Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor am I making any profit from this fanfiction. Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling, who thankfully allows others to play in her universe.

Chapter 26 Caught

Roxanne slipped out and ran silently across the classroom. She ran through the open door, if she could just make it to the tunnel she would be safe. A large arm grabbed her around the waist and jerked her into the air. The arm was so sudden and tight it forced the air out of her lungs. Roxanne struggled to breathe.

Her captor called to his companion, "I caught her." The other man came running as her captor set her down, but kept a very tight hold on her upper arm.

Roxanne could feel each and every one of his fingers pressing into her bone. Once her feet touched the ground her body seemed to act on instinct. She struggled to pull away again and again. She wasn't thinking anymore or she might've realized that she was not strong enough to pull free.

"We found the elusive Scarlet Gilpatric. The boss will be glad to hear about this," her captor said reaching for the walkie-talkie at his waist.

"Are you sure that's her?" The other man said.

Her captor laughed, "who else would it be? The only other kid not accounted for is some nobody boy." The other man nodded, and her captor pushed a button on his walkie-talkie, "boss, we found her."

The walkie-talkie crackled. "Where did you find her?"

"The science building, one of the teacher's offices."

"What was she doing there?" The voice asked.

Her captor shook Roxanne. Seemingly he was getting annoyed at her repeated attempts to break free. "Hiding as far as I can tell."

"Um, there was a radio in the office," the other man said tentatively.

Her captor immediately turned off his walkie-talkie, "what? Was she using it?" He shook Roxanne again and tried to look her in the eyes, "were you using it?"

Roxanne kept her face turned away, but she managed to shake her head.

"Liar," her captor shouted at her, as he started to drag her toward the office door. The other man followed behind.

Once in the office her captor forced her into the desk chair and turned on the light, "who did you contact?" He slammed his fist down on the desk causing Roxanne to jump.

"It doesn't work," Roxanne said having to force the words out.

"Liar," her captor yelled again.

"I don't know this thing looks pretty old," the other man said.

"Put your money where your mouth is and see."

The other man shrugged and reached over and flipped it on, just like Sevastian had earlier that night. Sevastian, who might return at any moment.

Roxanne didn't want Sevastian caught too, and focusing on him made it easier to speak, "there's only static." She spoke loudly in case Sevastian was near by, determined to protect him if she could.

Her captor squeezed her arm a little tighter, "you better not be lying." The other man had turned the radio around and put the headphones on. He was fiddling with the knobs, hopefully Big Fish was not broadcasting. "Well," her captor asked after a painfully long few minutes.

"She's right, there's nothing but static," the other man said.

"Good" her captor said jerking Roxanne to her feet, "then there's no reason to mention this to the boss." Then her captor pulled Roxanne towards the exit of the building. The other man following behind.

Keeping her head down Roxanne tried to watch for Sevastian, or a way to warn him without the men noticing. Halfway down the science corridor, Roxanne tried to go towards the door she'd entered by. Her captor yanked her back, "if you know what's good for you, you'll stop trying to escape." Roxanne was confused, but grateful that he had misinterpreted her movement. How had the terrorists gotten in? Had they broken window like in the dorm room?

When they got to the front door, the second man hurried forward and pulled a ring of keys out of his pocket. It took him several tries to find the right one. Roxanne's captor balled his free hand into a fist and relaxed it impatiently. Finally the door was open. Her captor pulled her out, not waiting for his companion who had pause to lock the door behind them.

They didn't head to the front office as Roxanne had expected, but towards the center of campus and the old gym. Maybe that meant she would see Mandy soon.

Roxanne tried her best to keep up so her captor wouldn't jerk her around so much, but nothing seemed to help. The whole way there Roxanne saw no sign of Sevastian. She hoped that was a good sign.

xxx

When they got to the old gym, a woman also dressed in black, met them at the door. "The boss is upset you stopped answering your walkie-talkie," she said to the men. Then she turned to look at Roxanne.

"It malfunctioned," Roxanne's captor muttered.

Roxanne ducked her head under the woman's gaze.

"You haven't hurt her have you?" The woman asked, but she didn't wait for an answer from either of the men, "I'll take her from here. Honestly when will you get it through your thick skulls, we're supposed to be the good guys." While she spoke she unwrapped the man's hand from around Roxanne's arm and took her hand. She smoothed down Roxanne's now very tangled hair before leading her into the gym.

The gym was in shadows, lit only by the moonlight coming in through a few windows up near the ceiling. In a big group in the center of the room were around 100 students huddled together. They watched silently as Roxanne and the woman walked around the parameter of the room. In the last Wizarding War You-Know-Who used kids as hostages to make their parents behave. What did these Muggle terrorist want? The same thing or something else?

Feeling uncomfortable with so many eyes on her, Roxanne focused on the far side of the room. A large group of men with guns were standing around a laptop they had sitting on one of those rolling carts.

"Boss, Scarlet has finally decided to grace us with her presence." The woman said, propelling Roxanne into the group.

"It's about bloody time," a man not wearing a mask said.

He was younger than Roxanne thought a terrorist should be, he looked like he had only just come of age. How could someone the same age as Teddy, be responsible for kidnapping her school?

