Title: Remember Me.
Chapter I: The Hunter & the Hunted, Part II
Rated: M for future chapters including; sex, some cussing, and some violence.
Disclaimer: I unfortunately own nothing from the HP universe. I don't own Scabior, which is even more unfortunate.
Author's Note: The last chapter was very short and dull, and I apologize for that. Hopefully this'll be more enjoyable. The chapters are going to be a lot longer than the first, although not too long. I prefer updating more regularly and having slightly shorter chapters. I'm going to set out the scenes, setting it up for future chapters in these III parts. Remember; REVIEW xxx
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Days had passed since the night in the forest and Scabior continued with his now less then enjoyable job of snatching. There was no increase in captures and the days seemed to drag on slowly. They would be leaving the area soon, moving on to other places and beginning the search in new areas. They had stayed here long enough, too long even. It was strange, but for some reason he couldn't quite bring himself to decide to move on. In the back of his mind he knew why, but tried to ignore the itching feeling of yearning.
But he couldn't.
He still hadn't forgotten about that night in the forest... That scent. It lingered in his mind still, nagging for his full attention. That beautiful scent of vanilla, so out of place among the smell of pine and oak.
There was a slight twitch in his stomach as he thought about it and how he had failed to capture something so sweet, so appealing. He disregarded the feeling as soon as it had come. It wasn't something he wanted to dwell on, it wasn't as if he could have reached out and taken the smell. Although he knew it wasn't the smell that had been nagging at him so fully, it was the owner of it.
And there had been an owner. He had convinced himself of this already, from day one.
It annoyed him to no end, knowing that something had been out there, something so appealing to him, but he wasn't able to find it. He had thought through all the possibilities, all the ways he would have caught it, caught her. Should of, would of, could of, he thought sourly.
He'd often kick himself for not staying longer that night, not looking further into the woods. Maybe if he did, then something would of come of it. Maybe he would of caught his new obsession.
But he would catch her. Because for all the moments he had thought it useless to dwell on something of the past, there was moments when he'd convince himself that it wasn't the past, and she was still out there. In those moments he'd often get a snag of hope peeling through the sides of denial. Then yesterday, he had come across something.
Yesterday he would of sworn that he had smelt it again, lingering in the air. He searched every bush, every tree and every speck of the area, finding nothing. Even though he didn't catch anything, the thought of doing so filled him with excitement. She could still be here in these woods, how else would he have picked up her scent again? He must admit, he had after some days, convinced himself he was looking for a ghost and lessened his searches, but now he was sure. After smelling the vanilla scent again, he was determined.
The next day he had found something faded and misplaced dangling from an old willow tree. When he had gotten close enough, he pulled it down and moved his hands along the edges of the dirty material. It was an old scarf, faded pink and dusty with the edges slightly frayed.
It smelt of vanilla.
Stepping over a fallen branch, Scabior came back to reality, waking from his thoughts. He guided himself across the branches and bushes, his gang of snatchers following closely behind. He continued moving silently up a sloping hill, until the sound of hushed voices in the distance broke through the silence. They lasted for a moment before being silenced, almost as if they had heard something as well.
He listened intently for it again, but could hear nothing over the sound of boots hitting the mushy ground. Extending his hand into the air in a way that told them to halt, the group of men suddenly slowed and stopped behind him.
"What is it, Scabior?" A man with dull blonde hair called from the back.
Scabior growled at the man to shut up and listen. The man did as he was told, just in time for another faint noise to fill the air. The other snatchers must have also heard it this time, because their faces all produced grins and they moved slightly closer.
Pointing down the hill for his men to follow, he moved swiftly along the small hill. He moved closer to where he could hear the voices, making sure to step silently. Twigs and branches crunched silently beneath the men's boots as the crept around trees and mud.
The men now all descended the hill, wands pointed readily as they searched for the source of the now silenced noises. Scabior was the first to see it, a small and dodgy tent placed in the midst of some trees, hidden from view. The side of the tent was propped open and there was slight movement inside. It seemed to him that the people had just arrived, as the tent was half set up and the small surrounding area was littered with some bags.
