Chapter 19
• Purgatory •
Harry waited until the voices had faded down the hall before he moved at all. His clothing was nearby and he immediately scrambled towards it, pulling the majority of it on without even a thought. The room he was in was still the same, but the doorway was now blocked with an iron grate. Looking around Harry found that there was nothing except stone walls and darkness.
Still, the ring he'd worn around his neck was still there and Harry pulled it to him. "Tonks," he whispered into it desperately. "Tonks are you there?"
"Won't work right now," a voice said and Harry turned to find that the girls had somehow crept up on him in the moments he'd dressed. The accent had changed and was suddenly very American. For some reason the girl reminded Harry of Riana, but he wasn't sure exactly why, it was more than just the accent though.
"Remember how my sister was following you?" the girl continued smartly. "Well she saw you use that communication ring, while we can't figure out how it works, we were able to block it from working for now. It's quite simple, there's no way to call for help."
It was all Harry could do to keep from breaking down right there. He felt like a wreck, mostly because he wasn't in the best shape right now and then there was the little voice in the back of his mind that told him Tonks would kill him if he survived this.
"If we were you, we'd be getting some rest right now; you want to be in good shape when facing his lordship."
"Voldemort?" Harry asked and regretted it immediately as he felt a shoe bury itself into his stomach area.
"Never call him by his name, you unworthy scum," the girl said, and Harry groaned, curling up tightly again after the foot was retracted.
"You are stuck here," the girl said pointedly.
Harry closed his eyes, cringing involuntarily, the pain of admitting she was right was worse than the pain from the kick he'd just received. The girl hadn't lied to him yet, and she didn't seem to intent to. No, she wanted to tell him the truth, if only to see him suffer from the knowledge of the hopelessness of it all.
Still, Harry closed his eyes and concentrated, trying to picture somewhere safe, somewhere far away from the musty cell he was stuck, somewhere near Tonks. At first it was normal, he could feel the magic well up inside of him and he could see the tunnel start to form, but it was incomplete, and he couldn't open it to step through, it simply stayed just beyond his grasp. Signing dejectedly, he opened his eyes again to find that only one of the girls was in front of him, the other had disappeared out of his field of vision.
Instantly Harry's head snapped to both sides, the left and then the right, to find that she'd moved to the far corner of the cell and was staring from the shadows with an arrogant smirk on her face.
"You're a real quick study, aren't you? And you movements ever so fast and smooth, I'm sure it'll make you more fun to play with. I think that it might anger some of the others though. I always wondered how exactly you were able to get away from the Dark Lord the first time, but I think I understand now. What is it that you were doing just now, regrouping? I assure you that no manner of mental protection or meditation will from feeling all the pain that will be inflicted upon you. No, we have you locked away in a place that they'll never find you. There is no escape from here, and trying to apparate within the anti-apparating ward as strong as these will likely get you splinched. We wouldn't want you to ruin such a beautiful body like yours, no not such a wonderfully abused toy."
"What are you names?" Harry asked quietly, feeling the pain of the immanent defeat looming over him.
"We are called Cin."
"Both of you?" Harry asked incredulously, but still quiet. "How do you tell each other apart?"
"We have no need for separate names, we rarely are apart and I am the only one that others speak to."
"Didn't your parents give you different names when you were born?" Harry asked before thinking.
The girls exchanged glances, and Harry wasn't sure how to take it when they looked back at him with fire burning in their eyes. "We do not acknowledge the muggle names that we were given when we where born," Cin said crisply.
Even though something deep in his mind told him not to say anything Harry couldn't stop the words from tumbling out of his mouth. "You're muggle-born?" he asked, gasping.
Something hard struck him across the back of the head and he collapsed to the ground with a whimper.
•
No one was around when he opened his eyes again. Looking hopelessly at the rings that hung around his neck Harry sighed then pushed himself into a sitting position. His whole body ached, though he wasn't sure exactly why, he knew a spell had hit him even though he hadn't heard it. Still, it hadn't been painful even though it felt that way now.
