Author's Note: So I am terribly sorry for the lack of updates, but I was having a serious case of Writer's Block and every time I thought about posting this, I decided not to, because it just didn't seem right yet. I really hope these at least makes up for it a little.


It was early in the morning the next day when Melanie was awoken by screaming. Sitting straight up on the living room sofa, she looked around in panic, nearly falling off. Getting quickly to her feet, she ran to the window, looking outside. Several people from the group were running through the snow, Snatchers following them.

"Oh no..." she whispered, turning to go warn the others. Sam suddenly came down the stairs, followed by the little boy and his sister. The boy flung the door open, a terrifed look in his eyes.

"We have to go!" he shouted, grabbing his sister by the arm and taking off through the streets. Instantly, the snatchers caught up to them, casting hexes to knock them down. The rest of the group gathered in the living room, huddled together.

Watching from the window, Melanie witnessed as several others tried to run, only to be captured and brought back. She backed away as one of the snatchers passed the window and stood back to blow the door in. Everyone else that remained inside jumped as the door went flying off its hinges and landed with a crash against the wall.

Watching from the window, Melanie witnessed as several others tried to run, only to be captured and brought back. She backed away as one of the snatchers passed the window and stood back to blow the door in. Everyone else that remained inside jumped as the door went flying off its hinges and landed with a crash against the wall.

"Keep that bitch quiet!" a man's voice ordered as one of the women outside started to cry.

"What do we do?" one of the men inside asked Sam in a hushed tone as they peered around the corner.

"Out in front! All of ya!" the gruff voice barked. Melanie filed out behind several others, peering through the group of terrified people. As they all trudged out into the snow, several of the snatchers started to search people for wands. Her hand flying to her pocket, Melanie tried to blend in with those who had already been searched, but she suddenly felt a hand on her shoulder and bit her lip.

"No you don't, girly." A voice behind her said. "Better to hand it over now."

"Please…" she choked out, trying to move away. The snatcher stepped forward, roughly grabbing her hair and forcing her to the ground. "Standard procedure."

The wizard grabbed her wand from her pocket, stepping around her and inspecting it. Tears streamed down her face as she sat shivering on the cold ground.

"Wos' this?" a voice asked, and Melanie snapped her head up suddenly, recognizing the voice. Several feet away, the snatcher who had taken her wand was holding it out to someone she hoped she would never see again. Scabior took the wand from the other wizard, looking it over carefully, and then his gaze fell on Melanie. She swallowed hard as he approached her, fearing the worst. Kneeling down on one knee in front of her, his cold grey eyes met hers as he brushed a strand of hair out of her face.

"'Ello my lovely."he said with a slight look of amusement. As she tried to look away, he roughly grabbed her by the chin, forcing her to face him. "Fancy meetin' you 'ere, eh?"

"Let go of me." She said in the most venomous voice she could manage. He laughed, releasing her and standing back up to his full height.

"Oi! I'll be takin' this one wit me." He called out to the snatcher who had previously taken her wand. The other snatcher nodded, and then returned to interrogating a frightened-looking woman as she begged him to let them all go. Melanie looked up at Scabior with a terrified expression as he pulled her roughly up by the arm, leading her along to the backside of a nearby house. Once they were out of sight, he pressed her back against the wall, his eyes searching hers.

"Please…just let me go…" she said in a shaking voice, partly due to the cold.

"Thas' three times you've gotten away from me, my lovely. My men were quite amused to find that out and 'aven't let me forget it since."

"Maybe if you weren't so busy getting drunk you would've been more on your guar-."

Grabbing her by the throat, his eyes turned even colder as he gritted his teeth.

"'Ow dare you…I saved your pri'ee li'l neck back there and this is the thanks I get?" he said in a dangerously low voice.

"You make me sick." She spat back. His hand went from her throat to her hair as he twisted his fingers into it, pulling her head back.

"You play nice now or I won' bother saving your brother."

She stared back at him for a moment, her eyes on the verge of filling with tears before answering.

"All right... Just let him go free...please."

"Sure, love. Just gi' me a sec." he replied, pulling out his wand and waving it. Two strands of cable shot out from the tip, binding Melanie by the wrists and ankles as Scabior smiled and walked back around the house to the other snatchers. A minute later, he returned and grabbing her by the arm, disapperated.

As they landed suddenly outside the new campsite, Scabior led Melanie to his tent, looking around for the others. One of them walked into view, carrying an armful of firewood. When he saw them, he burst out laughing, dropping the wood onto the ground.

"Fenrir, come out here right now! Guess what Scabior found!"

Fenrir Greyback stepped out of his tent and turned his head towards Melanie and Scabior, his face breaking into a huge, dark grin.

Melanie suddenly cried out as she felt Scabior's hand make contact with her back and shove her forward. Hitting the ground face first, she spit out a bit of snow and turned her face to the side, knowing this was just the start of what was going to become of her.

