Draco had barely made it through the entrance hall that day when he heard his mother's cries coming from somewhere upstairs in the manor
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Cecilia was all but finished with Lucius, wanting nothing more than to blast him through the wall, anything to get him to just shut up or disappear- though both would be preferable.
But then Draco stirred in her lap and her attention turned back to him, her hand cradling the side of his face.
"Draco?" She shook him just slightly, gently. "Draco- Draco- wake up-"
Lucius wiped some blood that had trickled down his brow with the back of his hand. He noticed the water starting to leak out of the room, he muttered a barrier spell. The water hit the invisible barrier in the doorway, and so it began to rise, slowly and steadily. The water redirected his thoughts to the reason he had called her here that day.
"I have something for you Cecilia."
He made his way over to the back wall, where presumably two tall bookcases sat. Lucius pulled the third book from the left on the third shelf from the top, and the whole thing came away from the wall to reveal a shallow closet. "I found it especially for you."
Lucius pulled out a long, white silk robe and draped it over his arms like it was something precious.
The Malfoy manor was entirely too unnecessarily large. They didn't have time and Ron didn't have the back up or patience to search every room. He paused, briefly, running through the most likely locations in this damn place.
There wasn't a damn thing to indicate there had been a fight in any particular direction.
Then he saw it. Water that was very out of place. "This way," he hissed at George, doubting he actually had to say anything at all when taking off at a sprint was enough to indicate there was something to be followed.
He followed the trail, then the sound, skidding to a stop before crashing into a doorway with a vague shimmer of a barrier in place. There was water gathering at the bottom.
George could barely make out the magically muffled sound of the cacophonic chaos taking place on the other side of the door over the overwhelming rush of blood pounding in his ears - if he had had his doubts that anything was actually wrong before, they had now been entirely wiped away at the sight of the strangely leaking water trailing into the hallway and the sealed and barred door.
A panic fueled by confusion seized him as he and Ron took turns trying to jimmy open the door, neither physical force nor the usual unlocking spells leading anywhere.
"Bloody- fuck it, move," George nudged his brother out of the way and brandished his wand toward the door.
"ReductoCharmed or not, few things would have been able to withstand a well-practiced and enthusiastically-cast Reductor curse. Though the barrier tempered its usual explosive results, the spell still yielded the intended outcome - the door shook, the barrier's glimmer wavering then disappearing entirely, and suddenly water was rushing out from under the door and George wasted no
( ... )
Lucius had been making his way toward Cecilia when he caught sight of the first piece of filth. He cast the robe onto the table to protect it from getting wet before its time, and before he could manage to curse the first, the second shattered the barrier in the doorway.
The water rushed out of the room and started flooding into the rest of the house.
After a moment, he realized the second was the vile thing that had profaned Cecilia in the first place. "You!"
A curse exploded from Lucius' wand, and a current of dagger-shaped wind flew toward the intruders.
She had her wand pointed directly at his chest, not quite sure why she wasn't just damning this whole thing and making a run for it. But Draco sputtering in her lap and Narcissa nearly at her mind's end kept her right where she was, a defiant chin raised at Lucius, knowing that if he tried anything, she'd do what she had to do.
But then the door shook and it was as if the whole world slowed down.
A crash and then another before it burst open and the water started to empty from the room. She kept her wand steady but turned her head, hoping that the Auror standing guard had somehow come to his senses- was coming to end this whole thing-
But then she saw that familiar mess of red hair and it was like her heart was ready to burst from her chest. George. And Ron. Both of them a little out of breath. But they were there.
Suddenly Lucius was pointing his wand directly at them and just as a curse exploded from his, Cecilia was shouting, "Expulso!"
As soon as the door was out of the way, things got predictably out of control. The curse flying from Lucius - fucking seriously? Lucius Malfoy shows up and no one notices? - had Ron dodging back around the doorframe briefly.
Ron internally cheered a little when he heard Cecilia and swung around the door to find Lucius flat on his back. With their luck, it wouldn't last long.
Ron shot a quick disarming charm toward him, trying to swing this as far into their favor as quickly as possible.
George barely just managed to duck in time to avoid the curse that flew just over his head to shoot right through the doorway and impale itself on the wall at the end of the hall, momentarily distracted and frozen at the sight of Cecilia quite literally kneeling in a pool of blood, the receding water surrounding her, what looked like Draco Malfoy's corpse, and a woman he was fairly sure he recognized as Draco's mother, tinted a very unnerving shade of red despite the water diluting the bodily fluid.
