Disclaimer: I do not own any characters, places, spells etc... they belong to JKR!
...I see' said the werewolf. 'And the Dark Lord knows already, I assume?'
Bellatrix glared her sharp eyes at him.
'Greyback, unlike you I do not repeat mistakes!'
'How was I supposed to know she was a Slytherin! I'm not psychic Bella! Anyway she was the worst one going, starting a charity of Mudblood victims! Idiot, that's what she was. Asking for it, if you ask me,' He yelled back
'The dark lord does not appreciate a waste of magical blood. Even I manage to restrain myself for him,'
'You'd do anything.' Greyback snapped
The two squared up, Luna's back being kicked carelessly. Although it was that which probably woke her, she didn't give it away. She could not feel her wand: 'It must still be on the floor,' Luna thought, hoping she was not right. Being unarmed would not help at all.
Too add more to her mounting worry, she felt her potion wearing off. Her blood felt warmer, as though it were now being pumped by a kind heart. One which had not murdered and tortured hundreds.
Luna froze, keeping her breathing as low as possible. First she needed to know where she was, and why she was not sneaking around Hogwarts castle with the others. In fact, Luna thought, they had probably already finished their business and were back on their way to the shop.
They would be expecting to see a typically distracted Luna looking at them with an expression that would say, 'what, were we supposed to go in?'
She wondered what they would do, would they come for her? Or better, were they already racing back to headquarters now? Luna hoped so.
'But why bring her back here? Why not just kill the girl already?' Greyback was standing right over her now, Luna could practically hear his breath as he moved in towards Bellatrix.
'You dare question me?' that was just how Neville sounded, Luna noticed with a hint of pride. The order had pulled off quite an impersonation.
'I'm curious. Forgive me Bella, you find yourself wondering things when you spend your days crouched at the dark lord's feet!' Greyback's skin seemed to be hotting up, Luna could feel him near her. That man gave a whole new meaning to the phrase 'heated argument'.
'Questions.' Bellatrix replied after a moment's pause. It made no sense to Luna but was enough for Fenrir who backed away again.
'So you and Pansy see this as a long term thing do you?' the werewolf smelled of an earth scent that reminded Luna of very damp wood.
'If she's good, then why not?' Bellatrix sounded proud; she clearly wanted Fenrir to question her plan further, just so she could show it off. What 'it' was though, remained a mystery to Luna. She lay sprawled on the floor like a spider with broken legs: tangled and helpless.
She prayed Bellatrix would eleborate further, which she did.
'Snape's no good to him in that area anymore. The dark lord will need a replacement and this ones got a pretty low-key role in the order I reckon. Practically kept her mouth shut in the shop, and she was way behind the others when they went in. They left her behind too!' she said
The atmosphere in the room shifted to a mood Luna couldn't recognise. Too dark for calm but not quite bad enough to be uncomfortable.
'There's less chance she'll be missed.' Luna felt a finger elongate, and point down at her.
The dark lord needed a replacement what?
The two sets of dark eyes did not see the plea for more information on Luna's face: her long hair covered it.
Fenrir was moving around, probably circling Luna. She supposed the shadows moving through her eyelids belonged to Fenrir and Bellatrix anyway: she had not heard anyone else speak yet and took it that the three of them were alone.
'Know which one you've got then?'
'No. But it'll be easy enough to find out!' said Bellatrix
'What, ask her?' Fenrir guessed
'No she'll lie. But I'm sure Draco will recognise her from school. He'll know.' Bellatrix sounded confident he would, while Luna only wished he wouldn't.
Luna's head hurt, a lot, from where she'd hit the floor. She had been so careful in keeping still that she hadn't noticed at first. But now a feeling of nausea was imminent and Luna hoped they'd stop raising their voices; it was only making her head worse.
She reached out a hand to her scalp, which massaged it in smallish circles: 'soothe away the pain,' she mused.
