Chapter Text
Malfoy Manor was a pillar of the Pureblood community. It’s Gothic architecture and opulent furnishings had been featured in Witch Weekly , For the Witches Home , and even made a brief cameo Herbology Digest for the meticulous garden’s that were cared for by Narcissa and the family elf staff. The grounds were vast and various species of magical creatures could be seen roaming the surrounding areas as they were drawn to the ancient familial and blood magic that seeped into the earth and permeated the air.
The white peacocks had been a more recent addition, a surprise for Draco’s 9th birthday. They were quite the security measure for the average witch or wizard as their bite was harsh and their squawking prevented any sneaking around- the wizarding paparazzi never stood a chance.
When the Dark Lord had taken over the ancestral home, Narcissa had the elves corral the peacocks into a pen that she warded and shoo off any creatures, to prevent them from slaughter.
In the time it took for Rudolphus Lestrange and Antonin Dolohov to duel the Order and drag her limp body up the long drive of the Manor, Leanne Pucey had barely been able to keep her eyes open to appreciate the grounds for what they were. While they were missing some of the charm that came from not having a homicidal maniac living within them, the plants were still flourishing and the sky was clear.
Her eyes stayed glued to the drive covered in loose light coloured rocks. She had begged for mercy in every way she could think of. She didn’t think she would survive another round of the cruciatus curse as her body and mind ached .
As they reached the doorstep of the Manor, the two Death Eaters yanked her up to stand on her feet. Rudolphus had chuckled darkly under his breathe and said “Trust me girl, you haven’t felt a fucking thing yet. Just wait until the Dark Lord gets a hold of you.” Dolohov hummed in agreement and added “Maybe once he’s done with you he’ll let me take you home. I do love it when they just lay there.” she knew she would fight as she wouldn't give them the satisfaction of thinking they had won. Even if she died there she would not go quietly.
Ruldophus knocked on the door and they stood before it waiting to be let in. The men were each gripping one of her arms and the longer they stood and waited, the looser their grip became on her. “What is taking them so long? Let us in, we have the little Pucey girl.” Rudolphus sighed and pounded on the door once again. Leanne prepared herself to attack as they waited and as soon as Rudolphus let go to knock on the door for a third time, she lifted her foot and stomped on his leg just above his knee and watched him crumple to the ground before she landed a swift second kick to the side of his head leaving him unconscious.
Dolohov grabbed her firmly from behind and she struggled against his grip, reaching out and clawing and hitting any available part of his person. She caught the side of Dolohov’s face with her nails and managed to scratch three equidistant lines across his cheek before he gripped her arms and tugged her towards the door. Her body still weak from the prolonged use of the cruciatus stumbled and her palms were barely able to come up and catch her before she smashed her face into the ancient wood.
Dolohov pinned her to the door, grabbed each of her hands and yanked them behind her back shouting “ Incarcerous! ” effectively disabling her use of them as another rope wrapped around her face and gagged her into silence. The rope burned against the supple skin of her cheek and she briefly wondered how long rope had to rub against your skin to leave permanent marks.
As she struggled against him he kicked the inside of her feet forcing her stance wide enough for him to stand between and used his wand to rip the back of her robes open and when she heard the click of his belt buckle she began to fight harder against the restraints.
“You little fucking bitch . I am going to fucking ruin you. I am going to rip you open and-” Dolohov was interrupted as the door opened in front of him and he fell forward. He might have fallen right on top of herif it hadn't been from Lucius Malfoy grabbing his arm and holding him upright with his pants loose around his waist as she hit the floor. There was a sickening crunch as her face hit the floor and her nose spouted blood. Her arms still tied behind her back leaving her helpless. The air was knocked from her lungs from the impact and she could taste the coppery liquid sliding down her throat but still she began to drag her body across the floor away from Dolohov.
“Relax Antonin” Lucius drawled out as he held the other man up “she won’t get far.”
A massive set of destroyed boots appeared in her eyeline and she began looking around for an exit to scramble towards. The owner walked in a circle around her body and stopped at her side before pulling her upright by her bound wrists and she screamed out through the gag involuntarily as her shoulders pulled uncomfortably. She was sure her right shoulder was now dislocated. The scent that filled her nostrils was like rotting flesh and she gagged but the face that filled her view and gripped her hard made it pale in comparison.
