Disclaimer : All Harry Potter characters are the property of JKR. But all original characters (Wenny, Carl, Dray, Emma, Shane, Russo, etc.) are the property of FaithInSnape & her friend. lol

Confusion

Written by: 'WennyG' (AKA 'FaithInSnape') & 'Carl'

Chapter Fifty-Three: Saved By The Lie

Wenny watched Carl for another moment, still not wanting to do this. But after another moment, she finally took his hand and closed her eyes, concentrating on that horrible place they had escaped from several times. Within a few seconds, they appeared infront of the Death Eater Headquarters. She kept her eyes closed for a few moments, scared of what she might find if she opened them.

Carl had closed his eyes and just when he was about to open them again, he heard someone say, "Expelliarmus!" He felt his wand fly out of his hand and he opened his eyes to see Death Eaters surrounding them. "Where's Snape!?" he yelled instantly. He felt one of the Death Eaters grab the back of his collar. "Where's Snape!?" he yelled again, struggling against them as they seemed to ignore his question. He looked over at Wenny and saw a Death Eater grab her, too, before they started taking them inside.

As soon as Wenny heard the curse, her heart sank. This was exactly what she had been afraid of. She looked over at Carl as the Death Eater grabbed her and started forcing her to walk with him into the miserable old building that she knew all too well.

They were led to the same holding cell they had been in the last time they were here. But unlike last time, the Death Eater who had led her in, searched her pockets until he found her wand, which he took with him as he left the room.

As the Death Eaters went out the door and closed it behind them, Carl ran to the door and beat his fists on it. "I want to see Severus Snape!" he yelled. Although, he knew it was no use. He kicked the door and cursed. After a moment, he leaned his back against the door and sank down to the ground, putting his head in his hands.

He didn't know what to say. He knew that this was all his fault. Unlike all the other times that Wenny had blamed herself for being back here, this time Carl had forced her to apparate here. He hit his head against the door as the realization sank in. "I'm sorry, Wenny," he said, knowing that an apology would do nothing.

Wenny turned away from Carl as he yelled and kicked the door. She wanted to tell him to give it up, that it was over. They were back in the Death Eater Headquarters and probably wouldn't be lucky enough to escape this time, a thought that made her want to cry. She wasn't one to say 'I told you so,' but she had told him that it was just asking for trouble coming here.

She heard his apology and turned to him, not knowing what to say. The other times they had been here, she had been running on adrenaline, fighting to escape. But this time, something was different. She was beginning to lose hope that they would ever escape this nightmare. And the sad part was, they had actually put themselves here this time. No one had tricked them or forced them. They had come willingly, knowing the risk they were taking. Maybe it really was supposed to end like this.

Carl kept his head in his hands for a few moments before hitting his head against the door again and then returning it to his hands. He couldn't believe that he had gotten them both back here yet again. And now he felt like they had no one left, with witnessing proof that Snape wasn't on their side. He looked up at Wenny, his vision slightly blurry. If he was the cause of anything happening to her, he wouldn't know what he would do. He couldn't let anything happen to her. After a moment, he stood back up, feeling slightly dizzy from screaming and banging against the door.

"That's not going to help," Wenny said when Carl hit his head against the door again. Sure, that was obvious, but she wasn't particularly happy with him at the moment. She was trying really hard not to blame him, but it was becoming increasingly difficult by the second.

She turned and walked over to one of the far corners of the room and sat down. All they could do was wait. Wait be rescued, tortured, or killed. The first, she felt was rather improbable. The second two, she didn't want to think about.

Carl watched Wenny, now knowing that it would take time for her to even start getting over what he had done, if she even ever could. Unfortunately, it looked like time was one thing they didn't have. But then again, he couldn't blame her. He just wished that whatever was going to happen to them, it could at the very least happen without him feeling so incredibly guilty.

He took a deep breath and ran his hand through his hair as he walked over to the opposite corner as Wenny and sat down. He returned his head to his hands and rubbed his head that he had just realized had been hurting. He wished he could say something to Wenny, but knew there was really nothing that he could say. No matter how many times he apologized, it seemed as if it wouldn't change anything, and he knew it.

