Ron shot me a skeptical gaze as Ginny unlocked the shackles on my arms which were pinning me to the bed. The distrust on his expression made me deeply uncomfortable. I surmised that he must have known me in the past, and it was very odd that I didn't know him at all due to being obliviated.
My body ached in every possible place that it could ache and I moved extremely slowly to fully sit up. Bruises around my wrists had sunken deep from the pressure of the shackles and my long hair felt dirty and unkempt. My fingers shot to the back of my neck which was no longer burning. The scalding hot pain that had been there before had vanished entirely, but I felt mounting suspicion that it would burn again. If it was connected to some evil, insane death eater who was searching for me than he probably wouldn't hesitate to use it to locate me. My heart panged with anxiety at the thought of whoever he was showing up to take me away to a life of rape and torture. I fought back the urge to instantly hurl.
A headache bloomed in my temples as I frantically searched my memories for any recollection of the past two years. How much of that time had I been in a coma? I recalled being on the train to Hogwarts as a young seventeen year old...being sorted into Slytherin House...a few days of that first week where I was walking to classes and discovering the layout of the massive castle. Then it abruptly skipped to the loud sound of a car engine, gears jumping at high pitches. Everything was panicked and I was screaming. I was seated in a luxurious interior that resembled more of a cockpit. The windows were blurred by the dangerous speed the expensive car was driving at. A monstrous and deafening crunch as the vehicle blasted through a barrier and dove over a cliff towards the ocean, shattering glass inwards. Hot slicing of shards imbedding themselves in my skin. My body was thrown in every possible way around the interior of the car, bones broke in every angle. My head smashed into the dashboard.
The memory shook in my mind, unstable. I remembered freezing cold water and desperately pushing with broken fingers on the window to escape. Then, nothing. It was odd that such a small and random segment of the car crash had remained in my memory but nothing else. It was as though the person who had obliviated me had been rushing to do it and the job had been messy, leaving behind a small fragment of the ending.
I blinked as tears I couldn't explain rolled down my face.
The girl named Ginny stared at me heartlessly as I turned my trembling hands over in front of me. There were white scars all over my fingers and up my forearms at haphazard angles. It was likely from the glass of the supercar upon impact with the guardrail. I whimpered in fear at what the final outcome was for my face, my vanity rising to the surface in an untimely manner.
The red-haired girl seemed to read my mind. She snorted judgmentally, "You'll get used to that. This is a war. There's no time for pretty dresses and beauty products." She was leering down at me. So she must have known me before too, I mused in my head, and she didn't like me. I had quite a penchant for fancy dresses with bows, and for carrying around decorative umbrellas and anything else aristocratic. Coming from a wealthy pure-blood French family had impacted my choices in clothing and materials greatly. The Weasley's however, didn't seem to share the same values. They were dressed in drab, basic clothing. Jeans and long sleeves that looked worn.
My eyes wandered over her body. Her left eyelid was badly deformed, leaving her with a lop-sided appearance. There were scars all over her pale neck, rising out of her shirt like thorns.
I swallowed, dreading the mirror.
She moved around the bed to stand next to Ron, "We don't want any trouble from you. Please just be respectful while you're here. There's a makeshift shower two buildings down from yours. Be careful on the catwalks - they're pretty weather worn. We can start strategizing tomorrow." She nodded and was gone, Ron followed her after sending me a nasty look. A wave of annoyance rolled over my mood as I realized she had barely given me any directions to the shower.
"Oh and Madeleine ?" I watched as her face reappeared, "You can't leave so don't try. You're bound to the perimeter so you couldn't even if you wanted."
I sat shaking in disbelief that I wasn't in a nightmare. Could this really be reality? I looked around the rusty room again with horror and sadness. The bed was arguably disgusting - the sheets were outdated and stained, the frame was lopsided and rusted.
Suddenly a searing panic lurched into my heart. I frantically pulled at my neck for the gold chain that I always wore with my moonstone on it. The precious family heirloom was missing. Had one of those poor looking red head rats stolen it? I was furious. I would have to pressure them for more answers the next day.
I slid my legs over the edge of the bed and noticed more scars on my skin there too. I pressed my feet to the icy floor with nervous dread of the coming pain. I was correct; the moment that I applied pressure trying to stand, my legs almost gave out from the agony of the bones being used for the first time since healing. I was distinctly aware of what it felt like to be one hundred years old in that instant. I cried out as I shuffled forward feebly.
One step.
Two steps.
I could do it. I would go to the so called make shift shower and renew my grace and dignity. Then I would look for my wand, which was likely a long shot.
Wobbling to the door took a solid few minutes. I heaved in sharp breaths of air that burned my throat. Out in the hallway it was much the same as it looked in my room. Odd muggle items hung from the walls looking positively ancient and covered in dust. There were war relics of sorts, and bizarre charts regarding safety measures. The floors which were a rusted metal had gaping holes in them, allowing for unwanted views straight down into the dark ocean below the structure.
The wind blew in frightfully, and my dirty nightgown did little to provide comfort. I was stricken with wonder as to how I would manage to shower in any way in those temperatures. I reached another doorway with a large circular hatch on it and groaned in protest as I slowly twisted it, my fingers clearly not pleased with the rotating pressure.