A rustle of movement caught Harry's attention and he turned to see only the empty walls of his prison. He dismissed the sound as one of the small mice that were disappearing out a tiny barred area. He'd noticed them twice out of the corner of his eye, but didn't think anything of it at the time. Still, he had to investigate it and so he got to his knees and crawled over to the opening. It was black beyond, as if the light was just drained away and so he ignored it, moving to the more important things like the rest of the cell. If he wanted to escape he was going to have to find a way out and after going through dozens and dozens of secret passages in Hogwarts he thought that there might be something in the cell perhaps.
Groggily Harry stood, shaking away the clouded mind, and then moved to the front of the cell next to the door. The rock walls were damp and cold, he suspected that they were somewhere near water because of the amount of moisture that seemed to be on the cell walls. There was also a good deal of moss that had grown in between the stones. It was also extremely likely that the wards laced through the walls, the same wards that would keep him from going anywhere or contacting anyone.
Starting at the base of the wall next to the door Harry's hands moved inch by inch to make sure that there wasn't some sort of secret entrance to a passage. After a full hour of carefully running his hands over every single stone he could reach he had found nothing except two words that had been scraped into the stone – a name that had long ago been covered in moss.
Something moved down the hallway and Harry turned to the sound, facing the door from the middle of the cell. He was so frightened that if it had been anyone else they might have shrunk into the shadows of the corner and wet themselves. He was in a different situation than all of the other times he'd faced Voldemort or his followers before. Then, he'd had a chance however remote it seemed at first and now there was nothing. His protection was gone, there was no Tonks, no Dumbledore, not even Ron or Hermione were around to pull him out of this mess. They'd confiscated his wands too, both of them, and now he suddenly felt naked being without them, it had been over a full year since he'd been away from his wand for very long at all. Even when Umbridge had collected their wands they'd only been without them for under an hour.
Harry was also avoiding the fact that he was half naked anyway, even though they'd been put back on the cuts that had been made in them made them hang oddly and barely covered him in the spots that needed to be covered. He suspected that even that was short-lived, if the twins returned there would be little left to wear at all if they cut his robes again.
The feeling of a finger tracing the webbed scars that covered his back made Harry shudder. He'd never in his life been more embarrassed even though it had only been the three of them. Not even what Tonks had put him through during the summer could add up to it. He hated not having some measure of control over what was happening with him and he couldn't help by be embarrassed.
But he'd have to take that path when it came, for now he simply stood, expecting the worse and ready to fight it for all he had.
The door crashed open and Harry saw that it wasn't Voldemort whom he now faced, rather it was someone that he hated almost as much.
"Bellatrix," Harry hissed angrily. It hadn't occurred to him that she would be there even though it should have.
"Potter," she hissed back with just as much fury as Harry had shown her. "I heard that you'd been captured along with several of your little friends and I wanted to see you before I go off and have fun with them. You have been given a temporary reprieve so that we may decide what to do with you. Several ideas have been given, but I think that you will be able to survive for longer than any of your friends at least. You are a special case, and I think that you will receive some special treatment, still I wanted to see you incase one of the first sessions becomes too boisterous and kills you off before I get my turn."
A growl rose from Harry's throat, sounding more like an animal than a man. Bellatrix smiled and her voice changed into the baby tone she'd used the year before. "Is baby Potter angry at Auntie Bella?" she asked mockingly.
Harry didn't answer, just stared. The room felt hot and it was all he could do to hold his mouth shut. He'd learned his lesson from the twins already – to be sarcastic only meant more pain.
"Come now Harry," Bellatrix said. "Your precious godfather would have at least spit on me by now. Or... are you just afraid to speak to me?" She hissed. "I would understand if the poor little boy was too afraid to speak after all the things he's done to anger the dark lord I would be afraid too. Gryffindor courage is highly overrated, gets you killed."
"No," he said, against his better judgment, angry that she'd even dared mention Sirius. He wasn't afraid of her, he was afraid of the things she and Voldemort would do to him – and the others, now that he was in their hands.
"Not afraid?" Bella asked, quivering with delight. "How about we make you afraid."
"I'll never be afraid of you," Harry spat before he could stop himself.
Then it was there, he didn't even hear her speak, but the pain was so tremendous that he could move or breathe. Every single part of his body hurt like thousands of hot needles being pressed into him instantly. The pain faded and Harry whimpered even though he tried not to.