He instinctively shot a hex of his own in Lucius's (fucking Lucius Malfoy, bloody hell) direction, not bothering to aim as he splashed through the shallow pool draining from the room, reaching for Cecilia.
She watched as Lucius landed hard on his back, Cecilia suddenly shaking as she realized that maybe this was all over now. That the last few hours of unbearable fright and torment might finally be over. She let her head fall back, a breath passing through her lips as she exhaled.
The water was seeping out into the hall, and while she knew Lucius would rise to his feet at some point, all she could focus on was George. He had come for her- he was here and he was heading right to her. She sucked in a breath, steadying herself as he reached her.
"We have to get Draco to the hospital," she said, trying to focus on that instead of the way her blood-stained hands were beginning to shake. "Can you help me get him to the table?" she asked, swallowing, tears brimming in her eyes.
She moved to get to her feet, her eyes catching his.
Lucius' eyes rolled back from the inside of his skull. His blood was boiling, he could not believe such vile vermin could overcome him so quickly.
His entire body tensed when he realized that his wand was no longer in his hand.
Narcissa was the first to see him stir. It was all she could do not to black out from fear, pain, and anxiety, but she knew he could not regain his wand. This could be moments from being over.
Screaming out in pain, she raised her wand at Lucius and with all her will and might, an awesome amount of energy sprung forth from her wand and shot at Lucius.
Narcissa collapsed into hysterics, and grabbed Draco by his shoulders, shaking him and screaming, "Draco- Draco- Draco- please, wake up!"
Lucius only managed to get his forearm over his face to protect himself from the attack. Once it hit, it felt like what it must be like to get run over by that crazed Knight Bus, and he lost all consciousness.
Ron gave Narcissa a mildly impressed look, his entire view of the Malfoys - except Lucius who was at least more crazy than Ron had already thought - shifted a tad. He didn't dwell on it, instead going about binding Lucius' hands and collecting his wand.
It was only then he bothered to conjure up his Patronus, sending it ahead to Kingsley with a quick message that he had Lucius Malfoy, was bringing him in, and there needed to be an investigation at Malfoy Manor.By the time the Jack Russell was disappearing, Lucius stirred. Ron unceremoniously yanked him to his feet, trying to ignore the half incoherent and completely creepy comments he was making about Cecilia.
He took in the alarming amount of blood but knew that was Cecilia's specialty. "See that Draco doesn't die," Ron told them, as if that needed to be said before dragging Lucius away at wand point.
George threw a look at Ron's retreating back that was both pointed and thankful, glad to see the apparent source of all this trouble (the extent of which he was barely managing to grasp, still reeling from both anxiety-induced adrenaline and a jumbled sort of influx of new information) being unceremoniously dragged out, knowing Ron would hardly be giving the vile excuse for a man an easy time through arrest and processing procedures
( ... )
Draco was sprawled out on the table in front of her, the white robe Lucius had been so close to forcing on her already stained with his blood. She pressed her palms flat against the table, leaning her body against it, suddenly feeling more than a little tired, as if her legs were going to give out any second. But she had to focus because this wasn't over
( ... )
There was nothing about any of this that screamed 'fine' to him, but Draco practically bleeding out on the table (a very immature and spiteful little voice at the back of his mind screamed 'let him!', quickly quieted by the much more present part of him that managed to care because Cecilia cared), Narcissa was looking more and more hysterical and frail by the second, and this was neither the time nor place to go into any kind of over-protective frenzy.
So for now, he firmly set his jaw and reached out to give her hand a quick squeeze, eyebrows scrunching together slightly. "You okay to take him?" he asked carefully. Given the look of her, he didn't think she still had her Portkey on her.
He was in incredible pain, and wet?
He groaned and tried to escape back into unconsciousness.
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But then Draco stirred in her lap and her attention turned back to him, her hand cradling the side of his face.
"Draco?" She shook him just slightly, gently. "Draco- Draco- wake up-"
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"I have something for you Cecilia."
He made his way over to the back wall, where presumably two tall bookcases sat. Lucius pulled the third book from the left on the third shelf from the top, and the whole thing came away from the wall to reveal a shallow closet. "I found it especially for you."
