"She had something to confess to
But you don't have the time so
Look the other way
You will wait until it's over
To reveal what you'd never shown her
Too little much too late "
-"Muscle Museum", Muse
Showbiz
Chapter Two
"I-I," Ophelia held out of her hands in front of her, as though that might protect her.
"'Ey boys," The man snarled, "if you thought that brunette was cute, wait 'till you get a look at this one."
The man was slender, with long brown hair and thick eyeliner. He wouldn't have been so unattractive, if it weren't for his horrible smirk, and the way he was looking at her.
He stepped closer to Ophelia, but she dared not move. He made a move and Ophelia thought that he might strike her. But he merely draped something around her neck.
Cautiously looking down, Ophelia realized that she was now wearing one of Hermione's favourite scarves.
Frightened, she looked up at her captor.
"Ah," he smiled mischievously, "I thought you might be a part of our party. Why don't you join the gang?"
He pushed lightly on Ophelia's backside, urging her to join his friends.
Glaring, Ophelia looked back at the man. He clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth, silently laughing at the girl.
"Follow us," one of the men growled. He was tall and broad-shouldered. She recognized him as Fenrir Greyback. It didn't take long to realize what was happening. But Ophelia didn't trust her offensive spell skills, so she did as she was told.
She could feel the skinny man's gaze on her back as she walked, but she held back a shudder and continued to walk.
They lead her to a thicket of trees, where more of the skinny man's companions were.
Just as Ophelia had suspected, Hermione, Ron, and Hermione were being held captive. Ophelia frowned, Hermione looked pale as could be, Ron was struggling to escape- to the amusement of his captors, but Harry looked dreadful. His face was swollen and she could hardly recognize him.
"Ophelia?!" Ron shouted in shock. Hermione gave Ron a sharp glare.
"Ooh you're not a bright one, are you," the skinny man leered, "now I know the lovely one's name."
Ophelia took a deep breath.
"No need for secrecy," she waved away the skinny man's laughter, "My name's Ophelia Pomfrey. I'm a pure blood, you can check that."
Skinny man nodded at Greyback who grunted and looked through his book of names.
"May I ask your name?" Ophelia continued, though her hands were shaking and her heart threatened to beat right out of her chest.
"Scabior," the skinny man winked at her, "and that's all you're getting out of me. Now shut your lovely mouth. Greyback?"
The werewolf nodded, though looking unimpressed.
"She's clear, though she's supposed to be at Hogwarts it says."
Scabior approached his favourite play thing, taking a piece of Ophelia's blonde hair in his hands.
"Hmm," he clicked his tongue again, "why is it that you're 'ere instead of there?"
"Because," Ophelia breathed, attempting to steady her voice, "I'm on vacation. My friends and I are on a camping trip."
"In March?" Scabior shook his head.
"I needed to get away from work," Ophelia shrugged, moving slightly so that she could escape Scabior's grasp and get the feel of his warm breath off of her face.
"Hmm, well 'ere's where your story gets a little…silly," Scabior sighed, moving closer once again, this time running a finger along her lip, "your ginger friend says 'is name is Stan Shunpike. Well we both know that ain't true. Girly's name is cleared- Penelope Clearwater. But…ugly face over there says 'is name is Vernon Dudley, and we certainly don't 'ave that name in our little book. So who's lying, and why?"
Ophelia remained silent. Her plan was not working the way she'd hoped.
"They're lying because they were frightened," Ophelia explained weakly, "you're very…intimidating."
Scabior inhaled her scent, closing his eyes and grinning. She'd given him the ultimate compliment. Now if she could only kick him…
She moved her foot but, eyes still closed, Scabior blocked her move. He tutted in disapproval.
"Hey boss!" Someone called as he approached, "look what I found."
The man held up a sword and Ophelia couldn't help but gasp. The sword of Gryffindor had somehow found its way to her friends.
"Oh my, now that is something fancy," Scabior commented, "and for the sound of this one's gasp, we weren't supposed to find it."
"Pass it 'ere," Scabior commanded. His companion looked reluctant to let go of the object, but he obeyed his master.
"Hmm," Scabior inspected it, "interesting. This could get me pretty penny, couldn't it darling," he looked back at Ophelia who was still trying to asses the situation and find a way to escape. Scabior had taken her wand, and she couldn't simply run. They'd kill her friends in a heartbeat.
"I w-wouldn't know," Ophelia shrugged, "we just found it."
"Sure you did," Scabior grinned, "what else did you find?"
The man who had found the sword handed over a handful of assorted objects to his boss.
Scabior tossed most of the items on the ground, stopping to pocket a few coins here and there, but he paused and opened up a newspaper, frowning.
"Lookit this!" His frowned turned a proud grin, "that girl in the picture looks an awful lot like you, girly," he pointed at Hermione, "and you're rumoured to be traveling with a Weasley boy…that'll be you, ginger. And…'arry Potter," Scabior clicked his tongue again, walking over to Harry.
Ophelia made to move, but Greyback was at her side.
"I've always liked the taste of blondes," he snarled. Ophelia made sure to stand tall, and refuse eye contact with the werewolf.
"You know…I think you might just be 'arry Potter," Scabior considered, "'Ey, lovely," he snapped his fingers at Ophelia, "pick up those glasses from the floor and bring 'em 'ere."
Hesitantly, Ophelia picked up Harry's glasses from the floor and brought them over to Scabior.
