[HP] Raven

Episode 28

The cold moonlight streamed from the window onto the floor, creating a dry river.The Malfoy Manor in the middle of the night is not quiet either, from time to time there will be a series of hurried or slow footsteps passing through the hall, followed by a sound of opening the door, and then the silence of the night will engulf it, hiding in a dark corner and waiting With the arrival and disappearance of another series of footsteps next time, the cycle repeats and repeats.

Alex was taken to a small room on the first floor on the west side of here. The mottled gold-painted wallpaper was probably emerald, but it had faded to a weird blue-green color due to age. There would be a bit of off-white wall showing, and the house-elves would patch it up with another, stronger material if they saw it, making sure no bare lime color was showing through.

The furnishing of the room is very simple, with a double bed, a set of carved wooden tables and chairs, a cabinet with a mirror, and a fully equipped washroom. It can be seen that this is an abandoned guest room, Asia Alex had seen similar rooms in her ancestral home in Austria, only to have them all locked up by the house-elves at the command of her grandmother.

When she was first brought into the Malfoy Manor, of course she thought of running away—for example, secretly turning into a raven in the dead of night and flying away from the window without making a sound.But soon, she discovered that the problem was not that simple.

Imprisoned next door to her was a middle-aged wizard named Jules Marshall, who was responsible for providing the Death Eaters with the ancient rune seals they needed, and they encrypted the core files in this way.He was also caught in, and his left hand was hit by black magic, and he lost half of his palm and two fingers from then on.

Alex was still waiting for the right moment to escape, it was the second night she was brought into Malfoy Manor, she remembered it very well, because there was a very obvious sound of heavy objects falling, and she happened to Not closed.

Three or four house elves packed a motionless albatross into a gray body bag, and together they dragged it out bit by bit, pulling the string around the mouth of the body bag.

Jules Marshall obviously heard the sound, opened the door, and watched the house-elf dragging the gray cloth bag slowly towards the door with Alex with a pale face.

"That's Mr. McRae at the end of the corridor, a very talented craftsman who used to help them make a little communication prop," Jules-Marshall explained to her, "He's a registered Animagus. I'm guessing there's a weird induction spell here, and anyone who turns into an animal alerts... him."

Alex knew who Marshall was referring to as "he", and since then dispelled the idea of ​​turning into a raven to escape.

Every morning, a house elf named "Dobby" will put breakfast on her bedside on time, and watch her eat it all in one mouthful-in order not to let her go on a hunger strike or commit suicide with a knife and fork, and then Dobby will Take her to the basement, where there is a room dedicated to making potions.

If nothing else happened, Dobby would hand her a list with all the indicators she had to complete today, usually Veritaserum, or some potion with no clear name, with the formula and production method.Dobby usually leaves after handing in the order—every house elf is very busy, and it seems that there are endless things waiting for them every day.Until noon, Dobby would appear again, put all the potions that Alex had prepared on a cart, transport them away, then bring her food, and watch her finish eating.Show up again in the evening to deliver a tray of food and watch her eat before making sure she goes back to her room upstairs.

Sure enough, Dobby handed her today's target.There were three bottles of Veritaserum, and the other potion didn't have a name written on it, only the formula and production method were attached.Among the ingredients are the venom of the black lizard and the scales of the giant snake. It is not difficult to guess what it is used for.

The double-sided door next to the potions room was opened, and two gray body bags were dragged out by the house elf, like two huge shadows crawling on the ground, one body bag was larger, the other slightly smaller, slightly smaller Some of the bags were not packed tightly, and a section of dark brown long curly hair was exposed from the pocket, and there was even a light blue hairband tied at the end of the hair.

A woman, even just a girl.

She never knew what the next door to the potion room was for. Death eaters always came in and out there. Occasionally, there would be screams from inside. The heart-piercing sound was suddenly interrupted by something, and then a rampant woman laughter.Alex could not help but shiver.There is always a fireplace burning here, but she still feels that the basement of Malfoy Manor is colder than Slytherin's cellar... Like a huge morgue, surrounded by countless ghosts, staring at her coldly...

No.The living here are more terrifying than the dead.

Just as she was looking at the empty wall and trying to digest her fear of the unknown, a man who clearly looked like a prisoner rushed in, knelt down in front of her, and let out a hoarse scream of pain—he was beaten Poison hoarse throat.

The man was dark-skinned, and blood was pouring out of his nose and ears. He was crying and struggling on the ground. He was obviously being poisoned and was dying. He bumped his head against the corner of the console. , There was a clanging sound, and all the crucibles and instruments on the table hit the ground and fell into pieces, like a pool of tragic corpses that fell from a tall building.

Alex wanted to touch the man who was still struggling - he looked so miserable.However, just as she stretched out her hand, a sharp voice entered her ears.

