Supply Room, Unknown Location, December 25th, 7:00 A.M.
After hours of methodical searching, Scorpius and Rose had unearthed a plethora of necessary items for their eventual escape. They had managed to scavenge a moldy knapsack that was missing a strap, several bottles of healing potions and creams, and a few cans of slimy, gooey fruit that had been preserved some twenty years ago. They had also recovered blank paper scrolls, which Rose had delightfully hogged, and a dried up inkwell with a bent quill that had seen better days.
Scorpius was better rested now and his wounds had scabbed over into painful sores. The potions and creams that they had found in the supplies room had greatly aided Scorpius in healing and the food they had scavenged from the cans had invigorated them. Rose's previously broken ankle had also been mostly restored with the help of healing potions and a bone setting spell that Scorpius had thoughtfully performed on her.
Unfortunately, the grotesque skull and snake emblem that had been carved into Scorpius' chest had remained inscribed in his flesh and had refused to be healed by any combination of magic or potions. Rose hated looking at that horrific scar peeking out from the collar of Scorpius' shirt, it scared her for some reason and reminded her of some long forgotten memory. She couldn't fathom having such a hateful thing forever embedded into her skin as a painful reminder of what she had suffered. She couldn't imagine how Scorpius felt about that. Scorpius had been mostly quiet on the subject and had largely ignored it, instead choosing to focus on more important matters such as how to escape their predicament.
In a rare mood of joviality, Scorpius had entertained her in the supply room when they had mercifully found food, canned fruit to be exact. Scorpius had opened the canned fruit with an unnecessary flourish of his stolen wand while Rose looked on in awe. Rose had looked on in wonderment as Scorpius transfigured a shoelace lying on the ground into a goblet, complete with studded rubies, and then filled the goblet with sparkling clear water. He had handed the goblet to her with a smirk on his face, clearly relishing in showing off his magical abilities. Rose had been impressed despite herself. After all, the only magic that she had ever witnessed was the kind of magic performed on street corners in the red light district of Melbourne, which had involved pulling scruffy rabbits out of equally mangy hats the one time that she had decided to "loosen up" with her friends. In retrospect, she might have imagined the street corner magician, she hadn't exactly been in her right mind at that time, being wholly intoxicated and all.
They both had then proceeded to choke down the slimy residue of what might have once been peach slices, but now had the consistency of a thick orange liquid, with the help of a transfigured spoon. They had decided to make a game out of it, trying to slurp their fruit soup as fast as they could. Scorpius had embraced the spirit of the competition and abandoned his utensil and slurped the soup straight out of the can. Rose had stopped eating to watch Scorpius in fascinated horror as he gulped down the disgusting food with alarming speed. Needless to say he won their impromptu competition and received a stomach ache for his trouble.
Rose had taken all the information that she knew about their bizarre situation and transcribed it all down on one of the paper scrolls, determined to write down every detail that she could remember. She had also made sure to write down every memory of her nightmarish trip to the supply room that her feverish brain had been able to retain.
Using her notes, they had been able to form a half-baked plan that largely hinged on the fact that not one of their assailants, except Teddy and Dante - knew that they were still in this giant mausoleum. They'd plotted possible exits and various scenarios that could be used by them to escape. Rose had insisted that they go back to the dusty dungeon entrance that Dante had led them to - where Rose had lain Dante's small form into that dark cavity. Rose's heart ached at the thought of the sweet boy who'd help her escape. She hoped that he had been able to get away from their pursuers, but somehow she doubted that such an optimistic event had occurred. She hoped that he was well at least, wherever he was.
Now it was all over, their preparation was done and Rose was vibrating with nervous energy, scared out of her wits, but at the same time her adrenaline was fueling her energy into a sharp deadly blade, ready to swiftly chop down any that stood in her way.
