Merely Misunderstood

Chapter Thirty-Seven

The sun beat down on my neck as I walked down the sidewalk. I couldn't wait to get back to the vacation home and serve myself a tall glass of iced tea.

I was on my way back from Malfoy Manor — I'd just walked all the way there to deliver Mum's homemade pudding as a thank-you for inviting us to dinner last week.

I was curious as to why Mum had made me go all the way there when she could have apparated there herself in a split second. I thought she would've wanted to deliver the pudding herself — to mine and Draco's pleasure, Mum and Narcissa Malfoy had become good friends ever since Mum invited her to tea one afternoon at the beginning of June — but no, she sent me to walk the three miles up the winding roads and into the country.

Maybe Mum was just offering me more opportunity to see Draco, which I was totally fine with, especially now that both of our parents knew about us and encouraged it. But I couldn't help but think Mum was trying to get me out of the house again.

Mum and Dad had been acting sort of strange all summer, always telling me to make plans and go places... They'd even tried to convince me to go to France with the Hollands. And though I turned that down, I'd still hardly spent any time at our vacation rental with Mum and Dad.

"Isn't it dangerous to be going places now that You-Know-Who's out there?" I'd asked a few weeks ago, and Mum had simply replied with, "He's always been out there, honey," which had told me absolutely nothing except that she was hiding something.

Both my parents were incredibly on edge too, which was to be expected, of course, with the current situation. But it was almost as though they expected You-Know-Who to turn up on our doorstep from the way they always ushered me out of the house.

I had to admit, though, the long walk was kind of worth it. For one thing, I got to see Draco, and we'd spent a couple hours wandering the splendid garden of his home together. And for another, I got a very long view of the sunset tonight, and it was absolutely gorgeous — shades of fiery red and bright orange painted the horizon vibrantly.

I turned onto our street, my feet aching. The first thing I was gonna do when I got back was collapse onto the couch and lay there until dinner was ready, if it wasn't already.

I looked instinctively at the house as it came into view and came to an abrupt halt, my heart stopping.

Thick, black smoke was billowing over the house, concealing it from view.

I started forward without ever making the decision to take a step, and the closer I got, the more I could feel the heat from the fire.

There were people gathered on the sidewalk outside, and I shoved past them, rushing inside.

"Mum!" I screamed into the smoke, my eyes stinging. "Dad!"

I felt around for the stairs blindly, coughing painfully as I squeezed my eyes shut against the smoke. Where was the fire? I couldn't see anything —

Something whizzed past my ear, and I opened my eyes in time to see a stream of red light.

Another stunning spell flew at me, and I ducked out of the way. I grabbed my wand, but where was I supposed to aim it? I couldn't see a thing!

Someone dove at me, and I jumped forward to get away, trying to see through the smoke and failing.

My foot caught the first stair, and I stumbled, climbing up on all fours.

I tried to stand at the top of the stairs, but before I got the chance, a pair of strong hands grabbed my arms and forced me off the floor.

I fought back, kicking and squirming, doing everything I could to get away.

"Get off me!" I screamed, jabbing my wand blindly, hoping I could land it somewhere.

I felt the tip of my wand come in contact with flesh, and there was a crackling sound as the person was jolted with electricity. Their grip disappeared from my arms, and I dropped onto the stairs, tumbling down and landing at the foot of the stairs in a heap.

I scrambled to get up, trying desperately to breathe through the pain, when someone suddenly ran at me, yanking me toward the door.

"Run! Run!" Dad's voice shouted at me.

I burst out the door, coughing and gasping for fresh air, but I didn't stop running.

Dad was right behind me, and when I glanced back to see whether we were being followed, I noticed he was gripping an unfamiliar wand tightly in his hand. I watched as he sent a jet of red light over his shoulder into the cloud of smoke, not bothering that there were muggles present.

"What're you —"

"Go!" Dad screamed at me, and it was then that I noticed two dark figures emerging from the house.

I ran wildly, dodging out of the way of jets of green and red light as they flew at me.

Dad turned around and sent a fierce explosion at our attackers, and while they couldn't see us, he pushed me behind a nearby car. We waited in silence for a moment before Dad peeked through the car's windows, and instantly, a spell hit the windows and shattered them all.

Dad turned to me, shoving a bag into my arms.

"Take this and run," he ordered, shouting over the blaring car alarm. "Go somewhere safe!"

I looked up at him reproachfully. "But what about you?" I asked, fear creeping into my voice. "What about Mum —"

"Just go! I'll find you after, I promise!"

But I sat motionless as he stood up from behind the car, shooting a stunning spell at his target before ducking behind the car once more. Seeing my "muggle" father casting spells was making me think this was all a nightmare.

"How can you be doing magic —"

"GO!" Dad physically shoved me, and I obeyed, turning and sprinted toward the space between two houses as the two pursuers fired jets of green light at me.

I could hear Dad's shouting over the pounding of my feet hitting the ground, but soon all sound was drowned out as I realized I had nowhere to go.

Where was I supposed to run to? The only safe place I knew was Hogwarts. I couldn't go to Mirah's; their house was empty — they weren't due to come back from Paris until the end of June.

There was only one place left I could think of....

I headed for the winding road into the country, and I didn't stop running until the manor came into view.

I forced my legs forward, sprinting up the driveway and onto the stairs that led to the front door. My legs gave out halfway up the steps, and I fell onto the stairs, my lungs on fire and my heart beating so fast it felt like one single beat.

I dragged myself up again, stumbling to the door and pounding on it with all my strength.

I banged on the door, over and over, never ceasing, until finally, I heard a voice; "All right, all right! I'm coming!"

The door opened, and I collapsed at Draco's feet, my head spinning and my stomach churning.

"Brianna!" Draco's voice was panicked. He bent down and lifted me partially off the floor, meeting my eyes with fear. "Are you al—"

"They came for my parents — burned the house down — Dad stayed behind — he told me to run —" I stopped, turning and hurling over the stone floor.

"Oh, God," Draco sounded terrified. "Mother! Come quick!" he scooped me into his arms, and I felt myself go limp. "No, no please — someone help me!"

The last thing I heard was Draco's frantic shouting before everything went black.