The days passed like flashes through my eyes, Easter holidays came fast and so far no news from my father, however receiving any letter from him wouldn't change the fact that I was going with Draco to the Manor wether he likes it or not.

In the morning I packed all my things, my flowers, my clothes, and waited for Draco to knock on my door ready to go to the Station.

I probably never been so nervous to go in holidays before, I don't know why but I was, I was fearing the worse, my fathwr didn't sent me any letter and that fact was terrifying, but I tried to stay calm and think that perhaps he was only busy.

Draco helped me with bags and truck, the Station filled with death eaters as usual, and met Blaise and went to a empty cabin together.

"So tell me...has your father sent any other letter." Blaise asked, he was sat in the seat opposite to us, being facing both me and Draco.

"Don't mind answering...he's just still affected because you did as I told, and read the letter." Draco said amusingly.

"She burned it too...it's a tie." Blaise said firmly.

"No, he didn't sent me any." I said, and for much that saying that out loud affects me I was still laughing at both arguing about who won.

"Are you both going to the Manor?" Blaise asked us.

"Yeah, why?" I said softly.

"Lucky, this prat never took me again." Blaise said pointing at Draco with his chin, and crossed his arms in front of his chest.

"So you could torment my elfs by asking them more food at each five minutes..." Draco said amusingly, but Blaise didn't replied, just rolled his eyes in annoyance.

We spent the trip with them talking, while my interest was far away from their conversation, but with the end of the trip, check if my father was okay, Draco keeps telling me that should anything happen to him and Narcissa would tell him, but yet, the thought doesn't leave my mind.

I was always looking at the window, playing with my necklace as I did so, and hoped for the trip not to last long.

Narcissa was waiting for us at the Station 9¾, both of us smiled at seeing her there, despite the fact of she looking extremely tired, way more thinner, her bags under the eyes exposed her state, and it broke my heart at the sight of it.

"Draco..." She said softly as she hugged him tightly. "I'm so glad you both are fine."

She pulled away, and turned to me, also giving me a tight hug.

"Hello, Lara." She said softly. "I'm so glad you decided to come with Draco." She said after pulling away and I gave her a smile.

{☆~☆}

The Manor was as usual, colder of course, colder than it should be around Easter time, but it's not surprising why thinking on the fact of the color of the skin, an all mist covering everything, it was hard to distinguish the day from the night.

It wasn't necessary for her to lead us to my room, Draco went with me, bringing my bags along with him.

"Are you okay?" He asked as he placed the bags in the room.

"Yeah, I'm fine." I said, not even looking at him, playing with my own fingers.

"I'm going to ask my mother if your father is around." He said, as if reading my mind, and I turned finally to him.

"Thank you." I said softly, and he left the room.

I looked around, I remembered of how I once thought about this Manor, about studying the paintings, I didn't really had somewhere to do or go, so while I waited for Draco, I thought about giving a look around the Manor.

I opened the door, and peeked in the hallway, it was empty, therefore it would be fine to give a walk through there.

The patterns on the carpets along the floor were astonishing, I've always found the Manor's walls, the black marble all the paintings of old generations incredible, it had so many rooms, I've had never seen such a big house before, and I don't even know who needs such a big one, but I must admit that it's amazing to have one.

For a moment I just wondered through that long hallway, the light getting darker everytime I got farther from my room.

"Are you lost sweetie?" A thin woman voice behind me startled me, and I turned around, seeing nothing more than a mere shadow, slowly giving steps towards me until being under the light.

Bellatrix Lestrange.

My breath hitched when I saw myself facing her, it's true what they say about her, only her mere presence was terrifying, long, curly thick, shiny dark hair, a strong jaw but gaunt and more skull-like probably from the years she spent at Azkaban, thin mouth, heavily lidded eyes, she was dressed in a black dress.

"So..." She said, when saw me not responding to her previous question.

"I-I-" I cleared my throat trying not to look frightened for her presence. "I was just...hmm walking." I said nervously by how close she was getting to me.

"You are the Blackwell girl, aren't you?" She asked, and I nodded. "Oh yes, I've heard lots of you..." She said and was now not more than five inches away from me.

"I- huh-" She cut me off after looking up and down to me, disgust marked on her face.

She started walking around me, while everything I did was standing still in my position, but always fearing her, and fully regretted to have left my room.

"Tell me have you ever used an Unforgivable?" She asked firmly, while passing from behind me, but I didn't replied. "Why do I barely see you?" She continued, but seemed like she wasn't expecting me to actually answer the questions.

