Venom & Virtue

chapter 56

There was no way of knowing how much time passed in the dungeons, the lack of natural light made the place feel timeless, throwing us out of balance.

We all slept at different moments, which didn't help our awareness of what hour of day it could be, each of us drifting in and out of consciousness, directionless.

The only sense of structure came from the visiting elves, each of them bringing food and other essentials we were allowed in the cell.

Dobby and Holley attended to the three of us diligently, but despite my attempts, they weren't able to share much else about what was happening in the rest of the building.

The collection of elves had even been prevented from telling us exactly how long we'd been stuck there too, obedient to their cruel masters first and foremost.

And so, our condition remained a repetitive cycle, the atmosphere of hope draining as each second ticked by, no end in sight.

The only significant observation I'd been able to make, was about the other families suffering with us, eventually realising that I recognised many of the women as guests from the Malfoy's Christmas ball.

That proved one thing at least, Lucius and Bellatrix had recruited their force from the inner circle closest to the family.

It wasn't surprising, the book Snape provided had talked about the cultish nature of the Sacred Twenty-Eight, most of the families mixing only with other pureblood families.

But it did make me wonder further about the eradication plan; it was obvious that removing half-bloods and muggle-borns would decrease the population of wizarding society significantly.

It didn't seem sustainable, even practical, a waste of lives, too much magical blood lost for such a cause.

And yet, they believed in the principle enough to stage a coup, the deranged nature of Bellatrix leading them into the trappings of a capital offence, a well-planned one at that.

But for as much as I could decipher alone, there were a hundred questions I still didn't have an answer to; most importantly, how they would implement such a preposterous ideal of total purity.

My best guess told me that we'd been trapped for three days, which meant it was Friday, two days until the world cup on Sunday, and another three until the Ministry's vacation time officially ended.

By Monday employees would begin to return to work, first those who'd stayed in the country and hadn't needed to take the extra three days, and then the rest later in the week.

The fact was a ticking time bomb, the window for action was slipping away; if the Floo Network hadn't been closed and employees managed to get through, that would leave Bellatrix's side vulnerable to attack.

But, I also knew that there were only a few qualified aurors skilled enough to fight against such an assembly of wizards and witches, after all, their willingness to use dark magic gave them an advantage over the average employee.

It was likely that they knew it too, otherwise holing up in the heart of the Ministry would've seemed like the plan of a fool.

Only a lunatic would attempt such a thing, and although unhinged, I had to acknowledge that Bellatrix was cunning at the very least.

Which is why I didn't expect her to lie in wait much longer; she didn't seem the type of witch who waited for danger to find her, but instead, the kind who implemented it upon others.

The more I thought about the situation, the more I became sure that before Monday, she would launch an offence, sending her brigade to begin hunting out victims, ruthless and barbaric.