I chewed my sleeve nervously, wandering why I had been pulled off the streets of Knockturn Alley by a Ministry Official and sent here, to the Ministry of Magic itself.
The man that had brought me here kept a firm hold of my elbow a we clunked our way to which I could only guess to be a main office in one of the many lifts in the place, I could tell that he wasn't happy about having to be the one to track me down as he kept sighing and giving me funny looks. Could you blame him though? I glanced at my refection in one of the jade green tiles and could just make out the vivid scar that ran from my left temple to the right of my jaw, stopping and continuing at my right eye. It wasn't pretty, I wasn't pretty, but I had grown used to it.
The lift jerked to a halt, and I was pushed out and into a corridor with identical jade tiles. We walked a short way to a door with an eyeball rolling around in it, I tried to copy it with my one functioning eye as the Ministry man knocked the door and a tinkling voice answered "Enter".
The owner of the voice was a woman dressed on something that resembled a frilly loo roll cover, I recognised her from the Daily Prophet as Delores Umbridge,
"Ah, Howlett. I see you brought the….girl." she gave a fake smile.
"Yes Miss, I found her trying to steal silverware from a shop in Knockturn Alley…."
I quickly lost interest, thinking I was going to be tried for theft, again, and had a good look at my surroundings.
The room was disgusting, cats meowed at me from china plates on the walls and everything was pink. One of the cats hissed at me and I hissed back, without thinking, drawing the Umbridge woman's attention to me.
"Well, Miss Bloggs, I'm sure you're wondering why you've been brought here hmm?"
"Not really" My tongue clicked against my teeth at its own will, making my harsh voice seem stranger than it already was, "I'm being arrested, no?"
She blinked, "No, you have been brought here by request of the Minister himself. As you may already know, we, as a government, are doing our best to round up all mudbloods and blood traitors alike, in a sort of cleansing process for the wizarding world. We know that you mother was very keen on this idea, whilst serving under the…..um…Dark Lords will, before her untimely death. We are gathering a team of people to round up these types and be brought here to face our good justice at the ministry. We would like you to be part of that team." She finished with a little cough.
"Why me?"
"Well", she started to move around her desk, "There are particular talents that you possess that would be useful in this occupation."
I didn't understand, "I'm not talented, I can't sing or play the piano or nothing like that." I pulled at my ear as I became more confused.
She gave a high pitched laugh, "People of your, let us say, appearance and mind have been recruited for this too. Do you see now? Do you agree? Because if you do all past convictions of theft, arson, burglary and assault will be forgotten. Does that not sound reasonable?" She had taken the tone of someone talking to a small child, not a 26 years and 8 month old woman.
I thought about it rolling both my eyes around the room, before nodding.
"Excellent" she stepped towards me with a piece of red cloth in her hand, "Harriet Bloggs, you are now an official member of the Ministry's Snatcher Team." He tied the cloth around my forearm, before wiping her hands on her blouse as though I was dirty.
"You may now go and meet with your other team members. That is all Howlett." She dismissed us with a wave of her hand.
Down in the depths of the ministry, I was led to a small side room. The man opened the door and addressed its occupants, "This is the final member of your team. We expect you to work together well or there will be consequences."
He pushed me inside and shut the door and I ran my tongue over my sharp teeth, trying to work out what exactly I had agreed to.
The four men stared at me, one leaning on a desk I recognised to be Fenrir Greyback, he wasn't one to slip from your memory, two were rather scruffy young men, one who I remembered to have been a trouble maker in the year below me at Hogwarts, known as Flint, the last I didn't have time to make a judgement of as he had already approached me.
"Alright darling?" I could see a smirk forming on his sharp features, "And what's your name?"
I opened my mouth to speak, but Greyback cut me off, "That's Hatchet Face, see her around Knockturn all the time, she's an odd one."
"You don't say." His voice was sarcastic and slightly patronising, "What's your real name?"
"Harriet" my cheek twitched, as him being terribly close was making me nervous.
