Blind

Chapter Six

Draco was seated at his father's desk, staring into space. When he was younger, Draco would sneak into Lucius' office, open his desk drawers, pull out all the magical instruments he could, and pretend that he was his father. Now he was merely sitting in there because it was a quiet room, and he wanted to mope without interference.

"Perhaps this is pathetic, being so upset because Mother and Father aren't here for me," he muttered. "After all, I'm seventeen years old!" But he couldn't convince himself. He could not remember a time when his father wasn't around to bully and intimidate anyone Draco didn't like. Nor was there a time when Narcissa wasn't around, fussing over Draco, making the house elves bake up some sweets for him.

Draco sighed and continued to wallow in his gloom for about five minutes until an idea suddenly hit him. His parents had two-way mirrors so they could always find each other, and so when Lucius was off on some trip and didn't bring his wife, he could at least see her.

Draco threw open his father's desk drawers and pawed through a variety of objects. Finally, in the very bottom drawer, he found it. He happily drew it out and held it in front of him. His mother usually kept hers tucked in her robe. It was worth a try, anyway.

"Narcissa Malfoy!" Draco cried.

"Lucius?" her hopeful voice cried. Soon, Narcissa's face had materialized. Draco could feel his eyes watering up, but quickly wiped them as he realized what he was looking at.

Her long blonde hair was matted with blood and dirt. Her face was scratched and bruised. Her gray eyes were usually flashing, but now appeared dull and unfocused. Draco gaped at the image; it was so unlike the Narcissa he was familiar with...

"Lucius?" she anxiously repeated. "Lucius, is that you?"

Draco was brought back into reality. "No, Mother, it's me! It's Draco!"

"Draco! Are you all right? Have you heard from your father at all? Is everything okay?" Narcissa asked.

"You don't need to worry about me at all. Everything's under control here," Draco insisted. "But what happened to you? Have you been attacked?"

Narcissa opened her mouth to respond, but suddenly whipped around so that Draco was looking at the back of her head. She turned back to the mirror. "Draco, go away! Go, now-"

But she never finished her sentence. Draco thought he could hear the sound of a mirror cracking far away. "Mother! Mother!" he yelled, shaking the mirror fervently. "Please, come back, come-"

"What is this?" a cold voice hissed.

Draco looked up to find Bellatrix Lestrange leaning against the doorway, her arms folded casually.

"What are you doing here at this time of night?"

"I told you I'd be in and out at my will. Now let me see that thing you're holding."

"No!" Draco clutched the mirror tighter to him.

Bellatrix waved her wand. "Accio mirror!"

Draco tried to cling onto the object, but it soared through the air and into Bellatrix's outstretched hands. She looked at the mirror and shook her head. "Tsk, tsk, baby Draco, we mustn't be playing with our daddy's toys." She smiled evilly and then chucked the mirror across the room. It hit the stone wall and shattered.

Draco glared at her. "You hapless, evil bitch!"

Bellatrix feigned a look of shock. "Now what would your mummy say about that language?" She threw back her head and laughed.

"Mother!" Draco cried, jumping up as he remembered the short conversation he had just had with her. "I have to get to her! Something's wrong!"

He sprinted toward the doorway, but Bellatrix blocked the door and pushed him back. "I think not, Draco. Petrificus Totalus!" Draco stiffened like a board and fell over.

"Don't you worry about Mummy Malfoy. They're taking excellent care of her at St. Mungo's, you know," Bellatrix said. She then turned and left the room.

***********

Hermione sighed as she stared at the whirling mist inside Narcissa's Pensieve. She had returned to the library once Harry had turned in for the night. He obviously didn't support her enthusiasm for helping Narcissa, and she wanted some quiet time to sort things out for herself.

He doesn't understand, Hermione thought sadly. There's so much he doesn't realize, and he doesn't see how I can feel the need to help such a terrible family. Hermione had a feeling that perhaps it was some sort of connection between herself and Narcissa, perhaps because they were both female. After all, Draco didn't think she was sincere about helping his mother either. But there are some horrors boys don't need to worry about, don't even dream could happen to them, because the truth just isn't a reality for most of them.

That had to be it; Hermione sympathized with Narcissa Malfoy because Narcissa was now the victim of violence that was normally targeted at women. The reality of it happening was more real to her than to the boys.

"This could be an invasion of privacy, but I must do it," Hermione murmured, prodding the mist with her wand. "It's the only way to get information." She plunged her head into the bowl's contents, and for the second time that night, the sensation of doing a somersault dragged her into Narcissa's memories.

Hermione landed in a rather small room. Narcissa was seated there, though it was an older version than the one Hermione had witnessed earlier. Her body had developed a bit more, and she had grown taller. In the other memory, she had a trace of girlish innocence, but it now seemed lost. Her gray eyes were flashing fiercely at the person seated across from her, Bellatrix.