"I believe you and I were forced to part with unfinished business Potter," Bellatrix said. "You were trying to use an unforgivable on me. I have thought it over and decided that it might be best to school you in its uses, so that you will understand..." her wand raised again and Harry flinched.
"You must mean them Potter, with every part of hate you can muster you must want to cause unimaginable pain," she said and the shouted out the word Harry was dreading. "CRUCIO!"
Again unimaginable pain spread through his body in an instant, his mind barely was able to keep any sort of thought as he screamed. He tried moving, getting away, but nothing helped. He knew it would end but the longer it lasted the less likely that seemed, he just wanted to die, for all of the pain to go away, for everything to be over. He didn't want to be put through such difficulties.
It ended and Harry relaxed, trying to focus on something. He needed to find something to think about so it didn't hurt so much.
Almost as soon as the pain had subsided he heard the word again and he curled into a fetal position, screaming in pain as the curse filled every part of his body with pain. As the pain subsided again he wondered what it would be like to be driven mad from the pain, if maybe they just lost track of thinking, of themselves forever instead of just when the curse had been placed upon them. Neville's parents didn't seem to be in pain anymore, though they didn't seem to be anything else either, they just sort of existed like what he supposed happened when someone received a Dementor's kiss.
The curse was used three more times, she would release him, let him gain some awareness and then use it again. He could hear Bellatrix laughing in the background, trying to mock him, but he was loosing most of his thoughts and the words seemed to run into one another and made no sense. He eventually blacked out the sixth time the curse was placed upon him, almost sure that he was at the edge of death itself.
•
Cin was sitting inside the room when he awoke next. She was smiling, holding his head in her lap and stroking his hair quietly. Even as disconcerted as he was, Harry found that he hurt so much that moving was out of the question. She didn't say anything at all and Harry suspected that she was the quiet one. He couldn't see the other one, or hear her moving around, but he could turn over to look for her either. The stoking hand through his hair reminded Harry of Tonks and even though it wasn't someone he liked doing it, he was happy to lose himself thinking it was Tonks.
"You look like you like that," Cin's voice said, waking Harry from his semi-content sleep. "I don't think it will go over very well if our Lord saw a smile on your face."
The smile that had crept across Harry's face as he slept disappeared instantly. He knew that Cin was still holding him and he jerked away from her even though it hurt a little. There was a disappointed look on her face and even though Harry didn't feel remotely sorry for her he thought she might really be disappointed that he didn't like her.
"It's time to come with me," Cin said and Harry looked up trying to determine what she wanted to do with him. "Your presence has been required in the chambers beyond the hall," she said with a wicked smile. "I believe you have some friends waiting for you."
Harry went rigid, remembering that Bellatrix had mentioned friends earlier. "Who?" he asked, trying to keep the anger in check. He didn't want to be unconscious or in a position where he couldn't even try to help whoever it was that was beyond the hall.
Both of the Cins smiled. "There's a little redhead and her brother who have been mouthing off until the others cut out their tongues. There's a little blonde girl in there too, doesn't seem to know right from left. Oh! Not to mention your girlfriend, the bushy haired girl as well, at least she was thoughtful enough to keep her mouth shut.
To Harry that seemed to be the worst information possible, and he wanted to not believe her, but he couldn't. He figured Ron and Ginny were the redheads, and Luna was probably the blonde. Hermione of course must be the fourth, they'd been reading too much of the Daily Prophet in the past.
He glanced to the other Cin who still hadn't moved from her sitting position on her floor. Her eyes were slightly glazed over, as if she was angry and Harry wondered if he should mention that Hermione wasn't his girlfriend. It could save her some undo pain, but they probably wouldn't care much and hurt her anyway. If Ron had really gotten his tongue removed then he didn't doubt the threats from the Death Eaters, if they said they'd do it, it was quite likely they would.
"Alright, I'll come," he said, working his way up the back wall. "Are they badly hurt?"
Laughing Cin just turned and headed out the door. Harry followed her, glancing back to see that the other Cin hadn't moved. There was something different about the two, and not just that only one of them spoke, they were really different.
