The Secret War | Dramione

Chapter 13

Greymoor Castle

"Severus, please...my boys—they've done nothing wrong."

Fred and George were chained to the wall behind them.

Ron was kept in a cell by himself. 

Molly was lying on the floor, reeling from the after effects of the cruciatus curse.

"Your sons aided Harry Potter," Severus told her. "They helped him escape."

"It's not true!" Molly cried. "No one but Dumbledore knew where Harry—"

The door of the dimly lit dungeon swung open and Bellatrix Lestrange walked in.

She looked like she had just emerged from battle.

She wore a long, tattered black dress. It had blood stains on the sleeves and the collar. Her hair was wild, her eyes were bottomless pools of black, and her fingernails were long and curling inwards.

"Have the blood traitors confessed?" she asked.

Snape turned to her. "They maintain their innocence. They claim they know nothing of Harry Potter or his whereabouts."

"Then you are not torturing them well enough, Severus."

Bellatrix threw the Weasleys a disgusted look, then dropped her voice so that only Snape could hear. "It has been weeks, and still no word from Draco or his progress with the mudblood. The Dark Lord is losing his patience, he will kill Narcissa—"

"I am certain Draco will contact us soon," Snape interrupted.

"One of these pathetic fools is hiding something," Bellatrix said shrewdly, looking at the Weasleys.

She walked towards the twins, and the heels of her boots echoed in the dungeon.

Snape looked at his surroundings wearily.

The Dark Lord had tired of Malfoy Manor and seen fit to move his operation here...to Greymoor Castle—the macabre home of Bellatrix and Rodolphus Lestrange.

The Dark Lord saw wealth as a tool to buy allies, weapons, and expand his army, not to indulge in expensive whims or fancies. Malfoy Manor was too lavish, too comfortable.

And Voldemort felt more at home in the dark.

Snape's upper lip curled.

Nothing was as it appeared here. No door led to the same place twice, rooms flipped upside down as you walked through them, large spaces shrank at a moment's notice, spells rebounded and hit their casters...the castle was the design of two mad architects...

Snape saw Molly attempt to stand, and he conjured ropes to restrain her.

Bellatrix walked closer to the Weasley twins, observing them closely.

She stroked Fred's cheek, her breath fanning his face. "This boy's a bit more handsome than his twin, wouldn't you say, Severus?"

"I hadn't noticed," Snape said dryly.

Bellatrix smiled at Fred madly, her dress swishing around her ankles. "Perhaps you'd prefer more comfortable arrangements upstairs....with me. All you have to do is tell me one, little, thing..."

Fred's jaw twitched. He looked at his brother. He knew he'd pay for what he was going to say next...but he didn't care.

"Ugly, isn't she, George?"

"Worse than a troll, Fred."

"No, I think more like a banshee—"

"Boys!" Molly hissed, terror in her eyes.