Angelina heard the sound before she even woke up; she sat up and glanced around as her mind worked to identify the sound; Katie was crying. Angelina crawled over to her, "It's alright, Katie. If we just-"
"Did you see what they did to Fred?" Katie whispered.
Angelina looked down and closed her eyes to collect herself; she had seen Fred's injury, his blue lips and his troubled expression, the way he had looked as they drug him from the enclosure, "They took care of him, Katie; he'll be-"
"What about us?" Katie interrupted, "Do you think we'll be ok?"
"They haven't hurt us yet."
"THEY KILLED MY MOTHER!" Katie shouted, then calmed, looking slightly haggard, "They had to kill both of my parents to get to me...and then to drug us into that room and did those things..."
Angelina hesitated, and then spoke, "It didn't hurt." She assured, examining the small pin-sized hole in her arm.
"They took blood." Katie argued, rubbing the spot where they had done the same to her, an ugly bruise surrounding the tiny wound, "What do you imagine they wanted to take it for?"
"I'm guessing not for dark magic." Angelina mumbled.
"That wasn't funny." Katie started angrily, "Don't-"
"I wasn't joking." Angelina defended, "I'm trying to make sense of all this."
"I know." Katie whispered to herself, then began to walk, walk faster, jog, and then sprint towards the front of the enclosure, "What are you doing?" Angelina called, "Katie!" Angelina jumped up as the distance between Katie and the deep security trench grew smaller and smaller, desperate to reach her before she fell, "KATIE!"
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Veins popped out against the skin of Lucius' forearms as he struggled against the straps holding down his wrists; he had awoken an hour before, strapped to the gurney and stripped down to the waist with more than one thin tube leading from a machine to long needles buried in his arm. The blonde man froze as the two white doors that served as the only entrance and exit to what the Muggles within called the 'lab' burst open and a group of Muggles entered carrying/dragging/pushing a young man with fire-colored hair who was struggling as if he intended to kill them all. Lucius recognized the blood-traitor's son, one of the twins, and smirked to himself; at least the Death Eaters were not the only ones trapped in the Muggle hell. Lucius rose an eyebrow when the orange-haired boy landed a heavy blow on one of the Muggles, and he fell, "Don't!" a Muggle snapped to a girl who approached with a weapon similar to the one that had subdued Lucius, "If that gets in his blood we'll have to tie him down for half a day! Get him on one of the tables and strap him down!"
The woman rolled her eyes and stepped away as the boy continued to struggle, managing to drag the entire group into the floor with him and struggle against the slick floor to pull free of their grips. Most of the skin on the boy's arms and face had far surpassed its usual freckled tone, rubbed raw from sweaty grips and flushed from the struggle; blood bubbled up from dull scratches caused by the men's short nails. Lucius' muscles ached to be able to struggle, match his strength against the Muggles; bestial and primitive as the desire was, he once again battled against his constraints. One of the Muggles managed to grab the Weasley boy around the waist as he attempted to run and lift him from the ground; the boy took advantage of this and threw his weight backwards, toppling both them and Lucius' table to the ground. One of the thick metal latches opened and Lucius jerked his wrist free, undoing the latch around his left arm and hurrying to free his legs while the Muggles still fought the boy, not noticing him. After the restraints were removed, Lucius reached for the multiple points where the needles entered his skin and tore them out; the needles had been laced carefully into larger veins and when they left his skin blood spattered unceremoniously on the floor and across his chest. Lucius stood up and stalked towards one of the Muggle women who stood between him and the exit; she held her gun shakily and stared at him as he approached fearfully. He reached her and grabbed her wrist, causing her to drop the gun as his rage-intensified grip caused the fragile bones of her wrist to crack ever so slightly; his hands found her neck and he prepared to kill her. George saw and stopped struggling, falling to his knees instantly and allowing the Muggle men to rescue the woman; one man remained behind with him and forced him onto one of the tables like Lucius had been upon, strapping him down. Lucius was brought down with one of the special guns, and the Muggle men strapped him more securely to another table, leaving the room empty save for three women dressed in white.
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"KATIE NO!" Angelina screeched.
"I HAVE TO GET HURT!" Katie cried over her shoulder, "THEY'LL TAKE ME TO FRED!"
"KATIE THAT WILL KILL-" Angelina froze as her friend slipped, falling into the chasm and catching the earth surrounding it with one hand. Angelina dove forward and grabbed her friend's wrists, "Its ok Katie I've got you."
Katie had banged her nose when she had caught herself and now a very small bit of blood stained her upper lip, "My mum is gone." She whispered.
"You can stay with my family when we get out." Angelina assured, "We'll be like sisters; please let me pull you up."
