Lily Luna and The Darkness

Chapter 11: Torture

Lily sat as still as a rock, watching the scene play out in front of her. A younger version of her father and uncle had just been thrown into a dungeon, and her younger aunt didn't seem like in any better shape. Bellatrix advanced on Hermione, who stood rooted in her spot.

"Did you take this from my vault?" Bellatrix taunted, her wand tracing a line in Hermione's neck. When she didn't respond, she pressed her wand deeper into her neck, and Hermione let out a blood-curdling scream as she dropped to the floor.

Some of the girls behind her gasped, and Lucy just whispered. "Cruciatus curse." Rose moved to the back of the group, not wanting to watch the rest of the scene. Lily couldn't blame her, for she too couldn't even believe this was real. She turned around, facing her back to the torture.

"What did you take from my vault?!" She heard Bellatrix shout. Lily could also hear screaming coming from the dungeons, a pain kind of shout.

"We didn't take anything." Hermione sobbed, and she screamed once more. Lily could only guess Bellatrix had casted another painful curse.

She heard a gasp come from the back of the group, and turned to see Rose huddled in a ball, leaned against a far wall. Lily quickly scooted over to her, and wrapped her arms around her.

"That's my Mum, Lily." She whispered softly, so none of the other girls could hear. "Sh-she's-"

"I know, it's okay." Lily soothed, even though there was nothing okay about this situation. She wasn't normally the best at comforting people in scary situations, she was normally the one being comforted if she was being honest. The best she could do was hug Rose as she silently cried.

There was a sudden outburst of noise from the room, and Lily whipped her head towards the source. So much was happening at once that it was hard to keep track. Harry and Ron had burst out of the dungeon, running up the steps. A blonde haired girl, who looked a lot like Lily's Auntie Luna, and an older man had come out behind them as well. Ron shot Bellatrix's wand out of her hand, and Harry had stupefied Lucius. Spells kept shooting everywhere, and Lily could hear some of her cousins having whispered conversations about what was going to happen.

"STOP!" She heard a shout. Lily turned towards Bellatrix, who was holding young Hermione upright, a knife laid across her neck. "Drop your wands!"

Harry and Ron reluctantly let their wands clatter to the floor. Draco was tasked with grabbing them, and he quickly fell back into the shadows. From her spot under the stairs, Lily could hear their conversation going on, and every now and then Hermione gasped, which she supposed was the knife going deeper into her skin. All she could see was the back of Bellatrix, and Harry and Ron staring at them both.

She couldn't watch this anymore. How long had they been here? It felt like an hour, but in reality, Lily thought, it was probably only 10, or 15 minutes. There was no way they could stay hidden that long, it was impossible. Gears turned in her head as she tried to think of a way to get them out of Malfoy Manor, and at least into town. She hurried over to the wall, and moved her hands around, searching for a door handle. Something that would get them out from under the staircase, where they could at least figure out an escape root from.

Another crash snapped Lily out of her thoughts, and she heard movement as all of the girls under the stairs scrambled back. Glass shards had come flying at them, one narrowly missing her face. She poked her head in between Lucy and Molly to see that the chandelier, which had been hovering over Bellatrix and Hermione, had fallen causing panic. Lily's eyes fell on Draco and Harry, who were wrestling for the wands. Eventually Harry won, and joined the group of children that were standing right in front of the staircase, blocking Lily's view.

"You stupid elf!" She heard Bellatrix shout. "You almost killed me!"

"Dobby never meant to kill, only to maim, or seriously injure." Came a high pitched voice. One of the girls scoffed at the comment, a little too loud.

All conversation ceased, and Lily watched as the group in front of them started to turn towards the stairs. Lily almost screamed as she made eye contact with Draco, and she turned back to the wall, searching for a secret brick, a door, anything.

"Who was that?" She heard someone say, but she had found what she was looking for, a handle. It was too dark to see anything, but she pulled on one of the girls shirts, who also started to pull on the handle. It shot open, and everyone started to rush into the corridor that now laid in front of them.

"Well, Draco? Go look!" Was the last thing Lily heard as she pulled Rose, who was still in shock, through the doorway. She shut the door as quietly as she could, and all eight of the girls started sprinting through the passageway.

~*~

"What the hell is that meant to mean?" James whispered. "Sister?"

"It's meant to be Lily, you wanker!" Albus smacked him on the shoulder with the parchment. "Who else would it be?"

"Albus, once again, it's 4 in the morning, probably half past at this point. Go to bed, we'll figure this out in the morning!" James laid back down, turning away from Al.

Al groaned at the stupidity of his brother. The letters obviously had to mean something, Scorpius wouldn't write an entire secret message just for fun. Standing up, he tiptoed through the other boys sleeping and made his way out the door. Finding the girls room, he attempted to turn the handle.

Locked.

Of course it was, what was he thinking? He turned around, about to head back to his room, when a voice came from behind him.

"Al?" He whipped around, and saw his mother standing in the hallway with her wand in her hand, which was casting a dim ball of light.  "What are you doing up so early bud?"

"Uh- umm-" Al froze. He didn't really want to tell his mum about the letter, so he had to come up with a lie on the spot. "I-I couldn't sleep, so I tried to find a bathroom." He winced internally. What did not sleeping and a bathroom have to do with each other? "I found the girls room by accident." He said, trying to play it off.

"You couldn't sleep? Something troubling you?" His Mum asked, a look of concern passing over her face. "Is your head okay from earlier?"

"Just a little headache." This wasn't a lie, his head did still hurt a little from the Quidditch fall.

"Do you want some medicine? Grandma has some muggle motrin in the cabinet." Al nodded, and him and his Mum headed down stairs to the kitchen. He pushed the letter out of his mind, deciding to take James's advice and leave it until the morning.

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Sorry for the late part! I had been editing and uploading a chapter every two days, which had become too much for me on top of school. Eventually, with breaks coming up, I will go back to that consistent schedule, but for now you guys will have to bare with me.

Also, how are you guys liking the story? I know a code is a little advance for a 12 year old to think to do, but then I remembered that this is Scorpius. He has like the brain of a 16 year old, so here we are.