Forget-Me-Not {Harry Potter}

Forty Nine

trigger warning- blood and torture warning

-Cherry Wine-

-open hand or closed fist would be fine-

-blood is rare and sweet as cherry wine-

The Dark Lord walked around the table in the drawing room, with Nagini trailing behind him. "I am... disappointed by how much this family has failed me. Is it too much to ask for your loyalty?"

The room was cold. Not just due to the drop in temperature, but because of how biting the Dark Lord's words were.

He continued to walk around the table, before stopping right behind her father. The other Death Eaters in the room shifted in discomfort; seeing the Dark Lord talk so badly about a family that was once respected was a situation they never thought they'd witness.

Professor Burbage, levitated above the table. She groaned, but the Dark Lord paid no mind.

His hands rested on the back of her father's chair. She could see her father suck in his breath, and the anxious tapping of his pointer finger go faster with every passing second.

It was strange; seeing her father again. She missed him incredibly last year, and felt so guilty for being a catalyst in his imprisonment. When he first had arrived home, Vena thought that things would get better.

The twins weren't allowed to leave the corridor where the bedrooms were, but that didn't matter. Because now their father was home, and he could make everything better.

He could visit them in their bedrooms like he did when they were younger, and asked how their day was before bedtime, even if he knew that all they did was lounge around the Manor the whole day.

It wouldn't matter that she couldn't go to the library, or eat in the dining room, or having that ball of anxiety any time she thought she could hear Nagini. It didn't matter, because her father was home. But he wasn't her father anymore.

Lucius Malfoy was a shell of the man he used to be.

A man who once oozed confidence, now jumped at the smallest things. Azkaban changed her father. Azkaban made him into a coward.

Malfoy's weren't weak. But Malfoy's were cowards.

Vena knew that now.

"First," the Dark Lord said, "Lucius here was unable to retrieve the one thing I asked him to get. He was unable to get the prophecy, instead, losing it to a group of teenagers."

Her father shivered, but the Dark Lord didn't pay any attention. Then, he shifted one seat over, where her brother was. Vena shivered knowing that the Dark Lord was diagonal to her.

She could feel her mother grow still, and Vena knew that she was Occluding right now. If only Vena could do that. Her mind was still in ruins.

"Then, we have Draco, who was too weak to kill Dumbledore. Instead, he needed Severus to do the deed instead."

Her brother gulped, and Vena cringed when she felt Nagini circling around her feet. The heavy, cold, weight of the snake made Vena want to vomit.

"You failed to complete my task, Draco. I asked for you to kill Dumbledore, not Severus. I believe your consequence was that our dear Vena would no longer be alive."

Her mother had grasped Vena's hand underneath the table. Her father snapped his head to her, and Vena could see his eyes widen from her peripheral vision.