Song for this chapter: Globus- Europa (Instrumental Version)
It didn't occur to me until the middle of January that I had been too lax, that I had been allowing the darkness to creep forward unchecked when I had been training to stop it. That was thrown rather dramatically in my face by the daily prophet when I read that there had been a mass breakout from Azkaban. Now there were even more death eaters on the loose, and there was a part of me that felt certain it was my fault. Perhaps if I had acted sooner, they would not have had enough man power to pull something like that off. It was too late to know now, but I was stop them from doing something worse if it was the last thing I did.
I left the castle that very night, both because something needed to be done, and because I saw that Professor Snape was leaving, and he was least likely to notice my absence when he was not present himself. I knew from my research of death eaters that Lucius Malfoy had previously been accused of involvement, but had managed to skate by without getting into trouble. I decided to start my search for other death eaters at his house. I would have liked to have started with him, but a powerful wizard, working closely with the ministry, suddenly losing his ability to do magic would be a bit too obvious.
I would have to start smaller, though frankly my best bet would be to strike against the escapees from prison first, as it would be easy for someone to believe the stress of living in the constant presence of dementors had stolen their magic from them. I would only get one of them if luck was on my side though. I had a clipping from the paper with each of their pictures on it stowed away in my pocket, and on the first sight of them I planned to attack. I only had three vials of potion on me tonight, but I would be proud if I managed to use all three on my first night out.
I had thought for a long time about how I should approach these nights, and when it came down to it I wanted to get as close as I could to the attire I had worn while training in the gym during the summer, but I also wanted to be able to blend in a bit with this group of men wearing black robes. In the end I had to go shopping to find what I would need. I purchased a pair of black running shoes, form fitting but flexible black pants, and a black tank top. When I realized that I could better conceal my potions and have easy access to them if they were stowed up the sleeve that I no longer had when opting not to wear gloves I had purchased gauntlet gloves that left my hands free to work, but covered the skin up to my elbow and created a handy storage space for me. And of course because I was not wearing robes, my face was easily exposed to I found a black scarf to obscure the bottom of my face, but left my vision clear.
When I first saw myself in the mirror with my hair pulled back in an unforgiving pony tail, I couldn't help but laugh at my appearance. It was only thoughts of why such an outfit was even needed that sobered me up. I stowed my wand in a holster on my thigh should I somehow end up in a situation where it was my only defense, and then I made my way out into the night with Malfoy Manor in my mind as my intended location.
I didn't realize just how much luck was on my side this evening, until I arrived just outside the gate of Malfoy Manor. It was clear that there was some sort of meeting, or possibly a celebration taking place inside, and there were death eaters everywhere. That would have perhaps been intimidating, or problematic, but the majority of them seemed to be inside already.
There were only three lingering on the grounds, each seemingly unwilling to part with the open space and the fresh air. I knew without seeing their haggard faces that these three were escapees. One of them was standing near the gate, with his back to me, smoking something that didn't exactly smell like tobacco. He was distracted; staring up at the moon like it was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.
His distraction was my opening. I leapt, moving as quietly as I could, grabbing onto the top of the fence and pulling myself up until I could catch my foot on the top to hoist myself over. I had one moment of fear as I was coming over the top where it occurred to me that he might see me coming, but I threw myself from the top of the fence before it could settle in my chest. I dropped with my elbow out, landing on his back and bringing the force of my weight down on the apex of his neck and shoulder.
He released an off of pain, but I quickly fastened my hand over his mouth as I slid down his back, kicking on of his knees out from under him, and bringing him into a kneeling position beneath me. I didn't have much time to work without the other men in the yard noticing me, so I released his mouth as I grasped his hair tightly and pulled his head back against my shoulder so his throat was fully extended.
His lips moved like he was about to say something, but I moved swiftly, pulling a vial from within my glove, unstoppering it, and dumping it in his mouth before closing my hand over his mouth so he could not spit it out. He was fighting me, attempting to buck me off of him and staunchly refusing to swallow. I pinched his nostrils closed until I felt him swallow out of reflex. As soon as I knew he had swallowed the potion, I threw him onto the grass, and quickly cast a wandless stunner on him before slinking into the hedges that lined the fences.