He clapped his hands together. A loud echoing sound in the quiet of a hundred students trying to be invisible. "Let's get this show on the road." He put his arm around Roxanne's shoulders and drew her in front of the computer. She could see herself on the screen with the Fieldspark crest on the wall behind her. She was so scared she didn't even wonder how it worked. In fact her vision was starting to go dark around the edges because she couldn't seem to remember how to breathe.

The boss placed a newspaper in her hands, but Roxanne couldn't feel it. "Now look over at the camera and say, dad." He squeeze Roxanne's arm. "Or daddy, please save me." Roxanne flinched, even though his squeeze hadn't been hard enough to hurt. Where was Scarlet, Roxanne was done pretending to be her?

The boss was now by the computer, "and action," he said dramatically as he hit a button on the computer. The boss looked at Roxanne, he waited as she tried to draw breath, but it was like her chest was locked in place. Her mouth quavered but no sound came out. The boss started looking angry, he pointed at her and then at the camera a clear order to speak. She tried to breathe again and managed a shallow breath, but she couldn't speak. "Cut," the boss yelled hitting the computer button much harder than necessary. "Scarlet, did you not understand my instructions?" Roxanne tried to make herself smaller. "If you can't follow my simple directions I may have to be less nice." By the end of the sentence he was shouting right into Roxanne's face.

She shook her head, she couldn't answer.

"No! No!" He shouted, "do you think I'm playing?" He pulled a gun out from behind his back.

Roxanne didn't react to the gun, there was no room for more fear. She was already as scared a she'd ever been in her life.

"Why does she have to say anything?" A familiar voice called from the mass of students.

"Who said that," the boss said, "bring me who said that."

Two men started towards the group of students, but before they reach them Mandy stood up.

She was so small but she said loudly, "I said it."

The boss was speechless, apparently it never entered his mind that a tiny little girl would stand up to him.

Roxanne wanted to shout to Mandy, not to put herself in danger or at the very least tell him I'm not Scarlet. But if she was the kind of person who could shout that, she probably wouldn't need saving.

"You said that you were the good guys, that you are saving the world." Mandy had been walking slowly towards them, the students and guards moving out of her way. "Can't you see she's scared," Mandy said, not quite as loudly, but somehow this made her words more powerful. Mandy stopped right in front of the boss, "why does she HAVE to say anything?" There was silence after Mandy repeated her question.

Roxanne stared helplessly at Mandy, her first friend. Who was in danger because of her.

Then one of the masked men said, "yeah, she doesn't need to." Several more said, "yeah." Almost all nodded.

The boss looked around, Roxanne thought he was going to yell at his men, but instead he said, "fine." Then he pointed at Roxanne, "Scarlet, just stand there."

He didn't wait for a response which was unfortunate because Roxanne was trying to find her voice. To tell everyone she wasn't Scarlet. This charade wouldn't last much longer and she was no hero to sacrifice herself for Scarlet. They weren't even friends.

"You," the boss pointed at Mandy.

Roxanne's heart stopped.

"Sit down and shut up."

Mandy sank gracefully to the floor, were Roxanne could no longer see her.

The boss waved Roxanne back in front of the laptop, "let let's get this done." He hit some buttons on the computer, waited a few seconds, then grinned. "Watch her." He waved a hand at Roxanne and two guards came and physically move her over to the wall. She was forced to sit on the ground a man with a gun watching her. Now that she was not the center of attention, Roxanne focused on breathing deeply. Mandy had once told her this helps with stage fright. As the fear faded the realization grew in Roxanne's mind about what a coward she had been. She had done nothing, if Mandy hadn't saved her there was no telling what the terrorists would have done.

As Roxanne was lost in her thoughts, the boss had been talking to someone through the computer. It was a red haired man in a fancy suit, sitting behind a fancy desk. This had to be Scarlet's Dad. Momentarily distracted, Roxanne searched the students looking for Scarlet. That's when she saw the white paper airplane soaring across the room. Roxanne's body tensed. What was Sevastian thinking? Where had he thrown an airplane from? Window, no they were all closed. The door was guarded. An air vent maybe? Roxanne thought all of these things and many more less probable before the airplane touched the ground. It had been thrown in her direction but hadn't quite reached her. It was lying in the dead space between the group of students and the terrorists. Roxanne stared at the paper airplane, she knew she needed to get to it. It would have a message for her from Sevastian, but how could she get it?

Mandy hadn't seen the paper airplane but she noticed Roxanne was looking at something. She followed Roxanne's gaze and saw the plane. Waving her hand a little to get Roxanne's attention Mandy pointed at herself then at the plane.

Roxanne shook her head, she didn't want Mandy putting herself in danger again.

Then the boss shouted, "what!?"

The man on the screen remained calm, "that girl is not my daughter."

"Oh, she's not," the boss said, and then stomped over to Roxanne and jerked her to her feet, "we'll see about that." Roxanne wasn't sure who he was saying this to but it wasn't good either way. He dragged Roxanne back in front of the computer and pulled out his gun, "So you are saying this is NOT Scarlet?"

The man on the screen shifted uneasily when the boss pulled out the gun, but still said calmly, "no."

"So you wouldn't care if I shot her?" The boss said, pushing the cold metal barrel against Roxanne side.

The man on the screen was quiet for a really long time, "she is not my daughter, she is not Scarlet."