It felt like it must have been a day, or, actually, maybe it was just a few hours. Polaris stared up at the ceiling feeling boredom and dread take over. Probably more on the boredom part but not being able to use her powers suck as well.

In the guestroom Bellatrix dragged her in, it was plain and dull. All she could do for entertainment is to imagine 'what if'. Knowing that that may drive her into madness, she settled in counting in the different languages she knew up until she forgot or messes up. "Isa, dalawa, tatlo, apat, lima, anim, pito-"

She was cut of by a knock on her door. She sat up from the stuffy bed and stayed still.

"Polaris?" It was Alex. She layed back down without answering back and started to count again. "Un, deux, trois, quartre-"

Alexander, not waiting for a reply after knocking the second time, opened the door with slight difficulty. He came in balancing a big tray that contained various chopped fruits, a bowl of hot soup, and pieces of mouthwatering chicken. A glass of water was also wobbling a bit at the edge of the tray. He bit his lip when Polly avoided his gaze by turning her back on him.

"You should eat," he said. He placed the tray on the empty bed side table. The smell made them her hungry.

Polly stared at the food with a quizzical expression. "That's a bit too much for a prisoner, don't you think?" Her voice was a bit hoarse but was still steely and cold.

"You're not a prisoner here, Polaris," Alex said. He sat beside her and was glad that she didn't move away, even though he knew it was only to now show weakness or fear.

"Right. Of course." Polly smiled bitterly and added, "Because I'm a servant. A slave."

"No," he countered.

"Yes. I am," she said stubbornly, "Or, at least, until he gets me to do his dirty work. Which is 'never', by the way," she crossed her arms as she looked at Alex. She softened her voice, "You are, too. A servant, I mean."

"You don't know what you're saying, Polaris," he looked down to his lap. "You should eat before the food goes cold."

"What happened, Alex?" she inquired. She sat cross-legged across from him, like the times they used to play chess together. "You always wanted to be a leader. Make your own rules. Learn about politics. Change the world. The plans your father wanted-"

"I think my father has different plans for me now," he rapidly cut her off. He was snappy and obviously didn't like talking about his father. "And, we will be changing the world," he added, "even if you don't see it."

"Oh, I see it," she glared. Her gritted teeth was only one of the signs out of many that show her displeasure. "You'll change the world. By tearing it down, brick by brick, column by column, until all that's left id dust."

"Then we'll build a better one," he reasoned.

"The Alex I knew wouldn't say that." She shook her head. She stared at the food he brought her and decided to go for an apple. No use being stubborn because she'll need to strength to fight out of the horrid place.

"Then tell me, O All-knowing Black, what would the Alex you knew do in my position?" his eyes darkened. He was just taunting her and was being sarcastic yet Polly took this as a challenge and an opportunity.

"Help me escape." Alex scoffed. "We promised each other a long time ago to never let the other fall," Polly reminded him. That made him look away. It wasn't true, it was only he who actually made that promise yet he broke it anyway.

"If I do, I'll be setting myself up as a traitor of the cause," he weakly argued. Polly scoffed and rolled her eyes internally, 'Yeah right, the cause or whatever blah blah blah.'

"If you won't, you'll be... what? The renegade of the Renegades?" she hummed in contemplation. "Hmm, that does have a nice ring to it."

"You're asking me to betray him," Alex deadpanned. He was irritated of being reminded of their silly group.

"No." Polly shook her head. "I'm asking you to help me escape." She leaned closer to him. "I'm asking you to redeem yourself," she continued, "This isn't what you want, Alexander."

"How do you know what I want?" he snapped back. He stood up to leave.

"I might forgive you if you help me escape," Polly quickly blurted in a whisper. That made stop in his tracks.

"He'll kill me." At his answer, Polly's blood boiled.

She scowled. "You killed me! The second you dragged me here... you killed me," she finished with a hard tone. He looked back at her, only now did Polly see the dark rings of circles under his eyes. She sighed to calm down. "Please, Alex," she continued, "this is your last chance."

"I'm sorry Polaris," her once childhood friend replied with a regretful tone. He opened the door and took one final look at her.

"I'm sorry too," she said as she looked away. The door closed softly with a 'click' leaving her again in isolation. She listened to his retreating steps and when they were gone, she clicked.

Polly's eyes watered. She was shaking. She screamed in rage. A fire was burning in her gut. She wanted to break everything. She punch the flimsy pillows on the bed. When that didn't make her feel good she threw them furiously across the room.

