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It had been two weeks. Eleanora sat in the basement of Malfoy Manor, her knees hugged to her chest, her chin resting on her knees. Her notebook sat open next to her, but there was no more room to write. She'd filled the entire thing. She'd used up her last pages on messages to Bill. If she died here, she needed him to know there was nothing he could do. Bill was the type of person to blame himself if anyone he loved got hurt. She didn't want him to blame himself for this.
Eleanora flinched at the sound of the latch on the door and quickly transformed the notebook back into a pin. She hid it in her sock and wrapped her arms around her legs. She couldn't remember what it felt like to be warm anymore. She squeezed her eyes shut as footsteps echoed on the staircase. She didn't want to know who had come to get her this time. The person didn't speak, but she felt a rough hand on the back of her robes as she was forced to her feet and marched to the stairs. She kept her eyes shut until she felt the last step. Then, she squinted at the room in front of her.
To her dismay, she saw Bellatrix Lestrange and Fenrir Greyback standing with a handful of other dark wizards. Lestrange and Greyback were the worst of them. Eleanora dug her fingernails into the palm of her hand until she felt blood. She didn't meet Bellatrix's eyes. The man who had escorted her upstairs pushed her roughly towards the group of wizards. She caught herself before she hit the ground and pain shot up her legs. Her entire body hurt from weeks of torture. In two steps, Bellatrix strode over and pointed her wand to Eleanora's neck. She could feel it digging into her skin and could feel her hands start to shake.
"I'm going to ask you one more time..." Bellatrix said slowly. "Give me the location of your headquarters, and maybe I won't kill you."
Eleanora gritted her teeth, preparing herself for what was coming. She looked anywhere but Bellatrix's face. Her eyes drifted to a window to her right she'd never noticed before. Maybe it had been covered by curtains. Outside, the sky was a solid shade of gray.
"Pay attention!" Bellatrix snapped, digging the wand further into Eleanora's skin. Eleanora's eyes lingered on the window for a second longer, and then moved to Bellatrix's face. She gave her head a defiant shake, and then braced herself for what was to come.
It happened instantly. Pain ripped through Eleanora's body and she fell to the ground, clutching at her stomach. After undergoing the Cruciatus curse multiple times a day for two weeks, she was almost used to it. The pain never got any better, but she could think more clearly than she could when she'd first undergone it. She'd started thinking about Bill every time the Death Eaters tortured her. She would go through all the things she liked about him in her head, his smile, his hands, the way he looked when he came into her room at night to comfort her from nightmares. It helped distract her from the pain.
This time was different, though. This time, Eleanora thought about the window. She thought about the window and about the placement of the people in the room. She managed to open her eyes and blink away the tears long enough to see that there were fewer people around than usual. An idea started to form in her head. It was risky, of course, but anything was better than the alternative.
