So sorry if there are any mistakes. I'm half asleep as I'm editing this.

❝︎Mother knows daughter the best❞︎

Malfoy Manor

The Snatcher pushed me inside the manor roughly against my struggles. It looked so different from the last time I was here, more gloomy and empty. From somewhere inside the manor I could hear a faint baby's cry.

"What's this?" Narcissa walked into the main room, her face stiffening as she saw me.

"Look who it is!" Bellatrix soon followed her in greeting me, "Apolline, your daughter's here!" My face immediately stiffened and I dreaded everything even more. From behind Bellatrix and Narcissa, the woman I despised more than anyone walked down with a smirk.

"Hello darling," She said standing beside Narcissa.

"Bring her closer, she'd know where Potter is," Bellatrix ordered the snatcher. I was pushed roughly, again, being forcefully stood in front of the deranged woman. She looked a little more of a mess than usual. She drew out her wand pointing it at me and I immediately knew what was coming. "Legilimens."

I closed my eyes shut only focusing on closing my mind. Occulemency was part of the things that were in the book Dumbledore had left me. She kept trying but I didn't give in and kept her out of my head.

"Oh? Legilimens," She casted it again attempting to force into my mind even more. I didn't let her in a single bit and continued to shut her off completely. If she successfully enters my mind, she'll know everything. From where Harry, Hermione, and Ron are and to the conversation with Snape.

"She's angry. That's what's strengthening her Occlumency," Apolline said, "Bring Draco."

Narcissa hesitated looking back at me and everyone else before walking out and towards somewhere. My heart dropped at the mention of his name. I haven't heard it in so long. I didn't say anything and glared at Apolline and Bellatrix with the faint noise of a baby's cries in the background. I can only assume that the baby is Bellatrix's child considering how tired and annoyed she looked.

"What's the matter Evelyn?" Apolline said placing a hand on my cheek. Behind her, Draco walked into the room with Narcissa and Lucius by his side, immediately freezing as we made eye contact. "Mother knows daughter the best," Apolline said walking away with a smirk.

"Come Draco, come," Bellatrix gestured Draco to come towards me. He kept his eye contact with me while walking to Bellatrix's side. His lips were quivering and his eyes were teary. "Do what I taught you," she whispered placing her hand on his shoulders. I didn't know what to think or how to react at all to this.

"Do it now!" Bellatrix yelled. Draco didn't break his eye contact and was slightly shaking. His breath became unsteady as he raised his wand pointing it at me.

"Legilimens," he whispered. Everything that was happening took me by surprise and caught me off guard causing me to break my concentration and allowing him to search through my memories. All the memories being forcefully resurfaced was painful, extremely painful. I let out a scream feeling my legs drop loose only to be pulled back up by the snatcher holding me. Draco looked through every part of my memories, every single detail. Including even Harry and my kiss and to me breaking Harry's wand. The pain in my head was unbearable and felt like he was ripping through my mind.

Once he had forcefully resurfaced every part of my memory from hunting for horcruxes, he stopped. I was extremely out of breath and struggled to catch it again. He immediately backed away looking terrified of what he'd done, or maybe the things I've been doing. I was struggling to even stand on my feet while being held up by the snatcher.

"What did you see Draco?" Lucius whispered, "Where are they?"

"They've apparated back to Hogwarts to take it back from Snape," Draco lied.

"But why would they leave her?" Apolline asked narrowing her eyes at me.

"He broke up with her."

"So they just left her in the forest!" Bellatrix yelled out cackling. Even the mention of Harry's name tore my heart. It wasn't long until I could feel tears streaming down my face.

"Put her in the cellar, he'll come back for her," Apolline said. It didn't take much effort for the snatcher to drag me down towards the cellar for I could barely stand. I was able to get one last glimpse of Draco before being roughly thrown in the cellar. The snatcher locked the door behind him and walked away leaving me laying on the cold floor. I didn't even bother trying to pull myself up and only cried.

"Evelyn?" A dreamy voice echoed through the dark cellar. I looked up to see three people walking out of the shadows and towards me. Luna was a part of the three and so was Ollivander and a dwarf from Gringotts.

"Luna? What are you doing here?" I asked as I sat up straight, barely being able to get the words out.

"They took me away from my dad to put an end to the quibbler."

