Chapter 28
ALDER EVANS
It had to be an act. It had to, and yet as he sat there at the Astronomy Tower waiting for her, he heard no footsteps even as the Moon fully came up in the skies.
Something was wrong. That much was obvious.
She could have walked away. She should have walked away, and yet in that moment, she had chosen to side with Lucius. She had chosen him, and it made him wonder why she had done so?
Could it be because of the betrothal agreement? Had it changed her mind?
But she could have talked to him. She could have mentioned something, and yet she had not. She had not even come to the Club meeting, and now she had refused to come to meet him after he had sent a message through Andromeda.
It was truly disheartening, especially when he had finally found a sort of solution to their problem. Yet, it felt like he would never have the opportunity to share it with her, and just as he was about to get up and leave, he heard the sound of footsteps from behind him, and as he turned around with a relieved heart.
"Naric..." yet the relief and the joy vanished in an instant as he saw the person walking in behind him, for though her face resembled Narcissa's it was not her. It was her sister.
"Andromeda," he gawked out in surprise, and it was rare for him to talk with Andromeda outside of the club activities, but the two of them were on favorable terms.
"Evans," and yet in all the years he had known her, he had never seen her with such a defeated expression on her face, though his own expression was not much better.
"She is not coming, is she?" he asked after some moments of silence, as the elder Black sister bit her lip and shook her head, as a pang of anger and regret tore through his heart.
He had every right to be angry. To lash out. Yet the look on Andromeda's face stopped him from doing that as he took a deep breath and chose to ask.
"What happened?" for everything had been fine until a week ago, and yet now Narcissa even refused to see him.
She did not answer at first before she looked him in the eye.
"It is because of me," she said, and he frowned, for he could not understand her words.
"Why? What happened?" and he was growing tired of these games.
"Lucius somehow figured out that it was I who told the teachers about their plans the night they ambushed you in the club room," and it all clicked together in an instant, and she did not even need to say the rest.
"And now Lucius is blackmailing her with that?" he guessed, and she nodded.
"He is," and that was why they were arguing and why she had done what she had.
It hurt him that she had not come to him with it, that she had not deemed him worthy of an explanation, but time for grudges would come later.
"If that gets out, it could ruin everything," Andromeda gasped, and he could see how troubled she was.
"Narcissa, she loved you," she began, as his lips thinned.
"She loves you. She loves you a lot, but she cares much for me," she added in a whisper, eyes down on the floor in guilt.
"She knew that if Lucius went through with his threat, it would ruin my life, and so she chose to sacrifice herself and her own happiness for my safety. But I do not want that for her. I cannot let her do that," she added, conflict and tears visible in her eyes.
"But I cannot leave Ted either. I cannot live the life my family has chosen for me either," and a tear fell down her face as she walked forward until she was inches from his face, and he was taken aback, for even in the darkest of times, he had never seen her flinch, and yet now Andromeda Black was crying in front of him.
"Ted has always said that you are the greatest wizard of our time," and she looked him in the eye.
"I know that you have every right to be angry with me and Narcissa, but I beg you not to forsake her. Forsake us!" she pleaded and he had no intention of doing that.
So, he stepped forward and gently wrapped his arms around her, nestling her head on his shoulder, and felt her tears wet his uniform.
"You need not worry," he assured her as he felt her weep and treble in his arms.
"I will take care of this," he assured her as determination filled his heart.
"I will take care of Lucius for you and for her...."
.
.
.
And so, he waited for days and days, until the weekend came once more with baited breath, until he heard a rather ominous voice through his installation.
"Preston..."
And with that, he whipped out his wand and spun it in an intricate pattern as he whispered the name of the spell.
"Expecto Patronum…"
0000
LUCIUS MALFOY
Everything was right in the life of Lucius Malfoy once more.
Ot at least nearly all of it, for he still had to find a way to teach that damn mudblood a lesson, but otherwise Lucius now had himself a rather docile, Narcissa as his fiancée, along with a perfect way to keep her just like that.
He had seen the way Andromeda had been looking at him, and yet she had said nothing. And what could she even say when he held her fate in his hands?
It was thrilling to have such power over her, and that feeling was perhaps second only to the exhilaration he felt right now as the screams of the Muggles in front of him tore through their little pudgy house.
"AGHHHH!" the man writhed on the ground as Lucius sat on the sofa, smirking as Rebastan tortured the young little Muggle.
"Haaahahahaa," and his friend laughed as the man writhed on the ground, and as the spell stopped, he finally looked up, fear, panic, and helplessness evident in that gaze, as he looked up at them both.
"Stop...Stop," he begged, just as it was befitting for a man like that.
"Why are you doing this?" he asked, drool falling down his face while his body still twitched from the effects of the Cruciatus.
