The room they'd deposited her in was completely empty save herself. The walls and floors were bleached in some spots, darker in others, and it was obvious that all of the furniture and décor had recently been banished. But the carpet beneath her cheek was plush and the walls were garish with gilded crown molding, so Lily determined through bleary eyes and a fiercely pounding head that, when Mulciber had instructed Severus to tell his father that they were coming, he must've meant to his house. Or, judging by the obvious decadence of the place, some sort of palace.
Slowly, she pushed herself into a sitting position, noting as she did so that her bonds had been removed. Tenderly, she kneaded at her raw wrists, massaging the feeling back into her fingers, but it was only when she reached to do the same for her ankles that the realization that she was no longer in the outfit she'd left the castle in truly sank in.
Her stomach dropped as if she'd swallowed a stone, but the feeling of it registered abstractly, as if her body had ceased to be her own. For a moment she sat, frozen, and then erupted in panic, her fingers trembling as they maneuvered all of the buttons and clasps on the robe, tearing it off of her shoulders and letting the rich fabric pool on the floor.
The knickers were new. The knickers she had on were new. The knickers she had on were not the knickers she had put on that morning. Which meant –
This time when her skin started crawling, she would swear she could feel it actually shift over her body. She lurched forward, dropping to all fours, and took several shaky breaths to keep the bile from rising in the back of her throat. She could almost feel the ghosts of fingers peeling her clothing off, brushing against her bare skin, but a quick inventory of her body revealed no marks other than a thick, rough scar running across her chest, all the way from her left shoulder to her right hip. The scar was new and unfamiliar and she stared at it, unbelieving, before a vision of Mulciber's face, bleeding, distorted with anger, flashed across her mind. Rolling onto her back, she gingerly touched her fingers to it, tracing the mangled flesh from her collarbone to her belly button. It didn't hurt, exactly, but the surrounding skin was pulled taut and she wondered distantly if magically healed wounds (especially the shoddily healed ones – and why had they bothered to heal her in the first place?) could tear as easily as muggle ones. Cautiously, she tested the theory, turning from one side to another, but while her chest felt tight, nothing ripped. At least that was one less thing to worry about.
Her fingers were still trembling, but her hands were otherwise steady as Lily buttoned the robe back up. She'd been roughed up, yes, and abducted, certainly, but she wasn't incapacitated and, more importantly, she wasn't about to sit around and wait for whatever was coming next. They'd taken her for a reason and, while she was terrified to think that it was related to Severus's proposal and whatever that might mean, she couldn't think of any alternative. She had to get out.
She scrambled to her feet, ready to search the room for anything that might be helpful, but everything swam before her eyes, the walls shifting, and she dropped to her hands and knees again while she waited for the dizzy spell to pass. She'd gotten up too fast, that much was clear, but what she wasn't sure of was whether it was simply a head rush or something more. She easily could've hit her head hard enough for a concussion – the fierce thrumming of her brain against her skull would attest to that. Either way, there was nothing she could do about it for the time being. She would just have to… work around it somehow.
Slower this time, Lily raised herself to her feet, stumbling to her right and reaching out a hand to brace herself against the wall when the ground started to sway beneath her. It took another moment to properly steady herself, but once she had the ground stayed firmly put where it was supposed to be and the walls did the same. Even the door, which had seemed before to spin around the room, was stationary and Lily cautiously made her towards it. It would be locked, of course, but she couldn't not try it. The window, too, was locked – sealed with some sort of sticking charm, she assumed, but the glass didn't seem too thick.
On the first try she swore she felt the glass start to give against her shoulder and on the second try she was sure she'd made some progress. On the third try, she heard a crack and a sharp gasp ripped out of her throat as she stumbled back from the window, cradling her now limp right arm against her chest. The sound of her harsh breathing was quickly followed by footsteps and she only barely managed to drop her injured arm to her side in a play at wellness and spin around, wincing as she did so, before the door opened.
"I'm too late, aren't I?"
Russom Avery smirked before her as he leaned against the doorframe, arms crossed casually over his chest, and Lily found that she wasn't surprised to see him. He was part of Mulciber's gang, after all, and if she'd already had a run-in with both Mulciber and Snape it made sense that Avery couldn't be far behind.
"Unbreakable glass, you know. I heard you slam into it the first time, thought I might save you the trouble, but it looks like you've already gone and done your shoulder in. You didn't tear anything, did you? Just dislocated it, right?"
Lily shifted uncomfortable in front of the window, begrudgingly giving up the act and taking up her injured arm again. "What, are you taking stock? Keeping a mental checklist of injuries so you know exactly which arm to twist later?"
Avery's smile didn't flicker, but he shrugged lightheartedly in response. "Sure, in case it comes in handy, but we're supposed to make sure no lasting damage comes to you. Nothing serious, at least. Wouldn't be much of an aide to the Dark Lord with a gimpy arm, would you?"
"Is that all it takes to say no? Some permanent damage? Because, honestly, I'd rather be a vegetable than do anything that could help You-Know-Who." She spat the words at him as if they were venom, raising herself up to her full height, but still he only rolled his eyes and took a few steps forward.
"Look, Evans. I'm not about to shove you into a wall or cut you up or anything. I'm not Ig, that's not really my style. But I'm going to level with you – you're being a right idiot. No, let me finish." He cut her off concisely as she opened her mouth to defend herself, and he took another step forward to properly talk to her. "You're thinking about it all wrong. All good and bad and all that rubbish, but that's not how it is. We're only in school for the rest of this year and then it's coming to a real right war, you and I both know that, and all there's going to be is safe and in danger. You're all about protecting your family and friends or whoever, but if you're dead you're not going to be very good at that. You're only useful to them alive, so if I were you I'd probably reconsider your self-preservation techniques."
He finished his speech and tilted his head almost apologetically, but Lily didn't offer a response, only staying frozen and still by the window. After a moment, she shook her head, unconvinced.
"Even with me dead, they're safer. At least I wouldn't be trying to kill them."
His eyebrow rose skeptically, but eventually he shrugged again, taking a few steps back towards the door as he spoke. "Look, Evans – if you want to die, plenty of people are more than happy to do the job for you. I could get my father right now, if you'd like. But you're talented and you're strong and you're powerful – you'd make a great asset and, while the Dark Lord isn't exactly patient, I'm sure he's happy to give you some time to reconsider your decision. He's not completely merciless. Act like a good servant and you might even earn yourself a favor. Not all of the Muggles have to die, as long as they're willing to live by his rule. So think of your family, yeah? Don't make your mind up too quickly."
She didn't respond, didn't move until he'd left and the door had shut behind him, and then she let out a soft sigh as if deflating and sank back against the unbreakable window behind her. She jumped as the door opened again and gasped as she jolted her shoulder, but froze.
"Just so you know, the walls are sturdy enough, too," Avery added, winking, and then shut the door once more.
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