"Well Hatchet, I'm Scabior. Don't bother learning the rest of this lots names, 'cause if you get anything wrong, it's me you'll be answering to."
I watched as his grey eyes strayed to the scar and my broken eye that I had tried to fix so many times, it had taken a milky white colour all over, adding to my "unusual" appearance.
"You certainly are an odd one." He murmured under his breath, before spinning around to face the others, "Right lads, Wotsitface up there wants us to pay a visit to a Lee family in East London, blood traitors apparently, they need to be brought back alive for interrogation." He sounded slightly disappointed at the last part, "Let's go"
As we left the ministry, I jogged to catch up with Scabior.
" Excuse me, what am I supposed to do?", my voice cracked as it fought its way out of my raw throat.
He glanced at me but didn't slow down, "Just intimate them, rough 'em up a bit. Then bring them back here. Do you think you can handle that?"
"Certainly", I got excited at the idea because I wanted to see how scared I could make these people, live up to their expectations that my hideous face can make me a hideous person if I wanted.
We apparated to an unfamiliar area London, full of swearing children and dog muck. I pulled my high collard leather jacket close to my face, not wanting to draw any attention to us that we already had.
"Oi! Goth boy, what's up with your mug?" a few youths wearing a hoodies and caps tried to intimidate Greyback.
He turned and bared his teeth at them, growling. Their eyes widened and then caught sight of me as I chuckled and copied Greyback, doing my own version of a growl. One let out a yelp and the bolted off behind a block of flats.
Scabior grinned at me, obviously entertained, and led the way to a small house at the end of the street. The garden gate was broken, so we had to climb over it and up the ragged path. Flint knocked the door as I stared up at the house, seeing the curtains twitch. There was definitely someone in.
"What are you being so bloody polite for? Just blast the door in!" Scabior told him, losing his patience.
"Obliviate!" the door crumbled, and, determined to make a good impression; I pushed past Flint and sped up the stairs on my hands and feet.
"What's she at?" I heard Flint ask.
"Aw, she probably just needs to use the bog!" Scabior snapped, "Get up after her."
I had been right. Cowering in the corner of the main bedroom was a young couple, the man trying to shield the woman, she whimpered when she saw me. I heard the others stomping up the stairs, and they tried to curl up smaller, realising I wasn't alone.
I jumped across the bed and grabbed the woman by her hair, making her scream.
"P-please…" started the man but I cut him off with a snarl, hating them both already for assuming that I was going to harm them, I was, but that wasn't the point.
"You love your wife?" I asked.
He nodded, "Yes"
"Then you'll exactly what we say. Understand?"
He nodded again.
"Well done Hatchet!" Scabior sounded pleased as he, Flint and the other boy entered the room, "Flint and Sweeney, get them back to the ministry now. We'll follow."
I felt myself beaming with pride as I handed the woman to Sweeney, who disappeared with a crack, followed by Flint and the man.
Scabior raised an eyebrow, "I'll be honest, I didn't think you were up to it, I thought the only reason they picked you was because of that, er…little scratch on your face. Not the case at all Hatchet." I grinned, glad of the compliment.
"There's no one else. I checked." Greyback appeared in the doorway.
"Good" he disappeared with a crack, and I quickly followed.
I made more money that day than I did in two weeks of thieving. I didn't know what happened to the Lee family after that but Umbridge said that they were, "being dealt with".
I enjoyed the thrill of terrifying people whether I was crouching over them with my wand at their throat, or just scurrying around behind the others, nicking what I could. I especially enjoyed pulling the unlucky sods through the ministry and down to the courtrooms; the way they parted to let me through made me feel respected and important.
I also liked the other Snatchers, they had the personality types that I was attracted to, especially Scabior. I loved how sarcastic and intimidating he could be. I liked how gruff and quiet Greyback was then he would suddenly turn, meaning you had to get out of his way sharpish. Flint and Sweeney were both quite funny in their own way, though they needed to learn not to be so scared of Scabior and Grayback all the time. If any of them liked me was a completely different story, but I didn't mind because I enjoyed the company.
