I will say little about those long months living in the cold dank cellar. Suffice it to say that Luna and I were not the first to be imprisoned there.
Mr. Ollivander, the wandmaker who, until recently, had lived in Diagon Alley, had taken up residence in the Malfoy's cellar as well. He was thinner and older than he had seemed back when he was healthy and still living among the general public. He quickly managed to calm Luna and me, explaining to us how we were to survive.
There was a water jug, refilled every two weeks, and usually some food was tossed in once a day by Wormtail. There was a nail that Ollivander used to break our bindings, but nothing else in the way of tools, since we had been stripped of our wands. Luna, however, did manage to hold on to her D.A. Galleon by keeping it in her sock, and she used it to tell Neville and Ginny that we were okay.
Months after we were captured, we heard yelling upstairs. This was my cue to run to the cellar door and see if I could make out any words that might tell us what was going on in the house above. I heard voices:
“...If that is Potter, he will know,”* I heard Narcissa Malfoy say. I knew instantly that they were finding Draco to identify whoever the prisoner was.
“What's going on?” asked Luna anxiously.
“It sounds like they've got Harry,” I whispered nervously, “but they aren't sure it's really him, he's disguised or something. They're getting Draco to identify him, like he did us!”
“Oh no,” said Luna, and I heard her begin to pace. “I didn't want him to be caught. This is bad.”
Then I shushed her. I could hear more voices upstairs.
“Draco, if we are the ones who hand Potter over to the Dark Lord, everything will be forgiv-”* I heard Lucius Malfoy start to say, but Greyback interrupted, “We won't be forgetting who actually caught him, I hope, Mr. Malfoy?”*
Lucius muttered something haughtily back. There was a silence, and then Lucius and Greyback began muttering to each other once more. It sounded as if something had happened to Harry's face. Lucius urged Draco to look closely at the captive, and I heard Draco say, “I don't know.”
Draco Malfoy was a prat, and he would probably end up walking around with a pimp cane like his dad. But, I always made it a point to be civil to him whenever I saw him after that. He very nearly saved Harry.
But it didn't work for long. After a squabble over some of the prisoners' valuables (a sword of some kind, if I heard right), I heard Bellatrix say, “...except the Mudblood,”* and four more prisoners were tossed into the cellar a moment later. There was a horrible scream upstairs, and Ron Weasley's voice shouted, “HERMIONE!”
That was all the identification I needed. “Ron? Harry? Is that you?”
“Rose?” said Harry's voice. Ron only shouted some more.
“Shut up!” Harry and I said at the same time, which would have been weird if we weren't in mortal peril already. Harry was trying to calm Ron. “We need a plan! If we're getting out of here, we need to- Ron, will you stop screaming?” Ron stopped, but he whimpered every time Hermione screamed from above, and his breath came in shuddering gasps.
“Who else is here? Just you?” said Harry in his I've-got-this-under-control voice.
“Just me, Luna, and Ollivander. Who's with you?” I answered.
“Dean, Ron, Hermione, and a goblin called Griphook. Hermione's-”
“Upstairs, yeah. Did they tie you up? We've got a nail.”
“I've got it,” called Luna, and she walked over and began hacking at Harry's bindings. Once Harry was free, she started on Ron's, but he writhed and shuddered each time Hermione's voice was heard overhead. “Hold still! I can't see anything, I might poke you!” scolded Luna.
“In my pocket!” said Ron. “In my pocket there's a Deluminator, and it's full of light!”*
As if this made sense, Luna fished in his pocket and pulled something out. There was a soft click, and two balls of light began circling the cellar. “Brilliant!” I said, impressed. “Where'd you get that, Ron?”
“Dumbledore,” said Ron.
I looked at my fellow prisoners for the first time. Ollivander was huddled in his corner, old and frail. There was a goblin, his hands bound tightly behind his back, glaring defiantly at his surroundings. Harry's face seemed a bit larger than normal, but it was shrinking rapidly, suggesting a nasty hex of some kind. Ron was pale, his freckles standing out sharper than usual. Dean had obviously been badly beaten, and he looked petrified. As for Luna, even in her grimy, battered state, she still looked rather mad. I felt like hugging everyone in the room; Harry was bound to get us out of here.
