Restoration

Chapter Twenty-Nine

***

At some point Bellatrix allowed Elara to roam around the house freely, doing whatever she pleased whenever Bellatrix wasn't around. Her first instinct was of course to run away the moment her foot left the bedroom she had been kept in for months.

Born with temperamental and incredibly talented wizarding abilities, Bellatrix expected nothing less of her, as she placed a protection spell around the Lestrange home, which made sure Elara would be kept inside. They nicknamed it the Rapunzel curse, and some of Bellatrix's friends placed their bets whether Elara would break free or break underneath the influence of the strong witch.

And as months went by, Elara memorised every corner of the house, blindfolding herself at times to make sure she was truly able to recognize every corner. Surprisingly, there were no secret or off-limits rooms; Elara was allowed to inspect everything, read every book, and even rearrange the furniture if she so pleased.

But the thing Elara adored most was the grand piano sat in the luxurious salon. Although she was never taught how to play it, she always dreamt of hearing it being played while she would dance to the sweet melodies.

And as she marked the end of another week onto the wall, her ears perked up as she picked up on a very familiar melody echoing in the distance - a waltz of some sort. She closed her eyes and she could feel being lifted away from the dark interrogation room somewhere much warmer. She could smell the delicious pastries and sparkling champagne, and as she opened her eyes she found herself in an enormous ballroom, surrounded by dozens of other people who were wearing extravagant clothes. It felt like she had time-jumped into the renaissance, or baroque, as she recognised some of the typical features on the ladies' dresses.

"Care to dance?" A voice greeted her from behind.

"Draco?" Elara blinked a couple of times as he already took her hand and lead her onto the dance floor.

"I've been trying to speak to you for the past couple of days," his voice cracked as he whispered into her ear.

They had tried everything - from repeating the sleeping charm Blaise cast on him, to Anthony guiding him into Elara's dreams, no matter how much they despised each other. But nothing had worked, and they all knew that there was only one reason for it - Elara wasn't dreaming.

She had barely slept, and whenever she did, she found herself somewhere dark and quiet, until she woke up to be interrogated yet again. She had exhausted all of her powers the last time she spoke to Draco that she wasn't able to see him again. - and she had become more desperate by the day because he had been the only source of comfort and human connection she's had in weeks.

"How was your Christmas?" Elara faintly responded as her vision blurred. Draco tightened his grip around her waist and shifted her weight onto his body so that he was able to hold her as she grew more and more exhausted.

"Interesting," he admitted. He wanted to tell her how Tracey nearly gauged Pansy's eyes out, and how Pansy's punch gave Bruise a week's lasting bruise. He wanted to amuse her with the fact that he begged Anthony to punch him, and how he has spent more time with him in the last week than he has during the entirety of his education at Hogwarts.

They twirled around the dance hall, smoothly gliding past other couples. Elara recognized some of her classmates dancing around and as she smiled at Luna, she didn't even flinch. It was as if she was looking through her with that cold, piercing look, which Elara found most odd. And as she smiled at Anthony, who was dancing with Tracey, Draco noticed Elara began realizing something was off. "Hey, why is everyone acting so strange-"

"This is The Nutcracker by Tchaikovsky," he changed the topic, hoping to drag her attention away from everyone's robotic movements. Draco had focused all of his energy on getting Elara inside his dreams and had completely forgotten to make other characters in his dreams act out their parts.