Oblivion
Nevra smiled on the surface, while inside her mind was in turmoil. She spoke, praying the Dark Lord didn't know the truth. "Of course, I don't want to be bound eternally to you…you could make me do anything…even make me take my own life. I don't like the idea of anyone having that much power over me…even you , My Lord."
The bluff worked. The Dark Lord smiled, the anger in his eyes fading. "I thought it was cowardice that inspired you to reject the Binding…only you, Nevra, would have the courage to tell me expressly that you did not want to follow an order."
The smile disappeared…but no anger showed in his eyes. "I will let you slip, Nevra. You do not have to be Bound. Your loyalty to me is in your hands…you have given me a precious gift…given the Dark a precious gift. With the Sorting Hat, we will take Hogwarts!" Nevra took care to conceal the hurt behind her emotional mask…made sure her face was controlled, blank.
Lucius Malfoy stepped forward. "My Lord, I hesitate to interrupt." That was merely a formality. Malfoy knew that he was powerful enough that even the Dark Lord would not offend him without just reason. "This girl has not proven herself to the members of the Inner Circle. I, personally, would not accept her." His glance around him proved that he knew, as well as the rest of them, that whatever Lucius decided would be what the Inner Circle did. He held them in the palm of his hand. He was the ultimate power here.
Voldemort's eyes blazed in open fury. "You dare, Lucius? You dare question my authority? This girl has done what you and 20 others could not. She has given me the key to Hogwarts. She has followed more faithfully than my son the Heir." Lucius barely held back a contrite reply. Everyone here knew that Draco was biologically his. The adoption was only held because Lucius had permitted it. Not that he wasn't glad to be rid of the responsibility of the boy.
"You are glad to be rid of Draco, Lucius. Don't pretend to be the father you never were. But since you are so eager to use him as leverage...keep a closer eye on him. He just removed your wife from Saint Mungo's a few weeks ago against my express orders merely because we were considering attacking the hospital. Her location is currently concealed. Since you can not keep tabs on your "biological son," maybe you should clean up the mess. Find her and report to me on your findings."
Lucius cursed inwardly. He had forgotten how adept the Dark Lord was at Legilimency…lowered his shields just a fraction in order to spare some power for some Potions he had in the works, and the Lord was in his mind. He stepped back into ranks hastily before the Dark Lord could come up with a harsher punishment. "I hear and obey, my Lord."
Voldemort turned his attention back on Nevra. His gaze was calm, but hard. "No matter how loyal you are to me, Nevra, I cannot allow open defiance to go unpunished. It would be a bad example, one others would want to follow. I admire your courage…but obedience is by far the greater trait, Nevra. I hope you learn the lesson of today. Crucio!"
Suddenly, her mind and body were both engulfed by pain so enormous that she couldn't stop the tears from flowing down her face, burning acid tracks down her cheeks. There was no way to deal with Unforgivables except through sheer will power. The important part was keeping her mouth shut. Under this sort of pain, she could reveal anything by accident. Thankfully, Darkness invaded her mind, and the pain abruptly stopped.
Be strong, Nevra. We're waiting for you. Blaise's voice was the last thing she heard before slipping over the brink of Oblivion.
She never felt Draco's arms around her, catching her before she hit the ground. Never saw the look of astonishment in the Dark Lord's and Lucius Malfoy's eyes. Or the triumph that blazed in sapphire eyes meeting silver over her body. The protectiveness of the silver eyes as his arms tightened their grip on her.
She was his…to hold, and protect for as long as she needed. That's all Draco could think of as he held her. That he would do anything for her. Not because of the Alliance, not because of the Dark Side. Things that were so important before, now seemed trivial. Because of the way she made him feel, as complicated as it was.
He would protect her. No matter what.
Waiting For Her
Ginny had still not arrived back at Hogwarts by the next morning, and Dumbledore was beginning to get nervous. He went down to see if Harry could assuage his fears.
"She's not back, yet? But why?" Harry's emerald eyes filled with worry. "She could be hurt, she could be in danger, she could - they could have found her out! We have to do something!"
Dumbledore sighed. Silly mistake to tell Harry about her. He would only complicate things. He seemed to be making a lot of silly mistakes recently.
"I'm afraid, Harry, that all we can do is wait…going after her would only endanger the mission."
"Screw the mission! Dumbledore, that's Ginny Weasley out there! The girl who risked everything to fight for the Light! And we can't risk everything to save her? Is that what you are saying?"
"Yes, Harry. Because on her shoulders rests the fate of one mission. On our shoulders rests the fate of the world. We all do what we must."
He laughed bitterly. "Duty binds me tighter than love ever did. Dumbledore, I love her…I know she doesn't believe it. Hell, she has reason to…she thinks I picked our - I mean, her - family over her. But I do love her…more than I have right. We aren't friends, aren't even on good terms, but I love her still."
Dumbledore sighed in regret. He hoped he would not have to tell Harry this. He had enough burdens to bear. But what must be done, must be done. "She does not love you, Harry. Her heart belongs to another."
Harry started in surprise. "How do you know that?"
"Because I tried to use the Felis Semper spell to bind her to the Light. She is slipping away from us, Harry. I thought she still loved you, that the love was buried beneath anger and bitter frustration, but I was wrong. I tried to use her love for you to bind her to you…and therefore to the Light. But I couldn't because there is no love there to bind. I am sorry, Harry."
His eyes, brimmed with tears, looked up at him. "Do you know who it is?"