I once overheard Scabior asking Greyback why I am the way I am.
"No one really knows" He replied, "She just turned up in Knockturn Alley over a year ago, with that scar and half blind. We think whatever happened to her messed up her way of thinking, making all those weird clicks and sounds and scampering around in the back allies. She once set fire to Borgin and Burkes and another time burgled that Quiddich supplies place. She's not right in the head."
There was a pause and then Scabior said grimly, "She's certainly got the qualities needed for a job like this then." They then went back to bitching at one another about who was fit to lead us. Greyback may have the bulk and know his way around, but Scabior had brains and there was a certain spark that always made him one step ahead the rest of us.
I was pleased the Scabior was thinking about me, and wandered if he maybe did like me, even if it was a tiny bit. Sometimes he would slap me on the back or let me hand over the prisoners myself, to me it was his own way for saying he was satisfied with what I was doing.
"There's mean to be a group of mudbloods hiding in a cave off the coast," Scabior explained, taking a drag of a cigarette whilst reading off a piece of parchment "If we get them all back alive, there will be a 600 galleons each for us to collect."
"Sounds easy enough" said Greyback.
"Well," he smirked, "They're apparently organised and armed, and there's eight of them and five of us. Hatchet Face, I want you to sneak in first, take them by surprise. Alright?"
I grinned and nodded, but had a sudden wish that he would say my real name for once, just to hear what it sounded like.
When we got to our destination, there was a terrible storm. The waves crashed against the rocks and the wind howled, making it difficult to hear one another or see the cave opening.
"When you get in there" Scabior yelled into my ear over the gale, his hand on my shoulder, "Send out a red flare the second you attack."
"Righto!" I yelled back.
I hopped from rock to rock, as quickly as I could without slipping or being hit by a wave. Being a creeper made me agile and good at climbing, which came in very useful at times like this.
Once inside the cave, I pressed my back to the wall and pulled my wand out of the inside of my jacket pocket and followed a dim glow down into in belly of the cave.
As I got closer, I could hear voices and the second they came into view, I crept behind a rock and listened. There were 5 boys and 3 girls, children.
"There's word about that Perry Ferbious' dead." A male voice said.
There were a few gasps, and a girl spoke, "That seals it, we're going to have to find somewhere else to hide, I was in the muggle village yesterday getting food and this man with long black hair tied back, well, I think he was following me.
That had been Sweeney, I grinned to myself.
"But I like it here, it's safe and warm" said a younger voice.
I couldn't bear to listen to them anymore, they were becoming to real, too much like people. I muttered the spell and sent a red flare down towards the entrance of the cave, creating a bright, red glow.
"What was that?" one of them asked.
I gripped my wand and pounced, some of the younger ones began screaming and the others readied themselves for a fight.
"Expeliramous!" one of them yelled, but I easily blocked it before disarming him and grabbing him by the scruff of the neck. I glanced around and saw Flint standing beside me.
"Surrender your wands, or Sonny Jim here loses an ear!" he yelled, I clicked my tongue and grinned at them, to try and show that he was joking but this made them more terrified.
"Armed my arse!" I heard Scabior say in the darkness, "Is that all of them?" he appeared in the gloom, Greyback at his side.
Sweeney suddenly gave a yelp as he was knocked over, "Ghost!" he squeaked.
It wasn't a ghost, it was a Thestral.
"Aw shit" Flint saw it too.
We both knew that Theastrals, although they were gentle, if they felt threatened they would do their best to fight back.
"It's alright it's just one of-" I never finished as I was knocked over by a male and I hit my head on a stone. I reached up and felt something wet on my temple and let the boy go. There was blood on my fingers. I looked up and saw another three appear.
"Jesus!" I heard Scabior say, he saw them as well.
I tried to get up, but the thing had it front hooves pressed on my chest, and my wand lay just out of reach. I could see Greyback hit one with a stunning cure then apparate with three of the children.
