A/N WARNING - DO NOT READ THIS CHAPTER IF YOU ARE ABOUT TO EAT OR HAVE JUST EATEN!

Hard To Swallow

Ron closed his eyes and tried not to think about what he was doing.

Harry would tell him to do anything to stay alive, to stay strong, and survive for as long as it takes. Hermione would demand he take no risks and not let his pride get in the way. She would order him to keep himself healthy and not antagonise the people who had power over his life. His mother would beg him to just keep quiet and do as he was told.

Ron thought of all of these things as he ate peas out of the Puppet Master's cupped hands and felt the hateful swine's skin beneath his tongue. He tried not to cringe whenever he heard the satisfied sounds coming from the dark wizard. He would sigh or moan in a mocking way as he pushed a portion of the indecipherable meat between his lips. He occasionally made Ron take a piece of parsnip so deep into his mouth that it hit the back of his throat and made him gag.

"Some wine Firebrand?" the Puppet Master said after Ron swallowed the latest mouthful.

Ron didn't say a word as he watched the Puppet Master reach out for the bottle and fill a glass to the brim with the deep red liquid. Ron tried to shift his immobile arms against the straps that bound him in place. He would sporadically attempt to test them, to loosen them, in the hope that he could break free and suffocate the warped murderer with brussel sprouts.

"Open up for me," the Puppet Master purred as he held the glass before Ron's lips and began to tilt it, "here's to the Dark Lord."

Ron suddenly heard Fred and George in his head yelling for him to spit the wine in his face. Ginny was looking at him with disgust and asking him how he could have forgotten what Tom Riddle had done to her all those years ago. Charlie was calling him a cowering lap dog and a disgrace to the family. The wine flowed past his lips and across his tongue.

Ron thought it tasted sour and bitter. He drank all the same. Behave yourself and find a way back to them to explain, he told himself. He gulped and the glass tilted further, flooding his mouth with even more of the rich red wine. He had to tell Hermione everything he should have already told her. He had been wrong to put it off; he knew that when he was hung in the cell all that time. That was the greatest pain of all, knowing that if he were to die in that cell she would never know.

The glass tilted further, nearly draining completely into his mouth now, as Ron hurriedly swallowed and tried to inhale through his nose before taking in the last of it. Harry would want him to stay alive. His mother would be mortified if he didn't come home. Hermione had to know.

And then there were the messages. He had to deliver Maccario and Prang's messages.

"Divine isn't it Firebrand?" the Puppet Master purred as he pulled the empty glass away from Ron's lips.

"Mmmm," Ron hummed shortly as he swallowed the last mouthful and hoped it was time for the others to be fed soon.

Again he tried to move his arms. The bonds were as secure as ever. He bit his tongue and watched as the Puppet Master peeled another strip of the meat from the enormous platter in the centre of the table.

"Delicious isn't it?" he smiled as he dropped the meat into his own mouth slowly and chewed.

Ron gave a single nod.

The Puppet Master smirked as he chewed and tore off another, larger strip of meat. As the flesh was held before Ron's lips the Puppet Master swallowed and leaned in close to his face.

"Say it Firebrand," he whispered.

"Say what?" Ron asked as he tried to move his head back a little to keep the dark wizard from stroking his lips with the warm juicy meat.

The Puppet Master pushed the tip of the meat between Ron's lips forcefully and purred.

"Suck it and tell me it tastes delicious."

Ron didn't manage to remind himself of Harry, Hermione and his mother in time to stop himself scowling. The meat was pushed deeper into Ron's mouth where it stroked his tongue and pulled backwards over his bottom lip slowly.

"Suck on this delightful flavour and tell me it tastes delicious," the Puppet Master's voice was almost growling at him now, though his face was the picture of ecstasy.

Ron felt the meat slide back into his mouth and he sucked some of the flavour out of it, it tasted like his mother's roast chicken with onion gravy, her face was suddenly as clear as the Puppet Master's before him and she smiled at him and told him to be a good boy and do as he was told.

"Delicious," Ron said as the meat was drawn back out of his mouth slowly, his voice was barely audible but it seemed to have been loud enough for the Puppet Master to swell with joy.

"Well eat dear boy," he said, shoving the whole portion into Ron's mouth and gesturing for him to chew, "eat your fill and drink all you wish and then it will be time for your friends to feast."

Ron ate a little more until he couldn't stomach the Puppet Master's closeness any longer.

"That's enough thank you," he found the nerve to say as strongly as possible.

"You are full?" the Puppet Master asked with an arched eyebrow.