A noticeably louder voice alerted Scabior to the right, where he could see the slight silhouette' of a woman. He stopped and began to move to his right, carefully evading anything that could give him away if he was to step on it.
She was muttering, quietly but loud enough for the group to hear. She was beginning to cast protection spells over their tent, her bag still slung half over her shoulder.
She seemed to have just newly arrived, possibly only minutes before they had. Her back was to him, but he could make out the side of her face. She seemed to be of Hogwarts age, roughly. Her hair was brown and slightly bushy, seemingly untamed and messy.
Scabior threw a look over his shoulder to Greyback, who seemed to be getting into position. He nodded in agreement to Scabior's silent looks, grinning savagely. Scabior turned back around, his attention back onto the girl in front of him. A blue light was beginning to emit from the point of her wand as she held it up towards the trees opposite where he stood. Before the young witch could finish her spell, Greyback's voice rang through the air, startling her.
"Come out, we got ya surrounded!"
She didn't move, but her eyes were now very slowly scanning around her, prickled with worry, fear, and guilt. Her wand was gripped in her hand tightly and she seemed to be thinking over what her next move would be. He could see her fully now, her face turned in his direction. She was a pretty little thing, brown eyes and full lips, Scabior smirked, she was completely helpless.
The tent was absolutely silent, there was no sign of movement from the figures inside. Scabior could make out two dark shadows inside the tent, as he moved slightly closer a third shadow revealed itself.
"Come out or we'll 'ave to 'urt your friend out 'ere," Scabior shouted, wand pointed to the girl.
A few seconds had past but no one had come out, he was becoming slightly annoyed. The thought of grabbing the girl crossed his mind, but he decided to wait it out for a few more seconds before attacking. He wanted to see if they'd give themselves up first, if not, then the girl would be the first to go down.
He began to move closer, moving calmly and confidently towards the brunette. She was watching as the men came towards her, keeping her eyes trained mostly on their leader, who seemed to be the one with the power in the group. Her head slowly moved to the side, where she looked into the tent. A quick look of realization flashed in her eyes and there was a sudden movement in the tent.
It all seemed like it had happened in only the blink of an eye. A large bang went off and smoke filled the air before Scabior could even get close enough to grab the girl. Everything went foggy and Scabior could barely see anything in front of him. The surrounding area went up in a black smoke and the sounds of shoes hitting ground became clear. The men around him were all stumbling around the tent, coughing and wrenching as they breathed it in. Quick thinking on his part and he did a anti jinx, clearing the smoke away slowly.
"Snatch 'em!" Scabior yelled, watching the four figures that were racing away.
The snatchers spread out, running over fallen trees and jumping in-between winding ones. The four people had gotten a good head start but they were being gained on fast, having curses thrown at them from every direction. As he ran to keep up with them, he noticed that two of the people were boys. The brunette from earlier was running side by side with one of them, who seemed to have dark black hair. The other had bright orange and was obviously not as fast as the other two, as he seemed to be struggling to keep up.
Scabior searched for the fourth one as he continued speeding down hills and running over logs. He wanted to make sure no one got away, that they were all kept in sight. The bigger the bundle, the better the cash.
Then he saw the fourth person, a girl. She was running ahead of the others, sprinting and throwing quick glances over her shoulder at the three people she was with. It seemed obvious that she was trying to keep together, daring to look back every few seconds to make sure she hadn't lost them.
A snatcher threw a curse at the red headed boy and he fell to the floor, grunting loudly as he hit the ground. The dark haired boy suddenly stopped and ran towards him, gripping his wand and aiming towards where the spell had come from. It hit the snatcher with a flare of blue and he fell to the floor, disarmed and unconscious.
The two boys exchanged hurried glances, the dark headed one quickly pulled something from his pocket. The brunette had come to a stop a ways ahead of him, shouting over her shoulder. The other girl had also stopped, although she looked reluctant in her decision to do so. She shouted something to the brunette, who looked over at the two boys with a worried and fearsome expression before yelling something to them.
