It was cold. Very cold. Why was it cold?
Natalie opened her eyes slowly, forgetting for a few seconds where she was and how she had gotten there. She was on the floor in a dark, freezing room. There was a small stream of light coming in from under the door far to her left. No windows, no other ways in or out of the room except for the one heavy wooden door she had come in from. Her memories came flooding back, ruining the long seconds after she regained consciousness when her mind hadn't quite caught up with her yet. Being taken from headquarters, Malfoy Manor, the man named Gideon Rowe, being dragged into the basement…
Panic set in quickly. Natalie shot up from where she laid in the corner of the room on her side, head resting on the dirty floor. She had to get out of that place, away from the Death Eaters. Why weren't her hands moving? Natalie had gone to set her hands on either side of her so she might be able to stand, but noticed immediately that they would not separate. Looking down, she saw large iron shackles around her wrists, held together tightly with only a small space in between each cuff. There was a thick chain attached to the middle of the shackle that was anchored to the floor. Natalie stood, a bit clumsy without full use of her hands. The chain came up high enough that she could hold her hands just above eye level.
Her chest rose and fell rapidly, anxiety, nerves, adrenaline all pumping through her body. What was happening? Why was she chained up? What was that Death Eater going to do to her? How long before her friends found her? Natalie's mind was spinning and she forced herself to take several deep breaths, trying to calm herself down. She needed to think. She couldn't just wait for someone to come rescue her, she needed to find a way out of that basement and back to headquarters and soon, before anything could happen to her. There was no way of knowing what Rowe had planned for her but from how sinister he sounded before he knocked her out, she was not willing to stay put and find out.
Natalie tried to break free from the shackles that bound her hands. Pulling the chain free from the floor? No use. Slipping her hands out of the cuffs? Not a chance. Breaking the metal apart by slamming it on the floor? Not even close. She wasn't strong enough to follow through on any of her ideas, though not for lack of trying. After half an hour with no luck, Natalie sat on the floor and leaned back against the wall, sweat causing strands of hair to stick to her face, arms heavy and weak from putting all her strength into breaking the cuffs.
The dull feeling of hopelessness filled the back of her head. What if she never got out of that basement? What if she never saw her friends again, never saw Sirius again? What if Rowe tried to hurt her to get information about the Order? She wasn't physically strong enough to stand up to him, he was much larger than her and surely more experienced. She had no wand and even if she did, she wouldn't have the confidence or expertise to duel with a Death Eater that held such a high rank that others called him a 'specialist'.
No, it was far too soon to be thinking like that. Natalie pushed those thoughts and the feeling of utter despair out of her mind. She had to stay sharp if she was going to get out of there. No one from the Order had ever trained her for something quite like this seeing as nothing like this had ever happened to another member. It was silly that no one had ever thought of training members for a situation like the one she was in, especially since the Order helped the Ministry do something very similar to Death Eaters. She was never involved in the interrogation of the people that they handed over, but she was sure that the Death Eaters trained each other on how to stay silent. Certainly the war would be over or close to it if the Ministry had any luck getting information?
Training or not, she knew she couldn't tell these men anything. It would endanger everyone in the Order, their families, her friends, everyone. She couldn't risk that, she wouldn't be able to handle someone getting hurt or worse because she divulged information in an effort to save herself. She hoped that once the Death Eaters saw that she wasn't going to crack that they would let her go, cut their losses and move on to someone new. Natalie was strong enough, she could hold out until they got tired of her.
The door to her left opened, letting more light into the dingy room. Natalie took a chance to take in her surroundings while she could see momentarily. The room wasn't that big, the floor, walls and ceiling were all made of stone. Large black brackets holding melted candles hung from the walls towards the ceiling. There was a chair in the middle of the room, on the floor in front of it there was another anchor point like the one holding down the chain keeping Natalie in place. A wooden table was pushed against the wall on the opposite side of the room, completely bare and dusty looking. She didn't see anything that would help her out of the shackles and nothing she could have reached even if there were.
The Death Eater Gideon Rowe had made his way back into the room. Natalie didn't know how long she had been unconscious, the man was wearing the same clothes as the last time she saw him and there were no windows to see into the world outside. He raised a hand, wand held loosely, and waved it in the direction of the walls once, lazily. The candles lit one by one, bringing a warm, dim light into the room.
She had gotten up once Rowe fully entered the room, feeling that perhaps she'd have more leverage if she were standing in case a fight broke out. Her back was pushed against her corner of the room, shoulder blades hitting the cold stone walls on both sides. She was tense, understandably so.
Rowe stood in the middle of the room, staring at her unblinkingly. The way he looked at her made her heart rate quicken, not from excitement but rather from fear. It was almost as if he was sizing her up, trying to gauge how much of a threat she might be or how much trouble she might cause. He had a small smile ghosting across his face, one that didn't quite reach his eyes, one that left Natalie feeling uncomfortable and anxious.
