To Thwart The Darkness {Book 3}

Fight or Flight

Exams exams exams. Sick sick sick. Stress stress stress. 

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Malfoy Manor

He followed Bellatrix around the Manor, like she'd instructed. In the past couple of days, she had insisted she stay where she could see him. It was good, because in these past couple of days, he hadn't felt any of the guilt that had come with telling Voldemort about his friends. There was nothing. No guilt, no shame, no anxiety.

Just bliss for the past couple of days. Like there was nothing wrong.

Bellatrix had dressed him in something more fitting for the Manor - a black suit, very similar to Draco's. She had said that the grime and dirt was distracting. And she had even said that this was the proper attire for an honorary Death Eater.

There was a crack from outside followed by shrieking and laughter. The Snatcher's had returned.

"Oy! Bellatrix!" Scabior called as he ran through the Manor, "look who we found!"

Narcissa whisked the dining table away with all the chairs. Draco retreated up the stairs. Bellatrix scowled and stood beside the fireplace.

The Snatchers ran in, dragging four teenagers behind them. One had red hair. One had brown curls that stuck out of her braid. One had a very swollen face. And the other... the other had blonde hair and a scowl that disappeared the second she laid eyes on him.

"Percy!"

He remembered that voice, as if it were calling him from a distance shore. But he stood still, his hands behind his back, next to the fireplace as Bellatrix stalked over to the newcomers. Scabior moved the fringe off the ugly-guy's face, revealing a scar.

"Draco!" Bellatrix called. 

"Percy—" the voice cried out in pain. He knew that voice. He remembered it. By all the gods, he new who that voice belonged too. The name was on the tip of his tongue, the memory at the back of his mind through all the darkness and fog.

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Annabeth wrestled against the snatcher holding her. But he had a grip on her hair. Percy was in front of her, right there, but he wasn't looking at her. He wasn't acknowledging her. What had they done to him?

"Draco!" Bellatrix shrieked again. Quick footsteps hurried down the stairs and Draco appeared in the doorway.

"What?"

"Is this Harry Potter?" Bellatrix asked, and the Snatcher shoved Harry forward. The spell Hermione had cast had been smart, and Annabeth was thankful for magic in that instance. It looked like his face had been stung by twenty bees.

Draco took one look at Harry and Annabeth knew he recognised him. She waited for him to say something, to put an end to the ruse. But Draco looked calmly back at his aunt, not a sign of the previous recognition in his eyes.

"I don't—"

"Careful, Draco," Lucius hissed, striding over and taking his son by the neck. "If this is who we think it is... and we are the ones to hand him over to the Dark Lord..."

Draco's hands shook and he quickly stuffed them into his pockets, looking at Harry again.

Bellatrix left Draco to decide and walked over to the Snatcher holding Hermione and Ron. Her eyes fell on the Snatcher holding the sword of Gryffindor.

"Where did you get that?" She demanded.

Annabeth's eyes found Percy's. He blinked at her and the ghost of a smile played on his lips. He even risked a quick wink.