Ron nodded.

"Then you may return to your cell," the sly wizard said as he shifted in his seat to face Ron directly, "after you have cleaned your plate."

Ron glanced down at the table before him. He hadn't used a plate. There was no plate to clean. What was he on about?

"But I didn't…" Ron frowned before his words were lost and his eyes widened in horror at what he suddenly understood.

The Puppet Master was holding up his sticky hands before Ron's face and grinning with sheer delight.

"You have made a mess Firebrand," he said, almost victoriously, "and I can not greet my other guests in this state now can I?"

Ron heaved a sigh of resignation and tried to look anywhere but at the man's jubilant expression.

"Can I Firebrand?" he said again, more forcefully.

"No you can't," Ron snarled back through gritted teeth.

"So we are in agreement!" he said happily before offering his right hand up to Ron, "Clean it."

Ron took a deep breath in and out, gave himself a mental bracing and leaned forward to lick the man's large, sticky palm. He did so over and over again, wiping the residue of the food from the front and back of the Puppet Master's hands. Soon they were wet and shiny and Ron leaned back in his chair and tried not to smack his lips in distaste.

"Done," he said quietly.

"You think that is clean?" the Puppet Master said disapprovingly, "You are not only a blood traitor but also an uncouth mongrel of a wizard?"

"I'm not the one eating with my hands!" Ron found himself spitting back at the wizard's misplaced superiority.

"I asked you to clean…your…plate Firebrand!" the Puppet Master barked back as he rose from his chair and towered over Ron with his intimidating build, "You will not be insubordinate to me jongen. Do not think that I got Callahan to heal you for anything other then to see you break at my hands again!"

Ron realised that he had never seen the Puppet Master lose his temper as badly as this before. He had got to him in some way. He could get under his skin and make him forget his game plan. He could make his lose his composure. He really did have some power in this game after all.

"I don't break at the hands of a coward who attacks and unarmed wizard and calls it a duel," Ron said with a smile.

"You were armed," the Puppet Master snapped back, too quickly and hurriedly to really convince Ron that he had got a handle on his emotions once again, "I gave you your wand."

"You took away my arms though didn't you?" Ron laughed, "You put a wand in a useless hand and you hit me with everything you had and I still didn't bloody die did I?"

Fred and George were roaring their approval inside his head and his heart. Hermione was screaming for him to shut up.

The Puppet Master grabbed Ron's face in his huge clammy hand and snarled directly into it. That sickening purr Ron had grown to loathe was losing its confidence and shaking with anger.

"You will perish when I am done with you and not a second before that Firebrand," he was pressing his powerful fingers into Ron's jaw and the flesh of his cheek so hard that Ron could feel the bruises forming already, "I will use you until you bore me and then I will discard you like the worthless blood traitor you are. Do you understand me?"

"No," Ron said with determination.

"Am I not speaking English jongen?" The Puppet Master growled into Ron's face.

He was so close that Ron could almost scratch his face with his stubble.

"No," Ron said again, "English is a civilised language and all I can hear from you is 'I'm a perverted cunt!'"

The Puppet Master struck Ron with such force across the side of his face that his couldn't hear anything but a high-pitched whistling sound. For several seconds he saw black spots burst before his eyes. They faded to let him see the dark wizard holding his hand before him and blowing across his knuckles before staring back at Ron and pulling his wand from his robes.

"You need a shave Firebrand," he said abruptly and tapped his wand against his grazed knuckles before directing it at Ron's face and casting the shaving charm at him.

"Can you brush my teeth too?" Ron said insolently.

"They still have yet to eat remember?" the Puppet Master said as he nodded towards the cellblock, his old confident purr returning little by little as he reminded himself who had the power.

Something inside Ron made him feel that he was still in a good position in this game now. If he could have the guy reeling after he was literally eating out of his hand and tied to a chair then he was bound to be able to intimidate him on an equal playing field.

The Puppet Master launched himself right into Ron's face and sent his chair rocking backwards ever so slightly with the force of his hands grabbing the front of Ron's t-shirt.

"Are you going to play nicely or do I have to give you a handicap?"

"Some would call being tied to a chair a handicap," Ron said as he sat rigid, determined not to squirm under the Puppet Master's leering presence.

The Puppet Master seemed to swallow another violent outburst and leaned in close to whisper into Ron's ear. The moist heat against his neck was like steam from a recently boiled kettle and Ron wondered if the man was a fire-eater or something of the sort. His breath was always unnaturally hot and made Ron's skin prickle as if it was sunburnt.