They both stood in front of the room, dressed in the same clothes that they'd worn to the Burrow, the clothes now little more than torn and bloodied scraps that were held together by grime and luck. Rose held the mended knapsack, stuffed full of the items that they'd deemed important to their escape, on her shoulders, while Scorpius held in his hands the wands that Dante had stolen for them.
Rose snuck a quick peek at Scorpius and saw a hardened man, one that knew of the uphill battle that faced him, but was still determined to fight every step of the way, despite the certain capture and subsequent death of their ragged persons.
Scorpius finished surveying Rose one last time, insuring that her knapsack held everything they needed and turned his stormy eyes towards her face.
"Ready?" he asked, raising an expectant eyebrow.
Rose hitched the knapsack up her shoulders and tightened her hands on the straps before giving a jerky nod in answer to his inquiry.
"Well then, let's go." he replied, before pushing open the heavy door that led to the horrors outside their safe haven.
"Run Scorpius!" Rose yelled in fear as another spell whizzed by over her head and smashed into an ugly, ornamental clock ahead of them.
Scorpius squeezed her fingers - tightly clenched in his clammy hand - in answer and continued running as Rose pulled him along, all the while dodging brightly coloured spells - that belied their vicious nature - that were thrown at them from their agitated captors. Rose and Scorpius were running through door after door of their maze like prison, unsuccessfully trying to find an exit for the last thirty minutes. Rose was getting rather frustrated by their lack of progress. She fervently wished that their was a giant EXIT sign to speed up their escape, but unfortunately they had found no such sign and had not yet escaped their horrific prison. Currently they were on the ground floor of the mansion, in one of the larger the dining rooms.
Occasionally, if their pursuers came too close to them for comfort, Scorpius would use his stolen wand and send a spell back at their pursuers, setting them back and letting Rose and Scorpius gain a small advantage.
Rose yelped as a cutting spell grazed her elbow, breaking her skin and causing a line of red to appear.
"You ok?" Scorpius asked her anxiously, his face turned towards her even as they continued dodging spells and avoiding bumping into furniture.
"I'm fine!" Rose yelled back, turning her face to look up at him.
As soon she looked back ahead, she realized her mistake. Her split second of distraction had cost her. There was a beautiful cherry red dining table just ahead of Rose, and Rose knew that her current momentum would cause her to crash straight into it and no doubt would be the ultimate death of her. Gulping and making a daring decision that would either kill them or save them, she ordered Scorpius, "Jump!"
She used the chair to gain height and jumped onto the dining table, pulling a stumbling Scorpius with her. She could feel her heart thundering in her chest as their pursuers never relented in their chase. She continued determinedly running along the length of the long table, and expertly jumped down, not taking the time to pause as she darted through another door, all the while never letting go of Scorpius's hand.
She recognized the room that they had darted into. It was the haunting room with the elaborate tapestries hung on the walls that she had dragged Scorpius's unconscious body through when she had been trying to escape the dungeons. Her heart sank like a stone at the realization. The room only had two possible exits, the one that she had just come through and the heavy oak door at the other end of the room which led to the dungeons. There was no escape, they were trapped.
Scorpius didn't seem to share Rose's thoughts and hurriedly pulled her along to the end of the room in front of the heavy oak door with the snake like carvings.
"Scorpius, there's no way out! This way leads back to the dungeons!" Rose whispered to Scorpius in panic, trying to hide her anxiety and miserably failing.
Scorpius looked startled at her declaration then furious for having trapped themselves. He cocked his ear and heard the thundering sound of footsteps, their captors were gaining on them. He looked frantically around the room, and seeing nothing to aid them, turned back to the door in front of them. He desperately examined the door, trying to find a latch or doorknob that could unlock it.
"There's no doorknob," Rose interrupted him, snapping out of her paralyzed state. She came near him and gently grasped his hand. Scorpius watched in wordless confusion as she moved his hand closer to the door and lightly brushed it against the carved surface of a protruding fang of one of the snakes.