Wenny glanced over and watched as Carl sat on the opposite side of the room. She hated being separated from him like this, but part of her was furious with him for getting them into this situation. She had tried to talk him out of it, because she had a feeling it would end up like this, with them trapped by the Death Eaters, counting down the minutes until their demise. But when she started thinking about that, how this could be the end, she hated to think that they might spend their last hours separated and angry. "I do understand why you wanted to come here," she said quietly. She wasn't saying that she didn't feel he was wrong, just that she understood. It was a start at least.

"It doesn't really matter now, does it?" he said, looking back up at her slowly. "I should have known this was going to happen. Following Death Eaters to their headquarters?" he said, shaking his head. He was furious with himself, just as he could see Wenny was with him. He sighed and put his head back in his hands, and then hit his elbows against the walls. He had forced Wenny to bring him here, risking her life. And now it seemed as if no one was going to be saving them this time. And even all of this didn't stop him from feeling hatred towards Snape. Carl was still determined to confront the man.

"Carl, please stop doing that. It's not going to help matters if you injure yourself," Wenny said, watching him. Not only that, but she hated him doing this to himself. As upset as she was, she still couldn't stand the thought of him being upset with himself. Yet she knew he was.

After a few moments, she slowly got up and walked over and sat down beside him. Her first instinct was to say they were going to get out of this, but she didn't want to say things that she didn't really believe. "There has to be some way out of this. Right?," she said, trying to reassure both him and herself. Though, she wasn't doing too good of a job reassuring herself. She was still as doubtful and as terrified as before.

Carl nodded his head a little as he looked back up at her. "There always is," he said, going along with Wenny and trying to reassure them both. He sighed heavily and closed his eyes for a few seconds before looking at her again. "You know, I know that you're mad at me. And I don't blame you. I know that asking you to apparate us to the Death Eater headquarters was wrong. Not to mention stupid," he added after awhile. He really didn't want whatever was going to happen to them to happen without them talking. "I know all of that, Wenny. I just...I just want you to know that I love you," he said quietly, watching her closely.

Wenny looked down and nodded slightly, "I know you do." She leaned back against the wall, "and to be fair, I could've refused." As upset as she was, she really didn't want to point fingers. How would she feel if they weren't able to escape this and the last thing she had ever said to him was that it was all his fault?

She sat there in silence for a few minutes, fighting not to cry. She hated being in this room, the memories they had here. Of that horrible Russo guy, and of watching each other tortured. But she knew things were likely to get even worse and it terrified her. "Carl, what if we're...not as lucky this time?"

Carl sighed and put his arm around her. He knew that they both knew this was his fault, but right now he had to focus on being here for Wenny. "Don't say that," he said quietly. "We got out of here once by ourselves. We can do it again." Although, last time, Wenny had had her wand and Dumbledore was still alive and Snape had supposedly been on their side. Now, the only thing going for them was that they were both alive. They couldn't even be sure if the Order was alright.

Wenny nodded, wanting so badly to believe him. She put her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes. She was trying to block out all of the negative thoughts that were currently appearing in her mind, of them being tortured or worse, but she wasn't having much luck so far.

Suddenly, she lifted her head up and looked at him. "Carl, promise me that we'll fight this with everything we have. We can't give up already or we'll never get out of here. And...we have to realize that there is a chance that one of us may not make it out of here. But, if that happens, the other one has to keep going, they can't give up," she said. She was hoping that if that happened, that if one of them didn't make it, that it would be her. She knew she wouldn't be able to go on without him. He was the strong one. If he survived this, he could be so beneficial to the Order. Much more so than she could.

Carl looked over at Wenny for a moment and then slowly nodded his head. He looked back down to the ground. He hoped that if anything happened to him, then Wenny wouldn't give up trying to make it out of there. But if anything happened to Wenny, he doubted very much that he would be able not to. He was positive that all his hope would be lost. The only reason he had even a glimmer of hope now was because Wenny was right next to him.

But another reason that he wouldn't be able to leave Wenny was because he got her in this mess in the first place. And this time, he really would be the one to blame. He held her a little closer. "I'm so sorry, Wenny," he said quietly, feeling the need to say it again. He closed his eyes for a moment as he rested his head a little on hers.