"I own you jongen," he breathed, "I have claimed you and I will have my fun until I choose to finish you."

The Puppet Master grabbed a handful of hair from the back of Ron's head and yanked it back hard. Ron hissed and gritted his teeth and the Puppet Master ran his tongue from Ron's collarbone up to his jaw before grinning.

"Good enough to eat Firebrand," he leaned back to take in the sight of his toy strapped into the chair, head pulled right back, exposing his throat, "Remember I told you that won't you?"

The Puppet Master gave Ron a hard pat on the side of his face after releasing the grip on his hair and flicked his wand at the bindings around his arms.

"Back to your cell, I will send in guards with the food for the others," the Puppet Master yanked Ron out of the chair and shoved him hard in the back towards the cellblock door as it swung open.

Ron couldn't believe how well that had gone for him considering the punishments he had taken up to that point. He was slightly unsettled about that as his cell door swung open and he was ordered back inside. Something else was happening tonight and he couldn't figure out what it was.

One thing he was sure of though, he wouldn't have to wait long.

Every cell had been given a huge slab of the meat, several handfuls of assorted vegetables, and as much wine as they asked for. They weren't given plates or indeed anything other then the food itself. The only receptacle they had were wooden goblets for the wine.

Everybody ate quietly, after some reassuring from Ron that the stuff wasn't poisoned as he had seen the Puppet Master eat some of it himself. Lee had been insistent on being told what had gone on between the two of them while Ron was alone with the Puppet Master. Despite his need never to tell anybody about his degradation Lee's newfound lone-protector identity wore him down and Ron had told him about the feeding and the hand licking.

Lee had said nothing. He had just looked at Ron and gripped his shoulder firmly for a second before looking away and tearing off a lump of meat from the bone.

"I'm not going to do nothing while this is going on Ron," he muttered, "I'll get myself hexed, beaten...whatever it takes. I'm not going to let this 'touching' thing go on."

Ron gave Lee a pat on the back before crawling across the floor to Tommy.

"Just eat yer dinner mate," he whispered before picking up a handful of roast potatoes from the floor and holding them out before Tommy in his hammock, "Want some of these?"

Tommy took one of the smallest potatoes from Ron's hands and popped it into his mouth. Ron waited with the handful while Tommy chewed and swallowed painfully slowly. His shaking hand reached out and took another modest sized spud from the pile and began to eat that before Fergus's voice called out from his cell.

"Y'know something's not right about this but while the wine's flowing I'm not complaining!"

"Don't get too hammered Finnegan, they might be counting on a hangover in the morning," Sam Robbins warned through a mouthful of something.

"None of us should drink too much alcohol," Krum was suddenly saying sternly, "we should ask for water. Alcohol dehydrates when you take too much. I have uncle who drinks, I know what I'm talking about."

Ron called out from his position crouched beside Tommy, who was refusing any more potatoes as he chewed.

"Wine was all that was on offer," Ron called out, "I think if we start making requests he might play one of his salt water cards or something."

"I know Ron," Krum said, moodily, "I just don't think we should be getting drunk."

"No, you're right," Belby was saying, "calm down on the wine Fergus."

"Jaysis you lot know how to kill a party don't cha?" Fergus scoffed.

"If you think this is a party you're going to be delighted when you go to one of my parties!" Dean Thomas said.

Fergus laughed and went back to eating noisily.

Ron stripped the last of the meat from the oddly shaped bone they had been feeding from in their cell and broke it up into small pieces between his fingers to make them more manageable for Tommy. He fed Tommy, little by little, and tried not to make a comparison between what he was doing then and what the Puppet Master had done to him before. It was true that being fed by the hand of another was quite an indignity but at least Ron wasn't making it degrading in any way.

"D'ya think you can manage some greens or some carrots or something Tom?" Ron asked as the pile of meat gradually reduced in the palm of his hand, "I think you need the vitamins in them."

Tommy laughed and nearly choked on a piece of meat. Ron jumped up and gave him a firm pat on the back before Tommy lifted his arm to signify that he was fine. Ron settled down with a wince of apology.

"You sounded just like my mum then," Tommy strained to sit while still slightly amused.

Ron rolled his eyes and broke into a grin.

"Oh great, I've become the woman who pesters you to eat your greens before you can leave the table," he snorted.

"You mean we can leave this table?" Fergus exclaimed from the cell next door, "Well why didn't yer say so? Peakes chuck us a sprout!"

Ron, Tommy and Lee sniggered at this, as did others in the cellblock, before Jimmy Peakes spoke up through a mouthful.