Scorpius hissed in slight pain as the sharp surface of the fang brushed his finger and pierced it, allowing a few drops of crimson blood to land on the door. He watched in fascination as the eyes' of the snakes briefly glowed an emerald green before the door swung open when Rose lightly pushed against it.
Rose entwined her fingers with Scorpius's, not willing to let go of him and the small comfort that he offered her and unsteadily stumbled through the doorway back into the chilly atmosphere of the dungeon.
"There's nowhere to run," Rose said hopelessly as the oak door slammed shut behind them.
"What about the place where you hid Dante? Maybe we could hide there for a while?" Scorpius offered, his face grim and hard in the flickering yellow torchlight.
"We would have to find it first." she replied. "It is hard to describe but it looks like an unnatural kind of darkness. It should be hidden somewhere near the entrance."
He nodded his head in understanding and moved to the side of the dimly lit hallway, pulling Rose along with him, unwilling to relinquish the death grip that he had on her hand. Rose seemed to understand his reluctance and squeezed his hand reassuringly. They fruitlessly scoured the ground for a few precious seconds, straining and squinting as they tried to locate the hiding spot.
"It's not here!" Scorpius said in frustration, using his free hand to run it through his dirty hair.
"Well it has to be here." Rose said quietly, her lips thinning in annoyance, "We'll find it, don't worry."
Rose stepped further into the shadows of the walls, her eyes carefully moving over the ground, squinting and roving her eyes into every corner until, "There it is! I found it!"
Just as she excitedly declared her discovery, they both froze as they heard the sound of loud boots and smashing furniture directly behind the oak door that they had come through.
"Come on!" Rose whispered anxiously, pulling Scorpius down with her, so that they both knelt on the ground next to the familiar oily darkness.
Just as the door behind them swung open, they both clambered into the darkness, which swallowed them whole.
Scorpius and Rose were silently crawling through the oily black tunnel that they had crawled into as soon as they heard the door behind them opening. It was larger than Rose had initially thought and instead of the small cavity that she had thought it was, it was more of a long, narrow tunnel.
Rose had felt a pang in her heart when they had first climbed into the tunnel. She had almost expected Dante to be where she had left him, but he was no where to be found in the narrow tunnel. She assured herself that it was for the best. Dante had probably awakened and found his way out, besides, it wasn't like she could have take him with her. Still, she still felt the loss of the cheerful boy who had sacrificed the wrath of his mother to help them escape.
They weren't sure where it led, but they had been blindly crawling through the suffocating darkness for a few minutes now, trying to get as far away from their pursuer as they could. Scorpius had been keeping back his claustrophobia at bay by silently humming under his breath, but the darkness seemed to be pushing down from all sides and he was sure that if he didn't break the tense atmosphere, he would a panic attack.
"Can you please say something, Rose?" Scorpius quietly said, his voice slightly tinted with panic.
For one long moment, he heard no answer and he reached out frantic and blind fingers in front of him, trying to locate Rose.
"Ouch!" Rose answered a second later as his hand collided with her nose. She had turned around at the sound of his voice, but had been rudely hit by his flailing limbs before she could answer. "I'm right here you idiot!"
"Oh, I'm sorry." Scorpius replied sheepishly, chagrined by her terse tone.
Rose sighed, a little ashamed by her biting tone, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to be rude, this whole situation is getting to me."
"I understand," Scorpius said softly, "I just wanted to hear your voice. I panicked when you didn't respond."
"It's ok," Rose smiled a small smile in the general direction of his voice, "Let's continue, we don't want to get caught."
"Of course," Scorpius said in agreement before blushing as he voiced his next thought, "Do you mind...maybe talking? I just want to hear the sound of your voice. I feel a little claustrophobic."
"Sure, I don't mind talking." Rose grinned in the darkness, a little amused that an arrogant man such as Scorpius would be scared of small spaces. It was endearing, in a way, that even someone as confident as him had his own Achilles' heel.
