Tortured (Drabble) | Daphaniel
Daphne sat idly in a guest bedroom in Malfoy manor. It had been nearly a month and a half since last she saw Nate. Her father was away on business, so she couldn’t slip away to see them, and both her mother and Narcissa Malfoy had been bombarding her with responsibilities regarding Astoria and Draco’s impending wedding. She was the maid of honor, after all, but never had she expected so many different and time consuming tasks. She was going over her list of things to do in the weeks ahead, when she heard a voice sound from somewhere by the doorway. “Miss Daphne, you’re being summoned.” It was a small grey house elf with large blue-grey eyes, who wrung its hands nervously.
“For what?” Daphne asked distractedly, pinning her hair out of her face.
“Miss, apologies, they didn’t tell me—should I go ask?” The house elf’s eyes grew huge and remorseful as it responded.
Daphne, softened, and focused on the poor creature, “You’re right, I’m sorry of course they didn’t. Thank you, I’ll be down in just a minute.”
“I was instructed to escort you. Immediately.” The elf squeaked out, barely having the courage to even continue standing.
“Oh… um, okay.” She rose from her chair and followed it out of the room and downstairs into a rather intimate drawing room off the side of the main hall. At one end of it sat a large wing-backed chair covered in a glossy black leather. In it sat Draco, and on him sat Astoria, running her hands through his hair. Draco looked up cavalierly and addressed her, “Daphne, thank you for coming so quickly.”
“Well, you know how I enjoy following orders.” She retorted icily, and winked humorlessly at him.
“Yes…well.” He swallowed hard and glanced toward Astoria, who looked unphased by the comment, and hoped she wouldn’t bring it up again. Draco cleared his throat and forced a response, “Your, uh, your mother is here, and she needs to speak with you.”
“Tell her I can’t see her today.” Daphne said abruptly, crossing her arms and turning to leave.
“It’s too late for that, Daphne, you’ll see me whether you want to or not.” Draco and Astoria fell silent as Charlotte Greengrass emerged from some secluded shadowy corner of the room. The impossibly tall and lean woman cast an imposing shadow, even in the dim light of the drawing room. Her slick black satin overcoat tied ornately at her waist and billowed out to the floor. She wore short black leather gloves and her hair was in a very neat, high ponytail.
“Mum, I—.” Daphne tried to protest, but it was no use. Her mother interjected almost immediately. “Follow me.”
Daphne glared at Draco and Astoria as she left the room on her mother’s heels. They weren’t reactive, but rather something in their eyes told Daphne this wasn’t about the wedding. They were serious, and somber, and much too condemning. She shook the image out of her mind and tried to focus on where they were walking.
“What’s going on?” Daphne prodded, getting a little nervous.
They were now reaching the lower levels of the Manor. What are we doing down here? Daphne wondered fruitlessly. Following the end of the war and Lucius’ escape from custody, the Malfoys had retired their schemes indefinitely, and the dungeons had been quiet for almost an entire year. They arrived at the barred entrance to the cavernous cell at the bottom of the steps. Charlotte shouldered the door open and walked into the room. When she spoke her tone was cold and even.
“This showed up on our grounds the other day,” Daphne entered hesitantly. Her eyes took a minute to adjust to the low light, but as soon as they did, she realized what her mother was talking about. A body, badly bruised and cut, lay at her feet. Nate’s eyes watched her as she entered and approached his motionless body. She dared not look at him for too long, but hoped the split second of eye contact was enough to convey that she was going to try and get him out of this. “And I wanted to give you a chance to explain.”
Daphne’s eyes felt hot and it took all the energy in her to will herself not to tear up. She breathed deeply, and her expression hardened, “I don’t understand what you’re talking about.”
Charlotte flashed her daughter a dark smile that sent shivers down her spine, “Very good.” She cooed, “Now tell me you don’t know who this is.”
“I don’t know who that is.” Her voice broke a little bit and she hoped her mother wouldn’t notice.
“Ooh, that gave me chills. To your credit you’re doing much better than your sister. I’m almost embarrassed by how weak she is under pressure. She cracked so quickly. Luckily for her, she’s spent the majority her life on my good side, so when I found out she had deceived me in order to protect you, and—this—” Her mother kicked Nate in the side, and the wind was knocked out of him. He coughed and tried to breathe, but found it extremely difficult. “I forgave and forgot. With you I will not be so lenient.” Her mother approached her and grabbed her by the hair, lowering her voice to an eerie murmur, “This is the final humiliation you put me through.”
“It’s not her f—” Nate coughed, trying to get some volume in his voice. Daphne tried to get to him before her mother did, but she wasn’t fast enough. Charlotte shot her wand at Daphne who collapsed, suddenly unable to stand. She tried to crawl, pulling herself towards Nate by her arms, but she was too slow. Charlotte placed one foot on Nate’s chest, and pressed deliberately on his broken ribcage. He cried out in agony.