I took a moment to regain my bearings, glancing through the branches to see that he had scraggly black hair, and a matching beard. His eyes were closed, but I knew that they would match the crazed blue ones of the man from the paper. One death eater was out of the game, and the other two seemed oblivious to what had happened. There was one standing near the porch, pulling at the last of his cigarette. He was large, which was intimidating, but his proximity to the house is what really put me in danger. I would go for him last, and have to be happy with only two targets taken out if he decided to go inside before I was ready.
The other man was a little closer, sitting on a stone bench near roses that I was certain had been tended by a house elf. He held a pendant in his hands and he was rubbing his thumb over it repetitively as if he were soothing himself. It was a sad enough picture to pull me up short, but his silver mask on the bench beside him reminded me of why I was here.
I slipped out of the bushes so they would not make a sound as I crept toward him. I was taking a risk, exposing myself in the open yard, but I moved forward anyway. I crept up behind him, opting to go for speed rather than impact, and I quickly pulled his shoulder length hair back, wrapping it around my hand and forcing his head back.
"Bella?" he questioned in surprise before his eyes landed on me and I saw them light up with fear and then anger.
I smashed my fist down on his nose, my stomach turning at the sound of it breaking, but when he opened him mouth to cry out in pain I deftly poured my second vial into his mouth, smiling to myself as I saw enough of it trickle down his throat mixed with his blood to have effect. I drug my other hand over his forehead, efficiently stunning him before he could groan and draw attention to us.
I crept around to the other side of the bench, using the bulk of his body as a shield as I peered over at the house, and saw that luck was with me again number three hadn't gone inside. I spared the man in front of me a long enough glace to note that he wasn't one of the Lestranges, before forcing thoughts of why he would have expected Bellatrix to be meeting him in the yard and threw myself into a full out sprint across the yard.
The bigger man was stubbing out his cigarette on the step, and I felt it in my gut when he saw me coming. His head snapped up, and his wand was in his hand instantly. He was a proud enough man that he did not call for help, and that was an opening I intended to take advantage of. He threw a silent stunner in my direction, and I dropped to the ground instantly, using my forward momentum to roll across the last bit of distance that separated us.
I ended up at his feet, and I could feel the smile on his face better than I could see it. That gave me more pleasure when I swung my arm back, hitting him in the ankles and upsetting his balance. He stumbled back, thankfully moving out of the light cast onto the lawn by the front door, and I sprung to my feet following in his wake. He swung at me, and I ducked the blow from his right hand, before his left crashed into my side. There was a sickening crack, and the accompanying pain told me that at least one of my ribs had just broken. I'd risked too much already to back down because of a little pain, so I bit my lip against the burning agony that ripped through me as I moved, and I used a dirty move.
I threw my leg forward landing a concentrated and powerful move in the spot that would hurt him most. He buckled, but managed to keep his feet as he leaned forward, wrapping his hand roughly around my pony tail and jerking me forward so I was kneeling at his feet, will absolutely no leverage. My mind raced for a way out as he began pulling my head back, exposing my throat to him, and straining the muscles in my neck. The answer came to me in a flash, and I continued to fight his pull, forcing his to exert himself further as I lined my feet up with his shins.
Just before making contact, and stopped fighting him, and instead threw my head back. As his upper body thrust forward over compensating in his effort to move me, I pressed my feet firmly into his shins and kicked back and up, completely destroying his balance. I realized that he was going to fall on to me, so I pulled my knees up to my chest, trying not to cry at how badly that hurt my ribs, and I prepared for impact.
He was the worse for the wearing, landing on the sharp points of my knees, but I bit clean through my lip in an effort to hold in my scream when his weight crashed in to me. At least one more rib had given way, but I couldn't afford to pay it any attention. I used his moment of injury to roll us, and when he opened his mouth to suck in air, I dosed him with the potion that would turn him into a muggle as well. I noted his face, so I could check it against my pictures, and then I rolled off of him, using that motion to apparate out of the Malfoy grounds.
I knew the crack of my disappearance would have summoned someone from inside the meeting, and the would discover my work in the yard but I couldn't find it in me to care how they would react at the moment. Instead all I could think about was the risk of one of my broken ribs puncturing me lung, and the sinking realization that I had never actually learned how to heal broken bones.
I drug myself up from the dirt and pulled the scarf from around my face. I drew my wand from my hip, and brought it immediately to my mouth casting the healing incantation that I did know, and forcing the skin of my lip to knit itself back together. I wracked my brain for the incantation and wand movements to heal bones, and somewhere in a distance memory I thought I heard Madam Pomfrey saying Episkey when fixing a fellow students arm. I directed my wand at my rib cage, and said the spell aloud.