“The cellar's completely escape-proof. We tried getting out; Ollivander's been here longest, and he tried everything but he couldn't get out,” I said in a rush. At the sound of his name, Ollivander moaned softly.
We heard footsteps. Harry was talking to Griphook, and Ron clicked his magic cigarette lighter, making the balls of light disappear just in time. I heard someone shout, “Step away from the door!” The same someone grabbed Griphook, and locked the door behind them.
Ron re-lit the room, and Harry began pacing, thinking hard. We all had the sense to stay quiet, though Ron's breath was ragged, like a rhinoceros about to charge. Harry pulled something out of his pocket desperately and asked it for help. I thought he was going mad until a little house elf popped up in the cellar.
“No way!” exclaimed Dean, and I elbowed him hard in the ribs.
Harry was giving the elf instructions over Hermione's screams and Ron's mingling yells. “Dobby, can you Apparate in and out of here with other people?” The elf nodded, and Harry continued, “Listen, I need you to Apparate with these people,” he gestured around at us, “and take them-”
“To Shell Cottage! Bill and Fleur's house,” Ron said. “I stayed with them for a while, remember?”
Harry nodded. “Can you do that, Dobby? And come back?”
The elf called Dobby nodded again. He went to Ollivander and took his hand, then gestured to Luna, Dean, and me. I shook my head defiantly.
“We want to help, Harry!” I protested.
“Please, let us stay,” said Luna imploringly. Dean nodded vigorously, but Harry remained adamant.
“You need to get out of here! Hurry!” he said.
Luna and Dean hung their heads and moved toward Dobby, but I stayed put.
“Harry, Dobby is tiny. He won't be able to take more than three people, and you're out numbered up there. You need all the help you can get.” Harry considered me and then sighed and nodded. I waved goodbye to Luna, and then she was gone with the others.
Upstairs, there was a pause in the torturing. “Did you hear that?” asked Lucius. “Somebody check the prisoners! Wormtail, go!”
I heard Wormtail's scurrying footsteps, and I backed away from the door, raising my fists uncertainly. Harry whispered to Ron, “We need to try and knock him out!” He and Ron positioned themselves on either side of the door, ready. Wormtail stepped inside, and Harry and Ron grabbed him.
Wormtail tried to scream, but Ron clamped his hand over Wormtail's mouth. Wormtail tried to grab Harry's neck, but Harry twisted his arm. Ron took Wormtail's wand, aiming it at his neck. I ran forward and knocked Wormtail over the head with the water jug. He crumpled to the floor, unconscious.
“Thanks,” muttered Ron, breathing heavily. I smiled without humor. “No problem,” I said. “I owe him.”
We ran up the stairs and watched the proceedings, hiding behind the door to the drawing room. Bellatrix was grilling Griphook about a huge sword that I had seen before: the sword of Gryffindor. My eyes bulged. Griphook told Bellatrix that it was a fake. Harry looked slightly relieved. I could see Hermione, crumpled on the floor in almost the same way we had left Wormtail. Greyback was licking his chops maliciously.
“And now we summon the Dark Lord!”* cried Bellatrix, pressing her finger to the Dark Mark upon her arm. Harry's face crumpled with pain and he grabbed his forehead. Bellatrix, thankfully, did not notice. “As for the Mudblood... dinner, Greyback...”
“LIKE HELL!”** shouted Ron, and he stunned the werewolf.
We all ran into the drawing room; Ron shouted, “Expeliarmus!” and Harry caught Bellatrix's wand as it soared through the air. While Ron was stupefying Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy, Harry was wrenching a wand from Draco's hand. Harry won the tug-o-war and tossed me the wand, which I caught and aimed threateningly at Draco. Then-
“STOP OR SHE DIES!”*
In all the kerfuffle, nobody had noticed that Bellatrix now held a knife to the unconscious Hermione's throat. Bellatrix smiled diabolically; she had discovered our weak spot.