"That's terrible. How long have you been here?"

"A little more than a month. I spent my birthday here actually."

"There's no way of getting out?"

"We've tried everything," Ollivander said, "the cellar is enchanted."

The door to the cellar opened making a creaking noise drawing everyone's attention towards it. Draco cautiously eyed everyone inside the cellar until finally meeting my eyes.

"Evelyn I-I need to talk to you- Alone." He said.

"Come on everyone, let's let them talk just by themselves. They don't want to be bothered," Luna said sitting down against a wall.

"Evelyn I'm sorry-"

"Draco," I cut him off to his surprise, "can you please help me up? I'm in the middle of the cellar."

He didn't say anything for a second before bending down, putting his arm around my waist and helping me up to my feet. I still didn't have enough strength in my body left to stand up straight by my own. I had to depend on him a lot while he walked me over towards a pillar across from everyone else. He gently sat me down against the pillar and sat down beside me.

"Potter is more daft than I thought," he muttered making me let out a weak laugh.

"What do you mean?"

"He broke up with you just because you broke his wand?"

"Well that was quite a valid reason wasn't it."

"But you also had a valid reason to breaking his wand."

"And he doesn't know that."

A short silence filled the room with just us staring into empty space. "Are you alright?" Draco asked breaking the silence.

"Physically no. I never knew you were that good at legillimency."

"Bellatrix taught me all summer. It wasn't a pleasant experience. Everyday she'd rip through my memories until I perfected my occlumency and legillimency skills."

"Speaking of... Did she... Give birth? I heard a baby crying in the distance."

"Yeah, she did. It's The Dark Lord's heir."

"...So I have no use to The Dark Lord anymore?"

"What does that mean?"

"The only reason Bellatrix is keeping me alive right now is to use me as bait. Once Harry does somehow come to the manor... Which I highly doubt but if he does, there's no more reason for her to keep me alive. She'll kill me and Apolline wouldn't even care."

"I wouldn't let that happen."

"Yeah, thanks," I whispered resting my head on his shoulder, "but that'll be better than having to watch Harry sacrifice himself for millions."

"Does he make you happy?" He asked almost in a whisper.

"More than anything."

"Okay," he whispered after a long pause.

"Why'd you lie to Bellatrix? I thought you didn't like Harry."

"Because it's the right thing to do."

"Thank you," I whispered barely making out any of the words.

"Are you tired?" He asked slowly turning his head to look at me. I didn't reply and only nodded feeling my eyelids grow heavy. "You can sleep right now. I'm not going anywhere," he whispered quickly looking away. It didnt't take long for me to fall asleep because of how exhausted I was. Both mentally and physically.

~***~

I woke up to the door of the cellar opening up roughly. Draco really didn't leave my side and stayed for the entire time. The sun was setting although I wasn't sure exactly what time it is. I was starving and my body still felt weak.

"Get up," Peter Pettigrew walked over and pulled me up roughly by my arm.

"Hands off," Draco spat snatching my arm away from him.

"They want her out the cellar," He said quickly backing away.

"Why do they want her?"

"They have more questions."

"Then they can talk to me. I looked through her entire memories and if there was anything suspicious I would've told them already."

"They insisted on talking to her."

"She's not going anywhere."

"Move aside Draco," The voice of a woman I despised the most spoke. "It's time for a family talk don't you think?"

"You're not my family," I muttered under my breath.

"I also dread having a blood-traitor in my family line. Now get moving," she said leaving the cellar. Peter tried to push me out of the cellar roughly only to be stopped by Draco again.

"I'll take her," he said grabbing my hand and leading me out the cellar. Outside we were greeted by the same people as last time, Bellatrix, Draco's parents, and Apolline.

"Draco?" Narcissa called out for him in a soft voice. He didn't reply and stood by my side staring at her.

"Draco, leave her side," Lucius said gesturing for Draco to come towards him.

"That's alright. He can stay if he wants to," Apolline whispered walking up towards me. "It seems like she's been hiding something extremely well or Draco lied."

"I don't know what you're talking about," I replied trying to stay calm.

"You can't apparate onto Hogwarts ground," she said. My eyes widened feeling my heart drop. How did I not think of that?

"I lied. I lied," Draco quickly muttered.