There were three quick snaps, and I knew I had gotten it right, but I couldn't hold in the grunt of pain that accompanied the sensation of my bones snapping into their rightful place. I swayed on my feet as the sheer magnitude of the pain threatened to knock me out, but I managed to hold myself together, but only just barely. I returned my wand to its holster, and began the trek back to the castle, praying that I wouldn't cry each time my foot collided with the ground and sent pain rippling through me. Yes my ribs were definitely still bruised and not entirely healed. I needed a bed quickly.
I felt like immobile stone the next morning, crying out in pain when I tried to pull myself out of bed. I crawled to my bathroom, feeling absolutely pathetic as I drew a hot bath. I was beyond grateful that the first year potion lesson wasn't until two in the afternoon and I would be expected to make an appearance amongst the living until then. I stripped out of the undergarments I had slept in after peeling my clothes off last night, and slid into the scalding hot water. When I had relaxed a bit due to the heat, I took an inventory of my body and saw that most of my torso was black and blue. It felt as if I had pulled a muscle in my neck, though to be fair that was the fault of the large death eater I still wasn't sure of the name of rather than mine. Other than a minor pain in my elbow from how I landed on the first man, nothing else seemed to be wrong with me. I was relatively unharmed, and three death eaters were now muggles, all in all I had to call last night a success.
Now I just had to get through today without Professor Snape noticing that anything was off about me. I wanted to at least make it to lunch so I could try to get a reading on how he was feeling. Surely he had been there last night? He must know what had happened to those men. Did he suspect me? The only way to find out was to be near him, as much as the thought upset me.
I stayed in the bath until the water had gone cold, but then I had to unwillingly drag myself back out of the tub. The pain was marginally better, but I was going to need to procure some bruise paste post haste. I dressed delicately, opting to wear a tank top with a well-placed cooling charm on it under my blouse to ease a bit of the pain of the bruising until I could do more. I left my hair down, and slightly frizzed in an effort to look as innocent as possible, and then I began a slow trek up to the great hall for lunch.
I knew from the moment I sat down in my seat beside Professor Snape that things must have gone very badly at last night's celebration after my activities. I was close enough to smell him, and though he still smelled like herbs per usual there was a hint of copper about him. He had bled last night as well, and apparently hadn't had time to shower properly yet. A tiny piece of me felt badly for him, but the majority of my soul rejoiced that he was being punished for his wicked ways.
"Good afternoon professor," I said quietly as I took my seat, holding my breath when the pain in my chest peaked.
"I will not be in attendance at the lesson this afternoon, I have other business to attend to," he snapped, clearly not interested in any polite conversation. "Try not to blow anything up."
"That ought to be difficult," I laughed harshly, immediately regretting it, but stifling a wince so as not to give away the fact that I was injured.
It became clear pretty quickly that there was not going to be any sort of news about the three wizards who were no longer wizards. It was being kept very hush hush, so I was unable to decipher if there were any suspicions being cast in my direction. My only compass for discerning the risk was how Professor Snape acted around me, and while he seemed even more short tempered, that seemed to have more to do with lessons he was being forced to give Harry Potter than with me.
I decided that it was time for me to strike again, and this time I wanted to hit a little closer to home. The three death eaters I had taken down before were so unimportant, at least according to the history books, that I had already forgotten their names. I wanted a name of a high caliber this time, and I set my sights on Rabastan Lestrange. I would have liked to go after Bellatrix Lestrange, after guessing just how depraved she must be that someone that was not her husband would assume someone pulling them into a painful yet intimate hold was her, but I could sense that she would be one of the hardest to reach. It didn't help that I hadn't ever really fought a woman before.
And so I started to plot and scheme, only to realize that with the whole group of death eaters mostly attempting to fly under the radar at the moment, there was only one place I could look for them. It was incredibly risky to return to the scene of my crime, but short of outright stalking Professor Snape I didn't have a lot of options. After much internal debate, I decided that I would wait outside the gates of the Malfoy Manor and attempt to apprehend Rabastan after he left the premises.
So I waited, spending far more time in the lab than was strictly necessary, doing my best to keep tabs on Professor Snape, so I would know when he was leaving again. If he left the castle, that greatly increased the chances that there was a dark meeting taking place, and then I could make my move.
