Pariah: The Other Malfoy

Chapter 77: It Begins

Five minutes later, the Dark Lord materialised in the ruined room. Bellatrix was holding me against the wall, fury clear on her face, a shard of glass in her hand and pressed against my neck.

I was staring defiantly at her until the Dark Lord had arrived. As soon as he did, she dropped me and turned to him.

"No less than Potter," he hissed, "I told you to call me for nothing less than him."

"He was here, my Lord," Bellatrix moved to his side, holding his cloak tightly.

"Then where is he?" He asked, his voice dangerous.

"She helped him escape," I shrunk against the wall as Bellatrix spoke, the Dark Lord's attention turned to me.

"Lyra Malfoy," his cold voice shook me to the core, "Your father should know better than to allow a beast like you freedom in this house. And now you've allowed Harry Potter to escape."

I clenched my fists, forcing myself to stand tall.

"Bravery?" He laughed, "Foolish, you should be grovelling at my feet. Though your family should thank you. Their punishment will be less... severe, if you were to blame."

I screamed in agony as he slashed his wand at me, pain hitting me from every inch of my body. I was slammed against the walls, blood pouring from my head, my arm broken, a rib could be heard cracking.

He had called every Death Eater to witness the results of failure, to see what awaited them. I didn't know why he didn't just kill me, it wasn't down to loyalty to my father. I wanted death.

My screams eventually turned to whimpers, my voice hoarse, unable to react any longer. But the Dark Lord didn't stop, if anything he got worse. I was reduced to a broken mess on the floor, my eyes empty, no longer feeling the shards of glass stabbing into my sides.

I heard my family being tortured afterwards, but each only received one curse each. Not the couple of hours I received. The Dark Lord stepped over my body on the floor, a sick grin on his face as he stared down at me, hitting me with one more curse for good measure.

"Let this serve as a warning, Lucius," he hissed, "I do not expect to return here unless Harry Potter returns. Next time, she dies."

There was a crack as he Disapparated, and the entire house seemed to let out a sigh of relief. Before my parents could move, Bellatrix was sitting on top of me, her face too close to mine, a shard of glass in her hand again.

My screams returned, my parents could do nothing, lest the Dark Lord return.

I was locked in the basement for the rest of the holidays. My mother came down to heal my scars as best she could after the full moon, but I didn't even acknowledge her as I lay on the ground, broken and empty.

I heard arguments above me. My family were on house arrest now, Draco and I could return to school, but my parents and Bellatrix could not leave. My mother was telling my father he should have stepped in, my father arguing he would have made things worse.

I didn't care, step in or not, the Dark Lord would still do the same to me. I told them I would accept the consequences of my actions, and here I was, in a pool of my own blood in the basement of Malfoy Manor.

I sat with Draco on the train, my friends not even seeing me as they boarded. He worked to keep me awake, he wasn't sitting with friends anyway. He tried to speak to me, but I barely reacted to him.

"What you did was brave," he said quietly, "Are Potter and the rest really so important that you'd sacrifice your life?"

At this, I turned to him.