MEMENTO MORI | DRACO MALFOY

THIRTY-SEVEN

CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

Ophelia walked along the long, dark corridor of the Department of Mysteries. She recognized it instantly from the night she'd infiltrated Harry Potter's mind. This time, though, she had her own arms and legs, and she didn't feel the coolness of the marble floor as her body slithered along it. This time, she was there as herself. The long corridor led to a single door, the same one that Arthur Weasley had been guarding before. Tonight, the door was unguarded and unlocked. She pushed it open.

The room beyond was vastly larger than the hallway, with rows upon rows of shelves as tall and as far as her eyes could see. There was a musty smell inside, as though the room wasn't frequented or cleaned very often. She stepped further into the room, noticing the thousands of tiny, white orbs on the shelves. Narrowing her eyes, she approached one of the shelves until the orbs turned out to be little crystal balls, just like the ones they used in Trelawney's class. They were the same kind of balls she used to transfer her prophecies. Ophelia took a cautious step back and absorbed her surroundings again.

"Harry! This one's got your name on it!" A familiar voice caught Ophelia off guard and she stumbled back into a shelf, but instead of hitting it, she drifted right through it like she was a ghost, and she finally realized what this was: another vision. She followed the voices and found Harry Potter standing with several of their peers around him. Longbottom, Lovegood, Granger, Ginny and Ron Weasley. Ophelia suddenly felt a coolness as she noticed the wisps of black smoke blowing past her until they solidified into human bodies. Death Eaters.

"Very good, Potter. Now turn around nice and slowly, and give that prophecy to me."

* * *

Ophelia woke on the floor of her bedroom in Malfoy Manor, her chest rising and falling at an alarming rate. She sat up quickly, rushing to the closet to pull a robe over her pyjamas before throwing open the bedroom door and striding out into the cold corridors of Malfoy Manor. Her bare feet padded along the long, old rug that spanned the length of the corridor leading to the grand staircase. The coldness of the stone steps didn't phase her as she bounded down them, seeing that the lights in the den were still on, even though it was almost two in the morning. She burst through the door of the den, attracting the attention of the two bodies in the room.

Lucius and Narcissa's heads snapped to face her with a mixture of confusion and surprise, but Ophelia didn't give them much time to wonder. "I had another vision. You need to call him."

An amused smirk crossed Lucius' thin, pale lips. "You can do that yourself now, girl."

Realizing the truth in Lucius' words, Ophelia pursed her lips. She pulled her robe's sleeve further down her arm. "I... I think you should do it."

Lucius stalked towards her. "Nonsense. I'll show you." He pointed at her left arm. "Pull up your sleeve and take out your wand."

Slowly, Ophelia pulled up the sleeve of her robe and a gasp immediately left Narcissa's throat as her hands flew to cover her gaping mouth. Lucius' lips formed a thin line as he inspected her disfigured Mark. "You had to have known something like this would happen." He said simply. "This will heal in time with no scar, that is the curse, Rosier, there is no permanent removal or... disfigurement."

"I had a momentary lapse of judgment." She retorted, using her favourite excuse while tugging her sleeve back down. "A moment of weakness, if you will."