Your Grief is My Grief [DM] sequel to Beauty and the Beast

Chapter Three

Lizzie's POV:

Draco and I were to attend the Death Eater's meeting that day and to say I was nervous was an understatement. The sleeve of my black shirt was becoming frayed with all of my fidgeting. My stomach felt as if it were twisted into knots and threatened to spew the small amount of lunch I had eaten that day. I had to remain sitting most of the day due to the spinning of my head and churning of my stomach. If I stood up, my body threatened to collapse. To put it simply, I was terrified to be in a room full of Death Eaters and Voldemort himself.

Draco was wearing his black suit once again and had the circumstances been different, I would have made a comment on how uncomfortable he looked in it. It was so pristine that the sleeves and trouser legs were creased along the sides. He looked bloody handsome as it would be.

"Lizzie, you have to calm down," Draco spoke to me about twenty minutes before the meeting would begin. "You have nothing to be afraid of."

"Nothing to be afraid of?" I snapped at him. "We're going to be in a room full of the most evil people in the wizarding world and I have nothing to be afraid of?" He flinched from my sudden outburst and caused a flower of guilt to bloom in my stomach. "I'm sorry. I'm just nervous."

"No, I'm sorry, I'm the one who dragged you into this mess to begin with," he sighed, grasping my left hand in his right.

"I thought we agreed to let that go," I scolded him. I had told him time and time again to stop apologizing about 'dragging me into this mess'. It was my father's fault I was here, not Draco's, but he refused to accept that.

"I can't." I sighed at his stubbornness but decided we would have this conversation later. "Anyway, I will be right there next to you the entire time, okay? So if you need support, just hold my hand."

"Okay," I agreed, knowing I would take him up on that.

We were in the sitting room downstairs while his parents were preparing the drawing room for the rest of the 'guests'. The chairs we were in were black leather and cold beneath my body.

This would be the first time the other Death Eaters would see me, and as much as I told myself otherwise, their opinions of me were important. I can't let them think that I am just some little girl that got mixed up with the wrong sort of people.

"We'll be okay," he spoke. I wondered if he was saying this for my sake or his. "If the Dark Lord speaks to us, just let me answer, all right?"

"Okay," I repeated, thankful for this idea knowing that once I entered that room, my voice would be rendered useless.

Draco and I sat in silence after that until Narcissa rounded the corner into the room gracefully in her elegant, black dress, her eyes finding us immediately. "It is time," she told us. "Everyone else has arrived and the Dark Lord wishes to begin now."

Draco's hand tightened around mine as we stood and followed Narcissa. Her heels clicked on the immaculate wood flooring beneath us and I found myself wishing time would slow down so I didn't have to see my father or the Dark Lord so soon.

The table in the drawing room was surrounded by people all dressed in black. I pretended not to notice my father sitting on the left hand side. The curtains in front of the tall windows were drawn tightly shut, blocking all light from the room save that which was coming from the large chandelier above our heads.

Draco and I took our seats quietly as the rest of the members of the room watched us. I could feel the nausea return to my body and resisted the urge to vomit here and now.

Once we were seated, the Dark Lord, who was at the head of the table spoke in his snake-like voice. "Welcome Elizabeth, Draco. Are you ready to begin?"