"That bastards gone and left us!" Flint yelled, as he tried to fight one off and grab a small boy at the same time.
"Hatchet! Stop lying around and do something!" Scabior commanded as one charged at him, diving out of its way just in time.
I stretched as far as I could, and managed to get it, "Avada Cadabra!" It went limp and I rolled out from under it, Sweeny and two more of the children had gone by now.
I felt dizzy as I stood. Scabior was having trouble holding on to two girls was trying to push a young Thestral away and Flint was chasing the boy I had earlier, firing random spells at him.
"Hatchet! Look alive!" Scabior yelled and the girls struggled in his arms.
I tried to focus and aimed at the Thestral , "Avada Cadabra!" just as the boy ran in front of it. He collapsed in a heap on the ground and one of the girls screamed, "Jordan!"
My eyes went wide as I saw what I had done and a lump appeared in my throat, I didn't know if it was the knowing I was to blame for the loss of our payment or the fact I had killed a child.
Scabior glared at me before apparating, with the two, now crying girls.
"You idiot!" Flint yelled before disappearing too.
I had failed them, all of them. Scabior obvious no longer trusted me about anything. He probably didn't like me anymore either. The wind and rain outside was growing worse and the cave was beginning to flood, so I apparated back too.
I mustn't have been concentrating as I appeared in Borgan and Burkes. Borgin leered at me from over the counter. "Ah, Harriet. Paying a visit to your old employer, or are you just here to set fire to something else?"
"Piss off." I snarled, my eye twitching as I grabbed a handful of floo power.
"Just as charming as ever! Your mother would be so proud." His voice dripped with sarcasm, "Sometimes I wonder whether that Hippogriff hit you hard enough. There still isn't an ounce of sense in you."
I had had enough of his claptrap, "Ministry of Magic!" I shouted, and let the emerald flames engulf me.
I stepped out of one of the hundreds of fireplaces and scanned the crowds for the other Snatchers. I didn't get as many strange looks as I used to as they were used to me now, so dusting myself down, I grabbed the elbow of a very nervous looking witch in a pinstripe suit.
"Have you seen Fenrir Greyback or …Scabior?" I realised that I didn't know his first name.
Her eyes went wider and she shook her head.
"Right" I muttered and set off in the direction of the holding cells that had been specially built for the captives.
As I turned the corner I saw Greyback, Sweeney and Flint standing in a huddle and looking rather angry. I went to approach them but I suddenly was grabbed from behind by my waist and shoved against the wall.
"You do realise, that mood the Greyback is in will cause him to tear you limb from limb if you go near him right now, don't you?" Scabior's grey eyes bore into my own.
"It's wasn't my fault , I-"
"It doesn't matter whose fault it is, you did it and no one is going to listen to any excuse." His hot breath tickled my cheek.
I tried to look anywhere but at him to stop myself from going red, "Are we still getting paid?"
"I dunno, that's what I want you to get down there and find out." He grinned and ran a finger over my face, tracing the scar, "Does it hurt?"
"Not anymore" I murmured, disappointed when he brushed some stray hair off my face and let go of me.
He took a step back, "When you explain yourself, best not to try and blame Flint or Sweeney. They may be thick, but they will get you for something like that."
I frowned, curious to how he knew what I was thinking of. He smirked before sauntering off to find the others.
I clicked my fingers, trying to work out what to say to Umbridge. She was usually down overseeing hearings, so I decided to try there first.
I just managed to squeeze into a lift with two rather nervous looking wizards, one with a ginger moustache and one with a leather coat. I tried to smile politely, but my jagged teeth ruined the effect and it came out a sneer instead.
"Going down?" I asked.
The ginger one nodded, making the obvious attempt not to stare at my face.
"I like your moustache" I choked out.
He gave a nervous titter and looked away so I gave up on small talk and twiddled my wand between my fingers instead.
"Are you a Snatcher then?" The one in the coat had a young voice for his age.
I nodded, glad of the recognition, "Yes, it's been about a month now."
