Chapter 40 – Like A Rat In A Trap

Previously - The noise alerted their house guest and soon they joined Bellatrix in the receiving area of the property. They opened the door and stepped outside to be greeted by a giant robotic turtle rolling up their pathway. Six shadowy figures jumped down and the turtle disappeared into thin air. As they got closer to the property, it became clear who was brave enough to launch a full frontal attack on one of the most heavily guarded homes in the country. "Good evening Mr and Mrs Malfoy", Harry greeted them warmly, "I believe you're keeping a friend of ours against their will".

The Malfoys couldn't quite believe what they were witnessing. They knew that the Mystic Squadron possessed tremendous power but the group had just rolled through their wards like they weren't there. They weren't even dressed for battle yet, they were still in their hideously colour co-ordinated muggle clothing.

The sound of clapping drew them out of their thoughts as Bellatrix pushed her way to the front, "Well I must say that's some entrance".

Narcissa couldn't believe it, her sister was actually smiling at this display of power, "Bella what are you doing?" she hissed.

"Quiet dear, the adults are talking", the eldest Black sister chastised her sibling. "You Rangers are so predictable, you walked straight into our trap".

"Your trap", Harry scoffed, "I think you'll find this is a rescue mission". Suddenly the shadows around them moved and several Cedals and cloaked wizards surrounded the team, "Ah yes, now this is feeling like a trap", he added with some false bravado.

The dark witch smirked and looked down at her nails, "We've been following the Weasley bint for a few days. It was kinda cute the way she watched over her family for hours", Ginny growled but her path to Bellatrix was blocked. "It didn't take much planning to kidnap that bat shit Lovegood child and burning down her home", she let out a small snort, "well who am I kidding, that was just fun".

Harry clenched his fists, the Lestrange woman was getting on his last nerve, "Yeah, well we've faced worst odds", he prepared his morphers and the team did the same, "Mystic Squadon, Transform".

"White Ranger, Tiger Power".

The teens held their pose but nothing happened, they were still in their civilian clothes, "Performance issues?" Bellatrix chuckled, "don't worry, that happens to every man once in their life".

"Why didn't that work?" Ron whispered to the others.

The rangers stretched out to try and find their Chi but to their horror, they couldn't connect with their powers, "I see the penny's finally dropped", Bellatrix pulled a dagger out of her boot and walked towards the teens, "Did you really think we wouldn't find a way to block your Chi powers?"

"That's impossible", Cho began, "Chi is part of all of us, you can't just eliminate it".

"True", the dark witch shrugged, "but we can saturate an area with enough dark Chi to render light Chi useless". She opened her arms slightly, "Try it, I'll even give you one free shot", she could see that the ranger's were tempted but none of them moved a muscle. Unfortunately they could sense the truth from the atmosphere around them, "No takers, oh well your loss".

"You won't get away with this", Ron hissed and began to reach for his wand.

"Don't even try it Weasley", Bellatrix's hand crackled with energy, "you're hopelessly outnumbered, you'd be dead before you fire off a spell". Ron grudgingly released his grip and lowered his hands, "Strip them of everything", she said to the Cedals. The footsoldiers took their wands, communicators and morphers, placing them in a large sack and took them away.

"Alright so now you have us, what now?" Harry asked.

"Good question", Bellatrix pressed the point of her dagger into her index finger, drawing a small spot of blood, "the Dark Lord will want to speak with your personally but that doesn't mean I can't have some fun". She looked over the group, "Now which one should I take, the foreigner, the Mudblood or the ginger".

"I'm as British as you are you daft old hag", Cho spat.

"Ooh feisty", Bellatrix was almost cackling with glee, "I like it when they have fight", she glared at the pink ranger, "makes it more fun when they finally crack". She turned away from the teens and walked back inside, "I've made my choice", she clicked her fingers and the Cedals grabbed Ginny roughly by the arms.

"Ginny, no!" Harry cried but he was subdued by three footsoldiers. He tried to fight them off but more of them helped to restrain him.

"Not my sister", Ron struggled against some Cedals, "take me instead".

"Tempting", Bellatrix said from the entrance of the Manor, "but I like my meat young and fresh". Ginny was dragging kicking into the receiving foyer of the Manor and was dumped face first onto the floor. She heard a crack from her hand when she failed to properly brace herself for the fall. Her white cardigan was ripped off her and a booted foot kicked her onto her back. Moments later Bellatrix lowered herself down on the red haired girl, her thighs pinning her firmly in place, "Just us girls now", she smiled.

"Do whatever you want", Ginny said defiantly, "I won't tell you anything".

Bellatrix was poker faced for a moment before she howled in laughter, "Oh sweetie, who said I wanted anything". She lowered her head until her mouth was inches away from Ginny's ear, "Other than to cause you pain of course". The dagger cut into Ginny's arm and Bellatrix ran it around the circumference of her bicep, almost until the two ends joined up. The white ranger bit her lip as her blood poured down her arm. The dark witch used her fingers to wipe a small amount away, "Oh yes, we're going to have lots of fun", she laughed wildly before moving in again.

As this was happening the other rangers were being dragging down in the bowels of Malfoy Manor. They were led down a narrow flight of stairs until they bumped into a familiar face, "Wormtail", Harry growled, "this day keeps getting better".

