The Eagle and The Snake: A Tragic Love Story

75. The Body Above

It wasn't the first time that Carly wished she had access to her father's Invisibility Cloak. For she wanted more than anything to attend Nymphadora's wedding, without anyone knowing that she was there.
But since Harry had the cloak, all Carly could do was watch as Nymphadora exited the church, while she stood in disguise across the street.
Shortly after Nymphadora and Remus's wedding, Voldemort called a large meeting with all of his death eaters. A meeting that as usual, took place at the Malfoy Manor.
Every single death eater was in attendance, including Narcissa, who wasn't even an official death eater.

They all sat at one of the large Malfoy tables, with Voldemort at the head.
Carly sat inbetween Luna and the Malfoys, and every now and again, they would glance their heads up at the unconscious woman floating above the table.
Voldemort was yet to address who this woman was, or why she was above them. And because of this, everyone at the table, kept looking up at her.
Only Luna, Carly, and Draco recognised the woman, as she taught Muggle Studies at Hogwarts.
The fact that they knew her, added to the guilt they were already feeling at having a woman marked for death, floating above their dinner table.

The meeting didn't start until the last two death eaters had arrived; Yaxley and Snape. And only once they were seated did Voldemort begin talking.
He wanted to kill Harry, but since the boy was protected by powerful magic, they would have to grab him while he was transferred from his home, to a safe house, sometime before his 17th birthday.
All the death eaters argued and deliberated on when exactly this move would take place.
But Voldemort dismissed all of the information given to him, except for the stuff that came from Snape.
With Snape's information, Voldemort came up with a mission to grab Harry, while he travelled by broom.
Since Carly and Luna were still not of age, they were not picked for this mission, due to the Trace still being on them. And they would be some of the only death eaters not attending the mission.

Voldemort made his disappointment at the Malfoy's clear, throughout the meeting.
Reminding Bellatrix that only he could kill Harry, and mocking them all for Nymphadora's marriage to Remus Lupin.
Bellatrix was the only one brave enough to stand up to Voldemort's taunts, as everyone else kept their mouths shut, afraid of what the consequences would be if they didn't.
To rub more salt in the wound, Voldemort took Lucius's wand, since his own shared a twin core with Harry, making him unable to kill him.
For a witch or wizard, having your wand taken was one of the highest insults. And as an escaped prisoner, Lucius was unable to get a new wand from Diagon Alley, meaning that he was now wandless.

After taking Lucius's wand, Voldemort returned to his seat, before waving the wand at the woman hanging above the table.
"As many of you may have noticed, we have a guest tonight" informed Voldemort, causing several people to snigger.
"I'm sure that Severus, and the children present recognise her. Though the students would not have taken her class. For those of you who don't know, we are joined tonight by Miss Charity Burbage, who, until recently taught Muggle Studies, at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry" continued Voldemort.

As the woman floated past the girls, and towards Voldemort, they couldn't help but look away.
They had a feeling that what was about to happen would not be pleasant, but they would have to endure it, to avoid looking weak.
"It is Miss Burbage's belief, that Muggles are not so different than us. She would, given her way, have us all mate with them" revealed Voldemort.
Several people gagged and grimaced at the thought.

"In her mind, the mixing of magical and Muggle blood, is not an abomination, but something to be encouraged. And she recently wrote an passionate article in the Daily Prophet, about how witches and wizards should do everything they can, to protect the defenceless Muggles, in these troubled times" continued Voldemort, as he flicked Lucius's wand, causing Charity to begin to regain consciousness.
Her eyes immediately flashed to Snape, hoping that her colleague would save her.
"Severus, please" begged Charity.
Snape's expression remained emotionless, as if he did not recognise the woman at all.
"Severus, please help me" whimpered Charity, once more.

"Avada Kedavra!" Shouted Voldemort, causing Charity's body to drop onto the table with a loud thud, and making several people leap into the air in shock.
Draco even fell out of his chair in suprise.
Luna and Carly had both flinched, but neither of them had moved from their seat.
With them being the youngest at the table, they couldn't afford to look weak in front of the other death eaters.
Which is why they forced themselves to stare at Charity's unmoving body.

"Nagini, dinner" instructed Voldemort, as his giant snake slithered up onto the table, and headed for Charity.
As Nagini lunged for the woman, Carly placed her hand over Luna's, giving it a reassuring squeeze.
They both grimaced, but did not look away, as Nagini began to plunge her fangs into Charity, and violently devour the body on the table.

****

Once they had all been excused, Luna headed straight for her bedroom, with Carly following close behind her.
Luna ran into her en-suite, and vomited into the toilet, disgusted by what she had just seen.
"Are you O.K?" Asked Carly quietly.
Luna threw up again, before sinking down onto the floor beside the loo.
She wiped her mouth with toilet paper, and threw it in the loo, before flushing it away.
"I'll be alright" she said quietly.

Carly summoned a glass from the kitchen, and used her wand to fill it with water.
She then passed the glass to Luna, before joining her on the floor.
"It's alright to not be O.K, since what we just saw was not nice" admitted Carly.
Luna took a sip of water, before placing it on the ground.
"No, it wasn't" agreed Luna.
"And I think everyone at the table also felt like what the dark lord did was gross and unnecessary. Well, everyone except for Greyback and Aunt Bella" replied Carly.
"Well, they are the most twisted people in the group" pointed out Luna.

"Hey, Bella is family" frowned Carly.
"That doesn't stop her from being kind of a psycho" replied Luna.
"Don't forget that this psycho taught us everything we know. It was her that showed us how to use the Unforgivable Curses" reminded Carly.
"I didn't say that I wasn't grateful for her training, only that she is probably the most messed up person in the dark lord's army. No one likes pain and torture as much as her, except for maybe the dark lord himself"
"Are you saying that we aren't like her? And we didn't enjoy torturing Umbridge?"
"Umbridge was a special case. We only wish to cause harm to those on our list that have hurt us. Bellatrix wants to cause harm to everyone, without even needing a reason".

"Yes, I suppose Bella is in a class all of her own. I've never met anyone quite like her... And I fear that the more time we spend with her, the more like her we are going to become" admitted Carly.
"The change has already begun. 3 years ago we would have leapt out of our seats at a woman being murdered right in front of us. But tonight, we barely even flinched. It was only her being eaten in front of us, by a snake, that disturbed us. Whether we want to admit it or not, we are becoming much darker people, and there is nothing we can do to stop it" replied Luna.
"Yes, I fear you may be right" sighed Carly.