Mairi pursed her lips as she left the Potions dungeon. She was becoming much too word-y.
I don't know what it is, but there's something about this job that makes my tongue flap.
Maybe it was the unbelievable rush of adrenaline… that could be it.
Well, no matter what the reason, she had to learn to control her tongue. There were some things that must be done quickly… killing was one of them.
She was soon back in the corridor in which she had left Blaise. Time to have a bit of fun….
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Whilst Mairi had been gone, Blaise had not been idle. Though it had been a great strain, he had managed to use some basic wandless magic to partly heal his leg wound. It was still messy, but infinitely better than having blood gushing all over.
He lay quietly, hoping to regain some strength.
His body tensed every time he heard footsteps, hoping against hope that it was Hermione (or really anyone who wasn't a Death Eater), but no one entered the lonely corridor.
Finally, after what felt like hours, Mairi came waltzing up the hall, her gate not matching her expression. Her face was arranged to be sad— lips drawn close, eyes down turned, forehead creased— but it came across as more of a pained look.
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"Oh good, you're still here!" She said, sounding much too pleased with herself. "But I have bad news for you, I'm afraid. I found Hermione… and she's dead."
Silence.
"Oh, I almost forgot! Here, finite incantatem."
"You're joking," Blaise said simply. He refused to believe it. It couldn't be true; people didn't just walk up to you and out-and-out say 'nice to see you, someone you care about died.' It just didn't happen like that.
"No, unfortunately, I'm not," Mairi looked plaintively at him. "I found her just as a Death Eater was finishing her off…. I'll spare you the details."
"So you killed her." It was more a statement than a question.
"I didn't say that. I said a Death Eater killed her. There is a difference."
"Not from where I'm standing."
"Well, if that's how you feel, I won't try to change your mind…." She said adopting a regretful expression. She continued on conversationally, her tone again at odds with her appearance. "Well, I suppose I'll have to take you down to the Hall… I'll probably be rewarded for catching you, you know. You're not exactly a high-profile capture, but it'll do…. It should get better when they find out about Granger."
She helped Blaise up and tied his wrists with a flick of her wand. Tethering the end of the rope to her own wrist, she then began down the corridor again, Blaise following meekly behind her.
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Blaise Zabini was anything but meek. He may have been hobbling along behind Mairi, but his brain was turning in circles, trying to figure a way to escape. A way to find Hermione.
Unfortunately, he was finding it difficult to think—the pain in his leg kept cutting through any and all coherent thoughts.
Mairi pulled him into the former Great Hall, now dark and shadowy.
She led him almost to the front of the Hall, elbowing her way through the small crowd.
She stopped in front of a large throne and fell to her knees, arms outstretched, face to the ground. She gave the rope a sharp tug, bringing Blaise to the floor as well.
"My Lord," Mairi said reverently.
"Yes, faithful one?" An icy voice answered.
"I have returned, my Lord, with a prisoner, Blaise Zabini."
"You may rise."
She did so, leaving Blaise on the floor. She carefully averted her eyes, seemingly in awe of her master. Blaise thought she had never looked more like a little girl—cheeks flushed, nervous at meeting an idol.
"Rise, boy," the voice commanded.
Mairi dragged him up by the rope.
Blaise stared defiantly up at the Dark Lord, as if daring him to kill.
Voldemort smirked imperiously. Turning to Mairi, he said, "And what of the other one? I was told that two were wandering my castle."
"I have killed her, my Lord. Her body is in the Potions dungeon, I—"
"Show us."
Mairi bowed, looking slightly flustered. She knelt once more and put her wand to her forehead. She squeezed her eyes shut in concentration and then pulled what appeared to be a thin, silvery rope from her temple. Its sinews glistened in the half-light of the room as she carried it carefully over to the Pensieve that stood on a stool to the side of the dais.
The contents of the bowl swirled slowly around, lapping the edges. An image rose out of the depths revolving at a snail's pace; as it spun the image gained both color and clarity, going from a grainy, black and white to a vividly colored scene. Gradually it stopped spinning and began to play out the memory.