He didn't look too impressed though, he actually looked quite angry. I felt a bit awkward and warm and unzipped my black leather jacket to reveal, what I thought was, a rather sharp black and white checked shirt underneath. I actually thought my whole outfit was rather impressive, my shirt and jacket was teamed with tight dark blue trousers, tucked into maroon button over boots. It was my best outfit, then again, my only outfit. And it was rather scruffy and a little bit grimy.
The lift door opened and I clamoured out first and headed in the direction of Umbridge's voice. The two men followed me, obviously looking for the same person.
There was a hearing going on as predicted, so I sat on one of the benches and waited for it to finish. I stared up at the ceiling and watched the Deamentors floating above our heads, they gave me the shivers and I gripped my wand tightly just in case Umbridge's patronus was to fail.
I went into a bit of a daydream about what would happen if I pushed Umbridge over a cliff, I might get a medal.
Suddenly it was all kicking off; I heard the words "Harry Potter" and jumped up. "Harriet, get them!" Umbridge was pointing after the two wizards, the woman that was on trial and the nervous pinstripe suit woman, that were running towards the open lift. I began to run after them, but soon realised that the Deamentors where hot on my trail and jumped into a niche in the wall. One however followed me. It began to suck a rattling breath as I shouted, "Expecto Patronum" and a giant wasp flew out of the end of my wand sending it flying back. It must have been a strong patronus as it sent the others flying back too. I sat there, out of breath from all the excitement and waited for Umbridge to come and scream at me from letting them get away.
"Four times the original sum!" Scabior laughed, and slapped me on the back, "I don't know what you said to that woman, Hatchet, but it certainly did the trick!"
The others nodded in agreement. I was back in favour and that was all I cared about.
"Where are we going to start looking for Potter, Scab? London?" asked Sweeney, adjusting the backpack containing all of our belongings, including a tent and stove.
"No, they'll have left London a long time ago. We need to think more rural."
Greyback spoke up, "We should head north, stick to heavy woodland and places like that."
"North it is then"
We stopped at nightfall in a forest to set up the tent. When I say "we" I mean that Flint, Sweeney, Greyback and I put up the tent whilst Scabior lolled against a tree, shouting orders.
Geryback was continuously grumbling to himself, about how, "if he was the leader". I didn't mind, I'd never be camping before, so I thought it would make a nice change, I didn't know how we were all going to fit into this one tiny tent.
I pinched myself for being so daft once I was inside, of course it would be bigger inside than out. There was a main living space with a few battered sofas, a kitchen area the Sweeney placed the stove into, and a sleeping area with four camp-beds. It went without saying that Greyback had to sleep on the floor, due to his bulk. Apart from that it was empty.
"Nothing but the finest for us" I said aloud, sniffing the air.
Scabior chuckled, "We are, of course, the Ministry's top priority, no expenses spared on our comfort."
"So are we all sleeping up here then?" asked Flint from the bedroom.
"Obviously"
"Even Hatchet?"
I frowned and Greyback grunted, "Yes"
He looked confused, "But she's a she."
"Oh well done" I snapped, slightly insulted that they were only realising now that I was female, though I could understand his reasoning.
"Ever the observant", Scabior mocked, "Why should it bother you? Do you think she'll want a peek at your tiny appendage?"
This prompted many guffaws and jeers from me and the others.
Flint looked reproachful, "She might"
"I highly doubt it somehow, she's not that desperate" he smirked.
Sweeney was nearly on the floor and Greyback let out a wolf whistle.
"I'm sure the only appendage she's interested in is mine anyway" he winked at me, before heading into the kitchen.
My mouth fell open, but quickly gathered myself as Flint was now laughing at me. I knew not to take him seriously. Nearly all females that we caught he flirted with in some outrageous manner, even the ugly fat ones.
"Wake up"
I sat up with a jump and looked around wildly and saw the person I had been dreaming about standing over me.
"It's your turn to keep watch" he whispered sharply.