It took until halfway through March for me to actually catch him leaving.
As soon as he reached the gates of the school, I ran flat out back to my chambers to quickly change and hide away a couple vials of my potion. My goal tonight was Rabastan, but if I could take down someone else, I certainly wouldn't hesitate to do so. When I was once again shrouded in black I slipped out of the castle and hurried off to engage in misdeeds.
This time when I arrived outside of the gate, there was no one in the yard. They seemed to have learned from my last visit that perhaps lingering on the grounds was not a good idea. I smirked at their demonstration of fear, and then I nestled myself amongst the hedges and settled in to wait.
I hadn't been prepared for just how long I was going to have to wait. Whatever they were doing in there took up most of the night, and the very first bits of light were starting to lighten the sky when groups of men in black robes began to leave the house. Luck was on my side in the fact that they had chosen not to keep their masks on. I waited patiently as the filed out, and breathed a nearly silent sigh of relief when I saw that Rabastan was bringing up the rear with his brother Rodolphus.
I held my ground, waiting until they cleared the gates, and then I placed my hand casually over my wand where it was holstered against my thigh. Though I had never actually cast an unforgiveable before, my theory was solid, and I did not allow my confidence to waver as I cast the imperious curse. I exerted my will over Rabastan, and felt the smile creep on to my face when I saw him turn to his brother and start speaking.
"I've forgotten something, I need to go back," he said in a quiet convincing voice. "I'll catch up to you."
"Tell Bella to hurry along, I don't know what is taking her so long," Rodolphus answered, clearly not at all worried about letting his brother wander off on his own.
Rabastan began walking back toward me, and that was when my conscience got the better of me. I didn't have I in me to keep him under the imperious as I stole his magic from him, so I let him get within a few feet of me and I released the spell. There was a moment where he was blinking in confusion, trying to clear his head of the fog, but I made my move before his mind was entirely cleared. I swept his legs out from under him sending him sprawling onto his back.
He was at my mercy, and he was hidden from view of the house. I would be revealed if any of the people leaving turned to look back, so I would have to work quickly and silently. While he was still dazed, I clambered on top of him, pressing all of my weight into his throat with my right arm effectively silencing him, while I struggled to hold his body with my hips while he tried to buck me off. It would have been easier if I could just stun him, but I needed him awake and able to swallow.
I grunted softly when he managed to land a blow the easily broke my nose. I was bleeding on him, and my eyes were watering thickly enough to nearly blind me, but I carried on. I pulled a vial from inside of my glove and unstoppered it from with my teeth, tipping it into his mouth, and fighting back a gag when I saw my blood mixing with it on the way down. As soon as I saw him swallow I stunned him, and then immediately apparated away before anyone could discover me.
I disappeared from the manor, and reappeared on the outskirts of London, in a park that I knew had a public restroom. I couldn't risk going straight back to the castle, and possibly running into Professor Snape; especially when I was still bleeding profusely from my broken nose. I hustled into the loo on the edge of the park, sealing the door behind me so that no one could surprise me while I was working.
I had learned from last time. I took the time to learn the proper incantation and wand movement for healing broken bones, and I remember to procure the bruise paste that I needed before I actually needed it. I moved my wand intricately in front of my face as I cast the spell. There was a jarring snap followed by several less dramatic movements as the broken pieces knit themselves back together inside of my nose. My nose stopped bleeding immediately, but my face still looked rather swollen.
I cleaned up the wet and dried blood from my face, and dug the tube of bruise paste out of where I had hidden it away in my hair, and applied a generous coat around my nose, and under my eyes where it was most likely to bruise. It was enough to get me back into the castle, but I was going to need to ice my face tonight if I hoped to look entirely normal by morning.
"Have you been working on the combative potion that you said might suppress a person's magic for a limited amount of time," Professor Snape asked unexpectedly while we worked together in the lab, sending my heart into a sprint though I managed to keep my face impassive.
"No I abandoned that branch of potion making when I discovered who my relative is," I said dismissively, focusing my attention on the pepper up potion I was brewing so as not to seem too bothered by his question.
"Pardon me if I question that answer, as you appear to smell of billingsroot," he said as he swept forward into my personal space without preamble.
