✓ WE NEVER SLEEP, draco malfoy

F O R T Y - S I X

"You can have my heart if you have the stomach to take it."

— Yves Olade, Bloodsport "When rome falls"

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No news sprung about September for Rowan and Draco and October came with a chill. Winter was coming and there was nothing to stop it. The leaves were changing and falling, the evenings were growing colder as were the mornings. Rowan loved the cold but being in Malfoy Manor made it all seem so much more dreary and wrong.

Rowan had heard nothing from Harry, Ron, and Hermione since they'd seen each other a few months back. She'd check Greer Manor at the end of each week in hopes she'd received a letter or even just a hint of where they'd gone but there was nothing but cold rooms and empty halls. 

She needed to find them in order to pass along the book Draco had discovered in his families study. Hermione would likely find the most use out of it with all the little notes and secrets, but HArry needed the information on horcruxes. She had a feeling they hadn't destroyed the locket yet because Voldemort was still in his strange good mood.

Muggle-borns were being discovered daily, along with muggles who knew of wizards. Half-bloods weren't safe but they were getting by. But with the Ministry persecuting Muggle-borns and putting out a Daily Prophet article stating the efforts Umbridge had put up, the Muggle-Born Registration Commission, people were being imprisoned for a crime they didn't commit. 

It only made Rowan more anxious for Hermione as she scoured the world for the horcruxes. If they came about the Snatchers, there was nothing Rowan could do to stop them without outing herself. 

Rowan braced herself against the stairs as Bellatrix finally stopped with her hexes. They had taken up dueling the same way Lucius had with Draco. Bellatrix wanted her strong and focused incase she were to go up against a resisting force. If only Bellatrix knew how many times she dueled in Dumbledore's Army. She clearly forgot about all that she'd done in the Battle of the Department of Mysteries.

"You know," breathed Rowan as she wiped sweat from her face, "most likely, one of my classmates won't be throwing tickling hexes at me."

"Don't underestimate them," she spat back. "Do you really not expect them to try to disorient you? To hurt you?"

"Well..."

"They'll do anything to get that wand out of your hand," she hissed. Her black hair was pulled back from her face and Rowan could tell just how badly time and Azkaban had hurt her. She was still gaunt, her facial structure all sharp angles. "I'm preparing you for what they'll be doing to you."

Rowan huffed, blowing a strand of hair out of her face. "That means you getting to knock me around for however long you'd like?"

"Exactly," she said, crossing her arms. "It also means you must be facing your fears."

"My fears?"

She nodded. "What are you afraid of, Rowan?"

"You mean besides dying?"

Bellatrix glared, her dark eyes narrowing as her lips pursed into a sharp kiss. 

"Look," breathed Rowan as she sat up, dusting her hands off on her pants, "don't get me wrong but I'm not going to tell you what I'm afraid of because I have a pretty good idea that you're going to use it against me."