It swung open to a fragmented looking catwalk. I grabbed the edge of the opening as the door blew brutally back and forth on it's hinges in the gale force, threatening to unhinge and blow away altogether. The ocean was roiling precariously against the structures that made up the fort; massive waves sprayed up on the metal legs that supported several huts with a similar decrepit exterior. It was perfectly hypothetical that if one fell off of the platform in any way that it would result in a very quick drowning. I could see a man pacing several catwalks away, seeming to be a guard.
Why on earth would this be considered a safe house? I thought in spoiled aggravation. The place was practically a ship wreck off the coast of Britain, and it was filthy and retched. With a pounding heart I poked my head out of the door, certain that I wouldn't even make it across the catwalk. I was never a strong swimmer and I would drown immediately.
I carefully stepped out and clung to the rickety railing for some semblance of security. My toes were freezing already. I moved less than gracefully across the suspended walkway to the other side. Inside, the building was an exact replica of the one I had just left. Several grumpy looking wizards in dirty clothing gave me disdained glances as I opened their personal quarters to investigate the rooms. I passed entirely through this building and back out onto an even worse for wear catwalk.
I had made it about halfway across, finally starting to feel stronger, when I heard an loud crack behind me. I turned slowly, gripping the railing with both hands. My hair blew violently around my body. It had grown even more while I was in the coma and I knew I probably looked like a homeless Rapunzel.
A guard had appeared behind me, probably annoyed that I was blocking the walkway like an old woman. His face certainly expressed irritation; I was completely blown away by how fierce and wicked he looked.
Compared to the other inhabitants of the fort he was dressed far too neatly. He was wearing spotless, expensive black clothing. His robes were blowing in the wind with elegance. A head of bright, platinum hair whipped around his pointy face. Eyes of a seriously piercing blue flickered over every part of my body. His expression was tense, but there was a hint of absolute shock in the way his eyebrows were raised.
I noticed that he was very young, probably my age. Thin, fit, quite handsome in fact. I inhaled sharply, suddenly feeling embarrassed for being out in the dirty night gown. My appearance was probably appalling and I hadn't even had a chance to check the status of my face yet.
"I-I am quite sorry, sir," I stammered loudly over the wind. He was only several feet away although I felt I would need to shout due to the gale forces around us, "Am I blocking your way?"
He didn't answer me, just stared at me without moving. His hands were in his pockets and his eyes were fierce. I noticed an angry looking scar over the bridge of his nose. He was analyzing me like I was a polar bear caught on a hot beach, and I instantly began to feel nervous.
I knit my eyebrows together, sending him a look of concern, "Do you need to go dis way?" I repeated the question with a shaky voice. The temperature was sub zero and my fingers and toes were burning.
I gasped as a sharp pain stabbed into my neck again. My hand flew up instinctively to the area, rubbing in desperation, and my body swayed in the wind from only holding on with one hand. I saw an odd glint in his eyes and he stepped towards me slowly, his shoes making loud metallic clanks on the catwalk. He stopped right in front of me and I cowered under his lethal gaze. His hand shot out and pulled my face upwards by my chin as he evaluated my features.
I struggled against the aggressive clutch of his fingers on my jaw and the acidic scald on my neck. My hair whipped between us and the archetypal stench of the ocean lingered in the moist air, little flecks of water sprayed lightly on us. A feeling of deep dread began to course through my veins as I noticed that there was a faint, black smoke curling off of his clothing. The wind had been carrying it away with such haste that I hadn't noticed it before, but the proximity of his body now gave it away. The dread and sadness grew in my heart as the dark smoke clutched at my dress and my face.
"Let. Me. Go." I said, matching his gaze. He was not a member of The Order. He was a Death Eater, possibly even my kidnapper. I was shaking, both from freezing and also with growing fear. He smirked at me then, looking vile and wicked. His reaction mocked any strength I was pretending to possess.
"Hey!" I heard another man yell. My eyes slid over to the young guard that had been pacing on the catwalk a few buildings away. He had his wand pointed at the handsome Death Eater as he yelled for help. The sound of metal clanking and slamming erupted around the fort.
"Malfoy! It's Malfoy!" He was shrieking now, and a hole formed in my gut confirming that it was in fact my kidnapper who was grabbing my face. Malfoy reached up his other hand and wandlessly disarmed the guard who was running down the catwalk towards the building between us. His wand flew into the ocean misfortunately. I looked up at my assailant feeling my bottom lip trembling, tears sprouted from my eyes for what felt like the hundredth time that day.
His furious blue eyes focused on my trembling lips. I could see that he was thinking, "Do you remember me?" He asked curtly, his eyes searched mine resentfully.
"N-No, but I-I know what you did to me," I fumbled on the words pathetically. A door behind him slammed open as Ginny stepped out, pointing her wand at him. Before she could cast anything, he swiftly lifted his hand and she flew backwards from where she had come from, the door slamming shut again.
He snorted, "Tell me, what did I do to you?" His eyes gleamed cruelly as they darted back and forth between mine.
I wheezed, choking on my tears. Why was it taking everyone so long to reach me? "You-you raped me. You forced me to marry you. You kidnapped me." He let my chin go then, shoving my face to the side and I hung my head down low to break eye contact. My hand slid back on the railing as my feet inched backwards away from him.
"Remember this, Madeleine. Only one of those things is true, and it is the lesser of all evils." I heard a crack like lightning and he was gone. I curled up against the railing, sobbing, as Ginny and the other guard both managed to finally open doors on either end of the catwalk.