The Virgin Maiden

"The Virgin Maiden"

Part Two:

Lucius Malfoy looked around at the other Death Eaters, and had to work hard to hide his sneer of contempt. They were his friends, and they'd helped him through some hard times: the death of his son in the Final Battle, his wife's suicide. But he hated them all the same.

Fools, he thought bitterly, looking around at the four other men. Crabbe and his son Vincent, Gregory Goyle, who'd lost his father in the Battle, and Macnair, Lucius's oldest friend. All of them, fools. What do they think all this killing and torturing is going to prove? he thought bitterly. It's not going to bring Voldemort back. It's only stirring up the Ministry, and those blasted Order of the Phoenix prats.

Lucius smirked as he thought of the Order. Oh, they were going to suffer tonight. A small taste of their own medicine was in order. He knew that those big-mouthed Weasley twins would report everything they'd heard, and send someone out tonight to spy. Attack a Muggle building, right, Lucius thought sarcasticly. Like we'd have the gall to do that. The Ministry would find us all in seconds. No, they were just going to have a little fun with an Order fool...Lucius hoped they'd send Alastor Moody, it'd be good to torture him. But he knew they'd probably send a younger one, like one of the twins or one of their red-headed brothers.

Certainly not Harry Potter.

The thought of that boy made Lucius's blood boil. He'd not only killed his master, he'd been the one who'd killed his son. How he'd love to get his hands on that prat...but he knew that the Order would never let Harry get within his reach. Oh, well, Lucius thought. If I can hurt him indirectly, through one of his friends...

The old grandfather clock struck eight. Lucius remembered sadly that Narcissa had loved that clock. But she was weak, he told himself. Killing herself, because she thought it was all ruined. She didn't know what Lucius knew, that life had to go on. And he was doing his best.

"Someone should be along any moment," the young Crabbe commented. They strained their ears to listen. Lucius had raised all the security curses on the house to make it very easy for their expected guest to arrive. He'd replace them after the guest was dead, and nobody would know the difference. Lucius had instructed his large team of house elves to stay silent during this time, and he couldn't hear any pairs of over-sized elf feet pattering around.

Suddenly, Lucius heard it: a faint POP in another part of the house. The fool had Apparated in, making it very easy for them. Lucius motioned for his companions to rise and follow him, silently, down the hall. He could tell that the person was trying to move around quietly in the dining room. He stood outside the door, and his companions gathered around him. "Full body bind, then we take them to the dungeon," he instructed in a whisper. With that, he pulled out his wand and blasted the doors open.

At the other end of the hall stood a small young woman, with a pale face and a shock of red hair. Lucius vaguely recognized her as the youngest Weasley as he pointed his wand at her. Startled, she had no time to react as he cried, "Petrificus totalus!" The girl's limps snapped against her torso, and she fell to the floor. Lucius walked over to her as the other stayed behind, and he stood over her non-moving body. She stared up at him, her eyes huge and brown, and he smiled in triumph. He pointed his wand at her again, and she closed her eyes. "Corpus levitantus," he murmered, and her body flew up, her toes inches from the ground.

Lucius, with the floating girl, led the way out of the dining room and to the dungeon stairs in the hall. A house elf had already lit all the torches along the narrow, stone, spiraling stairway, and the shadows danced around them as they went down, down, down, into the depths of the dungeon. The dungeon was small, but it had seen a lot of people in its time. Tortured,chained prisoners, back in Lucius's glory days. He felt the same kind of rush as he had back then, having a prisoner in his clutches. He broke the floating spell, and she fell to the floor with a crash. He drug her to the wall, where rusty chains waited, and he quickly, expertly, shackled her wrists and ankles. With another flick of his wand, the body bind was broken, and the terrified girl backed against the wall.

"Well, well," Lucius drawled coldly as the other Death Eaters gathered around. "What have we got here? A little spy from the Order, I see."

"No," the girl denied quickly, shaking her head. "No, I-"

"Shut up," Lucius commanded coldly. He may as well have screamed it in her face, because she withered back. Lucius could tell that she was an inch from whimpering, and excitement surged through him. "Tell me, girl, do you know what we like to do to spies?"

The girl was too terrified to speak. She closed her eyes, and Lucius could see, in the faint light from the torches, that she was holding back tears. He turned to his companions. "Have fun," he said. "I shall be back soon to finish her off, after I restore my security spells." With that, he took off up the dungeon stairs. He could hear young Goyle yell, "Crucio!", and Lucius rolled his eyes. How unoriginal.

It took nearly an hour for Lucius to replace all the spells. Normally, Malfoy Manor was as secure as Hogwarts...or Azkaban. And he liked to keep it that way. He made his way down to the dungeon to check on the prisoner again, and he found the four other men standing around her. When they saw their host, they allowed him through.

The girl wasn't standing on her two feet anymore, and the chains were barely keeping her up. She hung limply, and her head was hanging. Lucius was afraid that she'd died before he could get at her, but she suddenly raised her head to look at him. And when Lucius saw her large, brown eyes, full of pain and fear, he felt an unfamiliar feeling...compassion? He wasn't sure, but he knew one thing...he couldn't kill this girl.

He turned to his guests. "Thank you very much, gentlemen. I think the Order will be frantic now. Well done. Now, if you'll excuse me..."

"We can't watch her die?" young Crabbe asked in disapointment. Lucius had to hold back from hitting him.

"Now, son, Lucius deserves this," the older Crabbe said. "He should be able to enjoy this one his own."

"Does he know?" Goyle asked. "She's Harry Potter's girlfriend."

Lucius's eyebrows shot up. "Really? Fascinating..." He turned back to the girl, who looked at him, terrified. He smiled to himself as he turned back to the others.

"I'll show you men to the door." Lucius couldn't rush this, or they'd suspect something. He said the usual, curtious goodbyes, and showed them all out. But, as soon as they were gone, he rushed back to the dungeons.

He found her there, still alive. And he'd have to hurry if he was to keep her that way. She looked at him again, and whispered weakly, "Are you going to kill me?"

"Not today, my dear." He quickly unshackled her. When she was free of the chains, she fell weakly into his arms. She had passed out. He carried her limp body up the stairs, and headed up to the second floor. He saw one of his house elves, Trixie, on the stairs. "Get a pair of Master Draco's silk pajamas and bring them to my room, quickly!" he cried to the staring elf. He hurried the girl to his bedroom and dropped her on his large bed. When Trixie returned with the pajamas, Lucius locked the doors to his room.

He quickly took off her clothes, plain black, second-hand robes. He couldn't help staring at her pale, naked body before he put the pajamas on her. The thought of taking advantage of her entered his mind, but he pushed it back. He wanted her to be perfectly aware when he took her, and he wanted to be able to look into her eyes...

The pajamas had been worn by Draco right before the final battle. This girl was the same age he'd been then, a year ago, but the pajamas were very loose on her. But Lucius had no time to do a shrinking spell on them. He'd have to start brewing potions, and lots of them, quickly. He didn't know exactly what curses had been performed on her, but he had some idea.

And so began two weeks of slow, clumsy nursing. Lucius knew that he could heal her quicker then that, but he wanted to take his time. After all, neither of them was going anywhere...