Forgetting who stood above her, Luna wondered who had pointed a wand into her chest, but the ragged breathing and long scatty hair that fell in her face told her it was Bellatrix. She opened her eyes to look at her but found the sudden exposure to light, emitted from the wand's tip, stung them: a spell was forming.
'You stayed behind, on your own. You stupid girl!' Bellatrix taunted, a crazy eye widening (her hair obscuered the left side of her face), though, if she could have seen it, Luna was pretty sure the left eye would have been just as wide and just as mad.
'I've not got my wand,' said Luna casually: as though she had been asked her opinion on the weather.
'Excuse...me?' the death eater snarled in her face.
'I've not got my wand,' replied Luna again, though she knew Bellatrix had heard the first time.
The woman snorted, glancing down at Luna's hands.
Fenrir laughed mockingly: 'You don't say Blondie!'
Well, she figured, she was already in trouble so why not play it out?
'What I meant was, I would appreciate it if you would lower your wand. Since I clearly won't try anything funny, you know.' Luna could hope.
Bellatrix regarded her for a second, if that; Luna was getting the impression this was a witch who would act on impulse very quickly, never leaving time to think things through. She seemed so jittery and frantic, like a small animal loaded up on caffeine.
Luna lost herself deciding what sort of animal Bellatrix would suit (her wild hair said an arachnid of some sort, while her poise and temper said a jaguar or sphinx). Her mind occupied elsewhere, Luna was oblivious to the jinx as it shot through the air.
Luna was somewhat confused when the world suddenly stood on its head.
Bellatrix, wand pointed at her temple now, panted heavily below Luna, who could almost feel the strange tickle from it's tip. The two death eaters looked up at her.
Greyback looked back and forth between them before skulking off into the shadows. Bellatrix did not watch him go, her eyes were locked on Luna's hair as it swung back and forth. Luna feared she may be contemplating eating it: to Bellatrix it would probably look like discoloured spaghetti.
'Know where you are?' she said to Luna
'No. But we haven't left the country.' Luna looked over at the window, it was small and far away but open; and from it she could see the full moon in the same position it had been as she had entered Borgin and Burkes.
'Oh?' Bellatrix pretended to look extremely interested, but it was obvious to Luna she was only playing.
'Hmmm? Oh, it's the moon you see...' Luna trailed off her unfinished sentence in a way only she could: anyone else would look like a lost idiot.
'He'll be proud of me you know! The others said not to bother with the order anymore. They said you lot haven't got a hope anyway. But with Pansy in there...Oh if they try anything, if they even start to clue in on what we're up to!' Luna listened intently, though pretended not to be. She stored everything she heard away, into a small part of her mind she reserved for the order. She didn't know why though: it seemed unlikely she would make it through one night here. Or maybe not even the rest of this night. Luna wondered if she had just seen her last sunset or was about to see her last sunrise.
'Oh but you won't think you need to worry, will you? I bet you think your precious order's on their way?'
The woman let out such a horrible shriek of a laugh that Luna could actually hear it being sketched into her memory, where she knew her subconscious would pull it out from later to worsen her nightmares.
She didn't stop after a minute either, she was truly insane. Meanwhile Luna wondered whether the order would make it in time: she knew they would come, but when? They could easily be too late.
'Oh, you think they'll come, you'll be all-' Bellatrix looked like she was having a seizure. ''you think-oh!' she howled on. Luna had heard some very unfunny jokes in her time at Hogwarts, but this was something else.
'You think you'll be alright!' Luna felt like she'd arrived late at the party. Bellatrix seemed drunk and Luna was dragging a mile or two behind sober. She really enjoyed butterbeer and firewhisky, but neither had ever succeeding in changing anything about her behaviour other than the fact that she nearly always managed to develop severe hiccups.
Bellatrix howled on.
Luna was starting to think she'd never stop, when she suddenly looked up at her from beneath a mass of black widow curls. ('A spider-' thought Luna 'Bellatrix would make a really lovely spider.') Her expression, or what Luna could see of it, became that of a territorial lioness as others came into the room. The room which, Luna now registered, was a dungeon.