"No-" I quickly interrupted him. If Bellatrix or anyone in this room finds out he's lying, he'll be in trouble. "Dumbledore left me a book. It-it contained everything I needed to know about Occulemency."

"There's only one way to find out isn't there?" She said drawing out her wand and pointing it towards me. Draco quickly didn't hesitate to stand in between the two of us just as Peter came running to Bellatrix.

"You're going to w-want to see this," Peter said stuttering. Bellatrix eyed all of us before quickly following Peter back out the manor. Right as she was out of our sight, Apolline backed away standing beside Narcissa while Lucius dragged Draco away from me.

"Draco!" A few moments passed and Bellatrix came running back in. Behind him couple of snatchers pulled in Harry, Hermione, and Ron. Harry's face was jinxed, I could easily tell. Although, it wasn't enough for me to not be able to recognize the one I love more than anyone. It felt like all the air in my lungs were getting sucked in and I quickly looked away hiding my face with my hair. The snatchers all dragged the three right beside me. Bellatrix roughly pulled Harry up and knelt him down in front of Draco.

"Well?" Bellatrix asked placing her hand on his shoulder.

"I can't be sure," Draco lied again.

"Draco. Look closely, son. If we are the ones to hand Potter over to the Dark Lord, everything would be forgiven. All would be as it was, you understand?" Lucius whispered.

"Now, we won't be forgetting who actually caught him, I hope, Mr. Malfoy," Scabior said.

"You dare to talk to me like that in my own house?"

"Lucius-" Narcissa quickly interrupted him placing her hand on his shoulder.

"Don't be shy, sweetie. Come over," Bellatrix said kneeling Draco down in front of Harry. "Now, if this isn't who we think it is, Draco, and we call him, he'll kill us all. We need to be absolutely sure."

"We'll see," Apolline said roughly dragging me and kneeling me in front of Harry. His unsteady breath immediately stopped and silence just filled the room.

"What's wrong with his face?" Draco asked breaking the silence.

"Yes, what is wrong with his face?" Bellatrix asked the snatchers.

"He came to us like that. Something he picked up in the forest, I reckon," A snatcher replied.

"Or ran into a Stinging Jinx. Was it you, dearie?" Bellatrix asked turning to face Hermione, "Give me her wand. We'll see what her last spell was." She immediately froze seeing one of the snatchers holding the Sword of Gryffindor. "What is that? Where'd you get that from?"

"It was in her bag when we searched her. Reckon it's mine now," the snatcher replied. Bellatrix quickly attacked the snatchers firing non-verbal spells at them and taking out each of them. One snatcher by having a thin rope wrap around their neck and another buy having a snake around their neck.

"Are you mad?" Scabior yelled just before a rope wrapped around his head as well.

"Go! Get out!" Bellatrix yelled as the snatchers all ran out of the manor. "Cissy, put them in the cellar," she yelled throwing Harry, Ron, and Hermione towards Narcissa. "I'm not done with this one, girl-to-girl!" She said throwing me onto the floor and pinning me down.

"Don't lie now dear Ev, I know you know where you found the Sword of Gryffindor," She muttered.

"I don't know anything, I wasn't there when they found the sword," I whispered not breaking our eye contact although all I wanted to do right now was just cry.

"YOU'RE LYING!" She yelled before taking out a silver dagger and cutting through my wrist. It all came by surprise and caused me to let out a painful scream that echoed through the manor.

"STOP!" Draco yelled only to be pulled back by Lucius and Narcissa. Bellatrix didn't stop and continued to cut through my skin that felt like she was engraving words into my skin. My screams didn't stop and only got louder each time she cut into my skin.

"EVELYN! EVLEYN! EVELYN!" Harry's voice called out for me banging on the walls of the cellar. I bit my tongue only focusing on his voice refraining myself from letting out another scream no matter how deep Bellatrix cut.

"He'll never love you ever again," she whispered into my ear continuing to cut into my skin. The physical pain was one thing but her words cut into my brain sharper than the dagger. The torture didn't make me cry. It was her words that really pushed the tears out of my eyes.

"I'm going to ask one more time dearie, where did you get the sword?" Bellatrix said standing up and drawing her wand out leaving me laying on the floor.

"I told you I-I don't know," I said catching my breath.

