Disclaimer: Never have owned any of it, and I won't until my takeover of the world is complete and final.

Author Notes: If you have read my other story, "Fading Into Something," this one might confuse you. It's an alternate world with my OC, Cambri, in which she never gets the chance to get sent to Azkaban, because the Death Eaters kidnap her before it happens. Please R&R.

"Have you ever been in a state of pain so intense, it was like a living creature wound tightly around your rib cage and shoulders and neck? Getting into that state requires not just one thing that's wrong, but instead a whole tangled know of wrongness. It requires wrong things you've done, along with wrong things that have been done to you. It requires both good and bad intentions, doubled and tripled back upon themselves until they're so distorted, you can't see clearly where they began. It requires wrong decisions, but no vision of what other choices you might have made. It requires you to see every inadequacy, every failing, every weakness you possess, magnified to horrific size. It requires bad luck. And then, when you reach this place and look around, you see only blackness. And only one possible route to travel: downward, and inward, into more blackness."

-The Black Mirror

Nancy Werlin

Cambri waited until Richard Terrangs had left the room before she let herself submit to the tears that had been threatening her for hours. Even after he'd left, she cried quietly, letting her shoulders shake with silent sobs and letting the tears run down her face unhindered. Not that she could have wiped them away if she had wanted to; her hands were too tightly chained for that.

Cambri was partially disgusted-with herself-that even after all these years, he could still make her cry. For heaven's sake, she was ten years old; after seven years of torment she should be used to this. After letting some emotion out, she made herself stop crying before she became hysterical-that hadn't gone over well last time she had lost control-by sequencing squares.

2. 4. 16. 256. 65,536. 4,294,967,296. Let's see . . . mathematically expressed . . . that's 1.844674407 to the nineteenth power.

She could go no further, but it didn't matter. The numbers had served their purpose, and she had stopped crying entirely while trying to figure them out.

Suddenly, she heard the door creak open and she craned her neck, trying to see who had entered her room. She heard voices, surprising her.

"Shhh! Look, is the kid in here? If not, let's go!"

"We don't know."

"Well, let me see." There was a pause. "I don't see anyone."

"But the room doesn't look unused! Look, someone's slept in that bed recently."

"What, the kid's sleeping under the bed, is that what you're saying? Because whether someone has been here recently or not, no one's here now."

Cambri heard footsteps approaching her side of the bed, and she held her breath. She didn't know who the owners of the voices were, she didn't even know who they were looking for, but she did know that she didn't want them to find her.

Luck was not with her, though, and she soon saw a face hidden underneath a mask looking at her. "Bella!" a male's voice whispered urgently from underneath the mask. "Bella, I think I've found her!"

"Let's see, Lucius. Ah, yes, there she is. And . . . yes, I believe she is chained to her bed. What did you do, child?" This speaker was a woman, who examined her closely.

Cambri didn't answer. The masks and the black cloaks were causing several neurons to fire-a memory . . . these people were death eaters! She choked slightly on a mouthful of air.

"Are we sure it's her?" demanded Lucius. Bellatrix looked at his quellingly.

"What's your name, girl?" Bella asked, turning her attention away from her fellow again.

Cambri was silent, glaring at Bellatrix Lestrange-a name she remembered from the newspapers of the past-with all the hatred stored up in her little body.

"Ah, Lucius, I do believe she recognizes us," Bella exclaimed, sounding positively delighted. She cupped her hand around Cambri's face, raising her chin so that they locked eyes. "What's your name?" Bella asked pleasantly.

Cambri jerked away, hard. "Get out," she said, speaking for the first time.

The two death eaters laughed. "Who's going to make us?" Lucius asked.

Cambri paused. "I'll scream," she said finally.

"And you expect the muggles to stop us, is that it?" Bella asked, sounding highly amused. "Please. They don't exactly like you, do they? From the way the father treated you tonight, I think he would be glad to be rid of you."

Cambri fell quiet. Bellatrix was right, she knew that.

"And you won't scream," added Lucius. "We saw you crying earlier. You wouldn't make noise if your life depended on it . . . which it might, depending on your behavior."

Bella shot her companion a warning look. "What is your name?" she asked Cambri, looking her in the eyes again.

Cambri met her gaze unflinchingly. "Cambri Potter," she said, surprised at how natural it sounded. She had not uttered her parents' last name-her last name-since they had been murdered. It was only after she said this that she wondered if they would kill her because of it. She really wouldn't have minded if they had.

She sensed smiles behind the two masks, and Bella murmured, "Perfect. This is perfect." There was a pause, then the two started back into action. "Lucius, unchain her, while I make ready for our departure."

Lucius touched her chains with his wand, they disappeared, and he pulled her to her feet. Cambri jerked away from his hold, but otherwise stayed where she was. What was to be gained in running? They would only catch her and punish her for it.

Bella turned away from a large circle she had been making with her wand on the floor. It now glowed a sickly bluish color and Cambri stared at it, wondering what in the world they were going to do with a circle.

"Ready?" she asked Lucius, who nodded, and then dragged Cambri into the circle and handed her over to Bellatrix.

"I'll Apparate and see you two there," Lucius said, and disappeared.

"Where?" Cambri demanded. "Where you taking me?"

"It's a little late to be asking questions, Potter. Now hold still." Bella held her wand high, then brought it down, fast, saying, "Transicio!" They disappeared in a swirl of blue and silver.