Chapter 7
The feast of victory was a riot. People quickly got drunk on wine and beer and the air was thick with the smell of alcohol and sweat. I sat next to Raina at dinner and Malfoy was on the other side of her. There were Muggles at the party, so the atmosphere and setting was very different from Matilda's court in Normandy. There were no candles or food flying in the air and the wands were kept very carefully hidden.
I was expected to play Raina's maid, and not a whisper of anything else to the muggles. Malfoy had forbidden me to talk to anyone but Raina or him before leaving and I felt no need to do otherwise. King William took no notice of my existence whatsoever and I bet he probably didn't even remember me among the thousands of other unfortunate muggleborns whose lives he had ruined.
Raina and I focused on conversation at first, but towards the beginning of the meal she saw a friend and ran over to say her greetings, leaving me to continue eating alone. Malfoy and I glanced at each other in displeasure now that Raina was no longer a buffer between us. I glared at him acidly and turned my gaze to the food in front of me. I heard Malfoy chuckle softly.
"Do you know why I hate mudbloods?"
I kept my eyes on the food, but clamped my teeth together tightly. "Because you're ignorant, prejudiced and so privileged that you think everything you do is right?" I asked, turning my head just enough to flash him a sugary fake smile.
Malfoy just smiled condescendingly at my words. "Because the mudbloods are just as stupid and irrational as the muggles. Fearing something they don't understand and wanting something that doesn't belong to them. The mudbloods who support Valdis just want the power they think they are entitled to by having some magic, and now thousands of muggles and wizarding folks are suffering in vain."
I frowned and looked at him bitterly. "I would describe all purebloods in the same way." I leaned slightly in his direction. "There's always a reason to try to take power from others, so excuse me if I'm sick of listening to your hypocritical fear of what would happen if the weaker ones got a little power for themselves, when it's always the weaker ones who end up suffering anyway. I am sick and tired of the same stupid reasons being used to justify this same futile hatred and violence against each other. ‘I'm better because I have this and that right to power, or I'm better because I have this wealth and family line or once a muggle, muggleborn, pureblood or half-blood did this to me and my family, so I'm entitled to revenge on everyone from the same background, even if they had nothing to do with it’,” I hissed at Malfoy, eyes burning. His eyes flashed and a small smile tugged at his lips as he listened to me.
"You're quite a philosopher," Malfoy chuckled. "I must admit I didn't expect a backward mudblood described as stupid to be so loaded with political opinions."
"It shows how little you know about me or any other muggleborn."
He pursed his lips in amusement, as if he found our debate entertaining. "Well, I've met quite a few mudblood in my life, but you're the strangest of them."
I didn't know whether he meant what he said as good or bad, so I just scowled at him. He grinned and sipped his wine as a tall, thin monk approached our part of the table with a serious expression. I recognised him as the monk Johan, who had previously advised the king regarding the care of muggleborns. Johan bowed respectfully to Malfoy. Malfoy nodded back with a serious face now that his smile had slowly faded, but continued to drink his wine.
"Congratulations on your success in this war, Lord Malfoy," Johan said quietly.
Malfoy made no reply, but tilted his head slightly. Johan shifted his gaze to me.
"I can see that the alliance has been a pleasant one, despite the starting point, and I am pleased to see it."
"I'm glad someone is pleased," Malfoy muttered quietly, but Johan took no notice of his words.
"Madam Malfoy is very pretty today, isn’t she, Lord Malfoy? The light blue suits her rather well."
Malfoy looked at me appraisingly from head to toe and I froze under his gaze. "Hmm, I think she is as beautiful as the sun," a mocking smile slid across his lips," it hurts to look at her."
I gave him a venomous glance and he grinned back. Johan looked at us with a slightly confused expression, but said nothing more and went off to his table.
"Renea, come here!" Raina staggered drunkenly from another table. I got up, leaving a grinning Malfoy to himself, and went to Raina.
"Hugh, tell me what you told me!" Raina hiccupped and took my arm in hers. I listened to Hugh's story absently, thinking how desperately I would have to figure out a way to first find and then explore the Veil. Failing that— I grimaced at the mere thought— would mean living under the very uncertain shelter given by Malfoy and Raina.
I glanced at Malfoy, who was still sitting at the table. He too was looking at me and grinned contemptuously as he met my gaze. I looked away, annoyed at being caught, feeling a chill run through me. I muttered to Raina that I was going to the loo. Raina didn't even seem to hear me, so I went out of the hall by myself to look for the toilet. Drunk people were rummaging around in the corridors and I tried to ask a few of them where the toilet was, but their instructions were so confusing that they were of no help. One of the men offered to help me find the toilet so suggestively that I felt hairs on my body standing up, but muttered that I didn't need an escort. The men moved on and I walked alone and relieved down the corridor.