Luna tried to swizzle around (a difficult feat when you're dangling upside down in mid-air). She could not see anyone but recognised the first voice almost instantly.
'What's she doing here?'
'Draco, who is she?'
'Draco?' Bellatrix chimed in. Luna saw her gesturing for him to come forward.
Luna recognised the voice of Draco Malfoy and it was as cold and slippery as ever. The second sounded like a woman. It reminded her of Molly Weasley: the same weary tone seemed to hover over every word.
'Know her?' said Bellatrix
'Lovegood I think.' said Draco. It was hopeless now, her identity was as good as gone. Though Luna would hold onto it for as long as she could, she turned her face away from the group below her. Covered by a dark mask of shadows, Luna felt a final moment of safety.
But a hand was quick to snap her head back around. It gripped onto her long hair and, with unnecessary roughness, forced her to face the glow of the moonlight. Moonlight which suddenly fell into the room with a sudden burst of brightness. Luna stared helplessly into a pair of grey eyes hidden beneath blond hair that almost matched hers in it's paleness.
Draco regarded her for the time it took Luna's heart to resume it's regular pace. He knew her, she could see him decide it.
He turned behind him to a tall woman. 'Luna Lovegood,' he said simply. And so it was, Luna's last hold over herself was ripped up like parchment.
'The one from the ministry?' Bellatrix smiled darkly.
'Yes.' Draco released Luna's hair.
So many eyes stared at her now that she found it easy to pretend she was back in school again; remarking how wrong her divination teacher was in her latest crystal ball reading, as the class stared on with amusement.
'What now Bella?' the other woman asked
'We're keeping her here. Pansy might need information.' Bellatrix seemed almost ecstatic at the idea of extracting such information.
'How much potion has she got with her?'
'Enough. If she needs more we already have Snape on it. He says what she's taken should last a month. He's found a way to modify it though, a more concentrated dose he said.'
It was starting to dawn on Luna what they were talking about.
'And how is Pansy going to contact us?'
Luna watched Draco shift backwards into the shadows, a darker figure stood by him: she assumed that was Greyback.
'I'll take care of it.' said Bellatrix
'Oh,' the woman said no more. She glided from the room, scooping Draco by the arm on her way.
'Bella?' she called back as they were about to leave, 'watch over Pansy.'
And then they were gone.
Bellatrix threw Luna a pointed look.
'No one is going to come looking for you, little Lovegood,' Bellatrix swept from the room, releasing the spell that held Luna aloft. She came crashing back to earth with a smacking crack. Lifting her hand to her head she finally felt the full force of her earlier collision: Smallish circles, it appeared, were no longer enough to soothe it away.
Greyback crept slowly over to Luna.
He leaned his head back and looked down at her, sprawled on the floor. Her arm twisted at a strange angle, though it was not broken, and the tassels on her black robes had tangled together into something resembling a dead spider.
Greyback's look turned cool. From his wand burst a thick metal chain that tinkled softly as it snapped shut around her wrists and ankles, chaining her where she lay. Luna did not look at him, though she could feel his eyes on her. She imagined if he were to describe her now only one word would spring to his warped mind: Edible.
A low growl formed in his throat before he quickly left the room, bolting the door shut on his way.
'Sweet dreams Blondie!' he snarled through a tiny metal grid; Luna foresaw it serving as her means of communication with people.
Greyback's heavy footsteps reverberated back through the stone dungeon, pounding angrily against the walls and against Luna's skull. She was sure it was not normal for a man to be that loud.
Luna scanned her prison with a sad heart. Pansy Parkinson had taken her place at the order, that much she had gathered, and she would serve as the death eaters own spy there. Luna felt her head ache again as her hands shook. She would not be rescued: that thought alone was probably what sent her into a horrible nightmare-filled sleep.
After all, why would the order go looking for something they hadn't lost.
It was not funny, but Luna understood why Bellatrix had laughed.
A/N: Thanks for reading!