"I wanted to see Fred again." Katie muttered, "I've always liked him... he fancies you, of course, but... he is cute, isn't he?"
"He is." Angelina answered as she began to pull Katie up.
"No!" Katie snapped, jerking her hand from Angelina and nearly falling.
Angelina limited herself to merely holding onto Katie, "I'm sorry; I won't."
"What other tests do you think they'll do on us; how much longer until they want more than blood?" Katie asked as she glanced down, "A few weeks or maybe it'll be a few months if we're lucky."
"You think we'll be here that long?" Angelina asked.
Katie smiled a haunting smile, "We're not leaving here, Angelina, ever."
"Dumbledore will-" Angelina started.
"Do you think anyone has more will or ability to protect me than my parents?" Katie interrupted.
"Well no but... he could-"
"I'm ready, Angelina; move your hands." Katie ordered quietly.
Angelina began to cry and she shook her head, "No Katie, you have to stay. We'll -"
"Please don't trap me here." Katie whispered, tears filling her own eyes, "Let me go."
Angelina began to sniffle and whimper as slowly and hesitantly, she released her friends' hands; Katie closed her eyes and dropped, leaving Angelina to sob as she buried her face in her hands.
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"I'm not going to stand for this!" Percy cried, "Look at what they've done to us!"
"Percy you're scaring your mother." Arthur muttered.
"She needs to be frightened!" Percy countered angrily, "We've got to do something!"
"Charlie tried to so something; look at him!" Ginny cried from her spot on her mother's arm.
Percy glanced at his brother and faltered slightly; Charlie was sitting on the ground with his knees pulled to his chest, staring straight ahead as he had since he'd awoken from the drug-induced sleep. Arthur took Percy by the elbow and led him away from the others, speaking low, "Percy stop this right now; this isn't what we need."
"What is?" Percy muttered back urgently, "To stay here forever? Is that what we should do? Give up? I may be the only son that Mum has left and I won't let her die in here!"
"Percy you don't have to be strong just because Bill and Charlie-" Arthur started.
"I am strong!" Percy shouted, "Do you want Ginny to finish growing up in here?! You know what will happen to her? She'll keep fighting until one day, without even realizing, she accepts this, and then she'll start to need it, and if we ever escape she won't know what to do with herself!"
Ginny stared at her brother for a moment before bursting into tears, burying her face in Molly's arm, "That's enough." Arthur warned his son, "If all you're going to do is upset them then perhaps you shouldn't speak at-"
It happened before Percy even realized he was planning it, and his fist connected with his father's jaw; Arthur raised a hand to the spot, looking at his son shocked. Percy's lip trembled slightly and he stormed away from his father, sitting heavily next to his silent older brother and pressing his fist against his mouth in a forced thinking gesture. Arthur walked past his sons stiffly and sat beside Molly who, despite putting up a strong front for her sobbing daughter, was on the brink of tears.
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Fred paced in his small glass room with increasing urgency; he wanted to get back to his brother and their separation was driving him to the brink of madness. He froze in his pacing when two women entered the room; the first woman was speaking authoritatively as she pulled out a key and unlocked Fred's enclosure, pushing a gurney in front of them before she entered, "...far we haven't had any aggression problems with this one, but his brother is another story. A lot of the keepers insist on tranquilizing them when you get close to one, but Wizards are actually closely related to us; they seem to understand basic phrases. Lock the door behind you, and if the situation does get out of hand; you have your tranquilizer gun, yes?"
The other girl nodded as she followed the woman inside, looking warily at Fred, "I'm sorry I keep asking so many questions, but what are you planning to do?"
"Please." Fred interrupted civilly, "I have to see George, my brother; I need-"
"Hello there, Fred." The woman interrupted as if he wasn't speaking, "How are you this morning?"
"Do you have to speak with him like that?" the girl asked.
"Well just because they're animals is no reason not to be civil." The woman retorted as she turned back to Fred, "Sit up there, please."
"You knew my name; how did you know?" Fred asked, sitting up awkwardly on the gurney the woman had brought in, "I want to see my-"
"We're doing a basic aggression test on this one today; he's our first actual test because he has a fairly even temper." The woman told the girl, speaking as though she were training the girl to do such things herself in the future, "We're hoping for positive results. We'll be studying his reaction to pain, frustration and fear. We've already observed boredom as a pacing that seems fairly consistent with most of the Wizards outside of the male Arthur."
"Case twenty." The girl corrected hastily, "We're supposed to refer to them by their case numbers in front of the others to avoid causing any unneeded stress, Diane."
"He's already seen Case twenty here, Patrice." The woman called Diane countered as she turned back to Fred.