"I'm sorry?" I said, taking a tiny step back and gathering my wits as quickly as I could. "I believe you are smelling ginger rather than billingsroot. Did you not imbibe in the ginger cake at lunch as well? It was delightful."
"I do not enjoy ginger cake," he said thoughtfully, though his eyes seemed to say that he believed what I said about the scent. "I suppose that is ginger however. I am in need of billingsroot, do you have any in your personal stores?"
"I'm sorry Professor Snape, I don't," I lied smoothly. "Would you like me to start growing you some?"
"That would take several months to mature," he snapped at me, and I knew he was distracted from the initial point of this inquiry.
I just shrugged at him, trying not to enjoy his frustration too much, and I went back to work on my potion. My heart was still pounding in my chest, but thankfully I hadn't broken into a sweat or started breathing heavily enough to give myself away. The way his fellows were dropping had turned his attention to me, but he seemed to have been convinced that I wasn't involved. I needed to be much more careful now however. I could not afford for him to actually find me out.
Things were growing hectic as the year went on, and the only thing I was grateful for was that the insanity of Umbrige replacing Professor Dumbledore, and something dramatic that seemed to have happened between Harry Potter and Professor Snape, was that the potion's master seemed far too distracted to pay attention to me. Whatever suspicions he had of my involvement with the death eaters that had lost their powers, they seemed to have slipped his mind in light of the new developments.
It allowed me enough space to start planning a better method of attack. I couldn't keep going back to the Malfoy Manor or I was going to end up getting myself killed. I was certain they had increased security beyond anything I would be prepared for, and I had certainly given up the element of surprise. So while Professor Snape was distracted with the school dramatics, I began to look into the daily habits of known death eaters that had somehow managed to keep themselves out of Azkaban.
Most of them seemed to be firmly entrenched in their lives, and didn't venture out to do things that put them within my reach. Of course I wasn't feeling like attempting an attack in the middle of the ministry or out in the daylight while one of them might be shopping in Diagon Alley, so my options were limited. There was only one person with traceable ties to the death eaters, though he didn't seem to have actually taken the mark, that took to areas I would have a chance of launching a successful attack.
On the first day of the Easter break, I dressed down so I would look less like a young woman and more like a hag, and made my way to the Hogs Head to ask around about Fenrir Greyback. I learned a lot of about what he was doing now, and what he had been doing in the past. There was no question as to whether he was a dark wizard. I didn't really even have much question as to his association with He Who Must Not Be Name, as Greyback associated with more than one known death eater.
My only real question, was whether I was willing to take the risk. He was physically intimidating with just his size, but more than that he was a werewolf, and there was a real risk if he got the drop on me. Somehow the risk of him killing me, didn't get my heart pounding nearly as much as the risk of him biting me. The lunar cycle being far from a full moon did little to ease my fears.
In the end, the risk of leaving him at large seemed worse, so I began plotting. He frequented a dive bar just off of Knockturn Alley, and was known for leaving quite late in the evening, so I made plans to be there when he left to go to wherever it was he lived. I was dressed in my black clothes that let me hide in the darkness, but I was venturing into a public area, so I took the added precaution of hiding beneath a disillusionment charm. It wouldn't help once I got moving, but knowing I was there, and spotting who I am certainly aren't the same thing.
I found myself waiting outside the bar for far longer than I had been crouched in the bushes on my last hunting expedition. Apparently Greyback enjoyed his time at the bar, staying well past two in the morning, when I had assumed the bar would be closed by. My annoyance at waiting grew the longer I waited, but so did my hope that he would be far too drunk to put up much of a fight.
He came stumbling out, thankfully alone, a little after four in the morning, and I was anxious to make my move. I barely waited for him to clear the doorway before I swept out of the shadows and launched an attack. I went for the back of his knees first, hoping to use his drunken swagger to my advantage. He keeled forward, one knee crashing to the ground, but I realized as he held himself up from falling on the ground that he wasn't nearly as drunk has he had seemed to be.
He was also faster than I expected, and he swung back smashing a fist into my hip and propelling me backward. I winced as my body crashed painfully into the brick building, but I dodged to side as he lunged at me causing him to crash headfirst into the same wall. He growled in anger, and lunged for me again, his fingernails tearing at my flesh as I tore myself from his grasp. I kicked at him to keep him off me, and I felt the first real panic begin to build in my chest. He was stronger than me, and faster than me, and I might just have bitten off more than I could chew.