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Mairi rounded the corridor that led toward the dungeons, grasping the edge of a statue to propel herself around it. She caught a glimpse of a bushy haired girl running, terrified, turning a corner at the end of the hallway.
Good, she'd almost caught up.
Pushing herself to run faster, Mairi was barely in time to see which classroom the other girl entered.
Mairi entered the Potions classroom and immediately knew where her quarry had hidden. The only place big enough for anyone to effectively hide themselves was behind the oversize desk that sat in front of the blackboard.
She stopped abruptly and slipped her shoes off, holding them tightly in one hand as she made her way over to the desk. Once she was in front of it, she placed the shoes on the ground and whispered a spell. Then, as she climbed up on top of the desk, her shoes walked out of the classroom and down the corridor by themselves.
She crossed her legs and settled more comfortably onto the wooden desk.
Not two minutes later, her naïve little prisoner crawled out from under the desk and stood up, not even bothering to turn and check that she was alone.
The fool.
Mairi raised her wand and with a casual flick of the wrist had sent the smaller girl smashing into the dungeon wall. The girl peeked under her arm in an effort to discover who had found her. Mairi allowed herself one moment of triumph, relishing the flood of emotion that went racing through her veins.
"Gotcha."
The girl's eyes widened as an almost feral grin spread itself across Mairi's lips.
She lifted her wand once more and uttered one word more.
"Crucio."
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Blaise squeezed his eyes shut, unwilling to witness any more. Unfortunately he could do nothing to block the sound of Hermione's screams of agony.
For the next few minutes, he alternated between wanting to wrench his eyelids open and tear someone limb from limb and wanting to crawl into a corner and hide from the whole world. He could still hear Memory-Hermione's screams, mingled with the sick laughing of some of the Death Eaters.
He began to work on the ropes binding his wrists together. Might as well try and loosen them while no one was really paying any attention to him.
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"… Good-bye, Miss Granger."
Green light filled the dungeon and suddenly everything went very still.
Mairi seemed to have frozen; her wand still in position, as though she'd been petrified the moment she had preformed the curse.
Then slowly, she lowered her arm and a smile crept onto her face. She released a breath she hadn't known she'd been holding; the dungeon, which had gone impossibly quiet, seemed to be filled with the sound of her now heavy breathing.
Still grinning, she turned and fairly skipped out of the dungeon, riding the adrenaline rush that the kill had given her. She ducked around a corner and pulled up the edge of a long tapestry, exposing a hidden door. Climbing into it she—
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The Dark Lord stopped the memory with a wave of his hand. The hall seemed to grow lighter; all around the room people were looking around as though they had been in a trance.
Voldemort gazed contemplatively at the young woman in front of him. She was so eager to please him… she wasn't good for much, but at least she managed to capture the boy.
Finally he spoke.
"I seem to remember saying that I wanted them both alive…."
Mairi's eyes grew wide as she realized the danger she had put herself in.
'I'm sorry my lord; it shan't happen again. I was caught up in —"
"Silence."
The entire room went quiet. The Dark Lord had not spoken loudly, but even a whisper was enough to control his servants.
"You have left me with quite a dilemma, my dear. I ask for two prisoners, you bring me one. That is a punishable offence. I order you not to kill, but take them both alive and you disregard me. Whatever shall I do with you?" he said in a teasingly soft voice.
Blaise shuddered. Voldemort's manner was that of a chiding guardian, but his mere presence was enough to command the respect of an army – his army.
"I shall be needing a replacement for the dearly departed Miss Granger… I think you shall do quite nicely, Miss Edwards. Rookwood! Take our new guest and make sure she is comfortable."
"What? No! You can't do this to me—I've been loyal to you since the start!"
"I think you'll find that I do not tolerate failure, Miss Edwards… I believe Lucius Malfoy will be able to explain further once you reach the dungeons."
