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Lucius Malfoy looks pleased by the stunned, off guard look he managed to get on my face. In seconds when I recognized the man, I notice the difference in him. For my surprise, Lucius doesn't look as neatly put together like he usually has been whenever I've seen him. He looks quite ragged, actually. Like he hasn't slept many nights well, or ate anything for few days. His white hair isn't loosely tightened behind his back. It's now freed and little bit frizzy. What happened to him? Got no time to stay here and figure that out - as my instinctive reaction, like a prey animal, I quickly turn around and make a run for it, but... "Oop..-! What's... Your hurry, dear?" Lucius is fast to swing his walking stick, so the snake ornament's sharp teeth digs into my shoulder and he spins me around back to face him. "Ash..-!!" I groan from the slight pain the teeth gave thru the fabric of my work robe.
Before I can do anything, he's quick to push me up against the brick wall where I once was leaning against. As fast as I can, I try to grab my wand, but Lucius is faster to hold onto my wrist with his free hand:"A-a-a. No need for that.". Shit! Now he has a strong grip around my right wrist as he's holding the cane near to my face, ready to either use a spell on me or scratch my cheek with the snake's sharp teeth. "What you want?" I hiss while trying to keep a brave face. Even I can feel my heart pounding fast out of stress. There's also this anger bubbling inside me. After all, last time I saw him was back at the Malfoy Manor. Where Sniffy..- Lucius's cold grey eyes shifts between mine before he asks:"Shouldn't you be in the castle?". "Doesn't concern you." I snap back and try to wrench myself free, but for vain.
Lucius only tightens the grip around me and brings the shiny ornament even closer to my face:"Oh, but I believe it does, my dear. You see... I could... Summon more Death Eaters to teach you a lesson. Right. On. This. Alley.". His eyes then continued saying:'And no one would come to save you.'. Hate to admit, but he's right. If there would appear bunch of Death Eaters and they would all start beating me up in this alley, no one would even dared to take the second glance or even think about coming for help. Fuck... Giving him more stern glare before asking again:"What you want?". "The boy." he answer. Of course, he's after Harry. "Don't know where he is." I answer coolly. But obviously Lucius won't buy it. "Don't test me, (Y/N)." he growls under his breath as he brings one of the teeth of the snake an inch away from my cheek. If I'll move, it's going to cut the flesh.
The grip around the mirror in my other hand tightens against my stomach. What do I do?! "Severus may have a soft spot on you for some particular reason... Unlike me. So might as well start singing." he warns. "I..." I start hesitatingly. Lucius raise an eyebrow, ready to hear the answer where Harry is. Then, my eyes goes back to being stern:"I'd put that cane down if I were you.". Evil grin appears on his face as he stares down on me:"And why would I do that? There is no bargain in this one, luv. It's either you or Potter.". I keep the glare:"Or your son.". There is a twitch in Lucius's grey eyes, but tries to remain his cool. "What did you just say?" he isn't pleased by the threat. But I have no choice... "Draco was the one who disarmed Dumbledore at the Astronomy Tower that night. Which makes him the owner of the Elder Wand. Right? You and I both know what your precious Lord will do if he finds out." I tell him.
The look on Lucius's face slowly falls as he's registering what I just said. Can feel how my heart keeps beating fast as well as body is shaking a bit, but I try to ignore all that. Can't let him see how nervous I really am. He then frowns angrily:"You are bluffing.". "Wanna bet on that? Go on. Call all your little friends. I'll let everyone know how Draco is in Voldemort's way. See how long it takes before your son faces the same destiny as Dumbledore. Or don't. He's going to realize it sooner or later either way." my eyes keeps shifting between his with the stern glare. As soon as I said the name, Lucius feels the burning sensation on his left arm and now struggles what to do. Somewhere in the distance, up in the sky, four black smokes are approaching the Diagon Alley with high speed. Lucius gritted his teeth with murderous glare:"You...". "I'm not just a pretty face." I try desperately raise a smirk, even in actuality I'm scared what's about to happen next. He could easily just end my life here.