He lunged again, and I flattened myself onto the ground allowing him to bowl over me without dealing much damage. I grabbed his ankle and pulled back as he tried to to move forward. I used his bodyweight to bring him crashing down to the floor.
"Bitch," he hissed as I attempted to pin him from behind.
He flipped onto his back, crushing me with his massive weight. I attempted to get him into a head lock and subdue him much like I had Bristow such a long time ago, but he snapped at me, and I barely managed to get my arm out of the way before he tore flesh from bone. I wasn't sure if he had broken the skin, but his teeth had definitely made contact.
I fell back on self-defense tactics my father had taught me when he first noticed that I was a girl, and I brutally gouged both of his eyes. He howled in pain, and flipped us quickly, sending me sprawling across the ground, and leaving himself crouching in an animalistic stance with an evil grin on his face. I realized in the half second before he lunged again that I had no chance of beating him, and my only shot was to try and land a quick blow and immediately run for it if I wanted to live.
I pulled the only vial in my glove and threw myself into a prone position lying on he ground as he lunged at me. He landed on top of me, and I swiftly smashed my palm up into his throat, breaking the vial between us. I felt it tear my skin open, but his tore as well, and I smashed as much of the potion into the wound as I could before I rolled within the cage of his arms and apparated away.
I appeared for a moment in the park I had previously visited, just to be sure he hadn't followed me in my apparition, and then I departed immediately for the gates of Hogwarts. I sunk to the ground, on the verge of a faint, and let the adrenaline run its course. I was shaking from the force of it flowing through me as I drew my wand and began to wash my hand thoroughly. There didn't seem to be any glass in the wound, and I cleaned it several times until I was sure that I had gotten all of the blood off of me, but I wasn't sure if it would be enough. Not only could I not be certain if my potion would have the proper affect the way I had administered it, I may have inadvertently just made myself a werewolf by allowing his blood to come into contact with mine.
I felt tears starting to burn my eyes as I tried to calculate when the next full moon was. I should find out in less than a week if I had effectively ended my life as I knew it. I tried to calm myself by noting that his teeth at least hadn't broken the skin on my arm, but my mind seemed to be filled with images of his blood dripping onto my hand instead. I was terrified, and I felt as if I had failed entirely this evening.
I was thankful that we were on Easter break, or the impending mental break down as I awaited to answer to whether or not I was a werewolf, would have been far too easy for Professor Snape to spot it. Instead I was able to stay hidden away in my room as I slowly unraveled. I grew a bit sicker each day, and I couldn't be certain if I was ill because of how worked up I was, or if I was ill because my first change into a werewolf was approaching me.
A part of me wished I could simply take the wolfsbane potion each night and make it easier on myself, but it would poison me if I were not actually infected with the werewolf mutation. So instead I spent my time alternating between hiding in my bed crying, pacing nervously back and forth, and storing away all of my possessions in the hope that I would not destroy them if I were to transform.
It was six days of hell, but eventually on the night of the full moon, I fell asleep. There was no fur, no painful transformation, no waking nightmare. There were plenty actually nightmares, but when I awoke the next morning I bathed my pillow in tears of joy that I had maintained my humanity. I was so relieved I felt like all of the bones had melted within my body, which made it incredibly difficult to pull myself out of bed and make my way to the potions classroom for the first second year lesson of the summer term, but somehow I managed it.
Professor Snape floated in and out of the lab while I worked on a regular basis, but his appearance shortly after my encounter with Greyback was striking. He had a black eye and a busted lip, and I thought he might actually be limping, as he searched through all of the cabinets for something.
"Where is the bloody bruise past I brewed last month," he snapped at me, turning his abused face toward me.
"I don't know sir," I lied, my shock at his appearance likely hiding my guilt. "What has happened to you?"
There was a moment's hesitation. It wasn't long enough to be suspicious, but it was long enough to immediately turn my mind to his dark alter ego.
"I somehow found myself in a bar room brawl," he said with a smirk that would have previously set my blood on fire, instead it stopped my heart in my chest.
He might not know who was doing this, but had figured out how he was going to be best able to defend himself. He had begun fighting, and he might not have the head start that I had, but somehow I knew that if I were to end up in a fight against him, I would lose.
"Well perhaps this merits a bit of a dry spell," I said, hoping it sounded like a joke, rather than panicked babbling. "In any case, I think I remember now that you sent the bruise paste up to the hospital wing. Why don't I go fetch it for you?"
