Circi | 2

THIRTY FIVE

"A Shift in Power"

September 1997, 1 month later

The Ministry has Fallen...

Circi heard no end of their victory for an entire month. They forced her to attend dinner so that every humiliating attempt Lucius made at regaining his status in his home and their ranks was there for her to see. She sat beside Draco, always opposite Lucius and Narcissa instead of between them like they would have preferred.

She often felt the jabbing of elbows in her side whenever someone cracked a joke about someone else's death and she continued to be jabbed until she was forced to laugh too.

Now, the flesh on the side of her abdomen was as tender as her neck had been for days after the murder of Professor Burbage. Her hands shook whenever she traversed the corridors of the Manor alone, which wasn't often as Draco had taken to sharing her bed with her since they had refused to fix her door back onto its hinges. Some nights, they opted to lock themselves into Draco's room to sleep easier.

Lucius had approached them as the beginning of the new school year drew near. Draco was spreading ointment over the bruise that flowered over Circi's skin while she lay back on her bed, bunching the fabric of her shirt in her hands as she held it high enough for Draco to tend to her. He apologised a lot- Draco that is- for what they did to her. For his cowardice. And each time she apologised for not seeing him sooner, for not being strong enough to help herself.

Lucius hadn't announced himself immediately. He had fixed his cane but opted to go without in some attempt at proving himself to the others. As he stood in the doorway, he watched his children speaking to each other in low voices that barely reached the door. They always whispered around him now.

He knocked on the doorframe, causing them both to jerk around, Circi winced as her shirt fell back down.

"I have decided," Lucius began, clearing his throat and staying by the doorframe, "that you will both return to Hogwarts. For your own safety."

"You were going to keep me here?" Circi asked, eyes wide, and Lucius hated how much she showed her malice towards him.

"I just said you are going to return-"

"You said," she tried to get off the bed but her bruising was fresh and it hurt to move, so she leaned across Draco instead, "you said that you decided. I was never going to have a choice." Draco's hand landed on her shoulder and helped her lie back down. Her voice cracked and she looked at him for help now. "We're prisoners, Draco." Lucius beckoned her brother to follow him. As he stood from the bed she held onto his hand tightly. "Don't forget that."

*

On the Hogwarts Express, Circi wanted to run off and find Leslie and Mica but she was exhausted.

Her bruise throbbed angrily as the death eaters were particularly boisterous at their farewell dinner. The Carrow twins, one of whom had tried to attack her the night Dumbledore died, were quite vocal to Lucius about how they would keep a close eye on her for him which did not settle well in her stomach. She had hardly slept all night despite being safe in Draco's bed behind a locked door. All night she had felt sick to her stomach, a cold sweat raking her body and every noise sending panic through her. She had woken Draco multiple times crying and hyperventilating.

But, she had felt safe on the train, despite the strange looks her peers gave her and the glares they offered Draco. Compared to him, she knew she looked a mess. The type of mess the students expected someone who conferred with death eaters to look like.