the_debt_of_time

Bellatrix tried to scream, but the sound died as Padfoot tightened his grip on her
throat and violently tugged backward, tearing it from her body.
"Crucio!" he heard briefly behind him, and sharp pain racked his entire body. Padfoot
fell to the ground, whimpering as the sensation of a thousand knives carved into his flesh.
Looking up, he saw Lucius Malfoy staring down at him with scorn, Hermione's
stolen wand in hand, and a hint of joy in his face at the position he was in now. Padfoot
snarled between whimpers of pain as his gaze met Lucius's. He recalled a time long ago
when the same Death Eater had had a wand trained on him just like this. A small scar to
the left of Lucius's nose was a reminder of how that last encounter had ended.
"Narcissa! I think it's time to reaffirm your loyalties and vows, my love," Lucius said
coldly. "Your blood-traitor cousin just murdered your sister. While there is no love lost
between myself and Bellatrix, the Dark Lord will not be pleased."
"Bella," Narcissa whispered, bringing a hand to cover her mouth.
Draco stood beside her protectively, blanching at the sight of his aunt soaking in a
puddle of her own blood, throat ripped from her body.
"Kill the beast," Lucius ordered his wife, pointing at Padfoot.
Narcissa shook her head defiantly. "Lucius―"
"Do it yourself willingly," Lucius said with a sneer, "or I will make you do it."
"No." Narcissa stood firm. "You've been using the Imperius on me for twenty years,
and I'm done being your little puppet."
"You insolent.. ." Lucius hissed as he raised his wand to his wife. "Avada―"
"Sectumsempra!"
The scream came from behind Lucius, and the elder Death Eater turned with wide,
cold eyes to his attacker, and toward the wand pointed aggressively in his direction. The
wand in Lucius's own hand fell from his grip as blood seeped through his finely pressed
shirt. As his body fell forward, Padfoot traced his gaze along the hawthorn wand gripped
in white-knuckled fingers, to blemished arm, and then to Draco, who stood tall and firm,
staring with hard, cold, grey eyes at his fallen father's back.