Wenny wasn't sure what to say to Carl. She couldn't exactly say 'don't worry about it,' because she knew he would worry about it, as would she. The situation they were currently in was nothing to sneeze at, as it was very likely that they wouldn't survive this time. But she still didn't want to make him feel bad by blaming him. So instead, she just nodded, accepting his apology, as she reached over and took his hand in hers.

Suddenly, the door opened and in stepped the most horrifying collection of men Wenny had ever seen. They definitely were not playing games this time, as her father, Rabastan, Lucius, and that horrible man, Russo, all walked into the room.

"Ah, how are you two enjoying your little 'home away from home'? You do seem to come here rather often. Too bad, you won't be leaving this time," Lucius hissed.

Carl looked up at them, the horrible feeling of helplessness coming over him. He felt like he had already lost hope by just seeing them. Then he looked over at Wenny. He couldn't let anything happen to her. He stood up and glared at the men, his anger coming back to him. Although, he controlled himself just enough to stop him from doing anything too stupid.

Even so, sometimes he couldn't control his mouth. "You must be a really pathetic batch of Death Eaters. We've been here twice and you haven't even managed to kill us yet," he said with a scoff.

"Yet being the keyword, boy," Rabastan said with a malacious grin and a hint of hunger in his eyes. They were all holding their wands and looked from Wenny to Carl.

Wenny quickly stood up and grabbed Carl's arm. She hoped he wouldn't do something to anger their 'visitors.' Though, if they were going to be killed, she knew they shouldn't go down without a fight. But she didn't want him to anger them before they even had a chance to figure out how they might be able to escape.

Wenny looked from Carl to Rabastan as the two spoke. "What are you waiting for then? Let's have at it," she said, tired of the games these people continued to play with them. She figured the men wouldn't kill them at the moment. They would want to continue to mess with their minds first.

The one named Russo walked over to Wenny and grinned, "I do like your fiestiness." Wenny simply glared at him. She refused to let him intimidate her this time. Or at least yet.

"Leave her alone," Carl said between clenched teeth as he glared at Russo. He loathed this guy, almost as much as the others, if not just as much. He glared from Russo then to Wenny's father, shaking his head a little. He still hated to believe that this guy was allowing for these men to hurt his daughter.

"And what are you going to do about it?" Lucius asked as he took a step towards them. "As it would seem you both are outnumbered and not to mention quite defenseless," he sneered.

Wenny knew Lucius was right. They were outnumbered two to one and were both wandless. What could they possibly do to defend themselves? Even if they tried to physically fight these men, it would only take one of them to hex her and Carl both or worse.

"When you escaped last time, we unfortunately had to postpone our little party that we had planned. But have no fear, it has been rescheduled. And this time, we won't allow you the time to escape," Dray said. "In fact, why don't we go ahead with it now?"

Carl could feel his heart sinking as he glared at Dray. "You're sick, you know that? Your blood is running through this girl, this amazing girl." He took a step towards them. "You just don't care, do you?" he said, trying to keep himself together even though he could hear them all laughing.

"Yes, and Snape's blood is running through you," Lucius said, receiving a glare from Carl. "You didn't think that we didn't know this whole time, did you?" he asked with a smirk. "But it seems as though Snape has left you to die just as well, Carl."

"Enough talk," Rabastan spoke up as he took a step forward. "We don't want to give them time to think too much, now do we? Russo, move out of the way," he said with a smirk as he help up his wand.

Wenny felt completely helpless as she numbly watched the scene infront of her. There was no way out of it this time. They weren't even going to have time to think of anything to do, as Rabastan was currently aiming his wand at them. It would take him all of one second to kill either her or Carl. Two to kill them both. She closed her eyes, almost hoping he would kill her first, as she didn't want to watch Carl die.

"Why are you doing this?," she asked quietly, "what have we done? Tell me that." She had no idea why she was asking, it wasn't as if they truly needed a reason. Death Eaters fed on the thrill of killing. But perhaps if she could stall long enough, they may, by some small chance, get an opportunity to do something.

"Stupid girl. You know very well why we're 'doing this'," Lucius said. He glanced at the other men, "you two know information that cannot be shared."