Eventually I found a toilet, but it was in such a state that all I could do was glance at the door and say I'd skip and hold it, so I turned around and headed back the way I'd come. On the way I was met by a maid and smiled politely as I passed her. I had no idea what to prepare for next. She took a knife from somewhere and put it around my neck so quickly that I had no time to react. I jumped, startled and froze.
"Don't make a sound or I'll slit your throat!" the woman hissed in my ear. I grabbed her hand and tried to pull it away from me, so she moved the knife so that it pressed painfully against my skin. I gasped in fear and felt a small trickle of blood on my neck.
"Don't resist!" the woman commanded. I swallowed and removed my hand.
"Valdis sends her regards and wants to know how you are still alive?"
I stood frozen in front of her. Did she suspect that Renea's loyalty had switched to Malfoy and was therefore threatening me?
“I— I don’t know!”
Woman tightened her grip and I panicked.
"I think Malfoy wants to keep me as bait to others. Or as a muggleborn pet. I don’t know!" I gasped.
"That's not what I meant, Renea."
"What?" I asked in a panic.
She didn't answer. Her muscles tightened and I realized she was going to kill me. Why does everyone want Renea dead so badly? Even her own allies.
“Wait, WAIT!” I screamed and she faltered for a second. With all my power I pushed back and we fell painfully backwards on the ground. I fought myself of her grip but before I could escape she screamed wandless spell: “Impedimenta!”, and I didn’t get far. She raised from the ground an angry look on her face and raised her knife to cut my throat. The woman had no time to do anything else when the air in the dark corridor changed and a silent red flashing spell hit her face before and the woman fell backwards with a crash.
"You know how to make everyone murderous with you, pet," Malfoy stepped out of the shadows, grinning at me as he did so.
I opened my mouth, helpless, and turned, startled, to look at the unconscious woman. Malfoy also turned his gaze to the unconscious woman too and crouched down beside her with interest.
"Why did she want to kill you?"
"I don't know," I answered honestly. Malfoy looked at me in disbelief, his fingers tightening around the wand.
"So I'm supposed to believe that this mudblood just wanted to kill you for no reason at all?"
"How do you know she's muggle-born?" I asked, stunned.
Malfoy looked at me uncertainly as if he wasn't sure if I was serious. Then he turned to the unconscious woman and pointed to her wrist and the messy tattoo on it. I realized it was similar to the one on Renea's wrist. I examined the tattoo on my own hand, but the words on it were still a mystery to me, because I did not know the language in which they were written.
I looked up and saw Malfoy staring at me very suspiciously. I swallowed in fear. I really didn't want to increase his suspicion of me, because he didn't need any more reasons to let me die.
"She wanted to know why I was still alive." Even though I thought he might know that already considering he had called me ‘pet’.
"Why indeed," Malfoy muttered quietly and began to examine the woman's clothes. Apparently finding nothing of interest, he stood up and silently spelled the woman up to hover beside him.
"Go back to Raina," Malfoy commanded and disappeared with a silent pop.
I set off at a brisk run back towards the party, not wanting to stay in the dark corridors any longer. I evened my breathing before entering the ballroom as a few partygoers looked at me with interest. I hastily wiped the blood from my neck onto the sleeve of my dress. I wondered what Malfoy was going to do to the woman. Torture and kill, surely. Not wanting to think about it any more, I stared at my shaking hands and wondered how many times a complete stranger had wanted to kill me during my time here. But she wasn't a complete stranger, was she? At least not to Renea, because she had called her by name. I sighed and wondered what kind of torture Malfoy would do to her.
I realized that Malfoy had saved my life. Again. It was strange why he would go to all that trouble. I walked over to Raina, who didn't even seem to notice me leaving.
Malfoy didn't return to the party, so we went back with floo. As Raina berated Malfoy of our abandonment without explanation, I felt nervousness take over my body. Had Malfoy already questioned the woman? What had he found out? Did Malfoy kill her? What was so special about Renea?
"You are strangely quiet," Raina suddenly said loudly, startling me out of my thoughts. I turned to look at her, blinking. Had he been trying to get my attention for a long time? Raina was staring disapprovingly at me, her hands clasped in front of the stairs that led up to her room.
"Excuse me, did you say something?" I mumbled confused.
"I said, I have a feeling you're leaving."
I stiffened and looked at Raina, uncertain.
"Why now all of a sudden do you have that feeling?"
"I don't know," Raina shrugged and sighed heavily, "I know you've thought about running away and you probably still do, but it's not worth it."
"Why not?" I asked warily.
Raina squinted her eyes. "Because Armand is suspiciously trusting of you, and it can't be for any other reason than he wants you to run away."
I swallowed hard, but I knew Raina was right. I had deduced the same myself from many not so subtle hints and that was one of the reasons I hadn't already tried to escape. And also out of fear of being caught by Matilda again. I needed a wand, because it was the only way I had of escaping successfully.