Fenrir Greyback looked exactly like the pictures she had seen in the Prophet following his pack -and warning those with children who lived in the Eastern countryside- but also far more terrifying. Any skin on his body that she could see was covered in a thick coarse hair and a layer of grime. His pants and outer vest were stained with blood but it was his eyes that drove the fear into her heart.
Sunken into his head and black as night, they were empty of any humanity and instead expressed hunger. Surrounded by bushy eyebrows and a long molted scar that stretched from his temple, down his cheek and across his lip they were terrifying. When he opened his mouth and lowered his nose to her throat and took in a deep breath Leanne couldn't help but tremble in his grip.
“Your blood smells divine, clouded with fear.” his voice was a low growl and when his tongue slipped out and licked her thrice from collarbone to earlobe suckling the blood that had dripped from her face a sob escaped Leanne as she knew his proclivities would not see her live for long if he got his hands on her.
A cracking sound reverberated through the entrance hall as Lucius’ walking stick struck the smooth finished floors. “Enough.” he said in a low voice “the Dark Lord said to bring her at once and we have wasted enough time. Do not think I won’t tell him who prevented his meeting of the girl.”
Fenrir lapped at Leanne’s neck once more and his teeth grazed her shoulder as he inhaled her scent deeply and tears dripped down her face with the uncertainty of the future. “We can finish this later.” Greyback released his grip and shoved her backwards into Dolohov who had buckled his pants again, immediately began to drag her towards the drawing room.
“Not if I get my hands on you first. You’ll pay for what you did to me, you little bitch .” Dolohol growled into Leanne’s ear and yanked her wrist causing another white hot burst of pain to course through her. As they entered the space the first thing Leanne noticed was the large throne-like chair in the centre of the room and perched upon it was Lord Voldemort himself. His black robes floated just above the ground and his pale scaly skin almost glowed against the darkness of them.
Surrounding him were some faces she recognized like Rudolphus-who had roused himself from the front stoop but was now focused on the floor in front of him- Lucius, Fenrir, and the infamous Bellatrix Lestrange, but most wore their masks keeping their identities hidden from her.
“Kneel” Dolohov demanded as he shoved her to the ground before them and cast a nonverbal finite . The ropes disappeared just in time for Leanne to catch herself but as she did her wrist was turned and a crack could be heard as it broke beneath her weight. Her right arm was fully incapacitated now and her vision blurred. She let out a small cry of pain before a hissing timbre could be heard throughout the room.
“Yesssss… you’ll do just fine.” Voldemort rose from his dark throne and approached the trembling girl. “It’s been too long since I had a dispensable play thing. I say that because I doubt the Order is going to come for some silly little girl who is barely of age. It would be lovely if you’d put up a fight-” he paused and as he twisted his wand in his hand and stood close enough that she could see his veins flex under the skin of his feet as he walked “let’s see how long you can last.”
If the pain from Nott Sr.’s torture had to be compared to what it felt like to be tortured by the Dark Lord, it would be like comparing the the bite of a garden knome to the the bite of a dragon. If Nott Sr. 's was a parchment cut, Voldemort’s was like severing a limb. Leanne’s organs twisted themselves into knots and her skin felt as though it was melting off. The combined use of legilimency while he tortured her made it even worse as his cold hands clawing and scraping through the depths of her brain allowed her no reprieve for her body or mind.
Her magic pulsed in her chest as she writhed on the ground unable to do anything to fight off the attack from the dark wizard. She felt her magic slowly seeping into her other limbs and the pain began to lessen. Maybe this is what dying feels like? Leanne wondered to herself. As the pain continued to fade, she strangely began to think about the fact that she never had a pet growing up. I would have really liked a kneazle as a pet I think. A little friend to call my own for Adrian and I to play with.
She had a momentary realization that the dark wizard who was still intent on recruiting her brother had paused on her mention of Adrian and was diving into what she knew about his life now, his job and where he was staying. While the Dark Lord doubted the Pucey boy would join him, he might be fun to torture later on. I can’t let him know about Adrian. Leanne gasped aloud and a scream ripped through her body “ ADRIAN !”
