A/N: Once again I am so sorry for the lack of updates on this story, I haven't forgotten it and I will finish it, however long it takes! Thanks very much to Arla Logan, Anne, WeAreTheHearts, OTrizy, Lilian, Amy and the several guests who have reviewed the last chapter, your comments always put a smile on my face! :) I apologise if there are any mistakes in this chapter, I've just got home from a very busy shift at work and can't be bothered to check it properly!
Ariella twisted and pulled so much on the way to the hall that Bellatrix was forced to let go of her hair and drag her by the arm instead.
"Just stay still!" she hissed. "The more you make us late, the more you will anger the Dark Lord."
At this point, Ariella didn't care if she angered the Dark Lord. She didn't want to see him at all. "Please," she begged. "Please don't take me in there!"
"Oh dear, the Gwiffindor isn't fwightened now, is she?" Bellatrix snickered.
Panic started to overtake the young girl, it felt as though a tight iron band had somehow wound its way around her lungs and was squeezing with all its might. She couldn't breathe, couldn't take air in at all.
A hand swung around from nowhere and connected harshly with her face, knocking her out of what was about to be a panic attack.
"I thought you Gryffindors were supposed to be brave?" Rodolphus questioned, disgust lacing his tone.
'So did I' Ariella thought to herself glumly as she gulped down air greedily. But she supposed most Gryffindors didn't end up in quite the situation she was in. Even Harry would be afraid right now.
"We need to move. We have kept the Dark Lord waiting long enough," Bellatrix warned, pulling Ariella towards a door the girl assumed led to the room where everyone was waiting.
In a sudden rush of panic-induced adrenalin, Ariella decided she wasn't going to give in just yet and planted a foot right in Bellatrix's midriff. The Death Eater let go of the girl as she doubled over in pain.
Ariella ran for the opposite door, praying it would lead her somewhere she could escape from. However, before she could get there, two strong arms circled round her waist, lifted her off her feet and slung her unceremoniously over a hard shoulder, no doubt belonging to Rodolphus Lestrange. No matter how hard she struggled and kicked, his grip didn't falter.
"I'll deal with you later, Mudblood," Bellatrix hissed before Ariella heard her heeled boots walk forward and there was a low creak of a door opening.
Peering through the gap between Rodolphus's arm and torso, Ariella saw several figures dressed in black muttering amongst themselves as the three of them walked in. At the end of the table sat Lord Voldemort himself. His red eyes were blank with fury and the young girl felt an involuntary shiver run down her spine.
"So now you two have finally decided to bring our esteemed guest here, we can at last start with what your fellow Death Eaters are curious to hear," his hollow, echoing voice sounded out.
"We apologise, my lord," Bellatrix apologised meekly. "We had some trouble."
"Yes, I believe we all heard the… commotion on the other side of that door. Are the two of you not able to handle a small, wandless girl?"
"She will be dealt with most severely later, my lord, I promise," Bellatrix swore faithfully.
"Well, there is now a few spare seats at our table. Let our guest sit between you two and we'll talk at the end of the meeting."
"Yes, my lord," Rodolphus said, bowing low and backing away, adjusting Ariella on his shoulder as he did.
The girl saw Bellatrix pull out one of the chairs so her husband could put her down and as he did, Bellatrix whispered harshly in her ear:
"You'd be foolish to try anything in a room full of Death Eaters, so don't."
"Now," Voldemort began as Bellatrix sat down. "Would one of you care to explain how a plan so carefully planned went so very awry?"
There was silence throughout the room. Ariella realised that she could never have imagined the power the Dark Lord held until that moment. Every face had gone deathly pale, every pair of eyes had gone wide and glassy, everyone was completely still. And these were the most feared people in the Wizarding World!
"No?" Voldemort continued, his crimson eyes passing from one of his followers to the other as they scanned around the table. "No one..? Well neither can I. We were nearly beaten by a group of fifteen year olds! The Order of the Phoenix may have revived itself to a new standard, but that doesn't explain why half of our ranks are Azkaban once again and what's more the prophecy, the thing I needed the most, has gone forever. Smashed because of your foolish actions."
"We are very sorry, my lord," Rodolphus, started. "Potter–"
"I don't care what Potter did. It should have taken you mere seconds to take it from them!" Voldemort voice almost rose into a shout, then he fell silent. When he spoke again, it was with a level tone. "Well, did anyone actually manage to do something worth mentioning? Or is my lieutenant the only one to be congratulated on killing her cousin, the blood traitor Black?"