"Don't worry, I'm not leaving," I lied. Raina narrowed her eyes, not seeming to believe me.
"Everything will change after you leave."
I looked at Raina and biting my lip, unable to say anything. Then suddenly Raina's face lit up as if with the snap of fingers.
"Promise that when you try to leave, it will be your last attempt!" Raina insisted.
I looked at her with round eyes. "I can't promise that, Raina," I muttered quietly.
"Hmph well it doesn't really matter, because that's how it's going to be anyway. Good night!" Raina said cheerfully and went upstairs.
I stared after her for a moment, confused, before heading in the direction of my own room. I sat down on my bed to consider my options. My chances of escape were vanishingly small now that Malfoy was staying under the same roof. I pondered, unable to ignore his behaviour today. He hadn't seemed disgusted or angry per se with me, but rather mocking. He also didn't seem to trust me and clearly thought there was something wrong with me and that I wasn't what others were saying about Renea. Raina seemed to like me and to stand up for me in her own way. However, I could not count on her favor very much, as she seemed almost as powerless as I was in the whole situation.
I hadn't tried the doors upstairs since we'd arrived from Matilda's court, because Malfoy had spent the nights in the house since then, and as much as I wanted to deny it, I couldn't deny that I wasn't still afraid of Malfoy. The Draco Malfoy of the middle ages, hardened by countless wars, was far more frightening and unpredictable than the arrogant and spoiled Draco Malfoy of the 20th century.
My mind went to Raina's words before the victory feast had started. Could it really be true that Malfoy had come up with the most horrible curse the wizarding world knew? I wondered if he knew of all the pain and loss that had followed and would follow after his curse spread. Did he even care? I had not seen Malfoy cast that curse, but Raina's words had described it in an eerily familiar way. Anyone who could use that curse was a very, very bad person, because you had to mean it for the killing curse to work. I did not want to see that kind of history.
I felt a chilling fear that I might never be able to return home to my own time. I did not believe that even if I found the Veil somewhere during this time, it would be of any use, for it had been studied for years, if not hundreds of years, and almost nothing was known about it. Sirius had died after going through it. At least that's what we thought. I had been on death's doors when I touched it and wondered if something had possibly happened to Renea too, causing her soul to leave and me to enter her body in its place.
I stayed in my thoughts for a long time, until the morning light began to shine through the small window of my room and I stared at it numbly. I clenched my fist in sudden self-disgust. I had to at least try to escape. I wasn't a quitter and I certainly wouldn't find any answers without doing or even trying anything. I pulled the veil out of my hair and threw it on the floor. I left my room and glanced around cautiously while creeping up the stairs. The house was quiet in the morning light and I heard a soft snore from Dexter's room nearby. Upstairs was quiet and dark. As usual, I tried Raina's door first, but it was locked as usual. I'd searched Raina's room a few times while I was there during the day, surreptitiously, but it was such an uncontrolled mess that it was practically impossible to find anything sensible there. I quietly moved to the next door, which I now knew was Malfoy's. I swallowed and softly tried the door.
The handle gave way with a slight creak and I opened the door with a heart pounding and stepped inside. The room was dark, but I could see immediately from the bed that it was empty. Malfoy was not in his room. I almost breathed a sigh of relief, but then I realized that if Malfoy wasn't in his room, neither was his wand. I grimaced in disappointment, but decided to keep exploring, as I might find something I could use as needed. Malfoy's room was clean and quite empty. The morning light was softly illuminating the room and in that light I examined the room. There was a small book on Malfoy's desk that I couldn't open no matter how hard I tried. There were also some letters on the table, but their contents did not arouse my interest. Next to the window, a dark grey owl was perched on the rafters, watching my movements with a keen eye, humming softly.
I opened the doors of a small cupboard with a few more books and ingredients for magic potions, a cauldron and a few small bottles of potions. I opened a few bottles and sniffed warily. I could only recognise one potion, which was a pain potion. One of the bottles seemed to contain only blood, but many dark potions required blood, so it didn't really surprise me. The blood bottle was attached by a chain to a small shiny silver plaque, but it didn't say anything. I raised my eyebrows in interest, but put the bottle back and snatched the only potion I knew of into the pocket of my dress. In the far corner of the shelf was a small pile of dried bezoars and I snatched a few of those into my pocket too. Then my attention was drawn to a long knife decorated with rubies on top of the books. It was gorgeous and horrible at the same time. The knife was heavy and somehow holding it made me feel even worse. I stared at the knife as the sick feeling grew inside me and rushed back to the cupboard to put it back as quickly as possible.
"What the hell are you doing here?" a dangerous voice asked behind me.