"Take your hand away. Do you want to try it too?"

Alex flinched back.She recognized it, the maniacal laughter that always came from next door to the potions room.

She turned her head to find a woman with curly black hair standing in the doorway, grinning in a weird way, pointing at her with a wand in her hand.

Alex took a few steps back.

"Don't mind your own business, you dirty half-breed," the black curly-haired crazy woman wrinkled her nose and gave her a white look. "You are no different from this mudblood."

The man who fell on the ground no longer struggled anymore, all his strength had been exhausted by the violent impact just now, and he was breathing weakly with the last of his life, with bloodshot turbid tears slowly flowing from the corners of his eyes. The ground slipped down, and the eyes were still open, but the light in the depths of the eyes had gradually dispersed.He was lying on the puddle of broken glass like a scarecrow who had lost his support. The potion residue and blood slowly spread, expanding the territory, and flowing all over the ground.His beaded eyes, still wide open and slightly protruding, glass-beaded, stared directly at Alex with the detachment of death after anguish.

He is looking at me.He was looking at me until he died.

Alex thought blankly, his mind was full of his dying eyes, the cold and lifeless eyes like glass marbles.This is the first time Alex has watched a life go away.Her mind was blank, and she stretched out her hand tremblingly, trying to close the corpse's eyes.Beg him to stop looking at her.

"You bastard who can't understand," said the woman with messy black curly hair, who was in a moody mood. She suddenly became furious, "Looks like I need to give you some color—"

"Bella, Bella?" A reserved and soft female voice came from outside the door, "What made you angry?"

A woman wearing a gray-purple wizard robe stood not far away. Her pale golden hair was arranged into delicate curly curls. She had a shocking beauty, a straight back, and a noble posture like a princess or a young queen. She wore a crown on her left hand. Wearing a ring that symbolizes power and status, huge gemstones shine brightly on her white and slender fingers.

"Sissi!" The crazy woman called Bella turned her head, "Aren't you just a half-breed who doesn't know what to do!"

Alex recognized that noble beauty as Narcissa Black, or rather, Narcissa Malfoy, the mistress of the estate, with whom she had previously met at the Slug Club. edge.

Narcissa glanced proudly at Alex who was huddled in the corner, and said lightly to her own sister. "She's just here to work. What do you know about her?"

"But she—" Bellatrix pointed her wand at Alex threateningly.

"Forget it, Bella," Narcissa persuaded softly, "you kill her, who will help the master make potions? Snape can no longer brew potions for the master, this lowly The job can only be left to her, isn't it?"

The madwoman Bellatrix snorted coldly. "There are so many people who can make potions. If you kill her, you can find other people."

"Lucius spent a lot of effort to find her," Narcissa stepped forward and gently took Bella's arm, "For my sake, don't let Lucius waste so much effort." , Bella, let her go just for me."

Bella glanced at Alex resentfully, followed Narcissa and walked away.As soon as they stepped out of the gate, two house elves appeared immediately, carrying scouring pads and buckets to clean up the mess in front of them.

Suddenly there was a burst of sharp laughter from the next door. "Caught Dorcas? Hahaha, bring her up to me!"

that crazy woman.

Alex had no idea who Dorcas was.But she knelt on the ground, sincerely hoping that this would end soon.

Ever since Dorcas was captured in Malfoy Manor, Bellatrix had never left the room next to the potions room, and Alex could hear her maniacal laughter and the poor woman's misery all the time. cry.

She is using the Cruciatus Curse.

Then one day, the screaming suddenly disappeared, and began to become a piercing sound of nails scratching the wall, appearing and disappearing, sometimes strong and sometimes weak, and later, even the sound of nails scratching the wall disappeared.

Everything is gone.

No one knows what happened next.Alex never heard the name mentioned again.She could have been put in a body bag somewhere and transported out by the house-elf, or she could have simply disappeared.

Dobby opened the door and brought today's lunch to her.There was a plate on a tray, which contained a piece of stewed beef, a few pieces of broccoli and a little potato, and a cup of strong tea. The silver knife and fork was wrapped in a milky white napkin and placed neatly on it. on the side of the plate.Then, the poor house elf stood where she was, looking at her with a pleading look. House elves are not allowed to talk to anyone locked here. Alex guessed that this look hoped that she would hurry up. Order to finish eating the food in front of it - it probably still has a backlog of work to do.

Alex resisted the discomfort in her heart and picked up the heavy knife and fork.

She cut off a piece of beef, stuffed it into her mouth, and swallowed it without much chewing, without tasting it at all—she even hoped that there was some deadly poison in it.After confirming that she had finished swallowing, she took a deep breath, began to mechanically cut the second smaller piece, and put it into her mouth with a fork.She felt some hot liquid dripping on the top of her head, flowing down her hair to her neck, and then saw a drop of bright red liquid suddenly appear on the white plate.She looked up along the direction of the fall, and at some point a faint red oozes from the white ceiling.