"She could have killed you and gotten it over with ages ago," Cin said from ahead. "In the street while you climbed through the window. She almost did, I'm not sure why she decided against it, our master would have rewarded our loyalty either way. Still, it's more fun to play with your food, isn't it?"
Not even daring to respond Harry simply focused on the wall ahead, trying not to look at Cin at all.
The hallway got narrower and narrower until they were in front of a small door that filled the hallway completely. The longer they stood the longer Harry wondered what exactly they were doing, it was a door, he knew that because it was of a different material than the rest of the hallway, but there were no handles and it wouldn't simply swing open, that was too uncomplicated for this place.
Everything he'd been told was true and he hated himself for it, hated himself for letting them get caught, for them being his friends. Ron and Hermione were huddling in the corner, Ron trying to nurse his bleeding mouth while Hermione hugged him tightly. Ginny and Luna were hiding behind them, looking more frightened.
Fighting back his emotions, Harry stepped forward; he would need to stay strong, for them. He needed to find a way out of this so that maybe they could all survive. Voldemort was the only one that could kill him, he'd have to use that to his advantage somehow, but at least he had something.
•
A day later Hermione sat alone in the library, thinking. Ron had blown up when he'd heard what happened but Hermione had silently excused herself, and had gone to the place she thought would be the safest – the library, where no one would be. She wasn't sure what she was going to do, but she wasn't going to let Harry be tortured, or worse, killed.
Lost in trying to figure out how to break Harry out of the Death Eater's grasp, she didn't hear the footsteps approaching. "Granger," a voice said quietly and Hermione snapped her head, finding a Slytherin standing behind her. She recognized the face, but being distressed she couldn't remember the name that went with it.
"Yes?" she responded, only half aware she was even speaking.
"I know where Harry is."
That caught her attention. Hermione's vague attention snapped to the Slytherin.
"He is being tortured at this very moment," she said sympathetically. "I need your help to get him out of there."
"What!" Hermione exclaimed and the girl clamped a hand over her mouth.
"Quiet stupid girl," she hissed. "This one's just you and I, no one else can know about it because I'll be discovered. Don't you dare fowl this up because Harry'll die! Do you understand?" she continued in a harsh whisper.
Hermione nodded mutely, not able to say anything. The Slytherin removed her hand and Hermione glanced around, making sure they were all alone. "Why are you helping..."
"Blaise, Blaise Zabini. I'm helping because Harry believed in me and I can't let his trust go to waste, I've already told him I'd help him if he helped me." She responded coldly. "We need to get started now, so we can get some potions done as quickly as possible."
Again Hermione nodded, not sure how to respond. She stood, and then it became apparent what Blaise was talking about. "The informant?" she whispered.
Nodding, Blaise led her out of the library and down the hall. She stopped at each corner, glancing around it before continuing down the hallway. "We're going to a secret room," Blaise said. "Somewhere we won't be bothered for a few days."
When they finally made it to their destination Blaise spoke quietly to a painting which seemed a little perturbed, but eventually opened up. The room was all that great, it was a simple, straightforward room with a few desks and some potions supplies already set up. A cauldron simmered on one of them emanating a putrid green smoke. The excretions did disappear though instead of filling the room.
"What are you making?" Hermione asked, taking a closer look at cauldron.
"Furtim Draught," Blaise said offhandedly, moving to the wall and looking through the pile of ingredients that she had stacked there.
"You can't make that!" Hermione yelled, "That's in an illegal potion."
"Shut up stupid girl," Blaise said, whirling around to face her. "If we're going to save Harry you're going to have to deal with doing something illegal. Only you and I are going to know about it, so unless you want to go to Azkaban for a few years you'll keep your mouth shut about it."
Slightly flustered at the outburst, Hermione only blinked.
"How's this going to help him?" Hermione asked quietly.
"Do you know anything about this potion?" Blaise asked Hermione pointedly. "Other than the fact that it's illegal?" she added sarcastically.
Hermione closed her eyes briefly, trying to recall what she'd read about the potion. In Latin furtim meant stealth, but it wasn't quite the right translation for the word, not in this case. She'd read about it a few years prior in the same book she'd read about the poly-juice potion. "It helps you blend into your environment, making it easy to observe without being observed, it's a type of concealment potion."
