Part 14: The First Confrontation
For some strange reason, I kept having disturbing dreams about Neville Longbottom's face and how he looked at me as he died.
Each dream began with a gray fog, so thick that I couldn't see what was there. I walked through the fog until I stumbled over something I couldn't see. I would search the ground and after a few moments the fog cleared and Longbottom's body would appear. He would cower and his mouth open in silent screams. His face was purple and contorted in the most disgusting expressions . . . the look of pain and yearning for death. But his eyes . . . his eyes were different.
They looked at me with this expression . . . like he wanted to tell me something. That, more than anything else, was what disturbed me about these dreams. I would not call them nightmares, although I did wake up in a cold sweat after each one. And I had at least one a night. They began to irritate me so much I mentioned them to Father.
"You are growing soft," he laughed. "No . . ." I said musingly, tapping a finger on my cheek. "It is almost . . . like he is trying to tell me something. Something important. It is like the dream itself is an omen." Father smirked. "An omen, Cynthia? What could that ridiculous Longbottom boy possibly have to warn you about?" I shrugged. "How am I to know?" Father laughed at my seriousness and patted me on the back. "Why don't you take a Serene Sleep Potion and be done with the dreams?" Father asked. "Perhaps I will," I smiled at him.
He ruffled my hair as he used to do when I was a small child.
Our tender moment was interrupted by an urgent knocking at the door.
Father swept into a chair and nodded at me. I opened the door to see Severus Snape, looking rather irritated. "You may enter," I said with the hint of arrogance I knew would rouse him to a fury. He glared at me and strode in, kneeling on the floor in front of my Father. I closed the door and went to stand behind Father's chair, making it seem like Snape was kneeling to me as well. His eyes glinted with anger, but he kept his expression a mask of indifference. I stifled the urge to laugh as my Father told him to rise.
"My Lord, we have found Potter," Snape said, deliberately avoiding my gaze. "And where is the Chosen One?" Father asked sneeringly. "Staying in an abandoned house close to the old Black crematorium, Master," Snape said quickly. I snickered. Snape looked appalled and glanced at Father as if he was hoping I would be punished. "Cynthia," my Father began. Snape's expression was exultant. "You will accompany Severus in one hour to the Black crematorium and bring Potter back to me. Kill the Mudblood and the blood traitor."
Snape's face fell and he opened his mouth to say something. I beat him to it. "All right," I sighed, picking at my cuticles as if I didn't greatly care. Snape's eyes widened at my impertinence and he kept glancing from me to Father with wide eyes. Father merely waved his hand at Snape in dismissal. Snape backed out of the room, gave me one more caustic glance, and shut the door.
"You do egg him on, don't you daughter?" Father said, amused. "That is because it is so fun," I said happily, sitting on the arm of Father's chair. "So Potter took the bait, didn't he?" Father nodded. "Yes. I am glad I thought of putting a fake necklace in place of the real one." "When did you do it, exactly?" I asked. "Oh, way before Dumbledore found the ring," Father said airily. "You see, I learned he was going around trying to collect information about me and what I had done after graduating Hogwarts a year after I recovered my body. I meant to retrieve all my Horcruxes, but my time was considerably encroached upon and I was only able to recover this."
Father touched the locket that never left my neck. He smiled at me. "I left the fake necklace, along with a note to lead Dumbledore astray. R.A.B. Regulus Abraxus Black." He laughed. "And look where it led the little Golden Trio." I laughed with him. "Father, am I to be under Snape's command?" I asked after a few minutes. "He is considerably more experienced in this sort of thing, Cynthia," Father said soberly. "I expect you to obey him." I sighed. "Fine. But you owe me." He burst into a rare fit of amused laughter.
"And what will my lovely daughter want in exchange for this submission?" he asked. I screwed up my face, pretending to think hard. "Can I play with Potter before you kill him?" I asked finally. Father laughed again. "Catch him and I'll say yes," he said. "Now come. We must meet Severus downstairs."
Snape and ten other Death Eaters, all the cruelest and quickest with their wand, were waiting in the downstairs hall. Snape ignored me completely as Father gave his orders. We were to capture Potter and kill the other two, unless one or another of the Death Eaters wished to bring the Mudblood back as a toy.
I have to say that Snape and I had the same disgusted expressions on our faces when Father said this.
