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Annette's eyes fluttered open. Her half awake gaze met the pale green walls of the small room she currently resided in. She shifted in the scratchy sheets that loosely covered her body. Annette slowly scanned the room and concluded, from the small stack of potions residing on the table next to her and the lack of windows in the tiny room, that she was either being held captive by a very caring captor or that she was in Saint Mungos. As she thought about it, being held captive and being a patient in Saint Mungos is pretty much the same thing.
Annette heard footsteps outside of her room and stop at the door. After three light knocks on the door, a small child-like woman in green healer's robes and a huge red head man entered the tiny room.
"Good to see you're awake dear. I'm Healer Robinson," the healer chirped brightly as she headed over to the small table of potions. " It will be much easier to give you this now," the small woman turned to face Annette with a cup of potion in each hand. "This one will help with the pain," the healer spoke as she handed over the bubbling brown potion in her left hand. Annette grimaced and down the potion in one large gulp. "This one will stop you from getting dizzy when you decide to stand."
"Stand? I get to leave?" Annette inquired confused.
"Of course it will be a bit before you can leave, but it will be today. Your injuries were fairly minor. Your covered in a fair amount of cuts and those will heal fine on their own. You had a few broken ribs and a minor concussion, but we fixed you right up. You might be a little dizzy from the hit you took to your head but that will be over by tomorrow."
Annette grinned ear to ear at the thought of not having to stay the night here. She happily drank her last potion before the healer left Annette alone to talk to the red headed man.
" 'Ello Miss. Prince. My name is Colin Medlock and I'm an Auror. I work with the Ministry. I need to ask you a few questions. Okay?" The red head man that entered the room addressed her in a cautious tone, like he was afraid that she was either going to start bawling her eyes out or she was going to rip his head off. She just rolled her eyes and began to gather her up to secure it on to the top of her head.
"Ask away," she responded.
"Can you tell me exactly what happened this afternoon? From beginning to end?"
"I sure can."
After sever moments of silence Colin spoke again, "So what happened?"
"Oh, you actually want me to tell you," Annette smirked as the man groaned.
"Yes."
"Well my parents, Aiden and Rachel Prince, were dragging my sister, Arianna, and I to my father's cousin's house. My parents force us to visit him every summer for at least a week at a time. He's doesn't like kids very much but he's the only relative we have left," Annette paused making sure that Colin was listening.
"What's your father's cousin's name ?" Colin questioned with his quill poised over the small book of parchment he extracted from his robe pocket.
"Severus Snape," Annette answered before continuing. " We have to take the knight bus because my mother splinches herself every time she tries to apparate and Ari is terrified of flooing…" As Annette spoke she could feel herself falling back into the moment she was speaking about.
Annette Prince rolled her eyes in the boiling hot heat. She dropped her backpack and settled herself on the grass in front of her family's modest home. Annette watched her sister chase after a butterfly while her father ran back inside to check that they indeed had everything the family needed for their short holiday. Her mother stood at the curb tapping her designer shoe covered foot and examining her overly manicured nails.
"I knew I forgot something!" Annette's father, Aiden, shouted as he ran out of the house branching his wand forward. "Couldn't have left home with out this," he declared with a smile on his face, proud that he did not leave his wand at home, again.
"Good, let's go," Annette's mother, Rachel, spoke sharply as she picked up her brief case and a small suitcase. Aiden meet his wife at the curb with a similar brief case in hand. Annette snatched her bag off the grass next to her and took hold of her sister's hand.
Mrs. Prince called for the knight bus with a lazy branching out of her arm. The purple triple-decker bus came whizzing around the corner seconds later. Once the small family had boarded the bus they began the long journey to Spinner's End.
Annette stared out the grungy window of the bus while she held on with all her might to the seat in front of her while the bus swerved viciously around the streets of England. Annette sat in the silence that loomed over the bus. The bus was empty of passengers except for the Prince family. Annette watched all of the muggles on the street pass by in a blur, completely unaware of the magic that was passing them.
Her eye caught onto a man dressed too warmly for the current blistering heat ravaging through out the country this summer. The man sat on a bench that the bus was approached rapidly. In his lap sat an untouched newspaper that laid dormant in the nonexistent breeze. The man had long black robes with the hood pulled down low. The hooded figure stood, stuck out his arm and in a flash the knight bus went tumbling forward, bringing its passengers with it.
Annette held on tighter as she felt her body being lurched forward with the bus. Everyone on the bus screamed as it fell forward. It landed on the windshield where its teetered for a moment before landing on the roof. Sounds of cracking glass reached Annette's ears. Her heart stampeded in her chest as she dangled upside-down in the Knight bus. Her breath hitched in her throat as the grip she had on the seat began to slip. Panic surged through her as the thought of falling onto what once was the ceiling found its way into Annette's head. She tried desperately to hang on but the sweat on her hands caused her hands to slide. Annette slammed her eyes shut. The wind was knocked out of her as her body impacted with what was once the ceiling.
Annette grunted in pain. She moved slowly and carefully to a sitting position. Shifting to her hands and knees she began to crawl over to the door. Annette winced as glass from shattered lanterns ground into her pale knees and palms.
She attempted to push the door open . The door remained an immobile force between her and the outside world. Annette leaned back and kicked the door with all the force she could muster, and once again the door remained still. The girl gave up on the door and crawled her way over to the nearest window. The window shattered with one fierce kick to the glass. Sharp chunks of glass scraped at her body as she shimmied her way out of the broken window.
"….and that's all I remember happening. The Aurors showed up soon after I got myself out of the bus," Annette finished. "Now can I go?"
"I don't think so. The healers have to give you a couple tests to make sure you're okay to leave. I'll let them know you're waiting," the Auror replied." I have one more question to ask you before I go," the girl across the table nodded, "Do you know if there is anyone who would want to do your parents harm?"
"None that I know of."
Colin nodded and shuffled his was out of the room. Annette tenderly lowered herself back to a horizontal position. She stared at the small tan clock that resided above the door while thoughts of where her family was drifted into her mind.
A/N: I hope you enjoyed. Review please. :)