“You will not address me. Or my daughter. You ruined her. She may be damaged goods now because of her indiscretion regarding you, but she still has a chance to redeem herself, while I’m still around to handle her affairs. Tell me, in which of your dream worlds could a glorified low class farm hand have won this battle? You’ve—Daphne dear, I’ve told you before it’s not polite to interrupt,”
Daphne had caught up to them and was reaching out to pull her mother off of Nate when with a flick of her wand Charlotte sent her daughter careening backwards across the floor and nearly headfirst into the stone wall. She let out a cry of pain. She felt something crack in her shoulder, and with her free arm, tried to steady herself as the room turned upside down.
Charlotte did not glance twice at her daughter, but continued to address Nate, “If you do not give up this hopeless venture, I will move on to other targets. Your parents, your sisters. Even Daphne, if I still have not made my point.”
Charlotte bent over him coming within an inch or so of his face. He stared right back at her, wincing as she leaned her elbow into his ribcage. “All you muggleborns and half-bloods, even sympathetic purebloods like my husband and father-in-law, think that because one infamous figurehead is defeated everything just goes away. But I want you to know that that is a fantasy. I want you to hear me very clearly when I tell you that I would kill my daughter with my own two hands before she was married to a muggleborn. It would be an easy decision. And that is the way this world works.”
Charlotte stood and walked to her daughter, dropping Daphne’s wand on the floor in front of her. “That’s enough for today. Clean him up, fix him up, and dispose of him, Daphne.” Her mother strode back towards the door and disappeared up the stairs. Daphne grabbed her wand and undid the binding on her legs. Her head was pounding, and the edges of her vision were dark and blurry as she made her way over to Nate. She fell to her knees, “Astrid!” She yelled through the gate. With a sharp popping noise, her elf appeared. “Oh, Miss Daphne, Master Douglas!” Astrid was shocked to see the state of the two young people she’d helped every day during the year.
“Astrid, please get me a washcloth, warm water, sal- you know what all I need.”
“Yes, of course, miss, right away.” With another pop, she was gone.
Nate’s hand rose and rested gently on the inside of her thigh.
“Can you see me?” Nate nodded as best he could without being able to sit up.
“Can you speak at all?” She asked him, feeling his forehead, and grazing his cheek.
“Not for a long time, but yes.” He wheezed as he spoke.
“Good, because I’m going to need you to walk me through the more advanced stuff. I can take care of your bruising and cuts.” Astrid reappeared with the necessary supplies and set them by Daphne’s side. “Thank you. That will be all.” Daphne said softly to her, “Oh, actually and Astrid, please try and keep anyone from coming down here, for as long as you can spare time.”
The elf nodded and disappeared once more. Nate held onto her thigh tightly as she took the cloth soaked in warm water to his arms and chest, and suturing up the big cuts by dragging her wand along them. Luckily he wasn’t as bad on the outside as he had been when he was attacked at school.
“So, you came to my house?” She said
“Yes.”
“Oh, Nate, why?”
“Daphne I had just,” He coughed a few times before continuing, and Daphne rested her hand gently on his. “I’d just proposed to you, and you left in such a hurry, and then I didn’t see you or hear from you for nearly six weeks. I was worried about you.”
“What can I do for your ribs?” She asked, not addressing what he’d said to her. Nate thought for a moment and gave her a few incantations to recite. She did so, and it was almost an hour or so before she spoke again. As his bones solidified and healed, Nate was able to breathe deeply and color flooded back into his face.
“Are you alright to sit up? I need to take a look at your back.” He nodded and pulled himself slowly up, facing his back to her. “I’m sorry you had to deal with her,” Daphne said quietly, as she combed his back for serious injuries, “And that I wasn’t there to protect you. I should have been, if it wasn’t for this ridiculous wedding.”
“No, it’s not your fault. I shouldn’t have been there. I just—needed to see you.” He looked over his shoulder at her.
“Alright, your back looks okay. Does it hurt anywhere else? How are your legs?”
“They’re fine, surprisingly enough she mostly target head and upper body. She did take my wand, though.” Nate responded, a little melancholically.
“Oh, here,” Daphne pulled out Nate’s wand, “I saw it on her when I got close, grabbed it before she pushed me away.” He beamed, and approached her in an expression of gratitude, but she waved his thanks away, “I know how much your wand means to you.” A sudden shot of pain surged through her head and she fell backwards hoping it would go away if she laid down.
“Daphne? Baby, here,” Nate grabbed her, trying to get her to sit up again, and she yelled out.
“My shoulder.” She explained weakly. She was disoriented and could barely focus on his face.
“It’s okay love, just relax, I’ll figure it out.” He laid her head in his lap and started probing her shoulder, “It’s dislocated. I’ll have to, just hold on tight to my leg or something, this is going to be uncomfortable. I’m sorry,” He apologized, watching her face as he shoved her arm back into its socket. She sobbed in pain, and Nate tried to comfort her, “I know, I’m sorry, baby.” She was usually so confident, talkative and aggressive, it was disconcerting to see her so vulnerable. He brushed her hair away from her face, and her tears away from her eyes. He grabbed the damp cloth and cleaned the blood from her forehead.
“Are you dizzy, or tired at all?” He asked her sweetly.
She nodded. “Both. But I’m okay. It’s okay.” She sat up as slowly as possible. Her head was killing her, but now that Draco and Astoria were lording it over Malfoy manor, she didn’t want to overstay their welcome. “We need to get out of here.”