Suddenly there was a cracking sound in the distance so abrupt that the Manor trembled. Astoria jerked with surprise but didn't stop.
"Expelliarmus!" Malfoy snarled as he appeared from thin air.
The wand digging into Hermione's eye vanished and Astoria was flung across the room and struck the wall with a sickening crunch before falling to the floor.
Hermione remained frozen in place with open eyes, sobbing hysterically and immobilised where Astoria had left her.
Malfoy swept in front of Hermione, countering the immobilisation hex. Hermione dropped to the floor. Malfoy knelt down in front of her and tilted her face up toward his. His face was pale, frozen and his expression grew horrified when he saw her face.
He cast a diagnostic spell on her. After a minute he swallowed and took several deep breaths as though he were trying to steady himself.
"You eye is half pulled out of the socket and you have a deep puncture in the white," he said at last. "What are the spells to fix it?"
Hermione stared at him dazedly. Crying. Her face was twisted as she shook against his hand and felt her tears collecting against his fingers. She could see him through one eye but there was just a dark blur on her left side.
She couldn't stop crying and shuddering as she stared up at Malfoy.
She knew she should know the answer to his question but she couldn't remember. She could just feel the spot where Astoria's wand had punctured her eye.
She couldn't see...
Malfoy inhaled sharply and his expression hardened as he stared at her more intently.
"I need you to calm down so you can tell me how to fix it," Malfoy said. The command was heavy in his tone.
Hermione choked down a sob and tried to breathe. She wanted to close her eyes but she couldn't, because Astoria had tried to pull one of them out.
She gasped raggedly several times trying to compose herself. Then she made herself look down at the diagnostic reading still visible on Malfoy's wand.
She was a healer. Someone had an injured eye. She needed to work efficiently if she wanted to try to preserve their sight.
"For a punctured sclera," she said in a wobbling voice, casting her mind back trying to recall as she analyzed the reading. Malfoy had performed a detailed diagnostic on her and she could see that the damage was extensive. "Sclera Sanentur. You have to say it rhythmically, almost singing it. And trace the tip of your wand over the puncture."
Malfoy repeated the inflection and rhythm and she gave a short nod. He proceeded to perform it on her eye. She whimpered quietly as she felt it puncture begin to repair itself.
"And then — for a — a luxated left eye," she said in a voice that was calmer than she felt. "It's oculus sinister retreho. And the wand movement— "
She cautiously, half-blindly reached toward Malfoy's left hand and, when he didn't jerk away from her, she closed her fingers over his and demonstrated the delicate spiraling motion.
"Don't do it too quickly or you'll over retract," she added.
Malfoy nodded.
Hermione felt her eye slide back into place in her head. The dark blur was slightly brighter but it still was like staring through a heavily fogged window.
Malfoy cast a new diagnostic.
"H-how much can you see?" he asked tilting her face up toward his again, his fingertips pressing lightly along her jaw.
She looked up at him and covered her right eye with her hand. His face was only a few inches away from hers.
"You're blond. I think — I can tell that you're blond and if I try I can make out your eyes and mouth a little—" Her voice cut off in a whimper and she choked as she started crying again. Her hand slid away from her right eye and she clamped it over her mouth as she fought not to sob.
"What else do I need to do? How do I fix it?" he asked.
"Dittany," she said. "Essence of Dittany, might be able to repair the rest of the damage. But it's rare. It might be hard to obtain — in time."
"Topsy!"
The elf instantly appeared.
"Bring me Essence of Dittany."
The house-elf vanished again.
Malfoy's hands remained on her face until her sobs eased again and then he slowly drew them away.
"Wait here. I need to deal with Astoria now," Malfoy said.
Hermione nodded and wiped her face, finding that she was crying blood. She watched as Malfoy strode over, levitated his wife up off the floor and dropped her into the chair before performing a diagnostic charm on her. The imbalance in Hermione's vision made it hard to see when she tried to see the reading across the room. She thought Astoria had several cracked ribs and a concussion.
Malfoy healed the fractures with practiced ease and then stared down at Astoria for several minutes before finally rennervating her.
Chapter End Notes
Special thanks to LightOfEvolution for consulting and advising me about the Latin for healing spells.
Malfoy always comes for me by _knar.m_.
Malfoy disembowelling Montague by enselius.
'Open your eyes wide, Mudblood' by kport.art.
Astoria's Attack by saharok_illustration.
Chapter 20
"Draco, how are you here?" Astoria gasped as soon as she regained consciousness. She reached over and touched her side gingerly as she shrank back in the chair.
"I had to apparate across Europe because of you," he said in a low snarl.
The rage in his voice was palpable.
Hermione stared. Cross-continental apparition was — almost impossible. It required either jumping so many times that a person exhausted their magic and had to stop, or such a tremendous amount of concentration that it was practically impossible to survive. Most people who jumped more than a few countries splinched themselves to death. If Malfoy had actually apparated so far, he should be nearly dead from magical exhaustion.
In that case, it was no wonder the manor had shaken. The power and concentration to successfully perform such a jump would explode like a shockwave from a sonic boom. There was probably a room in the manor that had been reduced to splinters.
"That — that's completely impossible," Astoria stuttered.
"Underestimating your husband, Tori?" he said in a coolly murderous tone. "Not very wifely of you."
"Oh, are you here because of me?" Astoria's voice was vicious. "No. You aren't. You're here because of that Mudblood. You hexed me. You threw me into a wall. You murdered Graham Montague all because of that Mudblood."
"Yes, I did," Malfoy said. "I did all of those things because she is the last member of the Order of the Phoenix, and that means she, unlike you, is important; infinitely more important than you are. Considerably more important than Montague. Did you know that the Dark Lord has her brought before him regularly to inspect her memories? The eyes are rather useful when performing legilimency."
Astoria paled and Malfoy continued speaking in his cold, deadly voice, "I have tried to be patient with you, Astoria. I've been willing to overlook your indecent behavior and petty interferences, but do recall that aside from being somewhat decorative, you are useless to me. If you ever go near her again, or speak to her, or use your status as the lady of this manor to break through any of my wards, I will kill you. And I will do it slowly; perhaps over the course of an evening or two. That isn't a threat. It is a promise. Get. Out. Of. My. Sight."
Astoria gave a terrified sob and fled the room.