Lizzie's POV:

When I woke up the next morning, my face was creased with the lines of the duvet and the sun that was shining through the window was blinding me. I brought my hand up to shield my face as I stood up and crossed the room to pull the curtains shut.

Last night, I hadn't had half the mind to observe the room that Draco had chosen for my mum, seeing as I was too preoccupied with caring for her, but now I had time to look around. It was very similar in structure to the bedroom that I stayed in when I stayed at Malfoy Manor, but the coloring was different. Where my room's walls were cream, this room's walls were a light grey. Where my bedroom's blankets were emerald green, this room's were a dark blue-grey.

My fragile mother was wrapped up in these blankets, looking like a caterpillar in a cocoon. She had become so skinny over the few months that she had been locked up that I feared she would never gain that muscle back. She had been my rock for years, always there for me to lean on when I needed her, but now I had to be hers.

I walked back over to the bed and placed a hand on my mum's forehead. She had finally warmed up. Now for the weight problem...

"Winny," I stated clearly and loudly, bracing myself for the apparation. The small house elf apparated into the room within seconds, curtseying low to the ground. "Hello, Winny," I smiled.

"Hello, Miss Lizzie," she squeaked back with a tentative smile.

"My mother here is very sick. She's lost a great deal of weight over the last few months and I would appreciate it if you could bring up a peanut butter sandwich and a glass of water."

"Winny would be happy to help Miss Lizzie and Miss Lizzie's mother. Winny will be back with Miss Lizzie's mother's sandwich and water," Winny chirped.

"Thank you very much, Winny." The house elf gave a quick nod of her head before apparating from the room with a snap of her fingers. I sat back down in the chair that I had slept in and placed a hand on my mum's shoulder. "Mum," I said quietly, trying to shake the woman from her slumber. "Mum, time to wake up."

"Wha-" she croaked, barely lifting her eyelids.

"I have a house elf coming up with a sandwich, do you think you can sit up a little?" She gave a miniscule tip of her head, and I slipped my hands under her neck and back, supporting her as she attempted to sit up. Her vertebrae poked into my hand.

"Winny is back with Miss Lizzie's mother's sandwich and water," the house elf squeaked after she apparated into the bedroom, making my mum flinch.

"Thank you, Winny. Could you bring it here, please?" I pat the empty area on the blanket beside me, where Winny placed the small platter with a sandwich on it. She handed me the glass of water before she gave another curtsey and apparated from the room.

"What was that?" my mum murmured so quietly I had to bring my ear closer to her mouth to hear her.

"That was a creature called a house elf. Wizards use them like servants in their home," I explained. "Now, I had Winny, the house elf, bring you a peanut butter sandwich, do you think you could eat some of it?" Mum nodded, so I brought the sandwich. She took a small bite and chewed for quite a while.

I continued to feed her bites of the sandwich until she protested. She had managed to finish almost half of it. I placed the sandwich back on the platter and moved it to the night table. "I have some water too, would you like a drink?"

"Yes," she begged.

I realized as I helped her drink how little food and water she must have had over the last few months. Obviously her captors fed and watered her enough to keep her alive but not enough to keep her healthy. Humans can only survive about three days without water and about three weeks without food. She looked like she had only been fed about that much.

"You go back to sleep," I told her in a whisper when she had finished drinking. "I'm going to see if I can find some potions to help you heal." She gave no answer, simply closed her eyes. I kissed her forehead and left the room silently.

Draco answered almost immediately when I knocked on his bedroom door. "How is she?" he asked, worry lacing his words.

"She's doing better. I got her to eat and drink some," I explained.

"That's wonderful."

"I was wondering if I could use your supply of potions and potion ingredients?" I asked carefully.

"Of course," he replied, stepping out of his bedroom. "I'll show you to the brewing room."

"You have a brewing room?"

"Yeah, I guess that's kind of odd," he frowned. "I just never thought about it before."

Draco led me back to the main floor and through to the back of the house where the brewing room was. It was a dark room, with only eerie, green torches to light it up. The walls were lined with bookshelves. Two of which were filled with books, the others were filled with vials of potions and potion ingredients.

"Whoa," I muttered. In the center of the room stood a table with three pewter cauldrons on it: a large, a medium, and a small.

"You're welcome to use anything in this room and I'm glad to help in any way possible," Draco said taking a seat in a deep red chair in the corner.

"Thank you," I said as I browsed the books on the shelves.

Pretty Potions and Their Uses

Dark Potions for the Dark Wizard or Witch

The Book of Poisons and Potions

Healing Potions

Poisonous Poisons and Their Counter Potions

I picked up the book titled Healing Potions, and took it to the center table with me. Hunching over the book I scanned through the index to find a potion that might help my mother.

Sleeping Draught

Cure for Boils

Skele-Gro

Wiggenweld Potion

There were hundreds of healing potions. I had heard of many of them from my years in Potions class with Snape and Slughorn, but there were still loads that were new to me.