"Look, I don't want to do anymore tests, alright?" Fred stated calmly, "I want to see George and I want to see him-"
Diane ignored Fred and took his left hand, observing it before poking it sharply with a needle, "First test."
"Ow!" Fred exclaimed, jerking away his hand, "Bloody hell that hurt!"
"Case twenty-two shows basic self-preservation instincts." Diane muttered into a strange rectangular machine, "Vocalization, no aggression so far."
"Please stop ignoring me, would you? I know you can understand me; we're speaking the same ruddy language!" Fred muttered, looking desperately at the woman, who replied with another sharp poke, this time high on his right arm with a longer needle that actually pierced his skin, "HEY!"
"Despite continuous lack of communication and repeated painful experiences, Case twenty-two makes no attempts to become aggressive or flee the situation." Diane continued, "Mild neurotoxin injected, waiting for a reaction at this time."
Fred scowled until suddenly the two women staring at him began to change; his vision blurred and their faces were suddenly in the same shape his brother's had been, destroyed and caved-in. He screamed and flipped backwards off of the gurney, crawling to the corner; wails and cries of terror escaped the boy as he hid his face and struggled to escape the macabre creatures in his room, "What do you think he sees?"
"Case twenty-two responds normally to neurotoxins, exhibits fear and anxiety and has fled to a far corner of the room, Fred? Fred, will you come back over here please? ...Case twenty-two is currently unresponsive to basic commands."
Fred sobbed bitterly as he ignored the mutterings of the Muggle women, wanting nothing more than to return to his brother, "Are... are we finished?" Patrice whispered, sounding like she wanted nothing more than to leave the sounds of Fred's panic behind.
There was silence, and with a loud click Fred was once again trapped inside of the enclosure; his sobs faded slowly to quiet sniffles as he was left alone.
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Tears slid silently down George's cheeks as he thought of the pain his brother must be enduring; he was strapped to a gurney as Lucius had been, half a dozen IV needles pulled small amounts of blood into a machine that in turn beeped every time a small sample vial was filled. Muggles came and went, ignoring him when he asked for his brother, and barely looking at him; as he stared at the ceiling, a woman approached this time with a sharp sliver blade, "I'm sorry I can't sedate you; we're testing your blood constantly and any chemical would make the samples worthless. I need to take a skin biopsy and we're not supposed to explain procedure to you, but I know you can understand me. This will hurt, alright?"
George closed his eyes and looked away, ignoring her until a pain unlike anything he had ever felt tore through his left side just between his ribcage and hips; the blade slid downwards, then to the side and back up, forming a small square which was then lifted away with an ugly silver instrument. George began to tremble as his body threatened to go into shock; the woman quickly covered the wound with a square of cotton and taped it down. She then moved to the machine and turned it off, preventing further blood-loss as she hurried across the room and returned with two folded blankets, spreading them out over the boy and watching him closely. When the monitors indicated George's pulse had once again regulated, she took her sample and left the room with a slight shake of her head. George began to cry once again, whispering to himself, "Fred, I hope you're still alive..."
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"He's been quiet." Harry said as Hermione sat down beside him; it was night on their fifth day in their new prison and Ron sat outside staring up at the stars while the other two conversed.
"He won't eat." Hermione replied, "I don't know how long he can live on just water."
"Maybe he has the right idea." Harry sighed.
"Don't talk like that." Hermione scolded, "I know you better; you don't want to die anymore than you want him to."
"The last time I tried to talk to him he hit me, Hermione." Harry muttered, "What do you think he'll do this time?"
"He's your best friend." Hermione whispered through tears, shaking her head as Harry reached to touch her, "I'm fine."
Harry turned as he heard a quiet sound; his eyes adjusted to reveal the silhouette of Ron, "Oh… Ron. Do you want something to-"
"What do you think Dad's doing right now?" Ron asked drowsily, sitting heavily on the stone floor of the strange building.
Harry forced an unsure smile and sat beside his shaken friend.
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Molly opened her eyes when her hand fell heavily onto the grass instead of Arthur's arm; she sat up quickly and scanned the dark enclosure. Percy was sleeping in the grass next to Charlie's staring form while Ginny slept curled up behind the tables and chair, hiding herself from the Muggles that had been staring all day. Molly stood and took a few steps in either direction, "Arthur?" she whispered once cautiously. No answer came, and Molly sighed in frustration, "Arthur!" she called softly, not growing worried.
"Mum?" Percy whispered groggily as he stood up, "What are you doing?"
Molly looked around desperately as her eyes adjusted and she gained her night vision; she whimpered as she shook her head, "Your father is gone, Percy."