He watched impassively as Rookwood dragged her from the hall, cackling all the way. Once the great doors had shut behind them he lowered his eyes to the Death Eaters in front of him.
"Young Nott… take Mr. Zabini down to our best rooms, no doubt he will want to clean himself up after his long journey."
The surrounding Death Eaters started laughing and jeering as Theodore Nott came over and hauled Blaise onto his feet.
The Dark Lord sat back down on his throne and summoned a nearby Death Eater to him.
As Blaise was pulled from the hall, he overheard the order given.
"Inform the others, we will take no chances. The girl might have been able to notify the Ministry before she died; we attack at sunset tomorrow."
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"Thought you'd get away, didn't you?" Theodore Nott said, trying to goad the other boy.
Blaise said nothing.
"Didn't think you'd get caught, eh?" Nott tried again, almost desperate for a response.
Still nothing.
"Listen you, you'll pay attention when I'm talking to you! None of this silent tripe you'd always pull at school."
No reply.
"Did you hear me? When I'm talking to you, you'll answer me, hear?" He struck Blaise in the face.
In a moment he was lying, dazed, flat on his back on the floor.
As soon as Nott had hit him Blaise had reacted; pulling free of the loosened rope, he swung his fist out, catching Nott in the stomach. With his other arm he flattened him with a sharp blow to the side of the head.
As fast as he could, he bound Nott with the same rope that had been around his own wrists a second ago. Relieving the other Slytherin of his wand, Blaise cast a silencing charm on him and pushed him under the teacher's desk in the nearest classroom. He gazed hard at the other boy, wanting desperately to exact some sort of revenge.
Finally, after precious seconds had ticked by, Blaise raised the confiscated wand and whispered, "This is for Hermione."
Nott started wriggling, fruitlessly trying to get out of the way of the curse he knew was coming.
"Petrificus Totalus."
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Blaise was back in the corridor where it had all begun. However this time, instead of noticing the rain or wrapping his arms around Hermione, he was looking for a way out. He was desperately searching for the way back to Spinner's End.
After minutes of unsuccessful searching, he knew he could waste no more time.
"Draco! Draco, if you can hear me, I need help. I'm trapped in here!"
Nothing.
He slumped against the wall, ready to give up. He couldn't go on much longer, his leg was beginning to ache again and was rapidly running out of energy. Any chance he had of escaping was slipping away.
His vision began to grow cloudy, he could hear a commotion a ways off, but he didn't stand.
So tired.
He couldn't stand. It was all so pointless; he couldn't even begin to fight them anymore.
Then as he was slipping into the dim world between consciousness and the blissful dark, the stonewall opposite him began to move. The bricks slid into a doorway, the stones turned to wood, and Draco stepped out into the corridor.
"Leave me," Blaise said thickly. "They've killed Hermione…. They're going to attack the Ministry…."
"I'm here now, Blaise, I've got you. I'm taking you back. Can you throw your arm around my neck?"
Blaise nodded slowly and raised his arm. His whole body felt like lead, he could barely move. He saw Draco mouth something at him, but couldn't comprehend what it was he had said. A loud buzzing sound filled his ears and then an earth-shattering silence.
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The last of my awful cliffhangers. I'm sure we're all pleased (me most of all). I'm going to put my final note in this chapter as I'd like the very last chapter to remain as pure as possible, I think it'll be easier to process that way.
Thanks to those who reviewed, specifically AlifeOfShadows and I Own the Python's Cheese Shop who have been there since the beginning. Thanks to Serian, for being my beta—you've been a wonderful positive force. And lastly, thanks to you, the reader, who has put up with my sporadic updates, tangled up plots, and messy cliffhangers. There's one more surprise left to come.
Anyway, I've enjoyed this, but I'm oh so glad it's done. Like I said in the very first chapter, I'm much more a humor person. I find it terribly hard to write this angsty drama stuff. I hope you liked it; please leave me a review—I'd love to hear your thoughts.