Then, for my surprise and great relief, Lucius lets go of me and leans away, looking slightly defeated. Feels like I can breath again. Phew... "Leave." he let out under his breath which I couldn't quite hear at first. "Huh?" I look at the man in front of me little bit stunned. He gets angry again and quickly grabs part of my clothing inside his fist to shove me further away:"Get back where you came from. Before I'll change my mind.". That's when I realized how there are more Death Eaters approaching us. Stunned by all of this, I take the last glance at him before starting to run along the narrow streets with the mirror in my hand. Just in time, I get out of the sight when three of the Death Eaters appears behind the corner only to see Lucius standing there all alone. "Well?" Bellatrix asks impatiently, wondering where the person is who said their Lord's name. Bartemius and Greyback are with her. Lucius fixes his clothing with simple move and tells them with calm and collected tone:"Already taken care of.".
Running thru these narrow alleyways to get further away from the Death Eaters, I press the mirror against my chest, still amazed by the fact I managed to get away from Lucius's grasp. I can't believe this! When I get far enough, I stop to catch a breath. Merlin, my legs are shaking! Not because of that running I just did, but because of the relieved stress that's coming out of me. Bringing up Draco really worked. Even part of me believed he wouldn't care, but... I'm glad to see there is some love and care for his own son under that vile and cruel character. Guess I have used to the fact parents don't put their children first in any situation... "(Y/N)?!" fade voice calls all of sudden. Huh?! Quickly, I look around but can't see anyone. Baffled by this, I wonder if I was just hearing things:"What the..?". "(Y/N)! Can you hear me?!" the voice calls again. This time, I realize it's coming from the mirror:"Ah!". Lift up the mirror to take a look at it and sure enough, I see Harry.
It's very shaky, but besides seeing Harry's face in distress, I see there are different colored spells being casted every few seconds behind him. Looks like he's hiding behind some stone wall that keeps breaking everytime a spell is being hit. This raises the anxious in me:"Wh..-?! What's going on?! Harry, please talk to me..- Is everyone alright? What's happening?! Is Sirius there with you?". Trying to keep my voice down so people who are walking past by the alleyway I'm in won't pay too much attention to me. "Yeah." Harry answers to all of them at once after couple moments went by. He then managed to tell me thru all that fighting noise how they are deep, deep down inside the bank and are struggling to get out after they got betrayed and ambushed. Seems that all four of them are down there. Fuck..! Quickly, I shove the mirror in my robe's pocket. I haveto help them!
Without thinking any further how am I going to get all the way down the bank pass all of the goblins and guards, I turn around and start running. But before I can even make past the first corner, someone grabs me and sharply spins me around to face them. "Ah..-!!" I let out a shriek, thinking it's Lucius again and has now changed his mind. But no. It's Severus Snape!! And he's furious. Oh, so furious. My heart almost escaped out of my chest when I realized it's him. SHIT! "What are you doing here, badger?!" he hisses. Too stunned to speak here:"I- I..-", the grip around my collar tightens as he tries to maintain the urge point his wand at me:"I swear to Merlin, if you have done something - anything, at all..-", "What?! N-no! I haven't!" I panic. In that very moment, as soon as those words escapes from my lips, a dragon - a real fully grown ass dragon, breaks thru the Gringotts glass ceiling. WHAT?! Severus and I both turn to look at the scary sight as some of the people on the streets are screaming and running away. With sharp head turn, Severus glares at me. "...Believe it or not, I got nothing to do with that." I managed to point out nervously.
The white dragon is roaring, smelling the fresh air only Merlin knows when was the last time it has have the taste of freedom. In middle all of this mess, I notice there are four people on its back, barely holding on. What?! It's Harry, Ron, Hermione and Sirius! The feeling of relief bubbles up in me and this smile appears on my face. They got out! The dragon has now climbed nearest building's roof, looking its surroundings. Then, before any of the officers or goblins that has survived can do anything to stop them, a flash of blue light comes from Hermione's wand that hits the dragon and it hops on its huge wings while roaring. Seems that it's been a while last time the dragon has been able to fly, since it falters few times, breaking some chimneys and roof tops on the way before fully getting up in the sky. It look so majestic.
Severus isn't as impressed as I am by the magical creature. He once again yanks me by the collar to gain back my attention to him and growls:"You surely have a poor way of understanding what it means to keep a low profile.". "Wha..-?! Already told you; I have nothing to do..-", "Silence!" he hisses again eyes full of fury. Just when he's about to lecture more, we hear the Death Eaters coming this way. Severus gritted his teeth and does the same Lucius did; he yanks part of my clothing to shove me other direction:"Go back to the castle for this instant.". There's no time to argue, and to be honest - I don't want to argue with him. So with that, I rushed out of sight before once again, Bellatrix, Greyback, Bartemius and Lucius runs behind the corner. But instead of running back to the Borgin and Burks, I stay and listen further away behind the brick wall. "Snape!" Bartemius hisses when he notices the man and storms towards him with the others.