They both continued slowly crawling through the darkness. Rose keeping Scorpius's panic at bay by speaking in a soothing voice, narrating her life in Australia to him and the crazy adventures that she'd had with her friends.
Scorpius slowly relaxed as his fear abated and he became engrossed in Rose's tales of delightful misfortunes.
Rose's voice cracked and then suddenly halted. Scorpius immediately started panicking again as the darkness pressed against his eyes with ferocity.
"What's wrong, Rose?" he asked in fear, trying to gulp in air into his constricting passageways.
"Scorpius, I think that I see a light ahead!" Rose said in burgeoning excitement, turning back to Scorpius and putting a comforting hand to his shoulder.
Scorpius slowly relaxed as air started flowing easily through his body again. "Rose, don't scare me like that again!" he admonished her, feeling a little cross that she had almost given him a heart attack.
"Sorry," Rose winced as she realized what he must have felt when she suddenly stopped talking. "But there's a light ahead. I think that we're going to escape!" Rose said with excitedly, her eyes brimming with happy tears as she thought longingly of escaping the nerve wracking mental and physical torture that they both had endured.
"Well then, what are we waiting for?" Scorpius asked, regaining his composure and beginning to feel hope beating in his heart again.
They both continued moving on their hands and knees, their spirits invigorated by the thought of escape, spurring them to move faster. Rose maintained her story telling, not just for Scorpius but also for her. Slowly, the speck of light at the end of the tunnel grew bigger, forcing their eyes to adjust to the blessed light. After a few more minutes, they reached the end of the tunnel.
Rose excitedly popped her neck out of the tunnel and whooped in excitement as she emerged in an oak excitedly scrambled out of the tunnel and helped Scorpius up as well. She smiled a bright grin of pure happiness at their surroundings, not caring that her knees and hands were sore and scratched from their trek through the tunnel or the fact that they had no idea where they were. She was just glad that they had gotten away from their dreaded prison. They were free.
She turned to look up at Scorpius, expecting to see a similar look of happiness on his face, instead she saw a harsh frown marring his face as he surveyed their surroundings.
He turned to look at her, "We're not safe yet. These are woods surrounding the manor that we escaped from. I'm not totally sure, but they most likely have anti-apparition wards set upon them, so that we can't apparate."
Rose felt frustration and hopelessness beginning to set in her bones. She abruptly collapsed to the ground, the adrenaline fading as physical exhaustion set in.
"Come on Rose, we can do this. It shouldn't be too far now." Scorpius coaxed her, kneeling beside her and gently moving her matted and dirty red hair away from her face and tucking it behind her ear. "We can do this."
"Really?" she asked him, looking up at him with beautiful eyes the colour of the tempest ocean. He was suddenly struck by how beautiful she looked, covered in dirt and sweat and looking at him with trusting eyes. His heart skipped a beat at the thought.
Stop being stupid! he chided himself. She's a squib and she's going back to Australia after this any way. You have more important things to think about right now.
He cleared his throat, feeling a little flustered at his traitorous thoughts. "Yes, of course we can."
He smiled at her and offered her his hand. She look at him for a moment, then graciously accepted the proffered hand and hauled herself up to her feet.
"Let's go." Rose said, her confidence restored.
Rose cocked her head and stopped Scorpius from walking, holding up a hand. She thought that she heard something rustling behind them. She could hear a sort of far off pounding sound that seemed to be growing louder. Her eyes widened in horror as she realized the implication of the sound and what it entailed for them.
"Scorpius!" she yelled in terror as knowledge crashed upon her like a heavy pendulum. "They're coming for us!" With that startling revelation, she grabbed his hand and desperately started running again, her thoughts piecing together an impossible truth.
The nightmares that she had been witnessing almost every night for the last few months...the oak tree forest that she had seen in every one of her nightmares...the blond companion next to her...the people chasing after them...using wands, it was all coming true. She knew now without a doubt who the people after them were, Death Eaters, or something close to them. She remembered one nightmare in which her mother had told her to run from the Death Eaters. the same nightmare in which her mother had been brutally murdered. The pounding sound that she had heard must be their horses. They couldn't apparate inside the forest, so that was why they were on horses, to better catch them and punish them. She shivered at the ugly thoughts.
