human again / hp.

Chapter 111

The days at Malfoy Manor were no longer marked by time in any normal sense.

Morning and night had bled into one another—thick with the fog of constant fear, endless meetings, and whispers behind closed doors. Somewhere in the world outside, the Ministry had changed hands. Fudge had been ousted, replaced by Rufus Scrimgeour former Head of the Auror Office.

A new puppet. A new regime.

But Voldemort didn't seem concerned.

If anything, he seemed amused.

"A lion replacing a worm," he had hissed at the last meeting. "But a lion's mane burns just as quickly under my flame."

We had been there. Draco and I. Sitting at the long table in the drawing room of the Manor for the first time.

That room still smelled like dust and blood, no matter how many times the elves scrubbed it clean. But now the chairs were full. Death Eaters cloaked in black, sat in seats that once belonged to dinner guests or business partners.

Draco and I sat near the end of the table, silent, stiff. It had been Voldemort's command.

If Lucius Malfoy had failed, then his legacy would make up for it.

We were the legacy.

I kept my eyes down most of the time. I didn't speak unless spoken to. I felt the weight of every glance. Some curious. Some hungry. Others full of contempt.

But none worse than hers.

Bellatrix Lestrange.

My aunt.

She had never liked me. Not truly. She called me "the soft one," sneered at my sorting, and spat the word Gryffindor like it tasted rotten in her mouth.

And now, she finally had a reason to get her hands on me.

"You're lucky, little dove," she said that morning, circling me like a predator. "The Dark Lord has taken mercy on your pretty face. But mercy doesn't last forever. You'll need to prove yourself."

We were in one of the empty drawing rooms—the old nursery once, I thought—but the dolls were gone and only rats remained now. One scurried across the floor and Bellatrix flicked her wand lazily. The creature froze mid-step, squeaking.

"Your first lesson," she said sweetly, "is about pain."

I knelt slowly before the rat, my wand trembling in my hand.

"Crucio," I whispered.

Nothing.

Bellatrix laughed.

"Oh, darling. You'll have to mean it. Try again."

The rat looked up at me, shaking. Its eyes reminded me of something. Someone. I didn't know who. It didn't matter.

This was survival.

"Crucio."

It screamed.

A sound no living thing should ever make. Its tiny body twisted in ways it wasn't meant to. It thrashed. Blood appeared at its mouth.

I dropped my wand.

Bellatrix clapped once, delighted.

"There she is! The true Malfoy girl."

I wanted to vomit.

Later, she made me try the Killing Curse. I didn't want to, but there was no choice—not with the Dark Lord's command, not with Bellatrix watching.