I nodded groggily and crawled out of my camp bed and crept carefully around the sleeping bulk of Greyback.
I sat down heavily on a tree stump right outside our tent and immediately began to wish I had thought to bring a blanket. It was so much colder than it had been when I went to bed.
I shoved my fingers under my armpits to try and keep warm, but they were already getting a purplish hue. My teeth started to chatter uncontrollably, I knew I would warm up in a minute after I got used to the cold, it wasn't as though the ruined squat I called home had any central heating.
I could hear some shifting around in the tent and muffled footsteps heading towards the entrance.
"Here", Scabior's heavy coat was thrown in my face, "Now, stop that bloody noise. I'm trying to get some kip in here."
Before I could say thanks, he had gone again. I quickly wrapped it around my shoulders and pulled it close to my face, over my mouth and nose. I sat there for an hour and a half staring into the darkness of the woodland, knowing that Greyback could be much scarier than most things out there. Except maybe a Hippogriff.
We were up at daybreak the next day. Scabior snatched his coat off me as soon as he could, obviously paranoid that he'd be teased for loaning me it.
After a hasty breakfast of dry toast,( Greyback disappeared off for ten minutes, to get his own mean of refreshment), we were off. We tramped for most of the morning, stopping at noon for a rest and a drink, before continuing on, aiming to get to a wizarding village by the evening hopefully to spend the night in a tavern and ask around about Potter and his two friends.
The second we waltzed into the tavern, the whole room went quiet, Scabior smirked, obviously pleased with the reaction. We sat in a booth near the back and Flint motioned to a server. The usual noise, chatter and music began to rise again as people tried to act normally.
"Five fire whiskies and keep them coming" Scabior told her, "And four of your best rooms."
The barmaid, obviously not intimated at all, said shortly, "We only have five rooms and one is taken, so you'll make do with the four we've got."
"Begging your pardon miss." remarked Scabior
She raised an eyebrow at me and went to get our orders.
I raised an eyebrow to copy her, then the other one, then raised the other again until they were doing a little dance.
"Hatchet" said Flint
I snapped out of my daze, "What?"
"Stop that."
"Sorry"
The barmaid returned with our drinks and slammed them with a thunk on the table. It didn't take us long to drain them, before being brought more, and then some more, and then some more. By this stage the barmaid had joined us as Scabior had insisted on buying her a drink. She agreed grudgingly at first, but I could tell she was enjoying the attention. She was now nestled under his arm.
I was feeling incredibly woozy. I was swaying slightly in my seat and every single little thing was hilarious. I tried to ignore Scabior and the tart, but each time a drink arrived, it became harder.
I squinted at her through the smoky fug caused all five of us had helped ourselves to Scabiors cigarettes. I took a last drag of a stub I'd been nursing, the harshness cutting my throat, and flicked it away. Still squinting at her I gulped my fire whiskey down and rubbed my mouth with the back of my hand.
I hated the way she had herself wrapped around him, clinging onto his every word like some sort of pet. I hated the way her golden hair was tumbling out of its top knot in long corkscrews, in contrast to my own dark ratty bun. I hated how her smooth rosy skin was touching his rather than my sallow pale complexion. I hated how she was funny and feisty, and made everyone laugh. Not strange and twisted and made people flinch by making bizarre sounds. I hated the way he stroked her curvy waist and every so often give her backside a squeeze. But most of all I hated her and how bloody beautiful and perfect she was, how he was going to do other things with her, things that I have been dreaming about for the past week, things that she would no doubt do with other men that fall for her looks. She didn't deserve him.
Scabior had just told a joke about a prostitute and a dwarf with a suitcase and was chuckling away to himself when his gaze fell upon my sour expression and he lit up slightly.
"Jenny" he addressed the tart, "I want you to meet my right hand man….woman" He pulled me close to him, slotting me under his other arm.
"I thought I was your right hand woman!" garbled Greyback.
"Shut up" slurred Scabior, "This is Hatchet Face, my right hand woman, we call her Hatchet Face on account of that big scrape on 'er face."