She stood up and took the glass of water by her bedside and smashed it onto the wall. Shattered glass flew everywhere. Some even managed to make a small nick by her throat and legs. She turned and picked up the steaming bowl of soup and threw that as well, even harder this time. Unfortunately, a great amount of the hot soup had splashed unto her making her yelp in pain. She sank to the floor, hot tears flooding down her face. She pulled down the thick, warm blanket from the bed and just laid there feeling defeated.

Polly sighed deeply, her face flushed, and then closed her eyes. Her hands drifted to the necklace she had on. "Trust," she whispered. James said it symbolized their trust in each other. 'Where has trust gotten me now?' she thought darkly, thinking about the friend she lost to a monster.

=O=

Sirius saw that Regulus was not pleased with the conversation they had with Dumbledore. The Gryffindors left the matters in their Headmaster's hands. As expected. The frowns on the Slytherins' faces were evident when the two groups departed to their own common rooms.

"We need to do something," James said as they settled down unto the sofas in front of the fireplace. It was late and the Common Room was empty.

"We've already talked to Dumbledore," Peter said, biting his lip nervously.

"Yeah. He'll know what to do," Sirius agreed throwing a arm around Remus who was seated by his side.

"I'm not so sure about that. Well actually I-" Remus stopped himself. He shook his head and had a look of contemplation on his lightly scared face. "What I mean is that Polly already told him about Voldemort coming to get her," he said.

"Why didn't you tell us earlier?" James frowned.

"I didn't understand Polly before but now I... kinda do." Remus reminded them how the old wizard had talked about the matter. It was all 'leaving it up to him'. And 'wait for your orders'. Along with how he makes them feel like they now owes a huge debt to him somehow.

"And Polly doesn't trust him. At least, she doesn't want him being in control of everything," he explained.

"What do you mean?" Sirius laughed uncomfortably, sitting up a bit. "It's Dumbledore. Of course we could trust him."

Remus removed the Sirius' arm from his shoulder, and looked at Sirius accusingly. "Oh, so his soul-piercing blue eyes doesn't scream 'secrets' to you?" He was starting to get sarcastic. And Moony being sarcastic is no funny business.

"Okay lovebirds you can argue later," James rolled his eyes.

"But he's basically the embodiment of good. He can get my sister back. Right, Prongs?" Sirius looks at James for support. The other boy nodded unsurely.

"Uhh, yeah. I m-mean-" James stuttered a bit. He looked at Remus and said, "He can get her back but staying here and doing nothing doesn't settle well with me. We should start looking for her on our own. Dumbledore may help us get her back," he nodded at Sirius, "but that doesn't mean we have to wait for his orders. We're the Marauders for Merlin's sake." He exclaimed the last part and exaggerated it by flailing his arms out wide. "All we need is a plan," he stood to look at each of his friends' determined faces.

"Right," Remus jumps up from his place and joins James. He pats James on the back and turned expectantly to Sirius.

The gray, almost silver, eyed boy ruffled his hair as he was in deep thought. Then after a moment, he was nodding along as well.

"So we need the Slytherins' help?" Peter piped in.

"We need the Slytherins." Sirius confirmed. "Let's go."

James smiled and swung his arms around his best mate and basically dragged them all out of the Gryffindor Common Room.

A redhead had just walked down from dorm to Common Room and heard Peter's and Sirius' statements about needing help from Slytherins and was utterly confused. She shook her head and gave up on trying to understand the wild, care-free Marauders. She should have went after them and gave them all detention for being out after curfew but she didn't. "Boys," she sighed with a smile before going back up to the dorms.

=O=

"Good to know you've finally seen sense," Severus commented when they finally settled down in the Shrieking Shack. It had been difficult to drag the three Slytherins there since the trust between them wasn't really as strong as superglue.

"Oh, shut up, Snape" Sirius bit back. "So, Reg, have you brought it?"

Regulus raised a notebook to show everybody then placed it on the single table in the middle of the room.

"What is this?" James asked curiously, leaning closely.

Barty moved behind Regulus and opened the notebook to a random page. "Wow," he chuckled in amazement.

It was packed with sketches of routes, landmarks, and rooms.They were maps. Actually, it was like a Muggle Atlas, yet this one contained the layout of almost every Pureblood's house or mansion.

Regulus blushed, "I had lots of time to wander during summer."

