March 28th, 1998The large group arrived at Shell Cottage from Malfoy Manor, where Sirius assumed
Draco was busy summoning Voldemort in the hopes of deceiving one of the greatest
Legilimens of all time. The boy had been a prat growing up, according to both Ron and
Harry, but Narcissa had not stopped crying since they left the manor. Sirius had never seen
his cousin cry like this before. At least as a son, Draco Malfoy had value.
Bill and Fleur came out to greet everyone, welcoming them into their home. Fleur
began to fuss over Hermione, whom Sirius refused to let out of his arms. She had held on
as long as she could before the side effects of the Cruciatus Curse set in and the tremors
began. Sirius had been at the end of Bellatrix's wand when he was a teenager, and he knew
how her Cruciatus felt; sometimes he would hit an elbow or knee against a piece of
furniture, and the stinging pain that normally came along would spread down his nerves
like fire, as though his body was remembering the curse, even all these years later.
Fleur led them into a small guest bedroom where Sirius set Hermione down and
immediately transfigured a nearby bookshelf into a large chair that he pulled beside her,
taking her hand and gently stroking the skin of her palm until the Sleeping Draught that
Fleur gave her kicked in. He brushed the hair from her forehead, muttering "my brave,
brave witch" repeatedly as her body occasionally shook in her sleep. The wound on her
forearm had been wrapped, though not healed; every few minutes, Sirius would lean down
and press a kiss to the bandage.
"It really is her, isn't it?"
Sirius looked up at the sound of the soft voice to see Narcissa standing there staring
at Hermione with wide eyes. He narrowed his gaze at his cousin briefly and stood, ready
to defend Hermione should the need arise.
Narcissa merely waved off his defensive measures as though he were nothing more
than an irritating pest there to disrupt a luncheon. "I've met the Granger girl before. Diagon
Alley at the beginning of last year. I believe I was quite cruel to her," she said, a hint of a
frown on her face. "Appearances and all. You understand. Had I known that―"
"That she wasn't just some Mudblood?" Sirius spat out.