This all happened in a matter of seconds and by now the snatchers were descending on the two boys. The black haired boy pulled at his friend's chains, which had been enchanted to come off only by the producer of the spell. While he pulled at the chains, he fumbled with something in his hand, wrapped in fabric. He looked hesitantly at the object for a moment.
"Go!" The brunette yelled, before turning on her heel and running ahead, followed by the other female.
The group had now surrounded the boys, while some continued to run after the other two. In what seemed like a blur, the red head had grabbed onto the other's hand, which was holding onto the fabric that held some small object. It was now unwrapped in his palm, glistening as the two boys made contact with it in sync with each other. Then they were gone.
Scabior didn't stick around to see this, as he had been one of the few to take off after the girls. They were picking up speed now and advancing on the remaining pair. Their stopping earlier to quickly talk with the others had given the few snatchers that small gap that was enough to catch up and gain on them.
Jumping over a fallen log and landing back onto the ground with a thud, his heart began pounding against his chest and he could feel his breathing grow heavy. They had been running for a while now, everyone was having the same rushed breaths and loudly beating pulses. The girls had slowed down considerably, obviously growing tired of the chase. Scabior knew he would catch them now.
The pair seemed to be splitting up unknowingly, breaking apart as curses and trees got in their paths. They were throwing curses over their shoulders now, although they had yet to cause any damage to the three men rounding on them. The pretty brunette turned now, striking one of the snatchers with a puff of black smoke. Scabior took this chance to throw a curse towards her, catching her around the ankles.
She fell with a shriek and landed on the floor. The remaining girl hardly took notice as she sped through the trees, almost getting hit herself a couple of times. She randomly threw a curse behind her that had by pure luck, hit the snatcher trailing her. He fell to the floor and she continued to run, not looking back any more. Scabior was determined not to let any of them get away, so he ran past the chained girl on the floor, now chasing after the dark haired girl. The others would sort out the brunette, he'd have to grab this one.
She was fast, he'd give her that. But there was no way she was faster than he was. Jumping over another branch he shot a chaining curse at the girl, who dodged it as she ran amidst some trees. She stopped and spun around, throwing a curse right at him and praying it didn't miss. It did miss him and instead hit the tree behind him, making the tree snap and crack down the side, dipping to the right as it began to tip and fall slowly.
Scabior noticed that the curse she had used was that of dark magic, a curse he was quite familiar with. If that did happen to hit him, he might have ended up cut and bleeding out while waiting for his men to find him. Possible death curse. She obviously knew what she was doing.
He threw another chaining curse at her and this time it caught her around the ankles. With a thud she fell to the floor, struggling as she yanked at the chains around her ankles and wrists.
"Nice try, love," Scabior said.
Flipping onto her side, she outstretched her chained hands towards her wand in an attempt to pick it up. Scabior walked over to her, stepping on her already trapped arms so she couldn't get her wand into her hand properly. He rested his boot there, not painfully but enough to keep her hands steadied on the ground.
She looked up and glared at him, her eyes filling with frustration. Her hair was a mess slung around her face, sticking to her cheeks and prodding up at the sides. Her cold blue eyes were sending daggers at him as she tried to shake the mess of curls out of her face, while never moving her eyes away from his own.
He pulled her off of the ground, holding her wrists. She struggled and pulled, until he yanked her wrist back. She yelped in pain and stopped pulling, instead staring up defiantly at Scabior. He held her eye contact as she tightened her jaw, obviously annoyed.
Then suddenly, it came over him. He gripped her chin and pulled her face up towards him, moving his a little lower until they were nose to nose. He moved his hand onto the back of her neck, holding tightly as he took in the scent of her hair and neck.
Vanilla.
It was her, the girl who had been drifting through his thoughts for days. He looked her up and down, breathing her in. He watched as she turned away from him, refusing to look into his eyes now. Moving a hand towards her, he gently and slowly touched her cheek, smirking.
"I've been lookin' for you darlin'."
