A/N: Okay, so definitely Scabior in this chapter, enjoy :)
"What?" They said in unison.
A nauseatingly tight pop later and they were all in an alleyway which smelt faintly like urine. Alice and Mia were manhandled through a flaky white door and into a stronger waft of urine.
At the sight of the red arm bands, the other men in orderly queues stepped aside and pressed themselves against the wall. The snatchers shoved their way into the cubicles and jumped straight into the toilets, before the girls could voice their fears. Another unpleasant movement through space and time and they appeared into a fireplace. Well, the snatchers appeared and stepped out easily, but Alice and Mia fell out onto the jade green tiles.
"Get up." The blonde leader moaned.
Another helped Mia up, "You have to step out as soon as you arrive, or the flames kind push you out. I learnt the hard way my first day and chipped a tooth."
Mia glanced up at him, "Thanks." She replied icily.
Alice glanced around and watched as people created a path for someone coming through, "Oh fuck." She whispered.
"Well, well, what do we 'ave 'ere?" A great cocky boom shook them to the core. Scabior.
"Are you Scabior?" The blonde man asked, grabbing Alice and Mia and shoving them forwards.
"Yeah, an' I guessed you've brought these two to me on express orders, eh?" He said, letting his eyes roam over the pair.
"Yeah...something like that." He replied, tightening his grip on their sleeves.
"Well you're not gettin' much for 'em 'ere...they're muggles. It'd be easier if we take 'em off your 'ands." Greyback snarled, eyeing Alice.
"They've got somethin' of yours." The blonde one shook Mia and she pointed the fake wand at Scabior. She watched as a slow fire flickered in his eyes.
"Oh goody," He growled softly, "I wondered when I was gettin' this back." He took the wand gently and slid it into the wand holster on his belt.
Alice suddenly broke away and kicked Scabior in the crotch, before grabbing Mia's hand and trying to yank her free.
"Come on!" She screamed, and as Mia slipped out of his grasp they bolted for a gap in the throng of workers.
"Where are we going?" Mia shouted as they flew past people who didn't seem as surprised as they'd thought. A steady thunder of feet behind them indicated that Scabior and his men were hot on their tails.
"My house! Grab on!" Alice cried, reaching an arm behind her as they neared a dead end. Mia grabbed hold of her little finger and there was a horrible noise and Alice was gone. Something ploughed into the back of Mia and she skidded across the shining tiles. Some workers had stopped to see what was going on.
Underneath Scabior, who had an awful grin on his face, Mia looked about desperately for her friend, but there was nothing there. She slowly began to be aware of a cylindrical shape still clutched in her fist. She looked down and opened her hand. It was a finger.
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Mia looked down at her plate. It was an indistinct meat of an indistinct colour and indistinct smell. She wasn't going to eat it. Even if it was a tender set of barbeque ribs she still wouldn't be hungry. A gnawing noise crept into her consciousness.
"Eat up." Scabior elbowed her, his mouth full of whatever it was.
"I'm not hungry." She mumbled.
"Suit yourself." He muttered, shoving more in his mouth.
There was a pause before Scabior sighed, "Give it 'ere then."
Mia tipped her meat onto his plate and averted her gaze.
Her eyes flitted over to Greyback who was chewing on what was previously Alice's finger. He nonchalantly picked his teeth with the tip and went back to licking the blood from his hands. Mia would have left had she not been magically linked to Scabior. She couldn't go more than thirty feet from him. There were no buts, she just physically could not go further. As was explained to her when they returned back to camp, if Scabior was thirty feet away and moved in one direction, a link on her ankle would pull her along with him, so she wouldn't be any further apart. He tested this theory by running away and laughing uncontrollably when she got yanked over and dragged along the ground like an outlaw in the old west. As a result of this her back had been scratched to pieces and Scabior refused to fix it because he wanted her to remember the thirty foot rule.
Mia twitched and glanced over at the tent. Others were scattered around the area, but Scabior's was the largest. And the cleanest. Well, they were all the same size on the outside, but it was the inside that impressed.
The tent was less than thirty feet away but Scabior had told her to eat with the rest of them and she wasn't really in the mood for a warning in front of the others. She was thinking about Alice. When apparating you had to be in as much of a calm and collected mood as possible, and when Alice apparated she must have been terrified. Losing a finger wouldn't have cause enough blood loss to make her faint. Probably. If she apparated to her room then she'd be fine. But what would her excuse be? It got run over by a bus? Either way she was in trouble. Mia thought about when she had apparated. She had never wanted anything as badly. Her mind was only in one place.
"Fuck me, I need a drink." Scabior burped and the others murmured an agreement.
Remembering what happened last time at the pub, and definitely not thinking straight, Mia let her eyes close and carefully fell backwards off the log. Trying not to wince as her head struck something pointy, probably a rock, she relaxed her body and concentrated on what she could hear.
There was a sigh, "That's your fault that is, Greyback."
"What?"
"You're eatin' her best friend's finger. I mean, come on...it's dinner time."
"Scabior," Came a growl, "It's 2 o'clock in the mornin'."
"Well if you feel it's your bed time then you're welcome to curl up by the fire. Fucking mongrel."
There was a pause.
Mia's heart sped up when there was a snarl. Like the kind you get from a lion if you trespass on his territory. No human could make that noise. His voice box must have been part monster to make that kind of blood chilling noise.
There was another pause and Scabior's voice, if slightly less confident than before, "Someone take Mia back to my tent before she gets eaten."
"Not you!" Scabior added hotly. There was a thump as someone sat back down. There was no need to guess who it was. "Tom. Leave her on the sofa."
She felt two warm hands under her legs and back and smelt a reassuring waft of tobacco smoke. There was a grunt as she was lifted to chest height. Thirty seconds later she was placed on a soft, musty smelling sofa. Mia braced herself for a wandering hand or whispered threat but she felt her shoes being yanked off and then the receding sound of footsteps. She chanced opening her eyes and saw the tent flap close, leaving a slither of the outside world and a cold breeze. Mia curled up, pulled a ratty cushion to her chest, and wept.
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She awoke from a strange dream where she was a tiny person, probably no more than four inches high. She had seen her dog go round talking, telling her family what to do. He was walking on his hind legs and wearing a flat cap, but what was more scary was what she awoke to. Scabior was half a foot from her face and studying the black smears around her eyes.
"You been cryin'?" He asked, tracing a finger down her cheek.
Mia let out a strangled gasp and wriggled away from Scabior, stopped by a hand leaning on the back of the sofa. It was stretched across her and didn't move an inch.
She turned back to look at him warily and watched as he studied her face carefully. A strip of sunlight fell across his cheek and through his white blue eyes.
"Hold on." He murmured, licking both his thumbs and smudging her eye makeup further up and down her face, giving her the look of some kind of gothic clown.
"What are you doing?" She asked, opening her eyes again.
"We're gonna go snatchin'."
A/N: Not sure where to go with the next chapter...suggestions are always welcome!