PRETENDING TO LIVE~ {The Lestrange Daughter #2}

𝟕𝟖. Prelude

TRIGGER WARNING; Contains descriptions and discussion of sexual and psychological abuse as well as suicidal thoughts. Not overly graphic but please take care if you are sensitive to such things.

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​​​​​​Valentine glanced at the pale feet propped up on the edge of her bed. 

Leah was laying next to the bed, back laid straight along the floor, knees bent and legs sitting on the bed. It was her ever-accumulating height that allowed her to be in such a strange position. No one had questioned it and so, she'd been like that for almost an hour now. 

Draco was laid out in front of her, long ways across the bed. His head and arms were hanging over the side so he could talk to Leah.

Liam and Blaze were sat on the carpet between the end of her bed and the bathroom door, playing cards.

When Blaze had complained that there was nowhere for them to sit and no fireplace either, Valentine had shrugged and told them to go elsewhere then. Her room was suited to her needs, not theirs.

She was reading, or rather trying to. Despite how relaxed everything seemed at first glance, it was anything but. In truth, they were practically under house arrest.

After Dumbledore's murder, as the law viewed it, and the Death Eater's quick retreat, they were considered criminals, those who had fled at least.

Leah, Blaze and Liam had finished off the last of the school term and then had been carted straight to Malfoy Manor. The homes of all Death Eater's, both past and present were under some kind of Ministry surveillance. The friends of Valentine Lestrange and Draco Malfoy were considered as possible co-conspirators, not to mention damned by their many ties to Death Eater's and Voldemort's via their families.

Malfoy Manor, as Voldemort's main base, was completely unimpregnable, guarded by even more wards and protective charms then Hogwarts had ever been. The Ministry had no in and such, it was the safest place for a Death Eater with a well-known family and home to flee or at the very least, send their children for protection.

As it stood, Rose Lovat had been at Malfoy Manor and seemed to have been for quite some time. Liam's grandfather, Gordon Highcourt was in hiding and hadn't been seen since news that Dumbledore was dead had spread throughout the Death Eater's. And according to Beckett, Samantha and Nathaniel Zambini had been prepared to flee the moment they caught wind that the Ministry would be looking for them.

It was quite a scene apparently. The Ministry came knocking, trying to break through their wards. They'd sent away the staff and then attacked two Ministry agents to allow Beckett time to get out. He had then gone straight to Bridget and Seiya in Japan to warn them what was happening and then ended up, drenched with rain, standing in the main dining room of Malfoy Manor.

Since then, many more had appeared, running from the authorities. Voldemort assured them, once they took root in the Ministry it would not be a problem.

Valentine envied Snape in his tiny little Muggle home. He was the only magical person living in the entirety of Spinner's End and so the Ministry couldn't go after him without risking breaking the International Statute of Secrecy. Even if they tried to go in covertly, the had no idea what Snape might do and if it would possibly put the Muggle's in harm's way.