Pariah: The Other Malfoy

Chapter 66: Prisoner

The Dark Lord was already at Malfoy Manor by the time I returned. He was too busy congratulating Snape, and to an extent my brother, to notice me. My mother pushed me to the basement, the only place I would be safe from him, and I was shocked to see Ollivander there.

He was locked in the cage used for me, unconscious and bloody. I bit my lip, collapsing to the ground and burying my head in my hands. What was going to happen now?

My father was broken out a month after Dumbledore's death. Meetings were held right above my head, the Dark Lord didn't care about me anymore so I was left to exist - not live, just exist. I could have left the basement if I desired, but I knew all I'd get was cursed by another Death Eater.

The Dark Lord was determined to kill Harry. Ollivander had told him he had to use another wand, otherwise he would never defeat Harry due to the connection their wands shared.

I heard the stories of how they had killed muggles, tortured muggle sympathisers. How they had control of the Ministry, having used the Imperius Curse on most of the higher-up officials. Their only obstacle now was the Minister himself, Rufus Scrimgeour.

My father came downstairs not long after he was broken out, enveloping me in a hug. We spoke for a while, he had taken a meal down with him for me, and I told him everything that had happened while he had been gone. My O.W.L results, my relationship with Tobias, Quidditch, everything apart from stuff that had to do with Draco, or Snape, or Death Eaters at all. But all the good news seemed a million years ago.

My father's spirit was broken. He was pale, thin, had dark circles. His normally well-groomed hair was in need of a brush, he desperately needed a shave, he looked broken. But he never spoke a word about his time in Azkaban, instead trying to act as though there weren't plans to kill my friends going on above us, trying to pretend everything was as it was before.

But it didn't work. Shrieks came from above, another person tortured, and my father visibly flinched. I could tell he no longer viewed the Dark Lord how he had so long ago - he was scared of what would happen to us all. My brother had failed in the Dark Lord's eyes, despite him getting Death Eaters into Hogwarts, he hadn't killed Dumbledore himself. And so, my family's house was base, we were nothing but lowly servants to him.

I hadn't seen Draco or Snape since I had returned, I didn't want to. I had trusted both of them, yet they had kept so many secrets from me. I never wanted to see them again, especially as I heard Snape feed information he had gained about the Order to the Dark Lord above me.

My father wasn't able to see me much after that first time. The Dark Lord kept him busy with menial tasks, never trusting him with a real mission again. My time was spent listening to conversations above me, or talking to Ollivander.

He had been taken last year, held hostage to give information. He had resisted, but the torture became too much, and he had broken. He was ashamed, but I understood. The methods Death Eaters used were beyond imagination.

The full moons were the worst. As Ollivander occupied my cage, all that was done was to lock the basement door. He had to back up against the very edge of the cage during my transformations, lest I manage to attack him.

I was ashamed the morning I woke up. No Wolfsbane meant no control, and the fact that I awoke with no injuries told me I had been otherwise occupied. Ollivander assured me he was fine, I hadn't reached him, no harm, but that didn't change how awful I felt.

The days the Dark Lord was gone were when I had freedom. The Death Eaters who often prowled the house were gone, minus my family and Bellatrix, but it was easy enough to avoid her.

Draco tried to catch me a few times, to speak to me, but I avoided him as best I could. I knew I had to speak to him at some point, hear his side of the story, but it was too raw.

My anger at Snape grew one evening when a large meeting with all the Death Eaters was occurring above me. He informed the Dark Lord of their plans to move Harry, correcting the date that another Death Eater had found out. They planned to ambush the Order during the movement, and I feared that they would succeed with Snape's help.

I sat at the dining table with my family as we awaited word on how the mission had gone. They had taken me upstairs to give me a proper meal, yet it sat untouched in front of me. All Death Eaters minus my family had gone, displaying the lack of trust the Dark Lord had. I didn't know what my family's hopes were for the outcome of the mission, but I prayed that nobody was hurt during it.

Sometime later, there was a crack outside and my father rushed to get me back downstairs. Snape walked in, I felt his eyes on me as he saw me heading down, but he couldn't speak before more cracks came from behind him.

I sat in silence below the room, waiting for word on how the mission had gone. At the cry of fury, the smashing of several objects, I understood it had not gone to plan.

Seven Harry's. Polyjuice Potion. They had confused the Death Eaters and successfully escaped, though the Dark Lord had successfully worked out which Harry was the real one. He had taken my father's wand, due to Ollivander's words, yet it hadn't worked. My father's wand was destroyed and Harry escaped, much to my delight.

The Dark Lord was furious. He stormed downstairs, Wormtail flanking him, and I shrunk into the corner, trying to be invisible. I watched in fear as he tortured Ollivander, trying to get more information out of him. Eventually, he succeeded.

Ollivander told him of the Elder Wand. An old story, the Tale of the Three Brother's, spoke of such an item. My mother used to read it to Draco and I, it told the story of three brothers cheating death and receiving items from him as a prize. The Invisibility Cloak, the Resurrection Stone and the Elder Wand.

I had always assumed it was just a story, yet I could tell the Dark Lord planned to seek out this invincible wand. If that wand was real, and he got his hands on it, we would be in real trouble.

I heard from upstairs that Mad-Eye Moody had been killed. Mad-Eye was a strong Order member, one of the best, so his death would hit them all hard. I just hoped it would make them stronger together.

A few days later, the Dark Lord completed his coup of the Ministry. He had invaded it already, it was essentially under his control. But he took the final step on that Thursday evening, murdering the Minister of Magic after attempting to interrogate him for Harry's whereabouts, and seizing documents informing him of the location of Order safe houses. He was sure he would find Harry at one of them.

The Tonks family were tortured. Dedalus Diggle's house was burned down. Worst of all, with the power of the Ministry on their side, they broke down the barriers protecting the Burrow and forced their way in. They had been having a celebration, the Dark Lord was sure Harry had to have been there, yet by the time the Death Eaters arrived, he was gone. They interrogated those who had not escaped for hours, yet nobody said a word.

I was relieved there were no more fatalities. I imagined my friends would have been tortured, but they sounded to be relatively unharmed. I was on edge constantly, waiting to hear one of my friends had been killed or captured.

The takeover of the Ministry resulted in anti-muggle leaflets. They were being described as dangerous, attacking them was encouraged, and all muggleborns had to register and face interrogation. The official rhetoric was that muggleborns stole magic from wizards, and they couldn't become wizards magically.

I feared for Tobias. I had heard nothing from him for months, unsurprising, but I feared he would be caught by Death Eaters, tortured or worse. As I sat in the basement, I found I couldn't stand by and let him be caught.

If I could save one life, that would be something.

I composed a letter, pleading with him to escape and go into hiding, explaining what I had heard from the basement. The letter was frantic, I hoped he saw how desperate I was. I snuck upstairs late one night, past midnight, and found Zeus perched in his normal place. Miraculously unharmed.

I moved to tie the letter to his legs, my breathing ragged as I worked, I was terrified. But I was so focused on what I was doing, I didn't hear the figure entering the room behind me.

"What is the little half-breed doing?" I whipped around in fear, Bellatrix was staring at me, other figures behind her.