tears in heaven | dramione

The Inquisition

Nobody had a good feeling about it. Lucius Malfoy shivered from head to toes, as the Dark Lord entered the great hall of the manor. He had to explain that they had Harry Potter and all his friends, but lost them all. Not only had they escaped, but the mudblood girl had also abducted Draco. Having calculated all the facts, the Malfoy patriarch knew he had to fear for his life.

When He-Whose-Name-They-All-Had-Learnt looked at him with cold and inquiring eyes, the platinum-haired man stepped forward. "Lucius, I have been summoned here to receive Harry Potter and yet I hear no screams and sense no pain."

"My Lord, forgive me, the boy isn't here," the Death Eater mumbled. His voice was hoarse and trembling, with breaks between each two words. "I was upstairs, the one to summon you, while here, downstairs, Harry Potter and his friends were having a resistance and they eventually escaped. That's what I have been told. As I said, I wasn't here."

Fury flamed in the Dark One's eyes. He tried to maintain his calm, but the snake at his feet gave him away. Nagini opened his mouth, his venomous fangs sparkling in the little light, and was ready to jump on Lucius Malfoy and save him from his miserable life, offering him a quick, but painful death.

Voldemort moved his head from left to right and vice verse, observing all of his followers that loyally lowered their heads and bowed before him. He sensed fear and fed on that feeling. "And who was?"

Lucius turned to his wife and thought of the risks he could expose her too. Voldemort was his Lord and the one who had their lives in his hand, but the corpse of his moral and common sense dictated him to look away from her. He couldn't do that to her. "Bellatrix Les-"

"Lestrange, my best lieutenant," the Dark Lord interrupting him. His expression hardened, as he glanced towards the named woman. "Would you be good enough to tell of the events that have taken place in this home?"

She nodded, clenching her fists so that nobody would notice that get hands her shaking. "I was interrogating the mudblood girl because I had been led to believe they had broken in my vault from Gringotts. You of all, My Lord, know of the possessions hidden there. The girl was daring and very confident. She didn't tell a thing, not even when she brought me to the edge of my patience. I was ready to curse her confidence off when I was stopped."

By the way Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy lowered their heads, exchanging a few glances, the Dark Wizard figured the answer out. Either way, he still asked: "Who was that person, Bellatrix, the one who interrupted your curse, the one so merciful with the girl? Or, Lucius, shall you tell me?"

Drops of sweat went down his forehead. He knew that when Draco was rescued, the Dark Lord wouldn't be merciful at all with him. The man swallowed hard, realizing that it was a direct command from his Lord and couldn't avoid answering. "It was Draco."

"Apparently, you were informed of all the facts. And where is your son now, Lucius?" Voldemort continued, the tone of his voice growing calmer and sharper.

Narcissa Malfoy couldn't stand it anymore. She had known for a while already that they were being eyed by all other Death Eaters and that one wrong look from the Voldemort would mean their end. And now all the pieces were coming together. She couldn't stand watching everything go to hell so easily. "Shouldn't Bella continue her story, My Lord?"

He nodded.

Bellatrix didn't care much about her nephew and yet his fate depended on what she would declare, on how she would tell the story to Voldemort, on how she made it look. "The boy, for some reason only he knew, stopped me. However, he looked at me and at the mudblood in utter disgust. The boy seemed displeased with the screams. I stopped and left in order to clean my knife. It was stained with her blood. A minute or two later, I returned to finish what I had started and saw the mudblood fighting and then hexing Draco, rendering him unconscious. Should I judge the boy, my Lord, I say that his only sin is his weakness. Cissy and Lucius should have trained him better. I'm ashamed myself to be the aunt of somebody that fell so easily in combat against a mudblood girl with no wand."

Narcissa felt relieved. She'd thank Bella later for having saved the boy. Weakness seemed a less blamable crime than treason.

Voldemort lowered his head, calculating the facts. "Indeed, indeed. Yet, I haven't been told how had Harry Potter escaped. Narcissa, what do you know?"

"I..." She wanted to speak, but the words weren't coming out of her mouth. Biting her lip, she forced herself to say something. "Well, he had been helped. A house-elf by the name Dobby had helped him escape. Potter and the Weasley boy must have come here after the girl. One was ready to fight Bellatrix, the other had his wand pointed to Draco. My son was finally regaining consciousness after having been hexed by the girl, as Bellatrix told you, My Lord. Bellatrix and I were ready to attack Potter and his friends when Dobby interfered and cast some magic upon us. He took Potter and the Weasley boy and disapparated."

Bellatrix eyed her sister curiously. She didn't know why she had stopped telling. It didn't end there. There was still an important part and she should confess it. Well, if her sister wasn't going to, she should do it. "Meanwhile, the mudblood girl rose again from the ground. While Narcissa and I were down, hexed, she took Draco hostage and left. She's abducted him! And-"

But the Dark Lord raised his hand in order to silence the freaked out mother. The poor woman was overwhelmed with worry and sadness, emotions he couldn't think of understanding. Long time ago, before the war, before the events of Godric's Hollow, before Harry Potter even existed, during the early years of his existence, when he had first split his soul into pieces, he burned away everything human in himself. Everything human meant everything weak and he couldn't even bear the thought of weakness reaching him. The young Tom Marvolo Riddle knew he wanted to be unstoppable, therefore he became He-Whose-Name-Everybody-Had-Learnt -  Lord Voldemort.

"Silence" was the only word that came out, before he turned around and left. Nagini hissed towards Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy, and followed him.

The Malfoy matriarch sighed relieved. The Dark Lord hadn't cursed her, nor had vowed to do so later. Yet, something made her realize that he wasn't done with them either. It seemed pretty obvious that their only chance was to find Draco and bring the girl to Voldemort. That could somehow make up for how humiliated all Death Eaters had been due to her son's weakness, against the mudblood. It would at least make all the badmouthers shut up. Narcissa made up her mind: they had to find Draco and the girl and make sure she'd get what she deserved - a slow, painful, but also very firm and fine torture so that she'd give away all secrets and tricks Harry Potter had up his sleeve.