"Reg likes to draw maps," Sirius explained. 'Like Polly likes to draw any interesting muggle contraption,' James added in his head mournfully.

Sirius continued, "Regulus loves memorizing everything about a place to the littlest cracks on the wall."

"I can speak for myself, Siri," Regulus said. But it made him happy inside to finally getting to talk and spend time with his older brother. He faced the others. "Okay, I may be a bit paranoid."

"A bit? I'd think you were plotting something devious if you weren't my dull best friend," Barty teased.

"Yeah yeah. But," Regulus playfully glare at Barty for interrupting, "I really don't like feeling lost or, more importantly, being lost. It's comforting to know a possible escape path to take, especially when visiting a new place."

Remus grinned when he puzzled it out. "You got the idea of making the Map from him, didn't you?" Sirius shrugged but smiled at his brother, who was rolling his eyes at him.

"These aren't charmed so we won't know who's in or where they're coming from," Sirius pointed out. "It would be difficult to find her."

"Can't you, I don't know, charm these maps to work like the one you have of Hogwarts?" Severus said, his arms folded and his eyebrow raised.

"Snape's right." James said. He ignored the weird looks he was getting. He flipped to the page of the Malfoy Manor and wow it was huge. "Well, come on then. Marauders, it's time to work our magic." He looked at the Slytherins and smirked. "You guys can start planning. I know a Slytherin's mind can be trusted for the best tactics and plans. It's time to save my lady."

=O=

"You know, you used to be my favorite cousin," Polly said to Bellatrix after a house-elf had cleaned up the mess she had made. She felt terrible for the poor elf but her mind was fixed to her wild-haired cousin.

Bellatrix smirked, "Is that so, Little Pib?" She leaned on the post of the bed, while Polly was seated on a chair by the near window.

"Yes," Polly looked up at her, "Only, if you didn't succumb to even the littlest Black madness for blood purity, you might still have even been the crowning pride of the House of Black."

Bella's smirk quickly fell and was replaced with the familiar sneer that indicates she's a little more than a little irritated. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"A Black 'never' bows down to anyone," Polly recited. "Yet here you are, the sidekick, the servant, the bitch of your so-called 'Dark Lord'."

The older Black moved in lightning speed and grabbed a fistful of Polly's hair. Polly didn't make any signs of pain other than the slight twitch of her eye. The crazed look in her eyes frightened Polly. But Bellatrix's demeanor and mood immediately changed again. And that always terrified the young girl even more.

Bella cooed and stroked Polly's hair. "He will be your Lord as well," she said, as if it would comfort her.

"Again, a Black never bows to anyone. You should know that. You taught me that yourself. Remember?" Polly's eyes turned pleadingly.

"You will learn more things from me. In the service of Our Lord." Bellatrix smiled in delight.

Polly groaned. "Ugh! Okay I give up." She planned on playing it cool but nope. Not anymore. She stood up shoving her cousin away. "You know what, Trixie? I actually have homework to do. So, if you could kindly show me the exits I'd be on my way." Her voice was dripping in annoyed sass. "I'm sure Mother and Father won't be too pleased with me missing out on school work."

Bellatix cackled at her, "Oh, they won't mind." She waltzed towards the door.

Polly furrowed her brows in confusion. "They know you're here, Pib." At that statement, Polly's eyes watered. In fury, rage, then finally helplessness. How many people she trusted have betrayed her? How many are going to? She started to even think badly of Amelia, the best mother figure in her life, 'Why did you have to leave me alone?'

Bellatrix knocked on the wood of the door to get her attention. "I almost forgot because of your tamper tantrum. I'm actually here to tell you we're relocating."

"Why? The luxuries of Malfoy Manor isn't enough for your Lord?" Polly attempted to rile her up again to mask her own pain.

"No." The curly haired on sneered then frightfully smirked. "Actually, a little friend of yours, or maybe two, overheard Potter and his filthy group of friends talking. They seem to have deduced our location. Now, we really can't have them barging in, can we?"

"So, you're running away? How cowardly," mocked Polly.

"Tell that to your dead elemental teacher." Thud. A heavy feeling rested on Polly's heart as she looked away.

Unbothered by Polaris' reaction, Bellatrix continued, sounding casual. "Anyway, we're moving you to Nott Manor. I do hope you'd be very cooperative. Because if not, when those band of blood-traitors and half-breeds come here to Malfoy Manor and "rescue" you, the only thing they will find is their own deaths."