Peter Pettigrew at least had the common sense to lower his head and not say anything to the latest prisoners. He silently opened the door and the five rangers were bundled inside. The rat animagus locked the door and hurried away, almost ashamed in the part he had to play in their imprisonment. Once he had gone, Ron kicked the door partially in an attempt to get out but more in frustration at the situation they found themselves in, "Come back here you dirty stinking rat", he shouted out the door but Pettigrew was long gone.

"He won't be able to hear you", a familiar voice called out from the shadow. Luna Lovegood walked into the dim light and she wasn't a pretty sight. Her silvery blonde hair was matted together in places with her own blood and there were numerous cuts and bruises on her face and upper body.

"Oh Luna, what did they do to you", Hermione gently inspected the wounds on the younger girl.

"I'm in better shape than Neville", Luna replied sadly, "myself and the rest of the DA have become the Carrow's favourite target". She winced as she stretched out her stiff muscles, "Neville's getting the worst of their treatment but we're still fighting on".

As the others talked with Luna about how much Hogwarts had changed in just a couple of months. Harry leaned against the wall and slowly sunk down to the floor. He rested his head against the cold stone and tried to block out the words that she was saying. After a few minutes he muttered to himself, "This is all my fault".

"Did you say something Harry?" Dean asked.

"This", he opened his arms up, "Luna's capture, our imprisonment and God knows what's happening to Ginny", he paused and took a deep breath, "it's all my fault".

Cho folded her arms in front of her chest, "And how did you work that one out?"

"If we hadn't pissed off the Carrows then they wouldn't be cracking down so hard on the DA", he replied. "They probably wouldn't have kidnapped Luna and we wouldn't be in this position".

"No offence Harry but you're full of crap sometimes", Ron barked in response. "The Carrows don't need an excuse to cause people pain".

"We have a right to stand up for what's right", Luna added defiantly.

"Yeah, but", Harry tried to reply.

"No buts Harry", Hermione began, "you can't see the future, you had no idea this would happen".

"We were overconfident though", the red ranger sighed, "we should've thought out this rescue plan a little better".

"Well that's on all of us mate", Dean had torn off a few pieces of his t-shirt and was using them to clean up Luna's face as best he could. "Sure you're the leader but we didn't disagree with your plan. We had no idea that Bellatrix would know how to block our powers".

Harry nodded slowly, grateful that his friends were able to kick him up the backside when he was feeling sorry for himself. Suddenly the dungeon echoed to sound of an agonised scream, "Ginny", Harry immediately leapt to his feet and began to examine the door, "There must be a way out of here".

"Maybe we could appeal to Wormtail", Ron began, "you did spare his life so he does owe you a life debt".

Hermione snorted, "Yeah, I think we'd have a better chance trying to seduce him". Everyone suddenly turned in her direction, "No, no way, I draw the line at that".

Another scream of pain ring out through the stone room, "There must be something", Cho said in desperation.

"I've been here a few days and I couldn't see anything", Luna began, "but I was by myself then. Maybe if we put our heads together we can come up with something together".

"Wait that's it", Harry snapped his fingers and reached underneath his t-shirt, "we can use this", he dangled the Jade Pendant in front of the others.

"I'm not sure I follow", Ron frowned.

"Harry that's brilliant", Cho began, "they've only partially blocked our Chi which is why Tor is currently inactive rather than in miniature form. We can't use any offensive attack or morph but I bet there's still enough to power Tor if we really focused".

Dean shook his head, "Sorry I still don't get it".

Hermione groaned impatiently, "Tor is powered by our entire Chi combined, so if we channel enough energy, he might be able to blast through the door".

"It's worth a shot", Harry held out the Pendant and the other rangers grabbed a piece of the chain. They poured as much energy into the Pendant as they dared, "It's working", Harry groaned as the pendant shone brightly. Moments later Tor appeared into the room, he was slightly bigger than his miniature form but he only came up to the waists of the teens.

"Man I'm wiped out", Dean said as he rested his hands on his knees.

"We're poured as much Chi into him as the block will allow", Hermione replied, "we haven't got long before he reverts back into the Pendant".

Sensing their urgency, Tor squawked and tilted up into his Warrior Mode. He fired a couple of shots at the door and it was instantly turned into a pile of splinters. Tor crashed back to the ground before fading away, "Thanks buddy", Harry whispered. Moments later they heard hurried footsteps coming down the stairs and a frightened Wormtail ran into the room. His arm wobbled as he nervously looked around the room. He never saw Cho burst out the shadows and disable him with a swift kick to the knee. The joint bent backward at an unnatural angle and a loud snapping sound echoed off the wall.

Harry reached down and picked up Wormtail's discarded wand, "Please H-Harry", Wormtail pleaded through the pain from his broken leg, "you won't kill me, would you?"

The red ranger thought about that for a couple of moments before snapping the wand between his fingers. Wormtail looked relieved but his hope was soon extinguished when Harry punched him hard across the jaw, "That's for my parents", he hissed at the unconscious body of the traitor, "come on", he said to the others, "let's go rescue Ginny". The ranger had to hope there was enough of the white ranger left to save but they had a race against time to save their friend.

TO BE CONTINUED