"Crucio!" She muttered the spell. The pain was unbearable. Like all the blood vessels in my body were getting twisted and cut, all the blood in my body trying to rip out of my skin, like all my bones breaking into pieces. No matter how hard I tried to not scream, I couldn't.

"EVELYN!!" Harry's voice echoed through the manor again and his banging got louder. Draco continued trying to lunge at Bellatrix only to be held back by Lucius and Narcissa each time.

"That sword is meant to be in my vault at Gringotts. How did you get it? What else did you and your friends take from my vault?!" Bellatrix shouted lifting the curse.

"I SWEAR I DON'T KNOW!"

"Crucio!" She casted the spell again forcing out another painful scream from me. In the process, even though I couldn't think at all, I saw a black curly strand of hair dropping onto my shirt.

"PLEASE!!" I yelled out begging for her to stop the curse. My back was arching and I was rolling around the floor in pain. The only thing that kept me sane was Harry's voice.

"YOU HEARD HER, SHE DOESN'T KNOW!" Draco yelled. Bellatrix finally lifted the curse and walked away. Even with the curse lifted, I couldn't stand or do anything. I couldn't feel anything, only pain.

"Bring the goblin!" She yelled at Peter catching her breath. Peter ran down the cellar and soon came out with the Gringotts goblin pushing him to the middle of the room. I met eyes with the goblin just over my wrist that now had the words 'blood-traitor' engraved into my skin.

"I'm only going to ask you once, goblin," Bellatrix said bending down to his eye-level, "Think very, very carefully before you answer. Who got into my vault?"

"I don't know," the goblin replied.

"You don't know? Why weren't you doing your job? Who got into my vault? Who stole it? Who stole it? Well?"

"When I was last in your vault, the sword was there."

"Oh, well then, perhaps it just walked out on its own then."

"There is no place safer than Gringotts."

"Liar!" Bellatrix yelled slashing her dagger and cutting the goblin's cheeks. "Consider yourself lucky, goblin. The same won't be said for this one," she said walking towards me.

"Expellliarmus!" Harry yelling running into the main room and disarming Bellatrix.

"Stupefy!" Ron followed and shot a spell at Lucius, knocking him back. Harry then shot a spell at Draco while Ron dueled Narcissa and Hermione dueled Lucius. Nonverbal spells were being shot from all directions. My only focus was on Harry until Bellatrix roughly pulled me up grabbing my by my hair.

"Stop!" She yelled with her dagger up against my throat drawing all attention to her. "Drop your wands. I said, drop them!" Everyone hesitated before dropping their wands until a single drop of blood fell from a cut she made on my neck. "Pick them up, Draco, now."

"Well, well, well, look what we have here. It's Harry Potter. He's all bright and shiny and new again, just in time for the Dark Lord," Bellatrix said slowly walking towards Harry pulling me with her. "Call him. Call him!" Lucius stepped up and lifted his sleeve revealing the dark mark preparing to call Voldemort in the manor. Right above me, I could see Dobby hanging on the chandelier that was directly above Bellatrix and I. Once the chandelier began making squeaking noises, everyone stopped to look at up at him. Just as a short silence filled the room, the chandelier fell down making Bellatrix throw me towards Harry and jumping back to save herself. Hermione was quick to catch me in her arms helping me stand on my feet again while Harry forcefully took back their wands from Draco.

"Stupefy!" He shot a spell at Lucius knocking him back again just before he could call Voldemort.

"Stupid elf. You could've killed me!" Bellatrix yelled.

"Dobby never meant to kill! Dobby only meant to maim or seriously injure!" Dobby yelled. With a snap of his fingers, he disarmed Narcissa before she could cast a spell.

"How dare you take a witch's wand? How dare you defy your masters?!" Bellatrix continued to yell.

"Dobby has no master. Dobby is a free elf. And Dobby has come to save Harry Potter and his friends!" Dobby yelled. Hermione helped me guide my hand onto Dobby's body to apparate together. Just before we did, I saw Bellatrix throwing her dagger right at us.

We apparated into what seemed like a beach shore. My head was banging and my vision was blurry. Strangely, the biggest pain was coming from my stomach. I slowly looked down at my stomach and saw that Bellatrix's dagger had stabbed me. My hands were covered in blood and the sand around me too began to turn red.