In that moment Leanne’s mind fractured. In trying to protect herself and her brother her magic latched onto the Dark Lord’s presence within her mind and forced him out into everyone else’s mind in the room. What she wasn’t expecting was for him to take her along. Every Death Eater in the room dropped to their knees under the weight of the Dark Lord in their mind but when he was able to retreat she was not.
As her mind and magic had buckled under the pressure of the cruciatus and fractured, the Dark Lord’s affinity for legilimency wrapped itself around her magic and became a part of her.
She became a natural and uncontrolled legilimens at the mercy of the Dark Lord.
The weeks that followed blurred together. The Dark Lord began to experiment with her new magic and used it ruthlessly. It was an exquisite tool for interrogation and torture. She could slip into the mind of anyone she pleased and find their worst fears and create torturous memories and thoughts specific to them. This pleased the Dark Lord more than anything. A walking torture machine that he could control with a few idle threats about her parents and an occasional crucio if she was resistant. The only problem was that he feared her abilities superseded his own and it was a conscious effort for him to occlude when she was present.
This led to Leanne being kept in the Malfoy Manor dungeon when she was not being used as a method for pain. The physical distance between her and the Dark Lord kept her out of his head and the daily flood of calming draughts and dreamless sleep potions seemingly kept her placated enough for the Death Eaters on guard not to worry. Leanne’s talent and existence was privy information and only those who had been present during her fracture, with the exception of the Malfoy house elves who looked after her while she was imprisoned, not even Narcissa Malfoy knew she was there were aware- up until the night the Golden Trio were captured by snatchers.
When the heavy door creaked while opening and harsh light flooded the darkened dungeons Leanne barely managed to open her eyes through the fog of the heavy calming draught that had been fed to her with her meek breakfast of dry toast.
“Let’s go, Bellatrix is asking for you.” the drawling voice of Lucius Malfoy asked and bounced off the stone walls. “You’ll need to drink this to be able to help.” The cell grate that could only open to a Malfoy’s magic flung open and he gripped the back of her neck by the root of her hair causing her jaw to drop open and he tipped a vial of what she assumed was some sort of an Invigoration draught down her throat.
He grabbed her roughly by the arm and dragged her up the stone steps, scraping her knees on the steps and her elbows on the walls. Leanne barely registered the pain as the potion continued to take effect and her brain began to clear.
“The girl.” he sneered and Bellatrix barely turned to face the Dark Lord’s prized weapon before looking back at the other young girl pinned on the floor before her.
“The Dark Lord has told me of your talents blood traitor, and this Mudblood” she spat “has something of mine and I want to know how she got it but since she wouldn’t tell me herself-” Bellatrix let out a sinister cackle as the girl on the floor thrashed from side to side and screamed as she dragged the knife across her previously unblemished skin “we’ve been playing a little game and waiting for your arrival.”
Leanne’s heavy head finally lifted and her eyes met another across the drawing room-golden brown and full of life, despite the torture that had just been inflicted.
Narcissa gasped as the girl’s face affronted her and her pale blonde head whipped around to face her husband as she saw her friend’s daughter battered on the floor before her. “Lucius, what is the meaning of this?” she asked in horror. “You’ve had the Pucey’s girl in our dungeon? Scott and Elaine are our friends!”
“Father!” Draco exclaimed equally horrified that his old Quidditch teammate’s sister was being kept prisoner in his home as he returned from retrieving the Goblin from his cellar. How long had a girl been kept in his family’s dungeon without his knowledge? What horrors had she seen while he was at school?
“No!” he snarled at his wife and son. “They were our friends before they decided to go against our Dark Lord. And this girl is our ticket back into the Dark Lord’s good graces so-”
“Yes Cissy! Listen to your dear husband. This blood traitor is actually useful despite her family’s failings.” Bellatrix cut Lucius off and lifted the knife from the brown haired girl’s arm, admiring the carving she had placed there. “Get over here girl and look inside.”