"There I was trying to tunnel out with my bare hands all this time and all I had to do was order a portion of cabbage!"

"Stil!" a shout came from the door to the cellblock as a Death Eater with a white streak of hair clapped his hands together and strode up the narrow corridor between the cells and cast a haughty gaze into each cell as he passed.

"Wat is erzo grappig?" he hissed before standing to attention as the huge shadow of the Puppet Master stretched across the floor and grew against the wall, swallowing the Death Eater in it's darkness completely.

"Now, now," the Puppet Master drawled confidently, he had obviously regained his composure after getting flustered during his confrontation with Ron, "Zegtsorry" he said as he stared at the Death Eater before him.

The Death Eater with his white streaked hair, almost like a skunk, made a 'pft' sound. The Puppet master's eyes flashed and the other wizard's voice spoke up clearly.

"Sorry."

"Ga!" the Puppet Master ordered with a scowl and the skunk-haired Death Eater hurried out.

Ron shifted himself to block Tommy from view while Lee did the same thing in front of Ron as the measured treat of the Puppet Master sounded against the stone slabs of the cellblock floor.

"Did you enjoy your meal jongens?" he asked them all lazily.

None of them said a word. The Puppet Master clicked his tongue against his teeth and suddenly all the scraps were vanished from the cells, obviously with the wave of a wand.

"Well do thank the gracious host for a fine dinner," he said, that sickeningly superior tone of his making Ron's skin crawl.

There was still no response.

"You jongen! Thank your host," the Puppet Master was demanding lazily.

"Thank you for the food s-sir," Colin Creevey stammered.

Ron saw Lee's body tense up on hearing the fear in the small wizard's voice and Ron wondered exactly what had happened in the far cell to have frightened Colin into complying so eagerly.

"Good," the Puppet Master sighed before wandering down the cell block, stopping back outside Ron's cell once again but turning to look into the cell opposite, "Now Mr Thomas, Mr Sloper, do thank dear Mr Weasley for his charming presence at my table. If it weren't for his...table manners you would not have been able to share in this feast at all."

"Thank you Ron," Dean said with fierce determination to let the Puppet Master know exactly who it was in that cellblock who really had the respect of the prisoners.

"Yeah, thanks Ron," Sloper said, equally clearly, "you always look after us. Cheers mate."

Lee looked over his shoulder at Ron and seemed to be terrified that this display of loyalty towards his cellmate would lead to some kind of punishment. Ron forced a smile onto his face to let Lee know that he wasn't intimidated. Lee didn't seem to be reassured but turned back to the cell door anyway and lifted his head high.

"And now of course you must give thanks to dear Mr Prang for providing the meat."

The Puppet Master's words hung in the air like a axe over everybody's head and he sniggered before his footsteps sounded against the floor again as he slowly made his way back out of the cell block.

"No," Sam Robbins said with what sounded like a fist the size of Hagrid's in his throat, "we didn't...that wasn't...you didn't."

"Wha...What is he saying?" Cormac McLaggen said unsteadily.

"Oh and Firebrand?" the Puppet Master called out from the doorway, playfully, "You're right, he was delicious!"

"You fuck!" Ernie MacMillan growled as he threw himself at the door of his cell.

"No no no no no no no no no no no..." Marcus Belby began to chant over and over again to himself.

The Puppet Master laughed with utter joy and slammed the door behind him with a boom.

"Oh no, oh no," Rodger Davies said tremulously.

"That was a mind game right?" Fergus garbled out at the other cells, "That was a head game right fellas? We didn't just...We didn't..."

Ron felt his breath catch in the back of his throat as he pictured the huge roast in the centre of the table. How he hadn't been able to identify it. His mouth was suddenly flooded with the flavour that he associated with it. He looked down at his fingers, still greasy from tearing up the flesh for Tommy. He pressed his lips together and forced his eyes shut as the sound of the Puppet Master's voice reverberated inside his head, 'suck it and tell me it's delicious'.

"Oh Merlin no," Dean Thomas whimpered.

There was a gagging sound and before Ron knew what he was doing he was on his feet and bellowing through the opening in his cell door.

"Don't you dare throw up!" he ordered.

The cells fell silent but for the sound of Sam Robbins' panic attack getting rapidly out of control.

"Oh fuck, oh fuck, oh fuck, we...we...we, we ate him!" Robbins was straining the horrified words between gasps of air, "Da...D...Dan! We a...We ate him!"

"Sam calm down and shut the fuck up!" Ron growled.

"But Ron," Colin began, his voice sounding so meek and frightened.

