𝐀𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐃𝐚𝐫𝐤 | Harry James Potter x Reader

DH ☆•°~'* 08

"Oh, memories, where'd you go? 
You were all I've ever known..."

❈🌠➵9¾♌ ⚯ 🗲━━━━━★. *･｡ﾟ✧⁺

The leaf-strewn grounds gradually turned duller as October drew to a close, the blow of the wind lessening to be replaced with increasingly colder nights. 

Though the outer walls of Malfoy Manor were dark and gloomy, the interior of the residence was warm and almost welcoming, the fires all lit to chase away the cold. Y/N would have almost enjoyed the stay if it were not for the occasional screams coming from the cellar. No one would tell Y/N who was locked up in there, and he was forbidden to go down there to see for himself. 

Y/N was quickly growing warier every time he was made to tag along with a Death eater on their "patrols" across the country. Everything in him screamed against their actions, but Y/N knew that to speak out against the murders they committed and the terror they instilled would mean he would face consequences, and harsh ones at that. He had only gathered this recently.

Y/N had found it bizarre that Leonora would come back physically and mentally traumatised from a patrol. At first, he had assumed that whoever they and the Death Eater had fuelled on patrol was particularly vicious, but if that were the case, Leonora would have simply told him so. 

No, it was something much more disturbing - to Y/N, at least. He suspected the others would find it entertaining. It turned out that Leonora had developed a nasty habit of defending Lord Voldemort's victims, which were mainly Muggles, Muggle-borns and those who sympathised with the Order's cause. Leonora would not only refuse to torture and kill, which was already bad enough, but they would also deflect jinxes and spells cast towards the victims. Such behaviour was inexcusable in the eyes of the Death Eaters in charge, which meant punishment. Punishment in the form of the Cruciatus Curse. 

The night Y/N had realised it, he felt sick. He would have been gutted at the thought of anyone being put under such a terrible curse, but this instance held a different intensity to it, a more profound feeling. Seeing his reflection shaking from head to foot, practically crawling into the room and sinking onto the bed to heal themself perturbed Y/N. He held a certain level of admiration for his twin; they were tough, not easy to break, which Y/N found rather fascinating when living under constant pressure to please the expectations of the Dark Lord. 

But the empty look in Leonora's E/C eyes after a particularly poignant spell of agony was one Y/N could not erase from his mind. It was as though Leonora had lost their sense of self, or any will to live. 

What Y/N did not understand was why anyone was letting it happen. Why did the Malfoys turn a blind eye to it? Or were they not aware at all that it was happening? How could they let someone of the supposedly Noble House of Black be tortured to the edges of insanity? None of it added up, though it did make Y/N take Snape's caution more seriously. There was something odd going on, Y/N was sure of it, but it was maddening not to know what.

And to add to the mounting levels of Y/N's frustration, the journal that was supposed to help him gain his memories back proved absolutely useless. He had written a few entries in it, simply pouring out his thoughts, but there was nothing else to it. It was simply regular journaling. 

So there Y/N was, sitting on a bench at a local, half-abandoned park, the journal open on a blank page on his lap, the phoenix-feather quill resting between his fingers. It was Hallowe'en night, though barely any children in costumes passed by. The atmosphere was growing chillier, but Y/N refused to return to Malfoy Manor for the time being. There was a Death Eater assembly taking place that evening, an event Y/N did not enjoy attending, so he snuck out.