"Cissy." Black's voice was raspy. He did a ridiculous little bow and edged back as if he was trying to get hold of Harry again. Harry edged the other way. Black stopped and stared at him for a second, then back at Mrs. Malfoy. "Sorry not to have time to talk, but I'm trying to protect James's legacy."
That's why he wants to kidnap me. Harry was suddenly sure. Maybe Black was a Death Eater who had betrayed the Potters, but the real reason he wanted to go after Harry now was to make him be a Potter again. That had to be it.
"You will not." Mrs. Malfoy was using the scary voice again. She gestured with her wand. Harry ducked as the spell flew past him, but from what he felt, it never really had a chance of touching it.
It did touch Black.
Who screamed.
Harry whipped around, and stared as a huge panel of skin just…peeled off the front of Black's chest and fell to the ground. He curled around the wound, still screaming, and Harry saw black tendrils coming out of it, grabbing other places on Black's chest and tugging. It looked as if he was being eaten alive by some plant growing out of the middle of his body.
Mrs. Malfoy laughed softly. Harry looked back at her, and she still had the insane look on her face. She stalked towards them, and stopped, staring at Black.
"That is what you get," she said. "For trying to take my child again." Her eyes focused on Harry, and she reached out a hand. "Come here, Henry."
Harry couldn't help it. He flinched and shrank back. She had used a spell like that on Black, and now she wanted Harry to just walk up to her?
Mrs. Malfoy stared at him. "Henry, what's wrong?"
It was as if some invisible barrier had dropped away from Harry's ears, and now he could hear other people shouting and screaming and being sick and calling for the Aurors. He glanced back at Black, and caught his eye just as Black spun on the spot and vanished with a crack.
The man still looked crazed, and mouthed "James" at him before he went.
"You tortured him," Harry said, and he sounded like the three-year-old she'd been talking about earlier, and he couldn't help it. "You hurt him really bad."
"He would have taken you. He did take you, once. I am going to hurt my cousin as much as I can."
"But he didn't take me this time."
Harry swallowed for air, struggling to think. He didn't want to touch her. She had—she had tortured Black. He couldn't even think of his mother doing that. Not the kind mother he used to imagine when he didn't believe the Dursleys' lies. Not the stupid drunken mother he used to imagine when he did. Not Lily Potter as he'd imagined her.
"We must leave," Mrs. Malfoy said crisply. "The Aurors will wish to talk to us, but they can do that at the Manor."
She grabbed his hand and Apparated. Harry went with her, because he had no choice, but his pulse was hammering in his ears.
He felt as if he was going to be sick, and as if something else had broken and fallen to pieces around him, the way it had when he'd seen Dobby.
It was wrong.
....
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