ᴅɪsᴘᴇʟ ᴍʏ ʙᴏʀᴇᴅᴏᴍ | ᴍᴀʀᴀᴅᴇᴜʀs' ᴇʀᴀ

Chapter 60. Family reunion

There were five of them, and Beata was alone.

She lasted ten minutes, which was, from her point of view, an unprecedented success, and if Gwendolyn was alive, she would've even said something less contemptuous about her magic abilities. But they still overpowered her.

Her magical field cracked at the seams, the tension was high, and Beata felt herself burning. Before dropping her wand into bloody snow, she passed out.

When Beata woke up, finding herself in a melted dirty mess with a broken leg and a bulging rib, she was alive. Scratched magic wand was lying nearby, and it was already beginning to dawn.

Werewolves didn't touch her. Their goal was to immobilize the dangerous witch so she wouldn't find Emily, and Sprinkles suspected that Malfoy had a finger in the pie. He couldn't help but assume that she would find out about the Hunt and put two and two together. But if he saved Sprinkles' life in memory of the former friendship, then the Marauders could've been unlucky much more. It's unlikely that Lucius would've spared his main enemies; he was never sentimental.

Beata tried to rise on her elbows, and her rib moved sideways. She howled like a wolf from a nightmarish pain and collapsed back into the snow. All that left for her was to look up at the illuminated sky. Dawn spread across the sky with yellow and pink stripes. Soon the sun will rise, and the forest, disfigured by a battle, will appear in all its glory.

Beata closed her eyes. Someone was there, and it's better for her to play dead before she becomes one.

"No need, daughter," the voice that Beata hated murmured.

She opened her eyes, turned her head, trying to make out the guest, and they came closer to her, squatting down.

"I'll heal this," the person whispered, running the hand over her wounds.

Beata snarled, trying to dodge, and again howled in pain. The pain became so acute as if someone was twisting a needle inside her heart, but then it began to subside, and after a few minutes, Beata found a new skin in the place where her rib stuck out.

"What the fuck?!" she jumped up, almost slipped and moved further away, adopting the attitude of a boxer ready to fight.

"Daughter─"

"Say it again, and I'll fill your sockets with your own teeth, asshole!"

Her father was old, but he remained the same - long-haired, dirty, with a terrible longing in his eyes. Fur skin, thrown over his naked body, made him look like a savage man.

"I asked the Lord for a respite for you. They told me you'll be here. I wanted to talk, to convince you─"

"I need nothing from you!"

"Just listen!" he was almost crying. There was not a tear in his eyes, but his voice was shaking, and this made her heart ache. "He will stop at nothing! I don't ask you to follow his ideals, just pretend, just─"

"Cave?"

The werewolf sighed. "Your mother has chosen the wrong path. I can't convince her anymore. But you─"

Beata raised her wand from the ground, threw the first spell that came to mind with savage fury and dashed off.

She rushed forward, not believing that she could outrun her pursuers, and the old fear revived in her. It made no sense to be afraid of werewolves in daylight, but were these werewolves, the sons of Greyback, unable to turn even under the sun?

Her father stood, clenching his fists, and looked at the branches still swaying after Beata.

"Sorry, daughter, but that's settled," he whispered, and made an indistinct gesture with his hand.