"Filthy mudlbood." Scabior spat at her, yanking her up by the shoulder and throwing her through the entrance to his tent.

"Well done, Scabior." She heard Greyback say to him, followed by a laugh. "You've proven yourself useful again."

Shaking terribly, Melanie lay on the ground until Scabior finally came inside and started to untie her. As he finished her ankles and started on her wrists, his eyes met hers, seeing the threat of tears in them.

"You're pri'ee when you cry." He told her, a dark smile playing across his face. Biting her lip, she looked down at her freed hands for a moment before reaching out and slapping him hard across the face. He hissed in pain, his hand flying to his now reddened cheek, and winced.

"Bleedin' Christ, Melanie!" he finally said, blinking several times with his mouth hanging open. Melanie wiped a bit of dirt off of her face and hurried to the other side of the tent.

"Stay away from me." She ordered in a broken voice, sinking into a chair.

"May I remind you that I jus' saved your life?" He snapped, walking over to her while still rubbing his cheek.

"You threw me onto the ground and called me a…a..." She retorted, shooting him a venomous look as she struggled to say the word. Kneeling before her, he took her chin in his hand, forcing her eyes to meet his.

"I'm sorry. But appearances must be kept up in order for me to 'ave r'spect 'round 'ere!"

"You disgust me."

"I don' really care." he replied, absentmindedly letting his gaze wander over her face. Trying to pull away, she shot him an unsure look, trying to keep up her air of defiance.

"I want to know that my brother is safe. I won't go along with anything you do unless you prove to me that he is safe."

"Your brother is somewhere in the middle of a forest right now, love."

"I want to see him!" she cried.

"Well that's jus' too bad, in 'it?" he snapped back, getting abruptly to his feet and towering over her.

She knew he was right. There was no way he was ever going to do her another favor after she'd escaped him again. She'd have to find Sam eventually though…hopefully.

"Now, if I leave this tent for any extended period of time, are you going to try anything again?"

Melanie silently shook her head.

"Good. But cause I don' exac'ly trust you right now, Fenrir's gonna be stayin' with ya while we go out."

"You're leaving me with…him?"

"'A course, why not?"

"I don't trust him…"

"Well if I leave you alone, you'll try to run away again."

"I-"

"Don't lie to me, love."

"What if he tries to hurt me?"

"Trust me…thas' nothin' compared to wot's gonna 'appen to you later." He said in a low growl, causing Melanie to tremble slightly. Laying down his hands on her wrists, he pressed them lightly down, cutting off the circulation a bit. Melanie waited for him to do something, anything, but just to hurry and get it done with. His hot breath teased her skin as his lips neared hers. Then, with a tilt of his head, he gently placed a kiss on her throat. Opening her eyes, she looked at him, wondering if there was going to be more. Tearing his intense stare away from her, he grabbed a little black book from his table and threw open the entrance of the tent, stepping outside.

Getting shakily to her feet, Melanie moved over to the table where Scabior kept his maps and checklists. Brushing her fingers over a stack of papers, she saw someone come in from the corner of her eye.

"And what do you think you're doing?" Fenrir Greyback's voice caused her to cease up, her hand freezing in place.

"Jus-Just looking…" she stammered.

"Does Scabior know you're putting your mudblood hands on his things?"

"I-I didn't…I was just looking for something to-"

A large, hairy hand suddenly came down on top of hers, causing her to gasp.

"I still don't see what he thinks is so special 'bout you." He growled, grabbed her roughly by the shoulder and turning her to face him. "Maybe it's just cause he gets off on chasin'"

"Let go of me." Melanie said quietly, her throat growing dry. A pain shot through her arm as Greyback moved his hand from her shoulder to her arm, his razor-like nails digging into her skin.

"You know how much extra trouble we've had tryin' to find you? Bit of an embarrassment to lose the same captive again and again."

Melanie bit her lip to hide the pain in her arm, a tear sliding down her face.

"Please…let go of me."

"You're all the same." Greyback sneered. "Mudbloods."

"I said let go of me!" Melanie yelled, yanking her arm away from him, resulting in several shallow gashes in her skin. The sleeve of her sweater was quickly dampened with blood as it seeped through the large tears that had been made. Backing away, she reached behind her for anything heavy to use as protection. Her hand fell on the back of a chair and she kept her eyes on Greyback as she picked it up with shaking hands.

"Give it." He ordered, rapidly approaching her. With one heavy swing, the chair made contact with his head; however, it barely moved him an inch. Melanie gave out a frightened cry as an enraged Greyback took a swipe at her face, his nails dragging across her left cheek. With a pained scream, she dropped to the ground, holding her face in her hands.

"That'll teach ya." Greyback said gruffly, grabbing some papers off of the table and leaving Melanie to cry on the ground as he left.

As soon as he was gone, Melanie shakily looked at her hand. It was streaked with fresh blood. With a small whimper, she got slowly to her feet, dragging herself over to her cot and falling onto it lazily.