Chapter 3

Chapter 3

The lessons with Daphne had not been a complete waste of time. Abiageal was good at lying to Theodore, now. At first, whenever Theodore asked Abiageal a question, Daphne was never far away ( the advantage of having parents who were never home Abiageal could have her friends over as long as she wanted ) and would answer for her, lying for her; but now, she could do it all by herself. She was not a master at it yet, but she was convinced that Theodore believed her.

Theodore suspected something was up. He could tell she was being strange lately, but he did not want to say anything. Like always, he was going to let her come to him instead of pressuring her to talk to him.

Abiageal did not know if it was normal or not, but the Dark Mark burned from morning to night. Sometimes, she was in so much pain that she could not close her eyes all night. She did not know if the pain was due to the fact that she had agreed to wear the Dark Mark by default...she would never have the answer to her question, she had no one to talk to about it. For the other Death Eaters, it was a real honor, a privilege to have Lord Voldemort's mark on her forearm.

"Have you heard from..." Theodore asked when all their friends had finally left and they were both sitting on the couch.

"Theo, just because you ask me ten times a day doesn't mean the answer is going to change...it's still no. And, like I've told you a million times, if it does, you'll be the first to know."

"I-sorry. It-it makes me so nervous. I don't like-I don't like having to wait for bad news to hit us in the face, like that, out of the blue, unexpectedly."

Abiageal looked at Theodore tenderly, that was why she had to keep him away from what was happening in his brand new life as a Death Eater. He worried too much and he worried constantly, it was not bearable for him. Besides, she was a big girl, she could take care of herself and him. All she needed to do was keep a straight face and not let fear or anxiety show in her eyes. It would be easy, she had done that her whole life.

They spent the next thirty minutes chatting ( avoiding the topic of 'Voldemort' like the plague ), before playing a game of cards. It amused them, neither of them really knew what they were playing or even the rules of the game, but they were laughing and that was all that mattered. That was all Abiageal wanted, to laugh and forget for a moment.

When the sun rose, Theodore would have to go home, Abiageal was not really keen on that idea. She wanted to keep her best friend close to her, even if she blatantly lied to him, he reassured her just by being there with her, he made her feel safe and Merlin knew that was not a feeling that the Raglan's only daughter experienced regularly, but with Theodore she really felt like the outside world could not reach her.

Maybe deep down she knew it was true. Theodore Nott would tear the world apart before he would let anything or anyone hurt her. And ending up in Azkaban to protect her was the last thing Theodore was afraid of. He had always been protective of her, even when they were little kids, he did not let anyone speak the wrong way to Abiageal and even less speak badly of her, no one was allowed to lay a hand on her, no one was allowed to push her and woe betide anyone who dared to approach her anyway.

"You seem distracted, Abby. You just throw a 2 when you have a pair of 2s lying in front of you."

"Oh, gosh," Abiageal chuckled weakly.

"What's going on in that pretty little head of yours, hm?"

"I just don't want you to leave tomorrow..."

Theodore laughed at Abiageal's confession, he did not want to leave either, but with her parents back, it was best for him to be as far away from Mr. Raglan as possible if he had any hope of living past the age of seventeen. Mr. Raglan was not Theodore Nott Junior's biggest fan anymore since he had - in Mr. Raglan's eyes - abandoned his daughter and then came back when it suited him a few years later.

"We'll see each other again, don't worry. And don't worry, I promise you that the day after tomorrow morning, at eleven o'clock sharp, I'll be at your door and I'll ask your mother if you can go out and play."

"Oh, is that right? How many hours late?" she teased him, smiling mischievously.

"Okay. Touché. I'll come at two o'clock in the afternoon."

"Ah, now that's more like you."

They played cards a little more before finally going to bed. Like every night, Abiageal prepared two glasses of water, she gave one to Theodore; she kissed his cheek, in reality it was not a real kiss, her lips had not even touched the skin of Theodore's cheek, but it did not matter because one day she would be able to hold his hand to comfort him and kiss him on the cheek to show him all her recognition and gratitude for everything he did for her.

Abiageal was sleeping peacefully, for the first time since she had the Dark Mark, the nightmares seemed to have calmed down and it was a real godsend for her. She was finally getting back all the hours of sleep she had missed these last two weeks.

But of course, nothing lasted very long with Abiageal. She woke up suddenly, biting her lips to keep from screaming in pain. Her arm hurt much more than the other times, it was a real pain this time. She turned on the bedside lamp that was next to her bed and then she looked at the mark, the black of the tattoo was darker, more pronounced than when she had gone to bed a few hours earlier. It could only have one meaning: Lord Voldemort.

Voldemort had warned, at the end of the meeting in which Abiageal had been marked, that it would take him several days to create the perfect plan and ensure that no member of the Order of the Phoenix would thwart it and ruin everything.

Several days had eventually turned into several weeks, and Abiageal had hoped it would take longer than that—or even that the whole thing would be canceled.