"Thank you Miss Riddle," he said, and his voice was just soft enough, that again I remembered that I used to like him.
I scampered out of the room to fetch the bruise paste that was actually in my possession already, before he could confuse and frighten me further.
I threw myself into working within my apprenticeship, and it wasn't until the end of the year exams were upon us that I realized I was doing it out of fear. There had been time to take more risks, but I hadn't taken them. The death eaters had likely grown complacent in the months that I avoided any moves against them, and there was no one to blame but myself. I was terribly afraid. I was a coward.
Each time I thought of striking again, the picture of that last moment in the fight against Greyback where he could have ended me flashed before my eyes, and all thought of continuing was driven from my mind. Instead I had focused all of my attention on the students of Hogwarts, which was perhaps why I was well aware of what the golden trio had been up to at the ministry of magic.
I was embarrassed to admit that it was the blind faith of those students who followed Harry Potter into his suicide mission that renewed my faith in my own abilities. Yes, there had been a close call, but I was still alive and well, and I still had a duty to put an end to this madness.
And so I watched the students leave the school, and I watched the Professors begin to leave as well, but my attention was focused on Professor Snape. I was going to take my worst risk, and follow him. It was too close to home to actually strike against him, but I was going to let him lead me to where the action was taking place.
I had already petitioned with Professor Dumbeldore to remain in the castle for independent study, and been approved, so I didn't need to go through the motions for appearing to have left for the summer. I was expected to be working in the lab, so I didn't have to hide away and be secretive about the fact that I was keeping myself in close proximity to the potion master's chambers. The only real challenged with the plan I had concocted was finding a way to actually follow him out of the castle without getting myself killed.
There were apparently no death eater gatherings right at the end of the year, and I was afraid that he was simply going to retire to his home for the summer, and I would be forced to come up with a new way to sneak within their ranks again.
Luck was with me three days, or I suppose nights, into the summer break when Professor Snape left his chambers as darkness was falling on the grounds, wearing heavier robes than he normally would. I suspected that he had his mask hidden somewhere on his person, and I took the risk of following him out of the castle.
I was taking precautions. There was a strong disillusionment hiding me from view, and a heavy silencing charm erasing any sound of my movement. Knowing his sensitivity to external forces I was taking the added precaution of not watching him as I followed after him. The occasional glance as we proceeded across the grounds seemed brief enough to keep him from noticing that I was on his tail.
I put so much work into not alerting him to my presence that I acted a complete idiot. The only way for me to follow him as he apparated away was to make physical contact, and to do that would surely reveal my position. It had been a stupid oversight, but what was stupider was to decide to take the risk anyway.
As he turned on his heel to disappear I lunged out and firmly grasped the hem of his flaring robes. I managed to pull myself along with him, but I felt him try to jerk away, and I knew without a shadow of doubt that he knew that I was there. I had likely blown my cover, because frankly who else would have been lurking at Hogwarts?
I was committed now, I couldn't back out. As soon as we arrived at the gates of Malfoy Manor I staggered away from him, praying he wouldn't see a shimmer that betrayed my position. I managed to put a good ten feet of distance between us, before Professor Snape proved yet again that he was far smarter than me. Secrets, secrets, what's the cost my father's voice whispered in the back of my mind.
"Finite incantatem," he called as he brandished his wand in the direction he knew I had to have gone when we arrived. Secrets, secrets, all is lost.
I was visible, and he could clearly hear the gasp I tried to stifle at being revealed. I still had a modicum of mystery, as I was hidden by my black garb, but he had spent nearly every day of his life with me for years now. Surely he would recognize my figure.
He began to advance on me, and my fear of facing a fight with him was quickly being realized. What was more than that, several other death eaters, who I could not name as their masks were in place, had noticed the situation he was in, and they were moving in. I was completely and utterly screwed, and the only direction I could run to get away from the group of them was toward the mansion which was sure to mean more trouble for me.
I turned on the spot, attempting to apparate away, and with a sickening turn of my stomach I realized that I couldn't budge. Hadn't Professor Snape just apparated in? How was that possible if there were anti apparition wards in place?
I nearly vomited when it occurred to me that they might actually have a different form of travel amongst there group, and I was now trapped. My blood no longer seemed to be pumping through my veins as I turned back to face the group that was closing in on me, and I prepared to do something I had told myself I would never do.