"Nobody is going to throw up," Ron said, giving the cellblock a clear order, "If any of you do throw up you are going to scoop it all back up with your hands and swallow it back down again."

"Ron this is fu-" Fergus was protesting.

"This didn't happen to him for us to waste it!" Ron bellowed, "If we all puke that's it, we're dead this time tomorrow and you all know it."

An arm thrust through the opening of the far cell as Krum's voice spoke up.

"And he knows it too," Krum's arm pointed down at the closed door to the cellblock.

"Exactly," Ron said fiercely, "we've been too long without food and if we don't keep this down we're all dead within the day. He's done this because he thinks we're all going to puke and we're not!"

As Ron spoke the words he felt his own stomach churn and forced his mouth shut to concentrate on holding himself together and set an example.

"I ate a fucking person. I ate a fucking person," Robbins was whimpering.

"Sam stop, get a grip," Ron snarled through gritted teeth, "Dan would..." Ron found it almost impossible to talk about Prang by name.

Food wasn't supposed to have a name. He suddenly felt his knees give a little and at that very moment Lee was at his back for moral and physical support. He held him up with one arm around the waist and another hand was on his back while Ron took in a deep breath to compose himself and then stood upright again.

"If it had been me I'd be more pissed off that you wasted food," Ron found himself saying.

"Me too," Lee shouted over Ron's shoulder while rubbing his back firmly, "I wouldn't have eaten it if I'd have known but now that I have I owe it to D- him to stay alive and make what happened to him worthwhile and not just some sick fucker's idea of a joke."

"Prang was not a joke!" Ron found himself growling as his resolved returned with a vengeance, "We are not going to play along. We are not going to be the fucking punch line for a sick Death Eater joke."

"He thinks it's funny?" Robbins' voice broke thought his uncontrollable hyperventilation.

Ron looked at the cell beside the main door and called out with determination.

"We are going to prove him wrong. None of us are going to puke."

"Definitely not," Krum grunted his agreement.

"No puking," Colin said as if he was almost begging his own body to comply.

"Somebody's gonna have to knock me out 'cause I can't...I can't...I can't..." Peakes was stammering frantically.

"Shhh, it's alright, sit down for a second Jimmy," Rodger Davies was saying soothingly, "Just look me in the eye and take some deep breaths with me okay? Breathe with me Jim."

Ron gave a nod of thankfulness for Davies calming presence in his cell.

"It's one thing to say it Ron but my guts...I can't promise...they've, they're gonna do their own thing no matter what I want," Dean frowned from his cell opposite.

There was nothing Ron could say to change this. It was a fact of life. There was only so much a human being could do to hold of the need to vomit. Ron stared into Dean's eyes for a second before thrusting his hand through the opening and reaching out across the corridor for him. His shoulder muscles weren't really flexible enough for this to be comfortable but he did it anyway. Dean copied the movement and without any reasoning behind it, on instinct alone, they took each other's hand.

"We can do this," Ron whispered to Dean with a nod.

"Yeah," Dean agreed, and seemed to reach behind him to take Sloper's hand, "we can do this. This is to stay alive right? This isn't..."

"Don't think about it," Lee said as he placed his hands upon Ron's straining shoulder and began to softly massage it with his fingers.

"Oh thank you," Ron exhaled as he closed his eyes and rested his head against the cell door.

When he opened them again he saw Tommy staring at them from his hammock and gave him a sad smile. Tommy smiled back before closing his eyes. Obviously sleep was the best way for him to control his own instinct to purge. Ron squeezed Dean's hand and he squeezed back.

"You're okay, you're okay, that's it Jimmy. Good lad," Rodger Davies was saying to a now peaceful Jimmy Peakes.

"Yeh gonna be fine," Fergus was saying in as soft a tone as Ron had ever heard him use, "c'mon, we'll all sit and breathe together eh?"

Ron could hear Robbins break down, he sounded muffled and soon Ernie's voice was quietly shushing him and comforting him. Lee leaned in close to Ron and whispered into his ear.

"Is this helping or am I being a pain?" his fingers loosened around Ron's sore shoulder as he spoke.

Ron turned his head and looked into the wizard's dark brown eyes.

"Lee I think I fucking love you," Lee smiled at this briefly before resuming his massage.

Soon the cells were quiet once again. There was the occasional murmur of reassurance. Belby was sporadically seized by the need to gag but Colin was there for him immediately and by the time Ron and Dean let go of each other's hands everybody else was as quiet as they would have been under a silencing charm.

Nobody did throw up that night.