what happened to you; no one ever told me."
She coughed. Yeah, great. How do you get out of this? Melora, at this point, was more than aware that Bellatrix had kept her little secret to herself, so of course Atlanta was oblivious to the truth. Yet, he didn't know whether she could trust the girl enough to tell her what the truth was.
She cleared her throat again. "I'm going to be honest, I can't remember much of it at all, Atlanta," she said quickly. Even if her answer hadn't been completely believable, it was more so than staying silent. Plus, it gave more time to think of an expansion, to help build on her story. "Most of it was just darkness. I have a feeling I was being cursed or something, so that I couldn't remember."
"What do you mean?" Atlanta asked, intrigued.
"As though someone were using the Memory charm on me all the time, and giving me potions to sleep," Melora explained, trying her best to look confident with her story. "And then, all of a sudden, it just stopped. I could wake up and not need to go straight back to sleep. No one was around. It wasn't protected from Apparition, so I just tried to come back. I have a feeling someone was doing it to get what they wanted. Maybe they needed something from my family, knowing what the Malfoys are like."
"Don't you remember anything at all?" the other girl pressed on hopefully. Melora debated making something up, but then again, she'd said the Memory charm had been used, so it would be pointless.