Dumbledore sighed. "If I did, I wouldn't tell you…but I can't find that out. All I know is that she is meant to be with him…their destinies are bound. And that their love could decide this War…which is why she needs to remain sided with the Light."
"I shouldn't have hoped. Time and time again, my fate, my destiny has taken away things from me…my parents, my family, my loved ones…Ginny, too. There doesn't seem to be anything left to lose."
Dumbledore sighed. "The Weasley family magic was too strong. Your magic was too strong, Harry. Your love - and their love - shined like a beacon within Ginny. A beacon that Voldemort would have surely seen. You and the Weasleys had to break away from her, or she would have been discovered. Would have been killed.…I had hoped that after the War, you and her family could explain to her why you all pushed her away, but now, that isn't possible."
"Wait, I thought the Weasleys were against her becoming a spy…"
"The Weasleys had to push her away for the same reason you did. The problem is, that she has stopped loving all of you. Her bonds to the Light are truly broken. There are only three people she is bound to…her love, a Ally bound to her by a spell, and Tom Riddle."
"She is bound to the Dark Lord?"
"No, to Tom Riddle. The seventeen year old boy who she opened her heart to so long ago. The one she still cries over deep inside. That is a bond she has told no one about, because Voldemort would surely exploit it."
"Dumbledore, Voldemort is Tom Riddle…isn't he?"
"Tom Riddle was still a boy when he left this school. Voldemort isn't human anymore…he's become a sort of monster."
"What are we going to do…she must be brought back to the Light…right?"
"Yes, Harry. We will see...we may not need to do anything. She is still bound somehow to the Light…because she is still making her reports and missing no information except about the Dark Trio. However, they are above her, so she may very well not know the information we are given."
"How do you know that?" Harry's eyes were full of suspicion.
Dumbledore chuckled. "Do you think we would depend on only one spy in the Dark Side to get information, Harry? Be realistic. There are casualties, there are betrayals…the Light protects itself against that sort of thing."
"So now we wait for her?"
"Hopefully she will return soon…but yes, we wait."
The two men sat down, minds in different places. But both were hoping for one thing...albeit for different reasons. One praying she would return for the hope of the Light and one praying she would return because he loved her. Even if he had no hope of having her.
In The Hospital
Draco paced back and forth in front of the bed that held Nevra's prone form. The Dark Lord had made him wait with her head cradled in his lap and her heart beat growing ever slower as he announced that she had passed the Test…and then made them stay to discuss plans to attack Hogwarts. Draco could barely listen to anything but the slowing of Nevra's breath.
He had brought Nevra to a hospital recommended by the facility that now housed Narcissa Malfoy. He would have brought her to the same hospital, but now that his father had placed a Tracking spell on him, he couldn't very well lead him right to her. (His shields didn't prevent spells only alerted him of their presences because the enemy could always be fed wrong information.)
Now all he could do was wait and see whether she would wake up. Blaise had gone home to try to see if there was any way the Innocuroso Binding could speed the healing process.
The hum of machines and the beep of a heart monitor filled her ears. She opened her eyes slowly, the black fading away from the edges of her vision. She could see Draco's blonde head pacing in front of her. Her voice came out in a bare whisper, to her horror.
"Draco?" He looked up, and she could see his mask was down entirely. His eyes were full with mind-shattering relief.
"Nevra! I - I mean, we - thought we had lost you! Thank Merlin!" His hands unconsciously smoothed her hair away from her face and stroked the top of her hand, clasping it gently.
She removed her hand from his grasp hastily. She couldn't, couldn't, couldn't love him. Not now or ever. "You know Merlin is a wizard of the Light," she said with laughter in her voice. "Kind of ironic…why am I in a Muggle hospital?"
"Because the Dark Lord doesn't like his work being undone…but you would be dead without help. So I had to take you to a place where he would never follow."
"Why would you help me?"
He hesitated. "Consider it a debt repaid…you healed me once from the Dark Lord's Cruciatus Curse…now I healed you. I don't like owing anyone anything. And some selfishness. The success of our plans depend on you in part."
"You're hiding something...you hesitated." He laughed bitterly.
"Trust me; you don't want to hear it." His eyes told her what he said was true. She let it be.
"How long have I been out?" She had a meeting to get to.
"A day and a half or so." He looked tired to her…like he hadn't slept in a while. But if she asked him whether he had stayed with her the whole time and found out she had…it would raise a temptation to test whether she had a chance with him…even though she knew she didn't.
She couldn't. Couldn't love him…She seemed to be saying that a lot recently. Suddenly she remembered the meeting with Abington and the other professors.
"Dumbledore will be looking for me. A Healer can't be gone for too long." He looked like he wanted to stop her…frankly, if he had tried, she wouldn't have been able to resist him. She still felt weak. But he stopped himself and she was free to stand of her own accord.
Her knees gave out and she fell into his arms. He took a deep breath and helped her get her balance. "What excuse are you using?"
"Um, I don't know yet…I've been having some problems dealing with nosy teachers lately," she lied, thinking about her spat with Potter. "How about taking time to figure out my problems?"
"Will Dumbledore buy it?"
"I think so."
"Then it works. You should get on your way if you think they might try to track you down."
"Um, yeah…as soon as you let go of my arm." He looked down in surprise and released his grasp on her elbow.
She looked at him for a second, then Apparated away. He stared at the spot she was at seconds before, his eyes full of what he had wanted to say…but she had said she didn't want to love him.