Who: Sally Bones and Narcissa Malfoy What: Defending people. Where: The streets near the shops. When: Shortly after Emmy disappears. Status: Complete. It was a silly thing, that had brought Narcissa from the comfort of her home. Her sister was not in the house, however, she knew that Bellatrix left of her own will and was likely not one of those kidnapped. Which only served to make her more nervous. She’d not have left the house at all, but she knew that in her office stood a framed picture taken shortly after her arrival of herself, Lucius, Draco, Scorpius and Cressida. It was the most cherished thing she owned, and with word that shops were being subjected to attacks and raids, Narcissa only wanted to retrieve it and return to the safety of her home.
Narcissa was on her way back, the prized picture shrunken to fit safely into her pocket so as the keep her arms free. She’d come around the corner when she’d seen another woman engaged in a fight that she, in Narcissa’s opinion, didn’t seem like she belonged in. There was still a part of Narcissa’s brain that was wired to ignore it, to turn her head and keep walking, but she knew that was wrong.
“Protego.” She said cast on the woman, deflecting a spell the man was casting at her. Growing closer, she could see it was the woman who ran the candle store. Narcissa frowned slightly, her eyes narrowing a bit at the offending man, someone she recognized as a Death Eater.
“It is time for you to end this and go home now,” She said in warning, her wand raised.
Sally hadn’t wanted to let Emily play in the front yard. She knew the wards were secure, but she felt safer when her family was behind closed doors. However, she knew she couldn’t keep the little girl locked up like some prisoner. Oh, how she wished for a land-type bubble charm to protect her baby! She relented, but only for a few minutes. She’d let Emmy run around and then pull her back in. She was watching like a hawk when her journal chimed. She set up charms for her family. She quickly picked it up and noticed Susan’s entry about Amelia’s disappearance. “No!” She cried. There were already so many missing. Charity. Gilderoy. Analisa. Now Amelia? What bad luck spell was her family under? She wiped the tears from her eyes. It could only have been a minute. Maybe two. But the next thing she heard was a scream. Emmy’s scream. She raced out in time to see a beastly looking man running off with her little girl. “COME BACK HERE YOU BASTARD!” She didn’t even draw her wand as she ran. She tripped, jumped up, finally pulled the wand and tried throwing some hexes, but they were too far. And then they were gone. Did they apparate? No, no. “EMMY!” She screamed. “HELP! SOMEONE HELP ME!”
She was blinded by tears as she raced closer to town. She needed to find Eddie. She needed to find Order members. She needed to find someone. She didn’t care about herself. She couldn’t let Emily get hurt again. She couldn’t fail to protect her child again.
She didn’t see the Death Eater coming, but she felt someone pulling at her. She quickly spun around and kicked him. She managed to get away, but nearly every spell flew out of her mind. She just needed to get to her baby.
She heard Narcissa’s voice, but it barely registered. “Emmy,” she sobbed.
The Death Eater grinned nastily. “Narcissa. How lovely to see you. Where is your husband, love? We miss him. Your son?” The Malfoys were a joke to the current Death Eaters. They couldn’t manage a thing for their Lord. Who did she think she was?
Narcissa moved slightly in front of Sally, to better protect her, though somewhere in the back of her mind she was already questioning her own actions. She glared over at Sally when she choked out a name, frowning deeply at her, Emmy--that was her daughter, right? The cute little girl who had delivered the valentine hearts. Narcissa’s grip on her wand tightened, she knew all too well the pain of worrying what those people would do to your child.
“That hardly matters,” Narcissa said calmly, brushing past the quips about her family, “I’m the one here now, and you should have left when you had the chance.” WIthout hesitation, she flung a blasting hex at his feet. It hit the ground in front of him destroying it, spraying him with rocks and debris. It was meant to disorient him, and hopefully knock him off his feet as she flung other spells towards him.
The Death Eater didn’t expect Narcissa to do that and was quickly knocked off his feet as the rubble and spells hit his body. He aimed his wand and was about to shout a Crucio when one of the larger pieces of debris knocked him in the back of his head. He gasped out and his eyes rolled back as he passed out.
Narcissa’s blast woke Sally up from her daze. She was still crying, but she finally had the sense to calm down. Reality set in. Emmy was gone, yes, but she nearly got herself killed. She couldn’t do that. Not when Emmy needed her help. “Let’s go,” she begged Narcissa from behind. “Or…” She took a shuddering breath. “Should we...do we need to…” She gestured to the Death Eater. He likely wouldn’t stay passed out for long. If they just left him there, what would happen to other innocent bystanders when he woke up?
There was a moment, starting at the unconscious body, where she considered simply killing him. Surely, he would not spare herself or Sally this sort of thought, and she was hardly comfortable allowing him to continue terrorizing the village. Who knew who else he’d attack. Ultimately, though, Narcissa knew that she wouldn’t. She couldn’t kill an unconscious person, no matter how vile the person was, it would make her no better than them.
Narcissa moved quickly, stepping gingerly over the body. Quickly she took the wand, using all of her hatred and strength to snap it, before sticking the pieces in her back pocket. With her wand, she conjured ropes, binding his arms behind his back, and then his legs for good measure. She dragged him to a narrow alley between buildings. She cast a stunning spell at him, just in case he woke.
“I’ll write to the authorities.” Narcissa said softly, taking the journal one of her robes inner pockets, and conjuring a pen. “You shouldn’t be walking by yourself. Do you know who took your daughter? Where is someone you can trust? I’ll escort you.”
Sally was grateful for Narcissa’s thinking. Helga knew Sally wasn’t any use in the moment. “I don’t know. He was a horrid looking man, more beast really, but I barely…” Fresh tears spilled down her cheeks. “Our yard is warded. I was watching except for the one second and…” She dabbed her eyes with the edges of her sleeves. It was cold and she didn’t have a jacket, but she didn’t care. She couldn’t even feel it. She felt overheated, not frigid. “I need to get to Eddie,” she managed to say more calmly. “He can tell the Ord---” She paused. She didn’t know Narcissa well or what the woman knew or didn’t know. Did it matter now? No. “The Order,” she finished. “They can help us. This time. I hope.”
Dropping the journal back into a pocket, Narcissa nodded at Sally. Fenrir. It had to be, he was the only one that could, on sight alone, be described as more beast than man, and she’d had more experience with them than she would have liked.
“At the hospital, yes?” Narcissa asked softly, coming to rest a hand on the other womans shoulder, guiding her away from the encounter she’d just had. “They’ll find your daughter, there is nothing more a priority to… those people than finding the children.” To be honest, Narcissa had little faith in the Order, but she found she had little faith in an mass of people, something would always go wrong, there would always be someone working against their goals. “Come, we’ll go to them.”