Mudblood

Lucius stood in the dark shadows of the corner, rigid and impassive.  Narcissa stood, not much differently, apart from her sister, her hands placed protectively on Darco's shoulders. 

The young girl's screams ripped through the silent room and through Lucius' very being.  He closed his grey eyes, trying to shut out the voice that was tearing through his heart.

The moment they had been brought into his manor, he could not help noticing how beautiful the girl was, despite the dirt on her face and the tangles in her hair.  She was around seventeen, with brown hair and the most beautiful brown eyes Lucius had ever looked into.

The screaming had stopped. A soft whimpering had brought Lucius back to the present.  "That's enough, Bella," he said, stepping from the shadows.  "You're wasting your time, she doesn't know anything; fetch one of the boys."

Bellatrix gave him a cold, calculating look, but agreed.  Wormtail retrieved Potter and Weasley from the basement, bringing Hermione down with him. The events that happened next, happened so fast, Lucius barely had time to register them.

"EXPELLIARMUS!!!!!" Lucius heard the cry and turned.  Bella and Draco lost their wands, but Narcissa aimed a misplaced killing curse and and hit a window, which exploded at once. The old house elf had appeared, dodged Lucius' killing curse, and Dissaparated with Weasley and Potter, shimmering away with a dagger thrown by Bellatrix.

"NOOOO!!!" Bella's strangled cry ripped through the room. 

Lucius felt the usual burning on his forearm starting to sear.  Narcissa had also felt it; she grapsed her arm in pain. "Bella..please tell me..you didn't.."

"Of course I did! We had him, didn't we?!" screamed Bella, on the verge of tears. 

Cissy silently ushered Draco upstairs to his bedroom, where he would be safe from the wrath we were all sure to feel.

He desended moments later.  Lucius, Narcissa and Bella automatically sank their to their knees, their nonverbal pleas for forgivness.

"Where is the boy?" hissed the Dark Lord in his cold, serpentine voice.

Bella let out a giveaway whimper.  Lucius had to resist the urge to reach out and smack her.  Voldemort's eyes turned malicious. "You let him escape?"

Narcissa was staring, dead pan, at the wall ahead of her.  Lucius kept his eyes on the floor. Bella, however, looked up into Voldemort's eyes, her own large brown eyes swimming with unshed tears.  "My Lord-"

But she never finished. "CRUCIO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" cried Voldemort.

Bella cried out in pain and curled herself into a ball. He turned his wall on Narcissa, who removed neither her dead stare nor her kneeled position, despite the strangled yells of pain she could not hold in. Lucius did not reach out, did not even try to comfort her.

He closed his eyes in anticipation of the fate about to befall him.  The burning, extruciating pain finally coursed through his whole body.  He was shaking in agony, despite the many times he had been mercy like this to Voldemort's wand.  Like Narcissa and Bella before him, he did not bother to fight the pain; it never worked.  His body would be exhausted enough anyway without the added effects of of trying to throw off a powerful, Unforgivable Curse, cast by one of the most briliant sorcerers in the world.

It went on like that for an hour.  Finally, when Voldemmort lowered his wand, Bella crawled over to him, her torturer, for comfort.  He reached down, his hand burrowing deep inside the world curls and tangles of her hair.  Lucius was bewildered: was Bella really, finally, recieving the attention she had so craved all these years? But then Bella's head had been ripped back, her face contorted in pain, and gave a scream of pain.  He shoved her head away and kicked her off of him.  In a flash of a cloak, he was gone.

The trio stayed there for a moment, in the deadly silence that had filled the room in absense of their cries.  Then Cissy pulled herself up and limped, slowly, to the staircase that assended to the bedrooms.  Lucius pulled himself up, also, a minute later. After a sympathetic glance at Bella,who was whimpering in a corner, he departed.

He made his way to the basement, not sure what he was doing.  He pushed the door open, lit the light and made his way down the rickety staircase. When he reached the bottom, he found her cuddled to herself, in a corner.  She heard the footsteps and looked up, her brown eyes wide and fearful.

Lucius walked slowly over to her. He took out his wand and she flinched, but he merely conjured a small, comfortable looking bed.  "It's alright," he said, squatting painfully-his body was exhausted from the punishment- and held out a hand to her.

She peered into his grey eyes, so like his son's.  But instead of the coldness of Draco's soul, she saw warmth and kindness. He pulled her up stiffly and helped her onto the bed. "I'm sorry," he said, his voice low and hoarse. 

"What happened?" asked Hermione, taking in his painfilled expression and recalling the chilling screams that had penetrated the cold stone of the basement. She had first assumed the yells to be Ron and Harry, but then recognised Bellatrix's deathly shrieks.

Lucius sank onto the bed and sighed. "Your friends escaped. After Bella summoned the Dark Lord. That did not please him well, to say the least."

"The...the C-cruciatas?" Hermione's voice was small when she voiced the question.

Lucius nodded grimly.  "The Dark Lord does not forgive easily." There was a moment's silence, then, "Can you Apparate?"

Hermione blinked, startled. "Err...well, yeah,but isn't your basement like Hogwarts; you can't Apparate in or out?"

"Well, yes, but I can bring you upstairs to Apparate. Narcissa is either lying down or checking on Draco, on the second floor. Bella's in the the drawing room, but  she recieved the worst and most of the hits; she too blinded by pain to even move. Are you strong enough to Apparate?"

Hermione doubted it, but knew this would probably be her only oppurtunity.  "I dunno."  She tried to lift herself, but cringed in pain and fell back on the bed.

"If you want to wait, you can," said Lucius.  "I can't promise that she won't hurt you again, but I can promise you I'll take care of you if she does."

Hermione looked up, once again, into the the large gray eyes that were looking at her with sympathy...and something else.

"Lay down," he said softly.

She did, knowing she should be more suspicious. Lucius took out his wand and passed it over her body, healing all the bruises and cuts Bella had inflicted. "Unfourtanly, there's nothing I can do about that," he said, indicating the cut just visible under her seeve: 'Mudblood', branded by a pureblood.

Hermione nodded, not taking her eyes off the still dripping letters. She would wear that souveneir forever.

Hermione tore her eyes away from the cut and looked into Lucius' eyes once more.  She couldn't help herself; they were so beautiful.

And then Lucius' hand, strong but soft, was on her neck, drawing her, so gentley, forward.  Hermione leaned in, her eyes closing as she felt his warm breath on her lips.  His other arm wrapped around her waist and his lips found hers.  Hermione rested her arm around his neck and her hand on his chest; his long blonde hair was soft under her hands.

Lucius was slowly leaning forward, gentley pushing Hermione down on the bed; she lay back, Lucius' body, warm and heavy, on top her own. 

As his soft lips explored her mouth, Hermione forgot everything: Harry, Ron, Bellatrix, Voldemort, the Mudbloood scarring on her arm.  She just wanted to stay here, in Lucius' protective arms, forever.