This started up a myriad of voices as each of the remaining Death Eaters tried to get their achievements in first.
"I got the blonde haired one! Messed her up real bad!" One said.
"I got the blood traitor, Weasley!" called out another.
"I know Dolohov managed to get the Mudblood with his new hex! You should have seen how quickly she dropped," one more added.
Ariella's heart dropped. The Mudblood? That was her sister! She could taste the bile in the back of her throat as she tried to force herself to calm down. At least they were all alive, even if they hadn't escaped uninjured. They were alive.
"That's all very well, but these were children you duelled against. Did any of you manage to harm a member of the Order?" He paused and surveyed the room. "I didn't think so. We will need to discuss this and device a new strategy. Wormtail, have you got all that down?"
The wizard turned to the squat man beside him who was frantically scribbling down everything with a hand that, to Ariella's astonishment, seemed to be made of pure silver. She hadn't even noticed him scratching away beside such an imposing figure, it made him almost invisible.
"Yes, my lord," Wormtail whimpered pitifully, finishing off a sentence and placing the quill down.
"Now, did I hear one of you talk about Dolohov's new curse?" Voldemort started up once again. "Was it successful? Who here witnessed it?"
It was at this point Ariella realised why she had been summoned to the meeting. They weren't planning on letting her live. They couldn't let her hear all this and then risk the fact that she might escape, or be rescued. Even they weren't so foolish to believe she'd never get out.
As Voldemort droned on, Ariella couldn't shake the thought that she might not live another day from her head. Obviously she'd known her predicament wasn't good as soon as she'd felt Bellatrix's wand against her throat, but now, now she realised she wouldn't ever see her sister again, wouldn't ever see her parents. The last glimmer of hope was gone.
When Ariella once again came to her surroundings, the meeting was just finishing up. In fact, she, Bellatrix, Rodolphus and the Dark Lord were the only people left in the room as the door clicked shut behind the last person out.
"Rodolphus, Bella, are you not going to introduce me to your little pet?" the now worryingly familiar cold voice of Lord Voldemort echoed down the table. Eyes wide, Ariella unconsciously lifted her head to meet the inquisitive stare of the most feared wizard of her time.
Thankfully, before she could do so Rodolphus got up and took hold of the back of the girl's school shirt, dragging Ariella out of her seat and down the other end of the hall before throwing her down at his master's feet, pressing his foot on her back to keep her down and making the heel of his boot digging painfully into Ariella's spine.
Leaning down, Voldemort put a long, slender finger under Ariella's chin and lifted it up, turning her face from side to side as though he was examining her. Ariella could barely breathe. She was at the feet of one of the most powerful wizards to have lived, and a prisoner of his favourite follower; how could it get any worse?
"What's her name?" He inquired, looking up at Bellatrix, who was standing by her husband's side.
"Ella, Ella Granger," she supplied.
"The Mudblood's sister?" he stated, sounding pleasantly surprised. "Well done, my Bella. Take your time with her, just make sure you get the information we need."
"Of course, my lord," Bellatrix said graciously before turning to Ariella. "We're going to have a lot of fun, aren't we Ella? Such a nasty common muggle name."
"It's Ariella actually." The young witch had no idea where the sudden courage came from to talk back, but when she saw the faces of Bellatrix and Rodolphus, she was glad it had appeared. The two didn't seem to know what to say. In fact, they looked rather alarmed.
When nothing was said, a horrible feeling settled itself in the pit of the girl's stomach. Something wasn't right here. What was going on? This wasn't just a reaction to the fact her name wasn't the common muggle name they had assumed it was. This was something more… something a lot more.
Suddenly Bellatrix snapped.
"You're lying!" she shrieked, brandishing her wand and thrusting it under Ariella's chin. "Admit it, you're lying!"
"Bella, Bella, she won't be the only one with that name." Rodolphus's voice was soft as he tried to mollify his wife. "It's not her, it won't be her."
The wand didn't move an inch.
The stalemate was finished by the intervention of a deadly quiet voice. "Will someone please tell me what's going on here?"
The wand slid away from Ariella's throat and both Bellatrix and Rodolphus glanced at each other before turning to face their master.