The Other Black Book 6

Chapter 1 - The Third Black

Elara Malfoy had thought she'd read wrong. She'd thought she'd misread the Prophet. So she checked The Quibbler and Witch Weekly and every other newspaper she could possibly find. But every single one had told the same story. While no article told the exact same story, Elara could find the common points.

The Dark Lord (Elara's arm burned at the mere thought of his name and she rubbed the sleeve) had been spotted on Ministry premises. Several Death Eaters, including Elara's husband and brother-in-law, had been captured while the Dark Lord was still free. There was a list of others, but Elara hadn't cared much for any of that. She found one line in each that was the exact same.

There had only been one death in the battle, although no body, as the man fell through the Veil of Death in the Department of Mysteries. That death belonged to her brother, Sirius Black. Her last living relative. It was this sentence that had her scrambling. She didn't want to believe it. She couldn't bear the thought of her little brother dead.

She scanned the three newspapers at once, reading the entire article, trying to put aside the thought... When, at the bottom of The Quibbler she noticed a small line in fine print: Sirius Black was no murderer. The story of what actually happened is posted on page 5. She flipped there instantly. Witch Weekly had a page about the true story too. And, much to Elara's surprise, even the Daily Prophet, in a small, cramped article that would've missed all but the most watchful eyes.

Well, she thought bitterly. At least the public knows the truth about her brother, but that doesn't make him any less...

She couldn't finish the thought. She threw the Prophet across the room she was in and allowed herself to cry silently.

She had always half-expected to see an article about Sirius being Kissed by the Dementors. Maybe him being killed by Ministry employees. After all, for fifteen years every source of printing had been painting her brother as a mad murderer hell-bent on killing Harry Potter. But now... now... seeing newspapers printing the truth, although none of the stories were truly close save for the presence of a second wizard (although The Quibbler's version was quite close -- they did propose that Peter Pettigrew had cut off his own finger before fleeing the scene)... Elara wondered just how much the Wizarding World had changed with the knowledge that the Dark Lord had returned. Every free paper was clamoring for Fudge's resignation, and now the new minister was a man namedRufus Scrimegour.

She looked at an old family photo. It was her, nearly fourteen years younger, back when she was free to roam the world at the side of her husband Janus Malfoy. In the photo, she was holding her one-year-old daughter Aurora.

Elara stared at her daughter, wondering what the girl was thinking of now. Wondering how she was. Was she safe? Was she happy?

Elara turned back to the newspapers strewn around the room. She picked one up -- this one was a Muggle paper about the Brockdale Bridge being broken in two, and how it was the Muggle government's fault. Beside it, lay an article from the Prophet regarding the same incident, except blaming it on the Minister of Magic -- which Elara thought was about half true. There was an article about Amelia Bones and Emmeline Vance's murders, both very unfortunate and very gruesome and public murders, and one on an attack in the West Country by a number of remaining Death Eaters and some sources were suspecting giant involvement.

Elara would've given anything to be by her daughter's side, watching her grow and learn, helping her grieve... (Elara was now trying to come up with any possible thought that would keep her from dwelling on her brother) What Elara wouldn't give to be helping her daughter, but instead she was trapped in this dark room with none but a house-elf for company, hiding from everyone she ever knew because everyone she had ever once considered friend now wanted her dead. She wasn't an unaccomplished dueler, and if she needed too, she could hold her own, but she couldn't last long against the whole of the Death Eaters and the Dark Lord, not to mention the Order of the Phoenix who all knew her as a Death Eater and -- far as they knew -- a killer with the same thoughts as all the rest of her twisted family.