THE FURIES ▸ Draco Malfoy

Chapter Thirty-Six: DEIMOS

◤ ❝You've only ever sought out half the truth. What happens when the rest of it is revealed to you? Then what will you do?❞ ― Celicia Erebus  ◢

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CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX:  DEIMOS

July 14, 1996

             Andromeda Erebus stood silently in the Malfoy Manor, brown eyes empty and composed as she watched the scene in front of her. Her hands were in fists at her side, one of them clutching onto her wand defensively, ready for any attempt the woman in front of her may make to end her life if she felt like it. Bellatrix Lestrange didn't like her, that much was obvious by the meeting only a week ago, where the marks from her nails still cut deep into Andromeda's thighs. Even now, with only three people in the room, she could still tell that Bellatrix was considering murdering her right then and there. The only thing preventing that from happening was their Lord's purpose for her and Draco Malfoy that school year at Hogwarts.

Speaking of the grey-eyed boy, he stood on the opposite side of the room, his body tense and prepared for the next blow that would come from his aunt. In a flash of color and an unforgivable word, Andromeda flinched when she heard Draco cry out in agony. Her and Draco were not close friends, and in no degree would she consider him someone she cared much about, but the sight of someone withering in pain that she knew―that would be her partner in these missions, that she grew up with―sickened her to the core. Perhaps it was simply because she knew that she was next. Whatever Bellatrix dealt to her nephew would be intensified the moment Andromeda was in front of her instead. The Cruciatus Curse needed hatred, ill-will, in one's heart to proceed. Bellatrix had enough of that for Andromeda's family.

"En...enough!" Draco cried out, his body curling on the ground, and Andromeda's jaw tightened as she watched it happen, diverting her eyes to the portrait of the Malfoy family off to the side. "Please! Enough!"

Bellatrix must have felt generous that day because she let up on her nephew with a sigh and tut of her tongue, walking around his body as he struggled to regain his labored breaths. Andromeda's heart was racing in her ears, the grooves of her wand reminding her that it was there, especially when Bella looked up from her silent reprimanding of Draco to Andromeda―and a manic grin twisted on the tips of her mouth, her wand waving around near her face as she strutted in an intoxicated-manor toward Andromeda.

"Onto the next, then, shall we? Did Daddy teach you about these Curses before he was killed by one of them?" Bella taunted, giggling to herself at the joke, her eyes twinkling on Andromeda. "Traitor, that man was. My Lord deserved better than his treachery. He deserves better than you, scum―CRUCIO!"

Andromeda didn't get the opportunity to respond to her. Before she could prepare herself, a hot white flash of pain was pulling at every tendon, every muscle, every vein in opposite directions―pain, unbearable, to a degree that she could already begin to feel the thoughts in her brain jumble up and become more incoherent as the only feeling pulsing through was agony―and Draco had finally pulled himself up into a seated position, his exhausted and pained eyes watching with a wince as Andromeda withered on the ground, the echo of her scream coursing off the walls of the manor. It was obvious that Bellatrix did not give Andromeda the opportunity to deflect the curse, much too late.

Draco stopped being able to watch after the third scream, wishing that Romy would just submit. He knew how she was from growing up with her―she was much too stubborn for that, just like she always had been―but Bellatrix had no intention to stop and at the degree she was inflicting the curse, it wouldn't be long before she passed out from the pain. He stopped focusing heavily on the ceiling of his home when the room stilled into a deafening silence, following the obscure sound of someone Disapparating.