She wanted to deny it, but somehow she knew that the nightmares she had dreamed of had been real. That they had somehow been leading up to this moment. If everything that had happened hadn't happened, if she hadn't found out that magic was real, she would have thought herself crazy for even thinking that she could - she hesitated to even think it - somehow dream of the future or snatches of future events. This brought up a plethora of questions that she unfortunately didn't have the answer for nor had the time to contemplate about.
She yelped as she almost tripped over a tree root and was pulled back up by her faithful, silvery-eyed companion, forcefully yanking her out of thoughts and back to the present moment.
She looked up at him and gave him a grateful smile, which he returned and then turned her head to look ahead of her so she didn't trip over her feet again.
The pounding of hooves could be clearly heard now. Rose's heart started beating faster as her nightmare came alive. It was one thing to think about it, but quite another to experience the same kind of growing desperation and feeling of utter hopelessness that her dream self had witnessed.
There was a painful stitch growing at her side, her breath came out faster and her lungs were burning with need for oxygen and she couldn't go on any longer and their captors were catching up to them, she could tell...
Scorpius had noticed that she had started lagging behind and he was practically dragging her at this point. He abruptly stopped running and veered to the side of the invisible path that they had been following, so that he was leaning against a giant oak tree, partially hidden under its branches. He pulled Rose close to him so that she was cradled against his chest, one of his arms protectively holding her close. Rose could feel his heartbeat pounding through his thin clothing, in harmony with the racing of her own felt an unnatural feeling of fear and exhilaration running through her, knowing that she had already experienced this same nightmare more than once, what was once more?
Scorpius looked down at her and hoarsely whispered in her ear, "They're close, but I think we can apparate away. We should be out from under the anti-apparition ward."
He quickly pulled out the stolen wand from his robes and swished it in a complicated manner. Instantly, Rose felt like her body was roughly being squeezed through a narrow tube, the air was being painfully squeezed out of her lungs, the sensation felt never ending and just when Rose thought she couldn't take anymore, her lungs were free and she doubled over and started gulping large mouthfuls of air into her lungs.
Magic is painful, Rose deduced from her many encounters with the strange phenomenon.
When she finally had enough air to satisfy her greedy lungs, she looked up to find that she was no longer in the oak forest but was instead in a damp, dark alley. She looked around cautiously to see that her companion was leaning against the side of the alley, looking winded and also gulping large mouthfuls of air. He noticed her looking at him and gave her an exuberant grin.
She smiled back at him and leaned against him, giving him a sideways hug. "We made it, Scorpius! We did it!"
He grinned at her and also leaned towards her, exuberantly returning her hug. "We did it..." he exhaustedly echoed her words.
"Where are we?" she asked him, breaking away from his hold and looking around the dirty alley curiously.
"Oh, I uh, apparated us to the first safe place I could think of, Diagon Alley." he said, looking abashed.
"A dirty alley? Really?" Rose asked him playfully, trying to raise an eyebrow, but failing miserably and making her whole face twitch ridiculously.
"What in Merlin's name are you doing?" Scorpius asked her with a laugh, noticing her facial expression contort to a painful degree.
"Nothing," she answered back, blushing a bit under his scrutiny. "Let's get out of here. I don't know why we're standing around here anyway."
"Let's go," he agreed, his good mood disappearing as readily as it had come, they weren't safe yet.
He grabbed her hand, not noticing Rose's surprised glance and entwined their fingers together.
"I'll apparate us to your house first. Your parents are probably worried sick about you." he told her.
"You're probably right." she agreed with a sigh. "Do you know where I live?"
"I think so," he said, his brow furrowing in thought. "Do you live in Gipsy Lane in Surrey?"