"Excellent," Scabior slapped them onto Harry's face, "well you ain't having your prettiest day, are you? But it's 'im alright."
"Now what?" Greyback grunted.
"Now what?" Scabior taunted, "Now we hit the jackpot boys! We turn these in to Malfoy, get a fortune in return, and I think I'll keep the lovely one as a little keepsake."
Ophelia felt her hands shake even more.
"Maybe you ought to bring us to the Ministry," she tried, "Harry's a wanted man."
"Tsk tsk," Scabior shook his head, "you think you can trick me, but it's not going to work, my dear. Malfoy's hosting the dark lord. If we hand over Potter, we'll never have to work another day in our lives. Hmm?"
Ophelia nodded solemnly. He was right.
"Alright, let's give the Malfoys a visit, shall we boys?"
Scabior grabbed onto Ophelia's arm with force.
"Hold on tight, my lovely."
Bellatrix Lestrange lead the foursome and their captors into the grand Malfoy Manor. Ophelia had never seen such a beautiful and terrible home.
Inside, Lucius Malfoy himself came to inspect them.
"Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger," he confirmed, "though I can't speak for this one."
He gave Bellatrix a fierce look.
"Go fetch Draco."
"Do it yourself," Bellatrix hissed, though she did as she was told, nonetheless.
"And you…," Lucius stopped when he reached Ophelia, "get your greasy hands off the girl, won't you Scabior?"
Scabior knew better than to disagree and stepped away.
"Yes, I thought I recognized you. You're Snape's girl."
Ophelia did not even let her mouth twitch. She would not speak to this man, especially not about him.
"You're telling me that this lovely thing is Snape's?" Scabior's mouth fell open, "but he's such an ugly git!"
"I know," Lucius drawled, "now be quiet. Pity that you had to join up with Potter and his crew. If Snape hadn't wanted you, I know our death eaters would have made you feel…welcome."
Ophelia continued to stare past Lucius' shoulder. She saw Draco Malfoy approaching with his aunt.
Lucius turned to face his son.
"Draco, son. This is very important. We need to be sure that this is Harry Potter. Can you identify him?"
Lucius gestured at Harry. Draco squinted his eyes and slowly approached his enemy.
"Take your time," Bellatrix snapped, "it's not like the Dark Lord is any hurry."
Draco glared at his aunt and inspected Harry. He paused, and turned to look at Ophelia.
She said no words, but the glance she gave him spoke for itself. She was desperate.
"I don't know," Draco turned to his father, "nearly impossible to tell."
"We can't make any decisions unless we're sure," Bellatrix warned.
"I know that!' Lucius spat, "Send the prisoners to the dungeon and we'll deal with this."
"Wait," Scabior spoke up.
"What is it, you imbecile?" Lucius snapped, "you can have the girl when we've sorted this out!
"Begging your pardon, sir," Scabior scowled, "but there's something else."
He snapped his fingers and Greyback presented Lucius with the sword.
"Where did you get that?!" Bellatrix shrieked, "that's mine!"
"Well, which one of you stole that from Bellatrix?" Lucius demanded, attempting to gain his dignity back, but Bellatrix shoved him aside.
"You little brats!" She hissed, "you will tell me. Potter is not to be harmed, and the blonde girl is worth too much it seems. I'll take the mudblood, and if she doesn't squeal, then the blood traiter will be next."
She grabbed onto Hermione's arm and yanked her away.
"HERMIONE!" Ron bellowed, but Scabior's men were dragging them down to the dungeon.
"Ron, shhh," Ophelia asked desperately of her friend, "you'll only exhaust yourself."
"Ophelia," Harry whispered, turning to his friend, "what happened? Where did you go? Where's your baby?"
Ophelia shook her head, "it doesn't matter. Not now. We need to-,"
"Wait," Harry breathed, "we're not alone."
Coming out of the darkness, three figures could be seen. Ophelia recognized them as Ollivander, a boy in Harry's year who Ophelia thought was called Dean, Luna Lovegood, and a goblin.
Before any of them could process what was happening, a house elf had appeared from thin air.
Ophelia's eyes widened and she let out a squeak of surprise.
"It's alright," Harry calmed her, "this is Dobby. He's a friend of mine. Dobby, what are you doing here?"
"Dobby has come to save Harry Potter," Dobby bobbed his big head eagerly.
"S-so you can apparate out of here, can you?" Ophelia clarified. The magic of house elves was different, she remembered.
"Yes!" Dobby cried.
"Shhh!" They reprimanded their little friend.
"Alright Dobby," Ron spoke up now. He looked angry and stronger than he had when Ophelia had last seen him. Maybe he'd realized his feelings for Hermione after all, "can you meet us at the top of those stairs in thirty seconds?"
Ophelia screamed as she landed face first in the surf. She sat up and brushed the cold, wet sand off her face. Hermione and Ron were by her side, comforting each other, but Harry was toward the end of the beach.
Ophelia ran to her friend's side.
"Harry, what is it?"
Harry looked desperately to his friend. He was cradling something in his arms- Dobby. But Dobby was no longer smiling or talking.
A/N: I hope you enjoyed chapter two of Showbiz! Sorry if I got a little carried away there with Scabior and Ophelia, but he is so fun to write! He's so creepy and attractive at the same time? I don't know! Anyway, please remember to review and chapter three will be up ASAP!