Abiageal got out of bed reluctantly, she still looked at the time, it was barely three in the morning, she sighed. She put on new clothes and got ready in silence before leaving her room. She stopped for a few seconds to look at the door of the room that Theodore had taken over and she took a second to debate with herself. Should she wake him up or leave without warning him? Abigeal shook her head from left to right, and before she could regret her choice, she left without giving the bedroom door a second glance. It was for her own good if she didn't warn him like she had promised to do.

In the space of two weeks, Abiageal had become a liar and a promise-breaker. And in a few hours, she would become a killer.

Abiageal went down the stairs very slowly, avoiding walking on the left side of the fourth step from the top, it creaked very loudly and could wake the dead ( well, she doubted that it could have woken Theodore, this boy was such a heavy sleeper that he could sleep in the middle of a storm and he would continue to sleep without hearing the slightest sound ). Once at the bottom of the stairs, Abiageal walked to the front door, she opened it before looking up the stairs, she could not really see Theodre's room from where she was but that was secondary. She mimed an "I am sincerely sorry" with her lips before leaving and closing the door behind her.

The Malfoy family manor was not that far from her home so she walked there. During the few kilometers she had walked, her heart had been pounding and it had nothing to do with the physical exercise she was doing. She was afraid of what Lord Voldemort would say once all the Death Eaters were present at the Malfoys' house. She was afraid of what she would be forced to do once he sent them all out into the field without caring that some of them would not return home at the end of the mission ( probably because Tom Riddle knew he could go anywhere in the Wizarding world and intimidate or hex wizards and witches to force them to join him and replace the Death Eaters who had died because of him ).

"Miss Raglan, here you are at last!"

The excitement in Tom Riddle's voice made Abiageal feel uneasy. There was definitely something about him that made the hairs on her arms and neck stand up and made her want to run as far away from this place as possible. But instead, she swallowed hard to give herself some courage before nodding and taking a seat across from Draco. He was the only familiar face that gave her some comfort.

Draco stood up from his chair, walked around the table before taking a seat right next to Abiageal. The meeting had not started yet, there were still many Death Eaters missing. The Malfoy family heir offered Abiageal a smile.

"You managed to separate yourself from your shadow?" he teased gently to appease Abiageal and she was grateful.

"Yeah, I left him at home. He was tired," she replied in the same tone as him.

Draco looked at her carefully, he knew - like everyone else - that Theodore would never, ever let Abiageal leave the house without him and now Draco wanted to know how the young witch had managed to come without Theodore.

Abiageal adjusted her position in her chair so she could face Draco. Before speaking she tied her hair into a low ponytail. Why had she done that? She did not know herself, she was just nervous and needed to keep herself busy to keep from spinning out and losing - literally, or not - her mind.

"I left quietly when I felt the mark hurting me extremely. Well, more than usual," she explained. "Please don't tell him. I don't want him to get involved in this."

Draco nodded gravely and solemnly. He understood better than any of their friends, he had been there before her, he knew the pain and the itching and the anguish and the fear that ate away at him from the inside and the nightmares that could keep him awake for nights at a time. He knew all of this and for a moment Abiageal was glad she was not alone in this situation. Of course, the thought only lasted a few seconds and the guilt had quickly taken over. It would have been ideal if neither of them were in this situation, none of them were forced to follow in their parents' footsteps, but life was not always fair.

About fifteen minutes later, all the Death Eaters who were supposed to participate in the day's mission had finally arrived at the Malfoys' ( Narcissa was not at all happy to have been woken up in the middle of the night for a new mission that was obviously going to fail ) and Lord Voldemort began to explain in great detail what he expected from his men, Alecto and Abiageal.

Abiageal forced herself to listen to everything the old man had to say, she could not stand the sound of his voice anymore. She wanted to get this meeting over with as soon as possible and suddenly the idea of ​​going into the field did not seem so repulsive anymore. All she wanted was to get this over with as soon as possible so she could go home and continue sleeping.

No one had spoken at the same time as Voldemort, some Professor at Hogwarts would have been jealous of the Dark Lord's ability to silence an entire room and draw all attention to himself. Voldemort had many men who followed him blindly because he had a way with words, he could say anything and people would listen to him ( the Death Eaters who had known him before the First Wizarding War had told Abiageal how charming and handsome Voldemort, Tom Riddle, was and that his charm in addition to his oration skills had led him to the height of glory but also to the gates of Hell ).

And, after what seemed like an eternity to Abiageal but was actually only about ten minutes, Voldemort dismissed everyone to put his wonderful plan into action.

Draco and Abiageal had not left each other's side. Draco knew that if Theodore was here, that was exactly what he would ask him to do, to make sure Abiageal got through this without putting his own life in danger.

Of course, a Death Eater mission was unpredictable, it was hard to play it safe. And, Draco and Abiageal were going to realize that very soon.