I froze and then turned quickly and saw an angry Malfoy glaring at me, one step away from me. He had a wand in his hand and without thinking I reacted when I saw his wand arm move slightly. I had never moved so fast and although Malfoy raised his arm to protect himself, I hit him in the stomach with furious force. Malfoy's eyes widened in surprise and he gasped in pain.
I felt a cold shock take over my body and looked at my hand gripping the knife on his stomach. What had I done? Had I really stabbed Malfoy?
"I— I—," was all I had time to say when Malfoy staggered to his side. I instinctively tried to grab him, but he was so heavy that we both fell to the floor. I pushed him off me with a great effort and he seemed to lose consciousness and turned alarmingly pale.
"Malfoy!" I shook him in a hint of panic, but he didn't react.
I stared at him in utter terror. I refused to understand what I had done. Why had I done it at all?
I felt a pile in throat and reached my trembling hand to his neck to feel his pulse. I felt a faint pulse. I almost sighed in relief, but froze in place. Did I want him to live? He was a horrible person and would surely, if he survived, continue to be a horrible person. I carefully got to my knees and removed the wand from his hand. I felt such a familiar and loving warmth take over my body that I hadn't realized how much I had missed the wand in my hand. If I took off and left him here he would surely die at least from the blood loss and being unconscious. I stared at Malfoy's pale face not knowing what to do. I felt a strange pain in my heart as I looked at him. If I let him die, I would have killed him. With my own hands. I had never killed anyone before, at least not on purpose. He looked calm, unconscious, and so young. I swallowed hard. He had saved my life. Twice. And after all, when I thought about it, he had never hurt me, not counting the interrogation after we got married.
Then I remembered the most important thing. I couldn't change history. If it did, it would be catastrophic, not just for the future of Malfoy’s, but for the future of England, for me and for all the people I loved. And Malfoy was important to the future and I knew from my time with the time turner that no good would come from changing history, even if you might think so. He didn't even have children yet so if he died the history of the wizarding community in England would change significantly.
I picked up my wand and did my first magic after the events at the ministry. I muttered a spell to rip Malfoy's dark robe neatly open at the wound and opened it so that I could see the wound. I gasped in horror as I saw the condition of the wound. I no longer wondered why Malfoy was unconscious. The wound was bleeding profusely and I could still see the strange black veins coming out of the wound, poisoning Malfoy's body. I turned my gaze swiftly to the knife and pointed Malfoy's wand at it. "Revelio."
Dark smoke emerged from the knife, revealing a dark curse on the knife. I gasped in horror, dropped the knife to the ground in disgust and turned to Malfoy again.
"Scourgify," I mutter, pointing to Malfoy's stomach. The blood disappeared, revealing Malfoy's gruesome wound completely. The knife had released some kind of poison into Malfoy's system, leaving a dark black trail behind.
"Tarditas sanguinis," I chanted, slowing the blood in Malfoy's body, as the wound started to bleed a lot after cleansing the previous blood and I hoped the spell would also slow the spread of the poison. Since I didn't know exactly what poison was in the knife, I didn't dare cast any of the counter curses I knew, since I could just make the situation worse by accident. Remembering the bezoars in the cupboard, I hastily dug the stolen bezoar out of my pocket and stuffed one down Malfoy's throat. I stared expectantly for a moment, but nothing happened. I wasn't at all sure if the bezoar was working until the black lines of the wound languished slightly. I sighed in relief. I dug out the pain potion I had stolen from my pocket and poured it down Malfoy's throat. His face remained alarmingly pale and I knew he desperately needed more blood after losing so much. I summoned with accio the cauldron and the other ingredients I'd seen in the cupboard. Fortunately, the blood replenishing potion was reasonably simple and quick, so I hastily put it together and hoped it would be ready before it was too late.
I wiped the sweat from my brow and when I was done with the cauldron, I left it boiling and turned to Malfoy's wound. I gently touched the side of the wound and it immediately bubbled out blood. I remembered reading a wound spell for deep wounds once, but I had never tried it on anyone before, so I wasn't at all sure of its effectiveness. On top of that, it was complicated, and I couldn't be sure if I remembered all its parts perfectly. I decided I had to take a risk, because I just couldn't close the wound without treating the internal injuries. With the wand in my shaking hand, I began casting the spell.
"Vulnere sanabo." I had to try several times before anything happened, but finally I saw a soft yellow light emanating from the wand and Malfoy's abdominal wound clamped down and started to close.
"Accio essence of dittany." I pointed the wand at Malfoy and hoped for the best. Luckily, I snatched a small bottle out of the air, which flew out of the pocket of Malfoy's robe and drained its contents onto Malfoy's wound. The wound was still not completely closed, but at least it was no longer bleeding uncontrollably.
"Ferula," I muttered again and the white bandages soon covered Malfoy's stomach. I remained on my knees staring at Malfoy, not knowing how to proceed.
"What the hell is going on?"