He started to speak, slowly and quietly. "You never asked why I'm called a specialist."
Natalie swallowed, her throat felt like sandpaper. Her hands were held in fists in front of her, cuffed and useless. "Why are you called a specialist?"
His smile grew wider yet still his eyes stayed the same. Dark brown, the color of dirt and mud, and cold, unfeeling. "I'm the one they call when someone is being especially stubborn." He started moving again, pacing closer to her using precise and deliberate movements. Natalie watched his every move, acutely aware of the wand in his hand and her inability to move more than a few steps in any direction. "When they want information, and when they need someone to...force it out. I'm rather good at what I do. Like I said, you are going to tell me what information you have, whether you like it or not."
"So, what, you torture people?" Natalie noticed it was becoming harder to force air into her lungs. The palms of her hands were perspiring slightly.
"Yes, very good," Rowe replied, inclining his head towards her as if she had answered a question correctly and earned his praise.
"Right, well I don't have any information for you to torture out of me," she tried to sound unphased by her predicament, though her voice wavered slightly, giving her away. He noticed and she knew he did. "So let me go."
The smile that had been playing across Rowe's lips fell and Natalie's stomach fell at the same time. "I do not appreciate being lied to, Tally," he was almost whispering. A chill crawled down her spine at the name he called her, obviously a shortened version of 'Natalie'. It was funny, she never had a problem when Sirius or the others called her 'Nat', but the Death Eater in front of her calling her 'Tally' made her stomach churn. Funny as in - not at all funny, not even a little bit.
Rowe moved towards her. She hated how slow he moved, making it seem like he was enjoying himself, savoring her reactions and the fear that she couldn't hold back from showing through her features. She could feel her heartbeat in her ears, loud and thundering, making it hard to pay attention. "How many people are in the Order of the Phoenix?"
Natalie clenched her jaw and tried to steady her breathing. If she was going to lie through her teeth, she had better make it believable. "I don't know anything about this Order of the Phoenix. I said the same thing to your little friend upstairs."
He held her gaze for a moment longer, then heaved a sigh, seemingly disappointed. Turning around, his back facing Natalie, she could tell he was shaking his head as if she had said something truly unsatisfactory. "Oh, Tally, Tally, Tally." As he spoke, he rotated back around, facing her once again. Deadly serious now, no trace of a smile or smirk anywhere on his face, he raised his wand towards her. Softly, deadly, he said, "Crucio."
Natalie's body exploded in pain, She dropped to her knees instantly, crying out loudly without realising she was doing so. Pain was everywhere all at once, blinding and to the point that she couldn't concentrate on the world around her. Her head felt like her skull was splitting open under her skin. Her stomach clenched and cramped tightly, causing her to double over, her bound hands pushed against her torso. Her skin was hot and felt like someone was slicing her open with a knife repeatedly. The pain was so intense that her bones felt as if they were being crushed from the inside. She was screaming, eyes screwed shut, fists clenched tight, not able to handle how much wretched hurt was coursing through her body.
And then it was gone. Rowe lifted the curse and watched her slump over, laying on her side on the ground. Her breathing was heavy and ragged, her forehead glistened with sweat. Natalie's brain was moving slowly, thinking was almost like trying to see through a dense fog. She had never felt pain like that in her life, she didn't know anything could hurt so badly and from everywhere all at the same time.
"You're only making it harder on yourself by withholding information," Rowe said, his tone was even and he seemed completely unperturbed at causing her such immense suffering. He was pacing the ground in front of Natalie, taking his time. "Let's try again. Is Albus Dumbledore your leader?"
Tears pricked at the corners of her eyes. Her voice was quiet but she tried to keep it strong. The throbbing in every part of her body had faded, she told herself it hadn't been that bad. "I don't know anything." She wondered when Rowe would get bored with her, stop questioning her and let her go. Maybe a few days, but no longer than a couple weeks, surely. No one in their right mind would continue on a lost cause for longer than that.
His smile crept back onto his lips. "You're very foolish, aren't you?" Rowe walked closer to her, crouching down towards the floor, looking at her intently. "I can see you're attempting to be brave. Good for you, Tally."
Natalie wouldn't look at him. The overwhelming need to cry, to sob and to feel pity for herself, to wail and let herself become defeated, hit her hard. She felt her chin twitch but she bit it back, tensing her jaw and setting her lips tight so that nothing escaped. She wanted to cry but she needed to keep her wits about her, she needed to show she wasn't afraid and wouldn't bend, even if she wasn't confident about that on the inside.
Rowe hadn't stopped looking at her, watching her face move oddly, and she knew deep down that he could see right through her facade. A soft chuckle came from deep in his throat. "I am so excited to break you. And I will. Mark my words, I will absolutely ruin you." He stood again, leaving Natalie a terrified heap on the ground at his harsh words. She saw him turn away from her, lift his wand over his shoulder and, unseeingly, say, "Crucio," as she began to scream and thrash on the floor again.