Chapter 38: In the Cell

A slap woke Charlie up and he let out a cry of pain. His whole body hurt so much that he couldn't really move. He realized that he was sitting on a metal chair, to which his wrists and ankles were strapped. He felt dirty, confused and thirsty. His eyelids were heavy, sticky, and his head was sending jolts of pain from the cheek that had received the slap.

"Yeah, it's a tough wake-up call when you decide to let three stories of a house fall on you...not that it's something I've ever experienced, but I can easily imagine...especially when you see what it did to your mom and sister."

Charlie opened his eyes violently to stare at the bastard who dared to talk about the death of the only two women in his life as the end of a de-naming chore. In front of him sat Peerce Gestand on a table. He was a tall, muscular man with a handsome face, but mean eyes! Dressed in suit pants and a tight black t-shirt, he appeared to be in his living room waiting for coffee.

"Don't talk about them," Charlie articulated with difficulty angrily.

"Oh glad to see you're able to talk, looks like the mediwizards took good care of you!"

The man's irony horrified Charlie who, given the migraine and multiple pains he was experiencing, was in no condition to take it upon himself to measure his words.

"Given that I feel like I've been trampled by a horde of dragons, I think you should have your mediwizards re-evaluated, they must have missed a few tests at school."

"No, they did exactly what I asked them to do," the Prime Minister replied with an evil smile. "They treated everything that was a life-threatening or disabling emergency, but not the rest. So all the little pieces of rubble, wood or glass that got into your skin are still there, as well as your multiple fractures in your right arm or ribs. We did, however, fix the one in your jaw so we could have a proper conversation."

Charlie glared at him, he remembered wanting to die when he folded his shield. Obviously he had failed.

"So Charlie, if you tell me about your older brother or Harry Potter."

"I don't know where they are. Harry has been missing for months, I haven't heard anything more than what they say in the papers."

"That's not true Charlie and we both know it, but I understand. You want to protect them, that's brave, but you're going to talk. So before I force you to, I'll give you one last chance: where is Harry Potter?"

"I don't know!"

The dragon rider was afraid of what would happen to him, afraid of leading them straight to Harry and his family, of causing their downfall.

"Do what you want to me, I have nothing to say to you," he added.

"Oh, but I intend to, my dear! Henri, please."

Charlie began to struggle against his bonds as he felt the man move closer to him behind his back, but it was perfectly useless. One hand grabbed his jaw to force his mouth open, drawing a groan of pain from him, and another came to place three drops of a potion on his tongue. A glass of water was then placed on his lips, making the liquid flow in his mouth and forcing him to drink. The hand released him as he half choked. He coughed to clear the water from his airway, causing great pain in his ribs that brought tears to his eyes. He felt himself slipping away, becoming a docile puppet. He concentrated on fighting the potion.

"So Charlie, where is Harry Potter?

"Gone," he managed to answer, convincing himself that the man he was meeting in Alaska was not Harry Potter.

"Mmmh... Who were you writing letters to via Muggle mail?"

"Harry Smith", the name slipped out before he could remember it.

Gestand grinned contentedly, he moved closer to him to face the glassy-eyed stare.

"Now we can start talking. Why were you writing to him?"

"I love him."

"Are you two together?"

"No."

"No? Were you together?"

"Yes, we were."

"Why did you split up?"

"Harry has two soul mates, he didn't choose me."

"That's interesting. Who did he choose?"

"A Muggle vampire named Jasper."

"All right, where is Harry Smith?"

"Alaska."

"Where's that?"

"I don't know, I've always gone by way of a hayride or a portkey."

"Whose buggy were you going on?"

"Bill's."

"Where does Bill live?"

"In Forks, USA."

Charlie felt the potion stop working and looked at the man with a glare.

"You're a bastard." he told him before spitting at him.

Gestand slowly stood up and wiped his face, still smiling.

"Yeah, and I'm not done with you yet."

The man threw a punch that made Charlie cry out in pain as something in his jaw cracked. With tear-filled eyes, the dragon rider looked back at the prime minister.

"Kill me, I've already lost everything."

"That's what you think Charlie. Henri?"

The redhead felt a spell hit him and suddenly it was as if someone was searching his memory. He saw himself making love with Harry in Grimmaurd Square before he disappeared. He remembered his doubts at Christmas, the farewell ceremony with Fred, Harry's week-long vacation at his home in Romania. He tried to put the man out of his mind, but he had never been good at occlumency and was at the end of his rope because of what he had experienced in the last few hours. He saw himself collapsing when he heard that Harry had disappeared after being attacked. No matter how hard he fought the next memory, he couldn't help but see himself meeting his brother in Alaska and then following him home to Forks, getting into the van and finding Harry. They had made love that night before his lover explained his disappearance. The memories continued to flow: the letters, their love, the discovery of a second soul mate, their fight, his decision not to give up on their relationship, Hermione's note, the emergency trip back to Harry's house by back door, the discovery of Jasper, the breakup. Finally the man left his head, leaving Charlie in the mess of his memories, crying over his lost love and betrayal. The dragon rider felt like a burglar had just gone through his memory, opening all the drawers, taking what interested him and leaving everything else upside down.

"Thank you Charlie, thanks to you we'll be able to go get Harry and Teddy and bring them back where they belong."

The dragon rider didn't even bother to look at Gestand, the man made him want to vomit. He wished the minister would kill him, but he didn't, just walked out of the room laughing and telling him he would come back later. Charlie was left alone with his messed up memories, crying over what he had lost in a few days.

He stayed alone in his cell for a long time, putting his head in order, regaining some courage and fighting spirit, casting a few healing spells that he had learned to master without a wand during his career as a dragon rider. Slowly, one by one, he concentrated on repairing the breaks in his bones. His spell wasn't very effective because he had to deal with each break one by one, but it was better than doing nothing.

He had wished he was dead before, but he realized he still wanted to live when Jasper was taken to his cell. The vampire was completely frozen, as if in the grip of a stupefying spell, except Charlie knew that spell didn't work on vampires.

"You see Charlie, I thought you could use some company," said Gestand as he entered the room.

"What did you do to him?"

"Avada Kedavra, you see, when this spell hits a person, the curse is absorbed by their vital organs, which stop working because of the excessive amount of energy it takes, inflicting damage that cannot be repaired. Vampires have the advantage of not depending on these organs to continue to live, but their venom still works hard to heal them. The work is so immense that his body is like a statue during the process. But don't worry, he'll get all his strength and abilities back and when he does, he'll be like a newborn, thirsty."

Gestand approached the redhead, a knife in his hand. The blade had strange green reflections that did not please the young man at all. With a sadistic smile, the politician lightly pushed aside the shreds of Charlie's shirt, pressed the weapon against his ribs and cut him for several centimeters. Blood began to trickle down the dragon rider's torso.

"Let's see if we can help him come to faster," Gestand whispered in Charlie's ear as he gritted his teeth.

"Why are you doing this?"

"I don't like to be laughed at, and Harry laughed at me all right. If I have the people who matter most to him with me, I can certainly talk to him."

"You're wrong, the person who matters most to him is Teddy."

"We'll see about that..."

Gestand left the room with an evil laugh, leaving Charlie terrorized with the person who certainly had the most desire to kill him on Earth. He was detailing the vampire's face when his eyes turned black and digested on him, a chill ran through Charlie as he realized that he really didn't want to die after all.