"Because you deserve it," Rebastan answered, as he aimed his wand at the Muggle once more.
"Crucio!" and screams once more filled that house, as Rebastan laughed.
"This is what people like you deserve! You muggles who have poisoned our land!" Rebastan screamed as he pulled back his wand, and the young Muggle man was half dead as he twitched on the ground.
"But soon you will learn your place! Very soon," and before his friend could do it again, he stepped up and put a hand on his shoulder.
"My turn," he said and reached for his wand as Rebastan.
"Sure, but I want to be the one to cast the Killing Curse," he asked, and Lucius nodded, granting him his request, as he aimed his wand at the little man who stared up at him, with those green eyes of his.
"Why?" he eeked out as tears dripped down his face, and for some reason, those eyes made his blood boil.
"Cruc..." and yet before he could finish the chant, he felt the magic in the air shift.
"What was that?" and he was not the only one who felt that as Rebastan jumped out of the sofa and began to glance around as well.
"That felt like a ward going up," but that was impossible. They were the only witches and wizards here.
"Someone else's here," he whispered, and closed his eyes as he tried to apparate away, but he failed, as he felt his heart sink.
"Anti apparition ward," he told Rebastan, who closed his eyes and tried to apparate away as well, yet failed much like him, and their eyes met as they both reached the same conclusion at once.
"Aurors," and they had to get away, and just as they were thinking that, sounds of spells being shot, and screams came from outside the House, and as they tried to run out of the House, the door was pushed open first in an explosion.
BOOOOM!
"Take them out," he heard a voice as two aurors stepped into the room and Lucius barely but up a shield in time to repel the spell aimed at him, yet unfortunately Rebastan was not so lucky.
"AHHHH!" his friend screamed, as he was sent flying back as the Auror sent a chair towards him, leaving his shield useless as he blasted it away.
"Bombarda!"
"Lucius!" Rebastan screamed, and he wanted to curse his friend for revealing their identities.
"HELP!" he screamed as he tried to reach for his wand, yet the Auror was quick to move.
"Not so fast, you bastard," and he saw him summon Rebastan's wand as Lucius got a look at that face and recognised it at once,
"Alastor Moody," he whispered, and the other person he knew as well from his time at Hogwarts.
"Longbottom," he whispered as the Auror looked at his face.
"Malfoy," and this made the mask covering his face entirely useless, as the two Aurors began to attack him, and as good as he was, Lucius could not hold on for much, and he felt Moody's spell hit him on the side, as he screamed in pain.
"AGHH!" and then he felt his wand get pulled out of his hand, before the stunning charm hit him in the chest.
"Stupefy!" and he fell to the ground, unable to move an inch as the two Aurors came and stood over them.
"Let me remove those masks," and it was Alastor Moody who took them off, revealing their faces as he saw Longbottom's eyes widen.
"It really was them," he heard him voice out.
"Rotten to the core, the lot of you," and suddenly he felt rope wrap itself around their arms and legs, before suddenly the house to their side completely blew up.
"AGHHH!" and he heard the sound of a man's scream as Alastor Moody's head snapped towards the window.
"What the hell..."
"You have no idea what you have done!" Lucius eeked out.
"You cannot defeat the Dark Lord," he whispered and the man's face shifted.
"Longbottom keep an eye on these two. I am going out," and immediately he ran out of the House as screams and shouts and spells littered the air outside as Longbottom looked down at them with pity in his eyes.
"Do you have any idea about what you were doing?" he asked, and Lucius smirked.
"We were doing our Lord's work..."
BOOOOM!
And suddenly, the entire wall to their side was torn apart by a spell, and Longbottom was sent flying back.
"AGHH!" Lucius grunted as the debris hit his face, and as he opened his eyes, he saw the Dark Lord flying in the air as half a dozen aurors lay bleeding on the ground, while Alastor Moody cupped his bleeding face.
"YES! He has come to save us," Rebastan added, yet the Dark Lord did not even spare them a glance.
"You shall pay for this!" and then he saw him fly into the air, and he saw a crack form up in the air before he heard the sound of glass shattering as the Dark Lord broke off the Anti-Apparition Ward.
"GO!" he heard a scream from the outside, and immediately the sound of various pops tore through the air as he closed his eyes and prepared to do the same, until he heard Longbottom's scream.
"Not so fast..."
"Levicorpus," and he felt his body get pulled away, breaking his focus as the blood traitor continued to throw spells at them, making it impossible for him to focus.
"Put them to sleep," he heard someone order.
"Obcuso," and he felt his eyes close as the spell hit him, while dread and fear began to grip his heart.
"Shit...."
0000
Read ahead and support me through my Patre 0n. Your support and patronage are what make all this possible. So, drop a sub if you can. It would help out quite a bit.
www.Patre 0n.com/Drkest
Have a fantastic day!