As soon as he said it, Wenny replied "what if we've already shared it with someone? Wouldn't you want to know who we told?" She wasn't sure whether that would make the situation better or worse, but it might give them a few moments at least. She glanced over at Carl, hoping he had some idea of what they might be able to do to get themselves out of this situation.

Carl looked back at Wenny for a moment, knowing he had to thank her quick thinking for them both not being dead yet. He looked back at the Death Eaters, sending a glare to Lucius and then looked at Rabastan as the man walked towards Wenny.

"Who have you told, girl?" he demanded loudly, pointing his wand straight at Wenny and pushing it a bit hard into her neck.

"She hasn't told anyone!" Carl yelled quickly to Rabastan. "It was me and if I tell you, you're just going to kill us both. Now leave her alone," he said, glaring at him.

Rabastan walked over to Carl and grabbed his collar and put his wand to his throat. "You will tell me, or your girlfriend here will feel the pain of the Cruciatus Curse right infront of you." He motioned to Russo, and Russo pulled out his wand with a grin on his face.

That wasn't quite what Wenny had been hoping would happen, but then again, they weren't dead yet, so maybe it was an improvement after all. Though, she wasn't entirely sure what she had been expecting. Surely not that they would simply release them. "He's lying," Wenny said strongly. "He hasn't told anyone, it was me. I told...," she said, trying to watch both Rabastan and Russo at the same time. She had no idea who she could possibly name. Dumbledore was dead, so that would no longer work, and she didn't want to endanger any of the Order members.

"Who? Who did you tell?," Lucius asked, walking closer to them.

Wenny glanced at Carl, not sure what else to do. Then it came to her. Harry. Voldemort was already after him and Harry constantly had more protection around him than practically anyone else in the wizarding world. She would have to apologize if she ever saw him again, though. "Harry Potter." She winced, not sure what to expect the men to say or do.

Carl looked from Lucius, Rabastan, and Wenny and Russo. He watched as the Death Eaters gave each other glances that Carl couldn't quite make out.

Then Rabastan nodded to Russo. "Very well," he said. Then he turned back to Carl. "I thought I taught you not to lie, boy," he said and then punched Carl hard in the stomach, making him bend over. He was glad that it was only a punch at the moment though, Carl thought as he caught his breath.

Russo looked a bit disappointed that he was delayed a little longer now as he lowered his wand only slightly.

"Leave him alone!," Wenny yelled at Rabastan. Though, as much as she hated seeing Carl beaten like that, she had to be at least a little relieved that Rabastan hadn't crucio'ed him. Or worse.

Rabastan turned to Wenny. "You dare try to tell me what to do?," he asked before backhanding her. "He's my son," he said through gritted teeth, "I'll do what I please to him." He held his wand up to Carl's chest.

"He's not your son, thank Merlin. And I said leave him alone. I'm the one who told. He was only trying to protect me," she said. She couldn't even force herself to look over at Carl.

Carl looked down at the wand that was pointed at him and then up at Rabastan. "Don't touch her!" he yelled, feeling himself slowly starting to lose control of his anger. "And I'm not your son!" he yelled before kicking the wand out of Rabastan's hand and then running over to him and punching him, knocking him to the ground, and continued to beat him.

Then Carl felt himself being pulled off of Rabastan by Lucius and Dray, as he struggled to try to hit Rabastan again. As Rabastan was sitting up again, Carl kicked him in the face. He was pulled away from him, still strugging and cursing as he tried to get out of Lucius's and Dray's grasps.

As soon as Wenny saw what was happening, she ran over to Russo, who was distracted by the fight, and kicked him as hard as she could. As soon as he doubled over, she grabbed for his wand and pulled with all of her might.

Of course, even with being in pain, he wasn't about to simply let go of his wand, but Wenny wasn't about to give up. So they played a game of tug of war for a few moments before Wenny stepped down as hard as she could on his toes and punched him in the face. Of course, not being a fighter, her punch wasn't as forceful or as aimed as well as she would've liked, but it served it's purpose. She was able to pull his wand out of his hand.

She quickly backed up, so that she was opposite of all five men. Yes, she was outnumbered, and she wasn't nearly as experienced at dueling as they were, but she had to do something. "Leave him alone!," she yelled, wand extended towards them.