The look on Severus's face has turned into the cold and calculating one - like he wasn't just fuming to his loved one second ago. The Death Eaters didn't realize how the Choisen One and his friends were the ones that just escaped by riding on the dragon's back. Guess they were too stunned and confused by the dragon's sudden appearance they couldn't register them. For a moment or two Bellatrix and Bartemius blasted Snape with questions which he luckily seemed to have answers to. Everytime he spoke, the tone of his voice was calm and very monotonic. Classic Severus Snape in other words. One time, Lucius shift his eyes on him and they share this look which managed to escape from the other three. "Well? What are you still waiting for? Go check if the Hufflepuff's Cup is still in there." Snape orders. Hufflepuff's Cup. Bellatrix's face goes pale and she's the first one to turn into the black smoke and rush towards the bank. Bartemius is quick to go after her with Greyback. Lucius takes a step to go after them, but glances at Snape. They once again share this look. Neither of them saying a word. Almost like they had a five second conversation telepathically before Lucius left.
I lean against the cool wall behind me and sigh out of relief. The tension is slowly shaking off. Thank Merlin they are gone. Feels like I've been holding my breath this whole time. Then, I take a peek behind the corner again, hoping to see Severus. But he isn't there anymore. Guess he went after them. With that, I didn't waste any more time and started to head towards the Borgin and Burks. The quilt began to consume me more and more by every step I took. Why did I let Sirius get into my head like that?! I should have said 'no' when he demanded me to come with him. The whole walk, I tried to think what to say to Severus the next time we see each other. Bet he wouldn't listen no matter how truthfully I'd tell him what happened. He can be quite stubborn. Perhaps, it'll be for the best if I'll just give him some space - for now. Let him cool down, and I'll try again tomorrow. Yes. That's what I'm going to do.
After entering the shop and casting the Memory Charm on the owner, I step into the Vanishing Cabinet. Soft and smooth whooshing sound happens and I'm back in Hogwarts. It really feels like coming back home, where it's safe and..- As soon as I fully step out of the cabinet, someone slams the door close behind me with one hand and I get scared what just happened:"WH-?!?!". Eyes wide, I quickly turn around. Heart escapes to the throat after seeing the familiar man standing there. Severus?!?! He's angry. There is no doubt in that. Oh, shit. I'm going to die. Completely feeling off guard by this, I just stare at him:"Sev...". Those dark eyes are narrowed at me as he's staring back. "Thought you'd arrive soon." his voice drips this venom thru the calm tone which gives me the shivers. I don't like where this is going... When he takes a step forward, I take a step back. He really looks huge, scary bat right now... "I'll give you a one change to explain yourself, badger. One." he warns before he'll blow up screaming at me.
It's like someone would have just made me drink down the Veritaserum and I began to babble out everything that happened. My story telling isn't the greatest under the pressure. I keep jumping from one scene to another. But when I mentioned Sirius, Severus's ears perks up. Don't need to be a mind reader like him when I could just see how he was telling me with his eyes how foolish it was from me leave the castle with Sirius just because this raised his voice at me. I end my whole vomiting of words with the apology. "I'm truly sorry, Severus. I... I was just trying to do the right thing." my voice goes small towards the end. To be honest, blurting out all of this at once made my chest feel lighter. There is a pause. The room is dead silent. It's really hard to read from Severus's face what's going on his mind right now. "Kneel." he simply ordered.
The sudden comment got me off guard and confused at the same time:"What?". Severus keeps his head high, chest puffed up as he stares down on me and rolls up his sleeves, looking dead serious while doing so:"I have looked over your shameless misbehavior far too many times... It is time for your punishment all together, at once.". Huh?! The Dark Mark appears under the left sleeve after he rolled them up half way thru. Still in disbelieve of what I'm hearing type of smile creeps on my lips:"What are you..-", "You will be spelling out my name - full name, with your tongue as long as... I think you have learned your lesson." he tells with the monotonic tone, still looking dead serious about this. Soft scoff comes out of me and I cross arms over the chest:"Come on, Sevy. You can't be serio..-", "I don't make idle threats, my love. Get. On. Your knees. Now." his velvety, deep voice vibrates as a smooth growl.