This would be a fight to the death, and frankly I had no chance of winning.
I dodged to the left as a green flash shot towards me, and suddenly my blood was pumping full force once more. I left my wand holstered to my thigh, and used the advantage of having both hands free to throw two stunners in two different directions. I let out the tiniest breath of relief when two of the six men bearing down on me fell.
I immediately had to roll to the left to dodge another spell that I suspected had been the cruciatus. I threw myself out of the roll moving swiftly from a crouch up to my feet, throwing a blind stunner in front of me as I began to run away from the Malfoy Manor. That meant running directly at the crowd of men, but it seemed to be the last thing they expected, and it gave me a moment's advantage.
One body dove to the side, and I suspected it was Professor Snape, but I ignored him threw another set of stunners with my arms extended to the sides, directing them at the bodies I was attempting to pass. They fell much like the three I had already hit had, and it left me with just one attack left. I threw my body forward, falling into an all-out run while attempting to keep a shield erected behind me to ward off an attack.
I could feel it as I was approaching the end of the magic that kept me locked firmly to the ground, and for one brilliant moment I thought I was free, but then a body fell from the sky onto me, and I collapsed to the ground with the weight of it. I attempted to pull myself free from his grasp, but he had me firmly by the hips and I could not free myself.
He flipped me over roughly, and I attempted to force him off of me. He had me firmly pinned to the ground, and the only real leverage I had left was in my arms. I swung for his face, but he dodged me before landing a blow to the side of my head that sent pain burning through me like a wildfire. My head was knocked to the side with the force of it, but my the real fear spiked in my chest when I felt his fingers wrap around the top of the scarf that blocked my face from view. He jerked it down and his gasp filled my ears.
"Addi?" he said, utterly shocked to see me in this situation.
Had he really not realized it was me?
"Oh no," he groaned as we heard other's approaching, and he threw his body forward so most of it was covering me while pulling the scarf back over my face to hide my identity. "Scream."
It was a whispered demand in my ear, and it made no sense to me. His body began to move over me and I did not understand it.
"Scream damn it," he hissed in my ear. "Make them believe I am hurting you."
I understood then. I began to scream, and fight, and put on quite the show while he moved over me. I was afraid of dying, and I was sickened by the fact that he was portraying a rape to entertain his cronies. More than that though, I was shocked that he was protecting me. He knew that I was the one attacking his comrades, and instead of punishing me and turning me over to his leader, he was keeping the others away from me.
"She's mine," he hissed over his shoulder. "It's my bloody apprentice, and I deserve my pound of flesh. I will dispose of her when I am done."
His words made me sick. I could feel tears burning tracks down my face, and I could hardly see our surroundings anymore. I saw enough to know that his fellow death eaters had backed off. He continued to move for a few moments more, and then he became very still over me.
"You must return to the castle immediately, hide in your chambers until I come for you, do not allow anyone near you unless the know to call you Addi," he whispered in my ear before he pulled away from me and pulled me up from the ground as gently as he could.
"And now, your escape will have to be believable," he said softly as he removed his mask, revealing himself as a death eater.
I had already known it as truth, but seeing it was something else. Seeing him remove the mask, and suspecting that he may not truly be a death eater after all was extremely confusing, but then again this entire night was suddenly beyond my grasp.
"If you could draw blood without breaking any bones I would appreciate it," he said just as quietly, before dropping his arms to the side impassively.
I just stared at him for a moment, trying to understand. Did he really mean for me to attack him? Was he really choosing not to defend himself, so that I might survive my colossal mistake?
"Now Addi," he demanded harshly, and I snapped to attention.
Yes, that was really what he was asking of me. My mind latched onto the image of him keeping me absolutely safe, while pretending to defile me and in that I found the strength to do what he asked of me. I lunged forward and landed two quick blows to his face. One split his lip and the other drew blood from his nose, but I was confident that there would be no lasting damage. I kicked his legs out from under him, leaving him sprawling on the ground, and mentally praying that he could act out any other injuries he thought he might need to be sporting when his friends came to investigate.
I spared him one last glace, his image blurred with my tears, and then I ran.
If you would like some intense music to listen to while reading this chapter, that doesn't really fit into the slot of 'song for this chapter' but works well with it, I suggest this youtube video:
watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=CAsRnFa4NlY
just take out the spaces and the link should work.
