Lumos

48 | Cruciatus Curse

"Malfoy please, if you open those doors I will cut out your lungs and feed them to you," I said, but it was more of a pleading request then a threat.

There was another boom! The house jerked, and the floor shook.

"Do you think they have them?" I asked.

We were both sitting side by side on the floor of the small closet, backs pressed against the wall.

"I don't know, but what I do know is hat I look like a bleeding coward sitting in here with you. How am I going to explain myself?" he asked through gritted teeth.

"We can disapparate out when it all clears up a bit."

He didn't seemed too pleased with the idea, but kept his mouth shut anyway.

"Steele," he whispered after a few minutes.

"Yeah?"

"You're cutting off the blood circulation in my hand."

I looked down, realizing I'd been holding his hand in a death grip. Feeling my face redden I pulled my hand away but he caught it, pulling it down. I raised an eyebrow in question and he rolled his eyes.

"I need a stress ball, but your hand can make-do." Malfoy intertwined his fingers in mine and for a whole minute, I held my breath in shock.

"That was very much a . . . a back-handed compliment," I managed to choke out.

He opened his mouth to respond, a sense of amusement in his silver eyes, but suddenly the doors were thrown open. We scrambled away from each other and I held up my arm to protect my eyes from the sudden burst of light.

"Oh for the love of . . . Get out of there!" a familiar feminine voice said. "What are you, children?"

"Pansy?" Malfoy said, looking up through squinted eyes.

"Of course is me. Now get your arses out of here before anyone spots you." She grabbed me by the front of my shirt, pulling me to my feet. Malfoy got up himself. "Now," she said, reaching out to run her fingers through Malfoy's hair, mussing it up, "act as if you've been fighting the whole time, preventing one of those three idiots from getting away."

"Have they gotten away?" I asked, and she reached down into a flower pot, dirtying up her hand. Then, she proceeded to wipe my face with it. I gasped in fury, and she smirked.

"There, now you look like you were actually doing your job rather than hiding in a closet. And yes, those fools have gotten away again. But, they're being tracked carefully."

I glanced up at Malfoy, who snickered. "Dirt is a good look on you."

Before I could react, Pansy had already reached down, grabbed a handful of dirt from the potted plant, and smushed it onto his face.

"You better get home," she scowled, "they're all waiting for you two." When she marched away I smirked at him.

"Dirt is a good look on you," I mocked, and his scowl deepened.

⚡⚡⚡

"Just remember," Malfoy said after he'd cleaned off his face, "you said the signal a couple minutes later because you thought it was a better time."

"They still managed to escape."

"That's not your fault, that's the fault of the Death Eater's whose job it was to find him. Make sure you mention Potter's wand was broken and he was in his weakest state to build your case."

I nodded as we entered the manor, making our way to the dining room.

"You first," he said, urging me forward.