"You're jealous, aren't you?" Narcissa sneered, smirking at her sister.

"Why should I be jealous of you? I have no desire to share a bed with that man. Why, I can't even call him a man. That coward." But Bellatrix's glare seemed to suggest something more.

"You do want to marry him, don't you? Well, I shouldn't say you want to marry him, but his power and his influence and his money. All that could have been yours. Your name could have been on the parchment, willing you his beneficiary, but no, it will now be mine! You lost everything, Bella! You lost it to your baby sister!"

Bellatrix was now flushing a deep crimson. She didn't even bother to reach for her wand, but jumped up and charged at her sister. Pushing her to the ground, Bellatrix drew back her hand and smacked Narcissa in the nose. Blood started flowing down Narcissa's face.

Narcissa drew her legs to her chest and then kicked out, hitting Bellatrix in the stomach. Bellatrix slumped to the ground, the wind knocked out of her, and she merely glared at Narcissa, who shot her a triumphant look behind the cascading blood.

Bellatrix caught her breath, and then said, "You will regret it. Every time he brings you to his bed and his face is hovering over yours, panting like a dying animal. Every time you are dressed up like some little doll and paraded around on his arm. You lack my strength, my determination. You are only sixteen, too young to fight anything. You will be forced into submission, a mere instrument of his. You will serve few purposes. Producing an heir, satisfying his manhood, and perhaps playing bait for any business dealings he might want to make. And once you find out what he really is-"

Narcissa had tuned out the lecture, but her eyes were drawn to Bellatrix's left forearm. The sleeve of her robes had been pushed up a bit and it now revealed some sort of reddish tattoo. She gasped as she realized what it was. The Dark Mark.

Bellatrix could tell Narcissa wasn't focused on her speech, and she looked down to see what Narcissa was looking at. She quickly pushed her sleeve back down.

"Bella, I didn't know you had joined the Death Eaters!" Narcissa cried. "Why didn't you tell us? You know, that mark is extremely hideous, you'll never be able to wear sleeveless dresses-"

"Well, get used to that hideous mark, for you won't escape it. It will rule your life," Bellatrix sneered.

Narcissa looked a bit perplexed and opened her mouth to ask what her sister might mean, but was interrupted as a door leading into the room opened. In stepped Lucius Malfoy, his father, and Narcissa's parents.

"We're fin-" Mrs. Black stopped as she took in the scene of her daughters sprawled on the floor, one with blood drying on her face. "What is this?" she asked sternly.

"Just got a bit excitable," Narcissa said sweetly.

Mrs. Black arched her eyebrow but said nothing to contradict her youngest daughter. "As I was saying, we've done a bit of talking in the other room, and your father and I have agreed to Ahab's conditions that his son be granted permission to marry Narcissa rather than Bellatrix." She had a sort of grimace on her face, perhaps upset that she had yet to secure a husband for her eldest, but Mr. Black seemed content. Narcissa noticed he had two large bags of money clutched in his hands.

"Right then, how about a drink, Ahab?" Mr. Black asked. Ahab nodded and followed him from the room. Mrs. Black sighed and left as well.

Bellatrix threw one more glare at Lucius and Narcissa. "Well, there you are, Cissy, bought like some type of slave. May you be happy now." She got to her feet, turned on her heel, and left the room with a firm shutting of the door.

Lucius held out his hand and pulled Narcissa to her feet. He then conjured a bowl of steaming water and a towel with his wand. "What did happen?" he asked, dipping the towel in the water and wringing it out.

"Nothing much," Narcissa replied. "Bella and I got into a bit of a scuffle-"

"Few people come away with blood all over their faces from 'a bit of a scuffle.' She didn't try to kill you, did she?"

"Oh, no, no," Narcissa said quickly, as Lucius reached up and started wiping the blood from her face. You know, if this is Lucius' way of making me into an instrument of his, I could easily get used to it, she thought snidely, but she merely beamed up at her fiance. Suddenly, it struck her that something had to be done about her other fiance. They had been engaged for two years now, and she knew this news would not go over well. Of course, she didn't care. She still had neither seen nor met the man.

As if Lucius had read her mind, he said, "I'll be over to your other fiance's house to discuss these matters with him."

"Lovely," Narcissa murmured.

Hermione had been sitting completely still, entranced to watch Lucius and Narcissa. They made such a lovely couple, really. Lucius was acting like any girl's dream man, quite a pleasant change from the Lucius Hermione had met. It reminded her of something Mrs. Weasley had once told her and Ginny: "If you find you can make a man into a better man then you know he's right for you." And wasn't that what Narcissa was doing with Lucius?