Lucius pulled out a long, white silk robe and draped it over his arms like it was something precious.
Reply
There wasn't a damn thing to indicate there had been a fight in any particular direction.
Then he saw it. Water that was very out of place. "This way," he hissed at George, doubting he actually had to say anything at all when taking off at a sprint was enough to indicate there was something to be followed.
He followed the trail, then the sound, skidding to a stop before crashing into a doorway with a vague shimmer of a barrier in place. There was water gathering at the bottom.
Reply
A panic fueled by confusion seized him as he and Ron took turns trying to jimmy open the door, neither physical force nor the usual unlocking spells leading anywhere.
"Bloody- fuck it, move," George nudged his brother out of the way and brandished his wand toward the door.
"ReductoCharmed or not, few things would have been able to withstand a well-practiced and enthusiastically-cast Reductor curse. Though the barrier tempered its usual explosive results, the spell still yielded the intended outcome - the door shook, the barrier's glimmer wavering then disappearing entirely, and suddenly water was rushing out from under the door and George wasted no ( ... )
Reply
The water rushed out of the room and started flooding into the rest of the house.
After a moment, he realized the second was the vile thing that had profaned Cecilia in the first place. "You!"
A curse exploded from Lucius' wand, and a current of dagger-shaped wind flew toward the intruders.
Reply
But then the door shook and it was as if the whole world slowed down.
A crash and then another before it burst open and the water started to empty from the room. She kept her wand steady but turned her head, hoping that the Auror standing guard had somehow come to his senses- was coming to end this whole thing-
But then she saw that familiar mess of red hair and it was like her heart was ready to burst from her chest. George. And Ron. Both of them a little out of breath. But they were there.
Suddenly Lucius was pointing his wand directly at them and just as a curse exploded from his, Cecilia was shouting, "Expulso!"
Reply
Ron internally cheered a little when he heard Cecilia and swung around the door to find Lucius flat on his back. With their luck, it wouldn't last long.
Ron shot a quick disarming charm toward him, trying to swing this as far into their favor as quickly as possible.
Reply
He instinctively shot a hex of his own in Lucius's (fucking Lucius Malfoy, bloody hell) direction, not bothering to aim as he splashed through the shallow pool draining from the room, reaching for Cecilia.
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The water was seeping out into the hall, and while she knew Lucius would rise to his feet at some point, all she could focus on was George. He had come for her- he was here and he was heading right to her. She sucked in a breath, steadying herself as he reached her.
"We have to get Draco to the hospital," she said, trying to focus on that instead of the way her blood-stained hands were beginning to shake. "Can you help me get him to the table?" she asked, swallowing, tears brimming in her eyes.
She moved to get to her feet, her eyes catching his.
"I can't believe you're here-"
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His entire body tensed when he realized that his wand was no longer in his hand.
Narcissa was the first to see him stir. It was all she could do not to black out from fear, pain, and anxiety, but she knew he could not regain his wand. This could be moments from being over.
Screaming out in pain, she raised her wand at Lucius and with all her will and might, an awesome amount of energy sprung forth from her wand and shot at Lucius.
Narcissa collapsed into hysterics, and grabbed Draco by his shoulders, shaking him and screaming, "Draco- Draco- Draco- please, wake up!"
Lucius only managed to get his forearm over his face to protect himself from the attack. Once it hit, it felt like what it must be like to get run over by that crazed Knight Bus, and he lost all consciousness.
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"G-g-gettt. Off-" he managed to say between collisions with the ground, his teeth chattering slightly.
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It was only then he bothered to conjure up his Patronus, sending it ahead to Kingsley with a quick message that he had Lucius Malfoy, was bringing him in, and there needed to be an investigation at Malfoy Manor.By the time the Jack Russell was disappearing, Lucius stirred. Ron unceremoniously yanked him to his feet, trying to ignore the half incoherent and completely creepy comments he was making about Cecilia.
He took in the alarming amount of blood but knew that was Cecilia's specialty. "See that Draco doesn't die," Ron told them, as if that needed to be said before dragging Lucius away at wand point.
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So for now, he firmly set his jaw and reached out to give her hand a quick squeeze, eyebrows scrunching together slightly. "You okay to take him?" he asked carefully. Given the look of her, he didn't think she still had her Portkey on her.
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