"Yes," she nodded her head, not able to muster any excitement for finally escaping and going home. She was so unbelievably tired, she just wanted to go home and sleep for a week, before getting up perhaps to figure the mystery of her concurring nightmares.
Scorpius gathered Rose closely in his arms, giving himself a moment to savor the feeling of her warm body and then used his stolen wand to apparate them to Rose's home.
December 25th, 8:00 A.M. the distribution of the famous newspaper, "The Daily Prophet"
"Terror strikes the heart of the Magical Community"
The Ministry of Magic suffered a terrible and vicious attack yesterday. Two guards - as of yet unnamed - were brutally murdered by an unknown assailant, who had the gall and audacity to blow up half of the fifth floor of the Department of Mysteries. As of yet, the cause of the attack is unknown and is being investigated by the bumbling Head of Aurror Department, Ron Weasley, who, as of yet, has refused to comment on the attack and has rudely told this fine reporter to "bugger off."
It seems that trouble might be brewing for the magical community at large, especially with an alleged act of treason reported in the wee hours of midnight at the book signing of "Henry Warlock and the Diamond." Disgruntled shoppers that visited Diagon Alley early this morning were shocked to discover that the famous bookshop, "Flourish and Blotts" was nothing more than a pile of ashes. Vagabonds and dirty scum that live on the fringes of our society have told this keen reporter that an individual with a dark robes and a black hood covering his features was seen loitering around "Flourish and Blotts" at midnight, just before the fire started. Personally, this famous reporter thinks that is simply bollocks and that the witnesses may have had a wee bit too much to drink before they passed out on the streets of Diagon Alley. By the time that the sleepy Aurors reached "Flourish and Blotts," the prized bookshop of our magical community was burned to a fine crisp. As of yet, the number of people that perished in the fire remains unknown, though reliable sources have indicated that it may be close to a hundred.
As soon as this inquisitive reporter heard of the tragedy, she immediately rushed to the scene of the crime to valiantly wrest some answers from the tight-lipped and incompetent Aurors that were swarming the scene. One such incompetent reporter named Hugo - another long haired pillock of a Weasley - commented that the media had no business being there and that we should abandon our duty to our dear readers and cease in our quest to find answers. Of course, this reporter did not abandon her duty to her faithful readers and managed to obtain more juicy and delightful tidbits. One such tidbit is the rumor that there was another such attack of terror on the home of reformed billionaire Draco Malfoy and his wife Astoria Malfoy in Wiltshire. The steely-eyed Malfoy earned a deep gash on his beautiful blond head from valiantly protecting his wife Astoria Malfoy. Thankfully, both of the Malfoys managed to apparate from their home to St. Mungo's, sustaining minor injuries.
Another rumor that has been making waves is the fact that the infamous house - if it can actually be called that - of the Weasley clan, aptly name "The Burrow" was also vandalised by an unnamed arsonist. There were no witnesses to attest to the truth of the rumor, but this truth-seeking reporter believes the rumor to be unquestionable fact. While many people may be rejoicing at the news of the demise of the squalid pigsty - including this reporter - the Weasley clan has been suspiciously quiet about the subject and have remained unavailable for comment.
I humbly hope that this gives all of my dear readers quite a lot to think about with their morning cup of tea. This accomplished reporter signing off until next time to bring you a tantalizing tale of mystery, depth and intrigue. - Rita Skeeter
A/N: I'm back after a pretty long time, sorry about that. *Bribes readers with hugs and strawberry cheesecake* I would love to hear your thoughts on this chapter, so please, please review and I'll PM you a special preview of what is to come in the next chapter. For those of you that don't have an account, please review anyway, I appreciate all feedback. :D I would like to thank everyone for following, favoriting, and most importantly, reviewing this story, your kind words keep me motivated. Special thanks to Psychotic Smartypants and No.1HPfanLuvsHP for being the only ones to review the last chapter. Adieu! :)