When everyone was ready, we Disapparated, appearing in a small alleyway some ways from the home Potter was believed to be staying at.
Snape divided us into two groups. I was in his group, which was to enter the house and attack. The other group was to stay outside; circled around the house to make sure no one ran out and stayed alive. They were also to cast wards around the property so no one could Disapparate or somehow get away. With these instructions, we approached the house with caution.
We could see shadows moving about the windows, through tattered, filthy curtains. To our surprise, there were not three but four people inside. Snape contemplated this for a moment and then gave the signal to attack.
We burst in the door, catching them by surprise. Potter, Granger, Weasley, and a girl I recognized as Weasley's sister Ginny all shouted in fear and shock. I could tell when they tried to Disapparate . . . the fear on their faces when they realized they couldn't was just wonderful. Hexes and curses began flying everywhere. The four somehow dodged all the curses and ran into another room, going down a trap door into the basement. Snape motioned for me and two others to follow him downstairs.
I went last. Before I even descended the first step, I could hear Potter berating Snape for killing Dumbledore. Suddenly a cloud of darkness enveloped the basement. I was confused, for I knew it was not a spell. "It's that bloody Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder!" Snape shouted. I was shoved aside roughly by an invisible somebody and fell hard on my side. Someone broke a kitchen window and I realized what Potter and his friends were trying to do. I raised my wand. "Petrificus Totalus!"
Something fell to the ground with a loud thump. I heard three thumps hitting the ground outside and I ran to the window. "They're out here!" I cried, but it was too late. There were three cracking sounds on the street and I knew they were gone.
But we had one of them.
Snape and the others ran up the stairs. "They're gone," I said calmly. Snape's face grew white as he thought of the consequences of not completing orders. "There's one here on the floor," I told him, watching as his expression grew hopeful. "Who?" he asked sharply. I shrugged. "I don't know. Let me see." I raised my wand. "Prodeo!"
The red hair and white freckled skin of Ginny Weasley appeared before us all.
Without a word, Snape picked the girl up and walked outside. "We leave now," he told the others, and we all Apparated back to the manor.
Father was not pleased.
I don't know exactly what he said to Snape, but it must have been really bad as he wouldn't let me in to hear it.
Snape came down to find me, looking very pale but determined. I was in a small room off the downstairs hallway, keeping an eye on the girl. She was sitting in a corner, her knees drawn to her chin, staring at me with a combination of hatred and fear. The moment Snape walked in, he closed the door behind him and glanced at me.
"We are to question her," he said spitefully. I yawned. "All righty," I said cheerfully. "Do you want to question or punish?" The girl shuddered, her gaze transferring from me to Snape, whom she stared at with loathing. "I shall question her," Snape said, taking a seat by the door. "You . . . you filthy monsters," the girl said quietly. I rolled my eyes. "Get on with it, Snape," I said irritably. He stared down at the girl, a small smile playing about his mouth.
"Where is Potter going?" Snape asked calmly. She said nothing. "I will only ask once more before you will be hurt," Snape told her. Still she said nothing. "Where is Potter?" asked Snape again. Nothing. I smiled and raised my wand. "Crucio!" The Weasley screamed and twitched in pain. Snape nodded to me and I released her. "Where is Potter?" Snape asked, crossing his arms and leaning back in his chair. "I won't tell you," the girl gasped. I looked at Snape, who was smiling. He shrugged and I aimed my wand at her again. "Crucio!"
When her screams subsided, Snape asked her the question again. I had to use the Cruciatus Curse on her twice more, and still she would tell us nothing. "That will be enough for today, Cynthia, don't you think?" Snape asked me. I nodded. "Yes, we don't want to kill her before she talks. You know, I think she might even last longer than that Longbottom boy did if we decided to keep going with the Cruciatus. She's a tough one." Her head raised feebly at the mention of Longbottom and she narrowed her eyes at me. "Yes, I killed him," I said airily, smiling at her. She shuddered and passed out.
"Shall we take her down to the dungeons?" I asked Snape. He shook his head. "No . . . give her a proper bed," he said thoughtfully. "I want her all rested up for tomorrow." I grinned at him and he returned the smile before he left.
Thinking how weird it was that Snape and I were getting along, I conjured up a bed and levitated the Weasley girl into it, binding her there tightly. Then I went to the kitchens to get something to eat.
Torturing someone does make one rather ravenous.