Of Doves and Dragons

Chapter Forty-three: The Coldness of Hell

"Maybe I would dress for the weather if I would feel better. But I have to tell them all I'm freezing, no matter the season."

-Sara Keys, No Matter the Season

Ember was always cold. After her patronus first encircled her, it was as if her bones could never quite get rid of the chill. It had become a part of her and something she didn't complain about, but there in the drafty, dim, cellar, she was freezing.

She couldn't quite fathom what had happened to land her back in the disastrous cellar of Malfoy Manor. She'd been free, out in the world with every chance to explore it and she'd thrown it away to help a world that had never wanted her. She knew, even sitting on the damp floors with a severe chill running through her, that it was the right thing to do, but perhaps letting Snape convince her to play into Voldemort's hand had not been.

Wormtail had thrown her down here none too gently some hours earlier, leaving her with nothing but the horrible thought that she was now bound to the Dark Lord far worse than she ever had been before. She was sure that neither her nor Snape could have predicted this outcome, but it mattered not now. She had no ideas on how to break the bond and so she suffered with the knowledge that she had entangled her fate, and Draco's, with that of the Dark Lord.

She had taken out the golden coin that had been trapped by lace and skin and trailed her fingers over it longingly. She hated to think of what Draco would think of her. What he would do when he realized that she would not be making it to the rendezvous. She had sent as simple of a message as she could when left alone in the cellar. It had taken nearly fifteen minutes to dial in trust me into the coin. She could only hope that he would eventually get her meaning and that he wouldn't worry too much.

The significant sound of the gears unlocking at the front of the cellar pricked at Ember's ears. She wasn't expecting any visitors until at least tomorrow, and was extremely cautious of who it might be behind the door. The single window on the top left told her that it was evening, but she had no idea how long she had been sitting alone with her thoughts, only that it had been long enough to make her legs go numb.

Ember was huddled against one of the structural posts, with her eyes trained on the only entrance. She supposed she shouldn't have been surprised to see Narcissa's sharp face behind the door, but doubted that her master knew she was down here with the likes of her. The woman looked her over quickly, with some emotion Ember couldn't quite place in her eyes, and entered before softly shutting the door behind her.

She said nothing as Narcissa made her way to her. The woman seemed nervous and cast ghastly looks over their surroundings as if it had been Ember's choice of shelter and not her own dusty property. She looked around her, for a chair or anything to sit on, before coming up without anything and scornfully lowering herself to the floor just in front of her captured daughter-in-law.

"Ember," The woman breathed out deeply. In shame or relief, Ember couldn't decide. "Do you know where my son is?"

It figured that Narcissa would come down not to check up on her, but for information on her son. If Ember knew anything about Narcissa, it was that she had the motherly unyielding love and concern for her son that Olivia Knight did not have for her. Ember found it suffocating, but perhaps that was only because she had never been in such an equation.

"I don't know where he is exactly at this moment in time," Was Ember's raspy reply. After not using her voice in hours, her throat would protest anything but water.

Narcissa leaned forward, her eyes desperate. "But is he safe?"

Ember frowned, plagued by very similar worries. "As much as he can be."