I felt her steps around me get closer, until I was capable to feel the mere wind and the darkness around her touching my body.

"Why has my nephew did everything in his power to protect...you." She showed a hint of annoyance when pronouncing the last word, and her face was mere inches away from me, and shivers went down my spine at the sight of a knife in her hand.

I was trying to control my breathing, closing my fists so strongly that I could feel my nails craving on my palm.

"What does he...see in you." She asked in pauses, as her knife passed throught my skin of my shoulders, and then holding it against my cheek.

I was about to freak out, she was as terrifying as I have been told, and I swear to Merlin that my feet didn't wanted so badly to run away, but at the same time I have never felt them so steady against the floor.

"Bella..." A male voice behind her, made her turn her head around, but not removing her knife from my skin that was already hurting me from the pressure.

My gaze also went to where the voice came from, and I saw Lucius Malfoy, standing not so far away from us.

"Lucius..." She said in a disgusted tone.

"Don't you think that it's impolite to treat our guests this way, Bella?" He asked firmly.

"How can you be defending her?!" She asked abruptly, and then her face turned back to me. "She's the reason why your son is so vulnerable." Her breath was hitting my face, an unpleasant odor, and her teeth almost the color of a daffodil.

"Don't bring my son into this..." He said firmly, but she didn't even diverted her eyes to him, her gaze remained focused on me. "This is my house Bella, now off my way." He demanded, and that was when she turned to him, her knife still hitting my skin.

"Only you to ruin the fun Lucius..." She said frustrated, and looked at me one more time, and removed the knife from my face, and I let out a deep sigh of relief. "The things will start to change for you dear." She said firmly.

She left, making a glare at Lucius when doing so, and now it was just him and I.

He looked different from how I remembered him, the last time I didn't had a clear vision of him in the death eaters reunion, but now he was close enough for me to make a quick observation.

He was still with his walking stick, no wand, long robes, not the death eater like I'm used to see in my father, in his common clothes, his appearance was perhaps the worst part, his long platinum blonde hair that looked so smooth in that Christmas party, was now more a dirty blond, greasy and musty, his eyes were definitely dark, full of under bags, perhaps even worse than Narcissa, his smooth face was now with some bear, he looked completely devastated, probably effects from the litlle time he spent in Azkaban.

"If I were you, Miss Blackwell...I would remain in my room." Lucius said firmly, but my feet were still steady in place from what happened. "Now go before I change my mind." He demanded.

Asides from how shaking my body was, I managed to get out of my place, and started walking away from him without thinking twice, without looking back, and runned until I reached my room.

I opened the door and stormed in my room, and let the feeling of relief sink in my body.

I didn't know why he had do it, but Lucius Malfoy had actually helped me, for some reason, perhaps he isn't as cold and arrogant as I thought he would be, or perhaps he just didn't wanted his carpet dirty, but that wasn't really bothering me, I just knew I was well and that was all that mattered.

The door opening made me jump out of scare, and turn around fastly, to see Draco opening the door.

"Merlin...you scared me." I said and let out a sigh.

"Why?" He closed the door and stepped closer to me. "What happened?" He asked concerned.

"Nothing...you just scared me." I said softly.

"Well the fucking blood on your face, says differently." He said abruptly, and reached for me, his eyebrows furrowed in concerning.

I went with my fingers to touch the part of my face where I knew it could have blood, it was a tiny litlle drop of blood, only marked by the tip of the knife due to the pressure Bellatrix did.

"Fine..." I said and sat on the edge of the bed, as he did the same. "First promise me you won't be mad." I said firmly, looking him straight in the eye.

"Yeah I promise." He said softly.

"So I thought about just give a walk through the hallway, and...I ended up meeting your aunt." I said softly, hoping he would still be mad at me.

"What?!" He asked abruptly, and I hoped he would scream at me. "What did she do to you? Are you hurt somewhere else?" He asked abruptly, looking at all my body, looking for possible other injuries.

"No, your father showed up before anything else could happen." I said calmly, and placed my hands on his, to relax him.

"My father?" He asked as if I just said something unbelievable. "Why would he do that?" Draco asked furrowing his eyebrows.

"I don't know, and honestly I don't even care." I said calmly.

"But are you okay?" He asked firmly.

"Yeah I'm fine but...are you not mad at me from leaving my room?" I asked softly.

"Of course not!" He said firmly, and placed both hands on my face, making me look right into his angel eyes. "I could never be mad at you...it's impossible to be mad at you." He said softly, his eyes showing his honesty, and my lips turned into a smile at hearing his words.

