𝓣𝓱𝓮 𝓖𝓸𝓿𝓮𝓻𝓷𝓮𝓼𝓼 || 𝐋𝐮𝐜𝐢𝐮𝐬 𝐌𝐚𝐥𝐟𝐨𝐲

Chapter 30 - Ransom

           Ophelia swallowed hard, her throat gulping down Remus' foreboding words.

            "D-Death?" She choked out, "what are you saying? That Draco... that he.. he..."

            Remus took hold of his sister, his withered hands grasping her shoulders tightly.

            "No, I'm not saying that Lia." He said firmly, but then with a sigh, his voice softened, "the scent... it was far too subtle, it's highly improbable that it's what you're thinking."

            "Highly improbable? Just how improbable are we talking?" Ophelia croaked.

            "If a boy had died in that room, I would have smelt it, no this scent was something else entirely."

            Ophelia released the breath she hadn't even realised she was holding.

            "What then?"

            "I don't know," Remus admitted with a small growl, not at his sister, or her question, but at his own inability to pin point the scent. "It certainly wasn't the stench of a fresh kill..."

            Ophelia flinched at the word. Kill. Why would someone want to kill such a young boy? Ophelia knew Lucius had enemies... but to kill a child? Threaten a child? Her mind flicked to the Potters, and the man, if you could call him such a thing, Lucius used to serve... he would kill a child. And so might some of his other supporters... following by his example.

            "It was subtle, more like the stench of someone dying, or someone who..." Remus spoke, mostly to himself, as his sister's mind had trailed off in thought.

            "Someone who kills people..." The governess whispered breathily.

            "Exactly," Remus nodded, "But knowing your beau, he's in contact with a lot of killers."

            And then her eyes lit up in realisation, as if someone had cast lumos maxima on her shining green orbs.

            "I think I know who took Draco." She declared with a gulp.

***

            Of course, the home they were seeking would reside in the midst of a graveyard. Ophelia practically rolled her eyes at the over-the-top gothic gateway before them.

            "Are you sure about this Lia?" Remus asked from beside her as they stared up at the large iron gates. The words 'mors vincit ominia', forged out of twisting iron, proudly sat atop the gates.

            "I'm quite sure."

            "We can't just go in wands blazing if they're innocent." Remus lecutured.

            "I don't think there's anything innocent about this family." Ophelia's words dripped with a venom her brother never realised she had. She was always his sweet, studious little sister, never stepping a toe out of place. He didn't see that girl anymore.

            "I'm inclined to agree, however that doesn't mean they took the boy Lia."

            "It makes sense, logically, he has a grudge, against Lucius, against me... there was an... incident." Ophelia whispered the last part as she peered up at the Latin phrase with a hard swallow, before leading the way through the creaking structure into the foggy grounds of the graveyard.

            "What kind of incident?" Remus asked, though his question went unanswered as his sister explained further:

            "His father is a dark wizard, and an executioner Remus... I'd bet the whole house, the whole family, reeks of death. That must be what you picked up in Draco's room."