The Eagle and The Snake: A Tragic Love Story

93. Healing Wounds

Carly winced as Luna dabbed a cotton wool bud covered in soothing cream, against the burns on her hands.
"Ow" Carly said through gritted teeth.
"Stop being such a wimp, I've nearly finished" replied Luna.
Voldemort had been enraged when he turned up at the Malfoy Manor and found out that Harry had escaped with Ollivander in tow, from the clutches of some of his best death eaters.

A quick search of the cellar revealed a dead Wormtail, who had been strangled by his own hand. Which explained how Harry had been able to break free of the cellar, and gain access to a wand.
Even though Harry's escape had been Wormtail's fault, and not the Malfoy's, Voldemort still took out his anger on everyone in the building.
Since Wormtail was dead, and therefore couldn't be punished for Harry's disappearing act.

Voldemort murdered all the Snatchers who had been lying unconscious in the courtyard, and he then used powerful magic on everyone else, to cause them extreme pain.
They were all covered in cuts, burns, and bruises. And all of them had had the Cruciatus Curse used on them, by their master.
Everyone at the Manor had also been forbidden from leaving, including Bellatrix and Fenir who didn't normally live there.
The girls were also house bound, which meant that they couldn't visit the Potter Manor. And they were worried that Voldemort would still be angry in a weeks time, and wouldn't let them return to Hogwarts.

"Are you done yet?" Asked Carly.
"Nearly" answered Luna, as she dabbed more cream on Carly's hands, which would ease some of the pain she was experiencing.
"Well hurry up, because it stings. This is almost as bad as the Cruciatus Curse" mumbled Carly.
Luna raised an eyebrow, "I think that's a bit of an extreme comparison".
"Yeah, I guess you've got a point" sighed Carly.
"I'm all done now anyway, so you can stop moaning".

Carly flexed out her fingers, ignoring the pain that this caused, due to the burns on her palms.
"It hurts, but it's not as bad as it was before" admitted Carly.
"The cream is only supposed to take the edge off. I don't expect we will be pain free until all of our wounds heal. The wounds caused by the dark lord's magic cannot be healed by our own magic, but this cream should help with the healing process, as well as giving us some relief from the pain" replied Luna.

"It's a good thing you knew where we could find this stuff, in the Potions cupboard by the lab downstairs. Otherwise we would be in an awful lot of pain right now" commented Carly.
"I do have my uses" smiled Luna.
"We should give this to Draco now that we are done with it, so that he can apply some to his own wounds, if he hasn't done so already" suggested Carly.
"Yes, we should. But he's a smart boy, so I'm sure he's already dealt with his injuries, just like we have. Either with a cream like this, or something similar".

"If I had just told Narcissa that it really was Harry, then we wouldn't be in this situation, because we never would have gotten hurt if Harry hadn't escaped" grumbled Carly.
"I don't think that's true. Bellatrix was pretty convinced that it was Harry right from the start. She only held off summoning the dark lord, because she was worried that someone had been into her vault, for some reason. So, even if you had revealed that it was Harry, right at the beginning, nothing would have changed, as she wanted to deal with the sword stuff first" replied Luna.

"We don't know that. Harry may have been dealt with differently, if I had just told everyone that if was definitely him. And then maybe he wouldn't have escaped, which wouldn't have led to us feeling the dark lord's wrath" sighed Carly.
"Why didn't you want to admit that he really was Harry?" Questioned Luna.
"I don't know. I guess after losing Ted, I just really don't want to lose anyone else" answered Carly.
"But the dark lord wants Harry dead, so he will have to die at some point"
"Yeah, I know that. But I just don't want it to be so soon after Ted's death".

"If things had been the other way around, do you honestly think that Harry would have lied to protect you?" Quizzed Luna.
"I'm not sure. He didn't out me to the world as a death eater, and the one who killed Dumbledore. So, I like to think that he would have lied to protect me as well" replied Carly.
"I still find it hard that after everything he's done, you decided to lie for him. I mean, he has hated you ever since he knew of your existence, and he has made life hard for us every step of the way. Not to mention that he destroyed my house and nearly got my dad killed, less than a week ago. I don't get why you still care about him".

"Don't get me wrong, I don't like him, nor will I ever like him. But he is still my brother. And maybe, deep down, a part of me doesn't want to be responsible for the death of my own kin. I don't want him to die, but I understand that he has to, if we want our world to thrive. I can accept his eventual demise. However, if the dark lord can kill him, without me having to be involved in anyway, then that would be ideal. I don't want my brothers blood on my hands, which is why I didn't reveal his secret earlier, as Bella would have forced me to hurt him. Which is not something I want to do" revealed Carly.

"I don't have any siblings, so I will never understand this strange connection that you have with our enemy. But I will never go against your wishes. Which is why I didn't confirm that it was Harry, in front of everyone. You denied that it was him, and I assumed that you had a good reason for doing so. Which is why I didn't interject and contradict you" informed Luna.
Carly placed her hand against Luna's cheek, "And I was incredibly grateful to you, for doing so. Your trust in me, fills me with joy".

Luna sighed and lent forward, pressing her forehead against Carly's.
"We will get through this. Together" continued Carly.
"Together" agreed Luna.
"I love you, my Atlantis" murmered Carly.
"And I love you too, my Star".