He took out his wand, and pointed it to my face, healing the litlle cut that was in there.

"So is my father here?" I asked after feeling my cheek heal.

"Oh right...hmm, no, but mother told me he would arrive tonight." He said softly and I nodded my head.

"Thank you." I said softly.

"Everything for you." He said, and I felt my cheeks burning at his words, he noticed that, and crashed his lips in mine. "Are you sure you're okay?" He asked again after pulling away.

"Draco..." I placed my hand on his cheeks, looking deeply into mesmerizing grey eyes. "I'm fine." I assured him.

{☆~☆}

The night came, Draco had helped me unpacking after our conversation, and I placed my mother flowers in another vase I also conjured.

We visited Luna, even though it was risky thinking that Bellatrix was around, she gave me a soft smile when I brought her dinner, unfortunately, we didn't stay longer than mere five minutes, fearing that Wormtail or some worst than him would show up and see us here.

Draco went to his room, and I waited by the window for my father to arrive, thinking if he would even knock here, reminding myself that he didn't even sent me a letter.

A knock.

I stood up, and walked in direction to the door, and opened it, like foreseen, my father was standing outside my door, still in his death eater robes.

"Lara..." He said calmly, and without a word in reply, I moved so he could step in.

"Why haven't you wrote another letter." I asked firmly, going straight to the point.

"Why haven't you replied to the one I sent." He asked firmly, but I replied nothing, and hoped for him to explain himself first. "Seeing that you didn't replied I thought that perhaps you, didn't wanted to hear any more news from my part." He said calmly.

I lowered my head, he had a reasonable point, if I was worried then I should've had just sent him a letter.

As I raised my gaze to look at him again, and I caught his fingers twitching, shaking even, which I found odd.

"I didn't replied because...well I didn't know what to say." I admitted, my gaze still focused at his shaking fingers.

"I'm sorry if I worried you...I thought perhaps you had burned the whole letter." He said softly.

"And I would've if it wasn't for Draco asking me to read the letter." I said softly, a smile instinctively appearing in my lips.

"Remind me to thank him then." He said softly, and a smile in his lips appeared.

I removed my eyes from his shaking fingers, to look closely at his face, he was way more thinner since the last time I caught a glimpse of him, not to speak off his tiredness marked all his body.

"Are you okay?" I managed to ask, breaking our silence. "Your...fingers are shaking." I said concerned.

"Yeah I'm fine, don't worry..." He said softly, and gave a few steps towards me. "I'm sorry, by what I said last time." He said, obviously trying to change the subject of our conversation, but it's better if I don't insist on him.

"I'm sorry too." I said softly, and gave him a hug.

He smiled at my sentence, amd hugged me back, I could tell he was indeed thinner, and even his hug felt so unfamiliar, like if we were strangers instead of a father and a daughter who lived together for seventeen years.

I smiled and he left my room without another word, and closed the door himself, while I still thought of his fingers twitching.

I let my body fall onto the mattress, due to the tiredness I felt from the trip from Hogwarts, and waited for the sleep to take me.

Seconds after another knock appeared in my door.

"It's open." I said softly, feeling no strength to even get up to open it.

Draco stepped in, making me a soft smile as he did so, and closed the door behind him.

"What are you doing here?" I asked softly.

"You're not the only one that sometimes can't sleep." He said amusingly, reminding me of the last time I knocked on his door.

He let his own body fell into the mattress near me, and I turned to him, and his hand went to tuck a piece of my hair behind my ear.

"How did it went with your father?" He asked softly.

"It went...well." I said and diverted my eyes from him, hoping he wouldn't noticed my uneasiness.

"No...something happened, what was it?" He asked softly, while his hand went cupped my cheek.

"It's just...my father didn't seemed so well..." I said vaguely. "Does he, torture his followers." I asked the first thing I asked when remembering of his fingers twitching, one sign from being tortured most likely the Cruciatus Curse.

"So I've heard, unfortunately." He said in a apologetic tone. "When they fail."

I closed my eyes, feeling more than simply guilty for never send any letter asking if he's okay, while he was being tortured.

A warm hand wrapped around mine.

"It's not your fault, don't feel guilty." Draco whispered besides me, knowing me well enough to know exactly what I was thinking.

He turned my body fully to facing him, and rested a hand on the top of my face, being just inches away from me.

There wasn't necessary words, he just wanted to make me comfortable, protected, so I would stop worrying about everything being my fault.

I wrapped my arms around him, and buried my face in his chest, listening only his calming heartbeat and his breathing, as he slowly stroked my hair slowly until I fell asleep.