"Very good Granger," Blaise said, sarcasm dripping from every word. "You can't have actually used it or you'd understand a little better. You see, the only way in is to walk past Death Eaters, not one or two, but at minimum two dozen, probably more. A charm could work, but the place Harry's hidden in is extremely well guarded against charms like that, so I had to find a potion to do the job."
"Why not ask Snape to help you?" Hermione asked quietly, but realized what she was asking. "Sorry," she added, "I didn't think. I just..."
"You want to help Harry, I understand. If we're going to work together though you're going to have to learn to think before you speak, I don't want to hear anything out of you unless it's important. Now I need you because I can't finish brewing this potion myself, I may be a good Slytherin, but I wasn't good enough to get into advanced potions like you. Had I any other choice I would have gone a different path, however asking a Slytherin would have put me into their debt and risked myself of being exposed to Voldemort's minions."
"You said his name," Hermione hissed.
"Shush," Blaise warned with a glare that Hermione almost backed away from. "I thought you were Potter's friend and a Gryffindor, doesn't that mean that you've got all this courage to not be afraid of saying his name?"
"Well... I... You... I mean, I can say it, I just thought that everyone else..." Hermione said, stumbling, she'd always got after Ron for not saying the name and now she was telling someone they shouldn't – sort of.
"You know nothing about what I should and shouldn't say Granger, you know nothing about my life other than the fact that I'm Slytherin and I'm risking my life to save Harry. Now, if you would be so kind, go stuff yourself. I'm here to work."
Sniffing, Hermione shut up as she looked over the instructions to the potion. "What do I need to do?" Hermione asked once she'd finished.
"I've added powdered boomslang skin already," Blaise said. "The potion's got a few more days before we need to add anything, but it needs to be well controlled while it's waiting. I can't be around all the time and neither can you – you'll have to make sure I know what needs to be done if you go and disappear."
Nodding mutely was Hermione's only response, she didn't want to say anything and end up saying something stupid. Blaise sure didn't like her very much and Hermione had already received a slap in the face several times – figuratively, she wasn't going to let that happen again.
"There's one more thing," Blaise said. "I need some help getting into Severus' private supplies or we need to go to Hogsmeade, there's an ingredient I couldn't procure."
Hermione almost spoke, a few of the ingredients that had already been used were highly difficult to purchase and Hermione had assumed that Blaise had gotten them from Professor Snape's storage, but now wasn't so sure.
"What's the ingredient?" Hermione inquired hesitantly.
"Very good Granger, you're thinking properly. The ingredient isn't illegal as you no doubt suspect, it is however a very rare and very expensive ingredient."
"Well what is it?" Hermione snapped, not wanting to deal with the games that Blaise might be playing.
"Much better Granger, we could make a Slytherin out of you yet. The ingredient, for your information, is matured Acromantula blood." Hermione fought to show any signs of surprise, and apparently she didn't, or Blaise ignored it for the moment because nothing was mentioned about it.
"Their blood is difficult to procure, because the mature Acromantula is roughly the size of Hagrid, if not bigger and generally stay in packs when the leave a nest."
The knowledge of Harry's second year trip had been discussed with Hermione on more than one occasion and she knew that there was a vast supply of blood in the forest. "It's not on the recipe," Hermione said quietly.
Blaise shrugged, "well it's there, just under a different name. It will need to be added in three days or the potion will fail. We need to get to Hogsmeade first, I'd much rather sneak out than risk getting caught by Snape in his room."
"I've got a better idea," Hermione said quietly and turned, leaving the room with Blaise close behind. They walked quietly, Blaise not asking questions, simply following. When they approached the portrait that Hermione was headed for Blaise slowed.
"What are we doing here?" she asked, almost insulted.
"Don't worry, you'll find out in a minute."
After tickling the pear the portrait opened up and Hermione entered followed by a pissed Slytherin. "Dobby?" Hermione called once she'd entered. There was a crashing sound and Dobby came flying through the group of elves who'd assembled near by. "Is Master Potter safe?" he asked immediately, then clamped his hand over his mouth.
"Harry Potter, is he safe?" he asked again, thinking things through.
"No Dobby," Hermione said sadly. "But we're trying to help get him out."