"Do you know of any potions that might help my mum?" I asked Draco, while still scanning the list of potions.

"Well," he thought for a moment. "There's the Pepperup potion but-"

"Yeah," I sighed. "It makes steam dribble from the drinkers ears for hours after."

"It might help her warm up," he pondered.

"She warmed up over night. I was thinking more of something that would help her gain weight and increase her strength."

"Hmm," he paused again to think. "There's the Vimes potion."

"The what?" I lifted my head and looked at the boy in confusion. I had never heard of the Vimes potion.

"It's kind of like the Pepperup potion, but stronger and instead of being used for colds, it's used for more serious illnesses like the Black Cat Flu and Cerebrumous Spattergroit."

"What's it do?" I asked, wondering if this potion could help my mum. Draco stood and walked along the bookshelves for a moment, browsing the books.

When he found the one he was looking for, he brought it over to me and flipped through the pages.

The Vimes Potion

    The Vimes Potion is a healing potion used most commonly for the ailment of Mumblemumps (see page 394), however, it can be used to heal many other wizarding illnesses including the Black Cat Flu and Stinkitis. The combination of the Adder's fork and the Newt's spleen make it an extraordinary potion for curing malnutrition as well...

"It cures malnutrition! This is perfect!" I hissed in excitement. Draco suppressed a small laugh and flipped a few more pages to the recipe.

    1 Adder's Fork

    2 oz. Bouncing Spider Juice

    5 Eel Eyes

    ½ Newt's Spleen

9 oz. Rose Oil

    3 ½ Small Fairy Wings

I walked along the bookshelves that held the ingredients and collected them one at a time. As I did this, Draco lit and stoked the fire under the medium sized cauldron.

As I brewed the potion that could save my mother's life, Draco threw in helpful hints.

"Slow your stirring a smidge."

"Slice horizontally not vertically."

"Drop them in one at a time."

By the time the potion was the white color the book said it should be, my hands were stained with rose oil and smelled terribly of eel eye.

"It's done," I breathed. The air smelled like burning fairy wings, a smell I had come to recognize from having six years of potions with Seamus Finnigan.

"Alright, pour some into this bottle." Draco held a glass bottle out to me and helped me poured the thick potion into it. I corked it and together we walked through the Manor back to my mum's room.

When entered the room, the air was significantly colder than when I left and the silence unnerved me, crawling into my veins and chilling me into the bone, but why?

"Mum," I called quietly to the woman buried in the blankets, my voice cracking, "I have a potion that will help you feel better." My voice echoed around the room.

"Lizzie..." Draco trailed off, placing a hand on my shoulder. The small gesture was sweet and I would normally melt at his touch, but his touch suddenly felt like ice.

"Mum, wake up, I need you to drink this for me." She made no effort to move or to acknowledge my presence in the room. "Mum?" I hurried to the side of the bed and kneeled on the floor, the floor cool on my knees. Upon placing my hand on my mum's forehead, I discovered she was cold as ice, her face white as snow, and her lips blue as if she had frostbite.

"Liz..."

"Mum, wake up," tears pricked at my eyes. I shook her shoulders gently. Her head lolled dangerously.

"Lizzie, she's not going to wake up," Draco said softly, kneeling beside me and wrapping an arm around me.

"No," I stated, tears now rolling down my face fluidly. "No, she has to. She's my mum. She has to wake up."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't apologize," I snapped. "She's going to wake up any second now."

"Lizzie, your mum is gone." Draco said this soothingly, but the words stabbed at my heart like ice shards being driven into my chest with the force of a hundred thestrals. The chill spread throughout my body, starting in my chest and ending in my toes. I felt so cold, it was as if I had been dunked in glacial water.

A scream more shrill than anything I had ever heard escaped my throat and echoed through the room. The potion bottle that was in my hand fell and shattered on the floor. Draco wrapped his other arm around my middle, supporting me. I began to tremble, small at first, then so violently it seemed like I was seizing.

My beautiful mother was dead. I would never see her clear blue eyes again sparkle with her mischievousness. Never hear her call me her little Bitsy again. Never shop with her along Shaftesbury Avenue wrapped in our winter clothes. Never see her smile glitter in the moonlight. Never hear her wonderful laugh ring through the air. For my beautiful mother was dead.

It was my fault she was dead. If I had killed Dumbledore earlier in the year, she wouldn't have been kidnapped. It was my fault. All my fault.

Then came the pain. Worse than anything I had ever experienced. Worse than seeing Draco lying in a pool of his blood in the toilets. Worse than watching Dumbledore tumble to his death the night before. My heart was being cleaved from my chest. My lungs felt like they were being slashed to shreds from my gasping. My vocal chords were splitting from my screams. I was in agony and there was nothing I could do about it.

I had lived to see the day the world ended.