Chapter One
Safe at Last
I own nothing. But I did edit this chapter. And writing a new second chapter. And then editing the next one.
Do you know how hard it is living with a mother who thinks of you as an utter disappointment? Who has a wand to command you to do the vilest things imaginable? Who is immediately grave when she see's you walk down the stairs the next morning because you're alive? Is your mother Bellatrix Black-Lestrange? No? Then that is where we differ. I am Nancy Black. I refuse to have my surname Lestrange; there is no way in hell that I'm a Lestrange. My father wanted a whore, he got my mother, and my mother got me. Lovely, right?
It was storming. The rain was coming down in sheets, weighing me down and slowing my escape from 'home'. Leaving just after dusk sounded like a good idea in my head, but in reality it just made dodging trees much harder. I really should have checked the forecast, too.
After a few more minutes of blinding lightning and listening to my own frantic gasps, my foot tripped over a root and I fell to the soggy ground face first, covering myself and my knapsack in mud. I put my hands under my body and tried to push myself up, only managing to slip and fall back into the mud with a sickening splat, my wand digging into my side.
I shakily got to my feet, removed my wand from my pocket and shoved it behind my ear. I took a few shaky steps out of the mud and started jogging, slowly returning to the sprint I had been at minutes before.
The mud had taken the precious time I had to escape and I couldn't be captured again. As I pounded the ground with my feet, I wished desperately that I had nicked someone's broom from the house.
I was losing breath again and the stitch in my side was burning madly. I had to stop soon and hide. There were plenty of trees that I could shimmy up and sleep for the night, but doing so in the middle of a storm didn't sound like a great idea. If I kept running, I was bound to run into a city or a town. I was just a few miles from civilization, I knew that.
Then, a bright crimson spell was shot over my right shoulder. I glanced behind me, fearing the worst, and the worst was true. There were, roughly, five or six Death Eaters chasing me, their wands in their hands.
"Damn," I hissed. A sharp gash ripped through my arm, splattering my blood on to the mud. I cried out in pain and staggered.
Another shot of light blazed over my left shoulder, this one a dark putrid green. I quickly resumed my run, grasping my arm. I peeked at my hair. Most of it was singed or smoldering. I scrunched up my eyes and pictured myself with black, buzz cut hair. It was almost impossible because of the pain.
Two more bright lights were fired, one a bright electric blue and the other was a flaming purple. They flew past my body and into the trees surrounding me. "Don't kill her you idiots! The Dark Lord wants her alive!" I heard my mother yell to her lovely companions.
I sped up and threw my body around the trees, hoping to gain a few seconds of time so I could hide. The trees were starting to thin out and forest would soon become open space.
The Death Eaters were growing fainter, the reach of their spells falling behind. I saw a recently fallen tree and hid amongst it's leaves, catching my breath and clutching at my bleeding arm.
A few seconds past and the Death Eaters had caught up, their running had slowed to the stop.
"Where did the little wench go?" Bellatrix hissed.
"I don't know, maybe she went this way, or maybe she Apparated. This is outside of the wards reach." a male's voice asked, low, cool, and slightly bored.
Apparation! Of course! I quickly turned on my heel, thinking of the three D's, expecting to be near the Salem Witches Institute, but to open my eyes the decaying leaves.
While I had spun on my heel, I had stepped on a branch.
Everything was silent.
I jumped out of the tree just as several shots of magic was shot at me. I ran back into the forest, hoping to lose them in there again.
Bellatrix screamed in anger and resumed the chase with her fellow Death Eaters in tow.
I could feel myself growing light-headed from the pain and blood-loss in my arm and it felt like my back was bruising from my bag hitting it repeatedly. I had to apparate somewhere soon. The question was where. I could go to Mary's home. It was by the SWA and the Death Eaters would hesitate before following me there. But if they do follow… Mary would be in danger. Extreme danger. Her parents were Muggles and wouldn't be able to protect themselves. They would be slaughtered.
Dammit, even if I didn't go to Mary's, the Death Eaters would still think that I had gone. I cast a patronus and sent it to Mary as warning. But the spell cost me and gave away my position. The Death Eaters saw it and sped up towards me, sending more spells at me with improving accuracy. I needed a place to go now.
I thought of a popular wizarding spot, a place where the Muggle World and Wizarding World crossed over. The safest place would be one where I've never been before- the Death Eaters would never assume to look for me there. At first. The one that popped into my head was in England, but do to constant apparation, the barriers preventing intercontinental apparation would be weakened tremendously. I should be able to slip through.
I sped up slightly and starting taking riskier turns and paths. I needed more time. I threw myself into a trench and started running along it. The Death Eaters, once again, faded away into the forest.
I slowed down and stopped, proping my hands on my knees and gasped for breath. The storm was passing and the rain had lessened to a drizzle. I straightened up and spun on my heel, thinking of the Leaky Cauldron and Diagon Alley. But, as I was spinning, a spell caught me in the stomach and I opened my eyes. A Death Eater with red hair and glasses had wondered from the pack and found me. His face was the last thing I saw before I left America and found myself collapsed, wet and bleeding, in a dimly lit pub.