“Drop your wands,” she continued in a whisper. “Drop them, or we'll see exactly how filthy her blood is!”*
I glanced at Harry, still pointing my wand at Draco's chest. Harry still held Bellatrix's wand firmly, and Ron clutched his own, though his hand was shaking. Bellatrix meant business. “I said, drop them!”* I saw a small cut already on Hermione's white throat.
“Fine,” said Harry, tossing down his wand. Ron and I followed suit, and Draco hurried to scoop up every wand in sight, including his parents' and Greyback's. Harry looked angry, but under the anger I saw desperation; if Harry could see no escape, not even a crazy one that would probably not work, then we really were hopeless.
Bellatrix leered at us. “Draco, would you be so kind as to tie up this scum, and then reawaken Greyback? I'm sure he'll take good care of this Mudblood.” Draco advanced on us, when I saw Harry's eyes flicker upward, surprised.
The grand chandelier came crashing down on Draco, knocking him off his feet. Dobby the house elf tottered forward, and I felt a surge of hope; by smashing Draco with a chandelier, Dobby had made Draco let go of the wands he had been holding. Still, Bellatrix had gotten her own wand back from Draco, and a knife to boot. She had let go of Hermione, however, and was advancing on the elf.
“How dare you, Dobby?”* she shrieked at the elf, raising her wand. Dobby merely raised his hand, and the wand zoomed toward him. Bellatrix spluttered, too outraged and surprised for words, shaking with fury as Dobby proclaimed, “You must not harm Harry Potter!”*
“You dirty little monkey!” shrieked Bellatrix. “How dare you take a witch's wand, how dare you defy your masters?”*
“Dobby has no master! Dobby is a free elf, and Dobby has come to save Harry Potter and his friends!”*
Just then, Harry dived for the wands. He tossed one to Ron, shouting, “Ron, catch- GO!”* Then Harry beckoned to me, scooping up the elf, and we Apparated, leaving Bellatrix screeching among the unconscious bodies of her relatives.
~ * ~
I landed flat on my back in the sand, smelling salty air around me. At first I thought the star-strewn sky above was from the force of the landing, but I blinked and realized with a rush that it was nighttime. It was only then that I realized how much I had lost my sense of time in the cellar; it was clearly mid-spring.
I rolled over and saw Ron carrying Hermione up to a small cottage with lit windows, then saw Harry running to the goblin that Ron had left on the shore. The goblin was curled up in a tight ball and refused to move. I decided to tend to Dobby, and turned to find him.
And there was Dobby, clutching his chest, swaying as though in response to a breeze. Bellatrix Lestrange's knife hilt stuck out at me like a threat, protruding directly from the center of his chest.
“Harry!” I yelled. “Harry, come quick!”
Harry stood and ran toward me, brandishing a wand, and then stared dumbstruck at Dobby.
“Rose, go for help! NOW!” yelled Harry, kneeling by the elf. But even as he begged Dobby not to die, I knew it was no use. I stood numbly by, not daring to move. I would have tried to comfort Harry or Dobby, or both, but I was crying too hard, and I knew that if I opened my mouth, I'd be sick.
People rushed passed me. Someone knelt beside Harry, someone else hoisted up Griphook, and a third person draped a blanket over my shoulders. “Come on,” said Luna quietly. “You need food and sleep.”
The Other Potter by georgeisholey
Chapter Notes: As I type this, I can't help but think of Sybil Trelawney and how ironic it is that this is the thirteenth chapter... hmm, Georgie, getting pensive, are we? All the same, I hope you like this chapter. And I don't own Harry Potter, but if I did, I would dress us in cute little matching outfits... :)
Chapter Endnotes: *Quotes taken from the American Version of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Chapter 23: Malfoy Manor
Sorry about the repetition, I know that irks some of you. This chapter was kind of hard to write... I had to reread chapter 23 about five times before I got it just right, but I'm pretty satisfied with it now.