What Bellatrix didn’t know is that Leanne didn’t need to come any closer to see inside of the girl-of Hermione’s- mind. The moment the trio had entered the manor she knew who was there. While the calming draught helped her relax, it did not dull her abilities. The entire time Leanne was kept in the dungeon she knew who was in the Manor and what they were thinking. This constant barrage of information was tough to sort through and most of her confusion and docile nature came from an overflow of information and not the potions. When Bellatrix’s torture had started Leanne had woven her way through the dark paths of the Death Eater’s minds and found the mind of the Ministry’s very own Golden Girl.
While she could not eliminate the effects of the cruciatus curse, she could help coach the girl through the pain and assure her she was not alone. Whether Hermione realized it was really someone else and not just her conscience, wasn’t known at the time, but she felt better knowing she had eased some of the girl’s pain.
As Leanne crawled across the floor towards her, she held her gaze and a brief look of recognition flashed across Hermione’s face.
“Well, go on!” snarled Bellatrix as she met the bottom of Leanne’s foot with the toe of her heavy boot “we don’t have all day! Find out how she got the sword and then I’ll give her to Greyback to dispose of.”
Just as she reached her hand out to touch Hermione’s face Ron and Harry burst into the room and chaos ensued. The chandelier fell and spells were fired as the trio frantically escaped to their safe house. Following their departure Leanne was barely able to take in the wreckage that surrounded her. Greyback was slumped against the wall unconscious due to Harry’s stunning spell and Lucius was shielding both Narcissa and Draco behind him. Narcissa was struggling against his arm trying to reach her friend’s daughter who was still in the same place on the floor, covered in shards of glass and trembling.
When the Dark Lord arrived he questioned the Malfoy’s and pilfered through Leanne’s own mind, he was displeased to find that she did not learn anything about the trio and she was tortured, brutally in front of the Malfoy matriarch who was then tasked with looking after her as her existence in the Manor was no longer a secret.
Narcissa took care of her for the next while and while she greatly improved her living conditions, wardrobe, and menu, Leanne remained a prisoner in the Malfoy dungeons. When the final Battle of Hogwarts began, she was trapped in her cell unable to help her brother or parents as they fought alongside the Order.
Eleven days after the fall of Voldemort, Malfoy Manor was raided by the Ministry of Magic. This came on a tip from Hermione Granger that there was one prisoner unaccounted for after the battle and the conclusion of Narcissa Malfoy’s trial where she was acquitted of all her crimes due to testimony from Harry Potter and Andromeda Black on the harsh reality of being a Death Eater’s wife. Only when they burst through the front gates, trashed the entrance way and finally bombarda ’d their way through the entrance to the basement dungeon, did they find Leanne Pucey. Generally unharmed but with her hands over her ears and surrounded by wide-eyed house elves brandishing kitchen utensils and candelabras as weapons.
“Yous is not to harm the prisoner!” Narcissa’s favourite elf Tippy yelled as she waved around a butter knife in each hand. “Ours Mistress would not be liking that. No, no, NO!” The elves tightened their circle around Leanne who had begun to sob, chest heaving from the barrage of minds surrounding her after almost two weeks of silence until the familiar pop of apparition filled her ears and the velvet blanket of Narcissa Malfoy’s mind began to creep over her.
Over the last 6 weeks or so of Narcissa taking care of her, she had opened up to her Mother’s school friend and they found that Narcissa’s ability to occlude could help Leanne quiet the minds of those around her considerably. She no longer felt crushed by the sheer weight of the dozens of thoughts flooding in every second and had existed with little pain and confusion leading up to the battle.
Since the Death Eater’s departure for the battle the Manor had been quiet as house elf magic didn’t allow her access to their minds and the silence had been so beautiful. To have it so rudely interrupted by the Auror Department’s minds and physical chaos was torture.
“Hello” Narcissa said softly as she approached the cell “I apologize for my state of undress, I’ve just come directly from Azkaban but I couldn’t leave you here any longer.” she spoke aloud only for the benefit of the aurors surrounding her. The gate of Leanne’s cell swung open at Narcissa’s magical command and the sobs had quieted to a few hiccups and shaky breaths.
Narcissa straightened her posture and approached the girl with the kind of confidence only a pureblood raised aristocrat could hold after being released from prison and still wearing prison garb and said “We need to dress you for your trial. It is to begin tomorrow morning. We must prepare.”