A Bellamort Tale

Part 23

Granger! Merlin's fucking beard, what was she doing here again? Draco Malfoy knew he had to move quickly or she would get captured and tortured even more, if not...

"Oi, Granger!" He hissed, making her whirl around and point her wand at him. With a non-verbal expelliarmus he let it flip out of her grasp and soar towards him where the blonde teenager caught it.

"Stop it, Granger, I'm warning you. Not that I would care about you, but I can't let you get killed either. So follow me if you want to make it out of here alive!" He uttered through gritted teeth and closed the gap between them to grab her arm.

"Malf..." She wanted to shout when he covered her mouth with his hand.

"Seriously, Granger, do all Gryffindors have a death wish or something? I just told you to follow me. And stop making noise, you stupid idiot. You can't even imagine what they're capable of!" He whispered angrily directly into her ear.

"I need to find out something very important. If you're so human still that you even care about me, then you certainly wouldn't want a child to suffer either, right?" She spat, yet kept her voice down.

"What do you mean?" Draco asked her suspiciously.

"When your dear aunt Bellatrix was carving my blood status into my skin, I could hear a baby cry somewhere in the house. She did too and it obviously made her nervous that I could hear it. That's why I came back here. The others told me not to, but even the mere thought that you probably are doing whatever to some muggle child. Do you know anything about it, 'Draco'?" She used his first name on purpose, hoping he wasn't as far gone as the rest of his family already and that she could somehow make a connection that would save her.
He shook his head.

"If you knew, I would have to kill you. Or keep you locked up here for the rest of your life. Which won't be long anyway, once the dark lord finds out that you came back here. So stop arguing and follow me now!"

She did, reluctantly. When he tried to nudge her into his own bedroom she stopped and tried to turn around but he just tightened his grip and pulled her with him inside.

"Can you just stop being, well, you? You're getting me killed as well! Would it be enough for you, if you knew that nobody here would ever dare to harm her? She's too precious." He told her under his breath.

"What do you mean?" Hermione asked, yet he just shook his head and didn't respond any more. A moment later she gasped and slapped her hand to her mouth afterwards in utter shock. Draco gave her a short glimpse and his heart skipped a couple of beats.

"She's his, right? And your aunt's! Crap. That's a predicament." She muttered, mostly to herself.

"Why's that, Granger?" He asked her.

"Because many of the order would gladly kill a baby to stop 'his' heir to survive. But I couldn't live with it, no matter how evil her parents are, You understand? You were right. You can't let me go, now that I know. If you have to kill me, do it quickly and do it now. Don't let me wait in terror until your aunt or Vol..."

"Don't say his name!" He interrupted her and she gasped and nodded.

"C-Can I s-s-see her? You have my wand and I would even agree to let you put me under the imperius curse or make me unable to act with any other spell. I just need to see that this child is what you say it is and that she is well protected. I really don't care about her origin!" The young witch pleaded and Draco wanted to give in, yet he was way too scared.

"He punished us all because you escaped yesterday. Even Bella. Until I begged him to lay her punishment on me because she had suffered by far enough when Delphini was born. She isn't even two weeks old yet."

The Gryffindor girl gasped.

"You? You asked to be tortured in her place? What happened to the third year Malfoy who allegedly was dying because of that scratch Buckbeak gave him?"

The young man sneered at her. Then he shrugged.

"Let's just say, after living in the same house as the dark lord for some time, you have a different conception of pain. My aunt is completely mental when it comes to some things. But she cares for my mum and me and she cares for her child. And for him. I overheard them, she let him see into her mind and he knows that she loves the child more than him. Yet he didn't even get angry at her for that, which means a lot. He usually wouldn't let anyone rank higher than himself. Yet he seems to be able to love his child and my aunt. He even shows mercy if he can see that Bella is suffering from anything. Like for me and my mum yesterday, when we were punished. Rumours have it that he isn't capable of loving, but his late behaviour tells me differently."

Hermione looked at him in awe. Then she cleared her throat, asking.

"Do you want to know why he isn't capable of loving?"

He nodded hesitantly and looked at her expectantly.

"Because of what his mother did. She was thought to be a squib, but obviously most of it was because of her father and her brother treating her like dirt. Only when they were gone, she showed any sign of magic. That's when she gave her neighbour, the muggle she had had a crush on for ages, a love potion to make him fall for her. He did. They eloped, got married and she fell pregnant. Then she either forgot to give him the potion or she hoped he would love her because of the child she was carrying. He didn't. He just left her and went back home to hide behind his mummy and daddy. I can understand why he hated his father so much. It was his fault that Merope Riddle nee Gaunt was alone and had no money. She sold her heirlooms to be able to make it until her son was born. She gave birth to him in an orphanage and died shortly after, Dumbledore thought she died from a broken heart. Before she did, she said that because of what she did he would never be able to know love. But maybe that's not true. Maybe he didn't know love because he had never been gifted with the unconditional love of a mother. Your aunt isn't his mother, but she loves him unconditionally, right?"

Draco nodded, his mouth ajar.

The young woman chuckled.

"What's wrong, 'Draco'? Speechless? Would you like to know the name he was born with? Tom Marvolo Riddle. First and last name from his muggle father, middle name from his due to the inbreeding insane pureblood grandfather. He rearranged the letters until he had built a full sentence, saying: 'I AM LORD VOLDEMORT'!"

He couldn't have stopped her if he had been fast enough to even try.

"The name, Granger, it's taboo. He'll know that you're here now. He'll..."

He gulped. Then croaked.

"He'll punish or even kill us both now."

But the young woman shook her head, gathering all her courage as she said.

"He won't. Not the one who captured the 'mudblood' sneaking around on the premises, trying to find out their most sacred secrets. This time, Malfoy, it's okay to try and save your own arse. You brought me here to protect me, risking most likely your life by doing so. I screwed that up and there's no need for you to suffer because of my big mouth."