Hermione choked back a sob, but no sooner had she turned back to watch the couple, then she was tumbling back into the library. "What a strange Pensieve," Hermione muttered. "Throwing me back here on its own accord." Perhaps Narcissa had discovered a spell to prevent people from breaking into too many memories at once, in case she was hiding information.

As Hermione slid the bowl back into the bottom drawer, she thought she heard muffled voices arguing in the otherwise silent manor. You must just be drowsy, Hermione, she thought. But then she heard a loud thump. No, it wasn't her imagination this time. She pushed the drawer closed and then hurried toward the sound of fading footsteps, her hand tightly grasping the handle of her wand.

She came to the hallway where Lucius' office was located and she realized his door was open and light was flooding into the hallway. She crept over and peered into the room. It was empty. But then she noticed Draco lying on the floor, obviously a victim of Petrificus Totalus.

"Draco, what happened?" Hermione asked, waving her wand and casting the countercurse.

Draco pushed himself up shakily. His face was tinged pink in humiliation. "That stupid bitch," he muttered.

"Who?" Hermione asked, though she was certain she knew who he was speaking of. "Bellatrix?"

"My mother!" Draco cried. "Dammit, I forgot! I have to get to her now! She needs my help!"

"What do you mean?"

"I was talking to my mother through my father's two-way mirror, but she left. Someone was going to hurt her! I have to go!"

"No," Hermione said firmly. "I'll go. I'm supposed to be her Angel so it'll raise less suspicion if I go."

"I don't care about that, I just need to get to her!"

"Draco, be reasonable. Go fetch some Aging Potion. I'm going to get the robes and other things I was going to bring to your mother, all right? I'll make sure she's okay."

Hermione entered the kitchen five minutes later, a large canvas bag clutched in her hand. She picked up the cup filled with Aging Potion and gulped it down.

"Quick, go, you've wasted enough time already!" Draco yelled, throwing Floo Powder into the fire and pushing Hermione into the flames.

*************

Hermione pushed open the door to Narcissa's room. "Narcissa, are you all right?"

Narcissa was standing by the wall, shaking. Her dress was completely torn, hanging onto her slender body by shreds of cloth. Narcissa's hand held it in place to prevent it from becoming less than modest. A fresh cut streaked across her forehead, and Hermione noticed several more bruises covering her body.

"Were you attacked again?" Hermione asked, removing some of the items she had brought from her bag.

"Ah, but this time I got in a few hits!" Narcissa said triumphantly. "Oh, I did not go down easily, no decent Malfoy would. Lucius would have been proud of me, well, if he could contain his anger at my attacker, which would certainly not be possible unless he killed that wretched man. Of course, he was not alone this time. There were more. Of course, one of them will find it difficult to procreate now..."

Hermione was shaking with anger. How inhumane this all was. Not only was Narcissa rather vulnerable as it were, she was at the hands of a group of abusive men. "Well, you can do even more next time they decide to show up, because I've brought you your wand."

Narcissa happily took her wand. "And did you bring Lucius his?"

"Erm, no, I did not," Hermione said quickly. "I did not see it." It was not a complete lie, after all, for she had not come across Lucius' wand. However, she had left out that Lucius no longer had need of his wand. "But here, let me clean you up and I've brought you some new robes. Bigger ones."

Narcissa conjured a small tub of steaming water and Hermione helped her climb into it.

"Would you like me to cut your hair so that it's easier to take care of?" Hermione asked as she helped Narcissa clean her long blonde hair.

"I'm rather fond of my hair," Narcissa said. "But I suppose it would be helpful, so yes, go on."

Hermione used Shearing charms to cut Narcissa's hair so that it was shoulder-length. It really didn't look bad at all.

Hermione had quite a time trying to coax Narcissa from the relaxing bath, but Narcissa grudgingly stumbled out and Hermione helped her into one of her maternity robes. It was rather big on her, but Narcissa seemed pleased. "This is much better, thank you."

"You're very welcome," Hermione replied. She placed the extra robes in the corner of the room. "Your other clothes are all over here in the corner, all right? And I can bring you anything else you might need, but you have your wand, so you'll probably have a better time trying to care for yourself."

Narcissa said nothing, then murmured, "My son sent you here, didn't he?"

"Well, he wanted to come himself," Hermione admitted. "But I told him you didn't want him to. When he said he'd seen you in a two-way mirror and that you were about to be attacked, I decided to come by, perhaps drive out your attackers."

"Thank you," Narcissa said. "Thank you for not letting him in this awful place. He mustn't come here, you tell him that, all right? I know he'll want to come, because he's just like his father, but he needs to listen to me."

Hermione stared at Narcissa's sad face. She would probably do well to have a visit from a family member, but she was right; Draco couldn't risk coming. "Right."

"But tell him I love him and that his parents will be home shortly, too."

Hermione drew in a breath. "I'll tell him," she murmured.