Trembling, she stretched out her finger to dip the liquid on the plate, as if to prove her conjecture, she put her finger close to the tip of her nose and smelled it.

Still warm human blood.

Alex couldn't bear the discomfort in her heart anymore, she lay on the ground and began to retch violently, the world suddenly turned upside down, one dizziness followed by another, she passed out on the ground, and the dying scene appeared in her mind. The former struggling man, his slightly protruding glass marble-like eyes and cloudy tears at the corners, Dorcas' screams, the sound of nails scratching the wall and the silence, the ghosts lined up in the old Malfoy Manor. On the promenade, wandering, crying, and screaming.

Bellatrix let out a crazy laugh. She grinned and chased Alex who was running around. The wand drew a sharp Avada Kedavra in the air, and the green light flew over quickly. hit her.

When Alex opened his eyes, he found that he was dripping with cold sweat.A splitting headache and pain all over.Needless to say, she was sick.

Dobby opened the door and came in, set a tray by her bedside, and hurried away again.

On the tray were some food, a jar of potions and a jar of water.She forced herself to sit up from the bed, drank a little water, then drank all the potion in one go, sat on the bed with her knees hugged, and began to look forward to death.

There are always flukes in the beginning.Fortunately, it's not me.But now she begins to look forward to death.She hoped that the Death Eaters had given up on her and were going to dispose of her like a scrap of an assembly line, and that the house-elves would pick her up in a gray body bag and drag her out to the bottom of a lake or something. Neighborhoods in the barren mountains, or simply light a fire and burn them all, everything is fine, she doesn't want to stay here anymore.

However, death did not come as expected.She is still alive, why.

Outside the window is a foggy cloudy sky, and the clouds floating in the sky are like cotton wool stained with dust.She had no trouble recalling that she hadn't seen the sun since being imprisoned in Malfoy Manor.

There were footsteps outside the door, two people, and a slight conversation.

An indistinct male voice asked quickly and in a low voice, "Why didn't anyone stop Bellatrix? Is she that fond of torturing people?"

"Shut up, Regulus. How Bella treats them has nothing to do with you." Alex barely recognized that the female voice belonged to Narcissa Malfoy.

"They don't deserve to be treated like this, they, they just—"

"What do children know?" Narcissa interrupted him sternly, not allowing him to continue, "You just don't understand the whole picture, Regulus. It is the master's decision to let Bella deal with them." ... No one can question his decision, he is still your idol since childhood, have you forgotten?"

A moment of silence.

Narcissa's voice sounded again. "My dear cousin, don't talk to me about this topic again...don't talk to anyone about it. Don't cause trouble for everyone, and do what you should do."

Immediately afterwards, the sound of crisp and fast footsteps gradually faded away.

After a while, Alex heard a soft knock on the door.

What started out as two hits turned into four in a row.She listened for a while to confirm that it was knocking on her door, and then the knocking stopped abruptly, but the footsteps never sounded.The man has been standing outside the door, did not leave.

She went to the door and opened it a crack.

"Alex, it's me." Regulus stood at the door with a worried expression on his face.

She looked at him coldly and nodded slightly. "Hi. Blake."

In fact, it was far from necessary for him to knock on the door. If he really wanted to do something, he could just break in, just like Malfoy broke into the potions laboratory that day.Although the door in her hand can be locked, it is just a gorgeous decoration. As long as she holds a magic wand in her hand, the door is an extremely fragile board, and anyone who has learned magic can destroy it .She didn't have a wand in her hand, but he did.

Regulus looked at her pale face and bloodless lips. "Dobby said you were sick."

Alex gave a nonchalant laugh.For a moment she wished he had come to execute her. "Thank you for your kindness, but I don't think I need a visit just yet."

He stuck in place like a street sign, if there is a street sign that hesitates to speak in this world.

Alex said quickly, "It's getting late, Blake, maybe you should go back to rest." She didn't realize it was daytime.The prolonged coma made her unable to think, and the airtight curtains also blurred her concept of time.

Regulus looked at her with complicated eyes, turned and left without saying a word.

The author has something to say: Dorcas is a character in the original book, a member of the Order of the Phoenix. I remember that she was directly killed by Voldemort. Let me change it here and let her die at the hands of Voldemort's loyal servants.

Regulus is still Voldemort's fanboy so far...he's still going to be a criminal for a while (bushi, Alex really hasn't liked him yet, she's still haunting Sirius at the moment (Watching the sky

Went to see Faza yesterday, it was amazing

I’m going to see the boss tomorrow. Today is the last daily update. The plots of the next few chapters are quite exciting, and I don’t know when I can write them out (I don’t think it’s too exciting x