I glared at her and ran my tongue over my teeth, not impressed by this at all.
"Look, you see? She's got a white eye too!" Scabior pointed out.
"Oh! Is it sore?" she asked with an unfocused stare.
I mumbled something incoherent in reply.
"What's up with your mug, eh?" He mumbled in my ear, "Feeling left out?"
"No"
"Aw" he tangled his fingers in my hair and began to scratch my head like a puppy.
I'd had enough of this, "I'm going to bed" I stood, "Can I have the key to my room?" I asked Tarty Jenny pointedly.
She sighed and stood up, promising to be back batting her eyelashes.
I followed her into the backroom, where she rummaged through a drawer, trying to find the appropriate keys. I shut the door and waited for her to notice that I was blocking her exit. She straightened up and frowned, "What are you-?" I pushed her against the wall, my wand at her throat. I wanted her to know what it was like to be me. I wanted to hurt her and make her know what it feels like to be scarred and twisted. I snapped my teeth at her, "Don't make a sound" I hissed looking at her with my bad eye deliberately, knowing it would scare her. I tucked my wand into my back pocket. Without hesitating, I dug my long nails into her cheek and ran them down her face, leaving three large gashes. She squeaked with the pain and tears began to leak from her eyes. I snatched the key of her and left the room without another word. I ignored the noise from the corner of the room and stomped upstairs.
I shut the door behind me and flung myself onto the nearest bed and buried by face in the pillow, feeling a lot better about things and fell asleep.
I woke with, what felt like, the worse hangover in the world. My head felt heavy and the room was spinning. I swung my legs over the edge of the bed and put my head to my knees.
"Enjoy yourself last night then?" came a cocky, if slightly weak voice from across the room.
I looked up and saw Scabior sitting on the other single bed. It was still made up, so he'd obviously never gone to sleep. He sat with his back to the wall and knees drawn up to his chest. He regarded me with one bleary eye, "I asked a question"
"It was alright" I muttered staring at the floor.
"So you didn't do anything particularly unusual or, violent?"
He knew. Well of course he was going to bloody know. The woman he had been canoodling with goes off with me and comes back with her face in shreds.
I decided to deny it anyway so I shook my head.
"Really?" he got off the bed, "Because that brass you spent all evening glaring at says different"
I didn't move and kept my eyes fixed on his feet. He walked towards me and grabbed my right hand. There was dried blood under my nails, "What's that then?"
"Blood"
He gave a look of mock surprise, "Correct! Top of the class! Is this the same blood that pumps through that brass' veins?"
I nodded.
He turned his back and strutted around the room, "You clearly think I'm angry at you. I'm not. You can scratch and kick and bite all you want. I'm curious, that's what I am. Why did you do it?"
"She insulted my mother." Because I couldn't stand her touching you!
"Really?"
"Yes" No
"That's understandable. Not particularly believable though." He smirked, seeing right through me.
"It's the absolute truth" I nibbled my lip.
He sighed, not convinced, but he knew he wouldn't get anything else from me, "Right, fine. Be downstairs in 5 minutes."
Halfway out the door he said, "I still shagged her. Just so you know." And shut the door.
He knew my motivation all along, and now he was just rubbing it in. I could feel my face go hot and I wanted to stay holed up in this room for the rest of my life, but I had to face up to it and get going.
I kept my distance from him for the rest of the morning. The rest were all very quiet, nursing some serious hangovers. Greyback in particular who was snappier than usual, threatening to take a bite of Sweeney if he didn't stop breathing so loudly.
I contented myself imagining the reward when we caught Potter. I stared up through the foliage at the bright, bitter, winter sky. It created random bursts of light in the forest that made my eyes blur. I wished that I could just stand there forever, but my neck was getting sore so I had to return to staring at the back of Flint's head.
Big chapter innit? I'm really loving Scabior at the minute and just couldn't resist doing a bit of writing. It'll be done in two parts as the movies are Please review and tell me what you thin.