Dobby nodded thankfully, and looked to Blaise, his eyes showing anger. Hermione looked to Blaise and then back to Dobby, confused but still thinking things through. "Dobby we need to talk in private."
Nodding, Dobby led them past at least a dozen elves, all of which were watching Hermione warily, none of them seemed to like her very much. Nor did Blaise seem to like the elves.
They entered a side room which seemed slightly compact, and Dobby snapped his fingers, conjuring two seats. "What is Dobby able to do for Hermione Granger to help Harry Potter?" he asked once the door had been shut.
It was Blaise who noticed the bed in the corner of the room where another elf was laying, dirty and sickly looking. "What about that one," she asked, pointing to the elf.
"Winky is not telling anyone of Master Potter's secrets, she is a good elf."
"That's the second time you've called Harry 'Master' Dobby, what's going on?" Dobby went wide eyed and looked around, scared. "Nothing Hermione Granger," Dobby said, frightened.
"Dobby, it's alright, you can tell me, remember, I'm Harry's best friend." Hermione said, trying to reason with the elf.
Cringing, Dobby looked around for something, but finding nothing to hide behind he looked up to Hermione, still terrified. "Harry Potter is telling Dobby not to tell anyone," he said shakily. "He is telling Dobby to keep our secret."
Out of the corner of her eyes Hermione saw Blaise look at Dobby with a renewed interest and she sighed, she wouldn't go into this right now. "It's alright Dobby, you don't have to tell anyone anything. We need you to go to Hogsmeade and check a store for us, is that alright? It's something to help Harry."
Dobby nodded his head furiously. Hermione was glad Dobby liked Harry so much, she'd worry about what Dobby was talking about later – when she could yell at Harry in the comfort of the common room, or some other room of the castle.
"What is Hermione Granger needing and where is Dobby to go?" he asked, excited.
Hermione looked to Blaise who took it from there. "You'll need to visit Kringle's Elements, it's a seedy little place at the edge of town, on Sow's Tail. It will cost you a good deal if they have it, but all we need to know is if they do – because we can get it ourselves, we'll just sneak out."
While Hermione hadn't been wanting to sneak out she knew that she didn't have the money, and probably couldn't come up with it without revealing what she was going to use it for and if Blaise wasn't going to trust Dobby enough to give him the money then she'd have to comply with Blaise's ways for the moment.
"If we're just going to check we could use an owl," Hermione pointed out. Blaise rolled her eyes. "Don't you know that every piece of mail entering or leaving this castle is checked at the moment? The ministry's having a riot over what happened. You did read the article in the paper about Potter saving Hogsmeade, didn't you?" she snapped.
Hermione had, and she'd been angry when she'd seen who'd written it, Rita Skeeter, but then she hadn't said anything bad about anyone, she'd just been utterly lacking in mentioning that the Aurors had been the one doing the fighting, and eventually the one's who'd done the cleanup, Harry had just been caught overdoing the hero role again. This time it had been seen by every witch and wizard who received the Daily Prophet though.
Of course, after such a outcry for Harry's return, Minister Fudge couldn't just ignore the fact that he'd been captured and portkeyed away after helping so many people escape the Imperius curse. No, Fudge had to do something about it and there was a nationwide man-hunt going on to find Harry and hunt down Death Eaters. It had been a good move in some ways, but Harry was going to hate the attention if he got back.
When Hermione reminded herself, when he gets back.
When Hermione looked up again Dobby was gone and Blaise was on her way out. "I'll just go get something from the kitchens. I know you haven't eaten yet." With that, Hermione was left alone again to wonder what exactly was going on with Harry at that moment.
•
Tonks knew, she could hear him screaming. She'd woken to it, and covered the ring with her below to lesson the sound so that no one else would hear.
"Harry," she whispered into the ring, "I'll find you."
Dumbledore had been impressed with the rings but had told her truthfully that they would in no way help anyone locate Harry. The 'hole' was simply not something that could be traced.
George and Fred had been crestfallen when he'd said that, and went back to their shop muttering about putting locator spells on anything they ever gave Harry. Tonks knew it wouldn't help much, Death Eater prisons were always warded against stuff like that.
Of course Harry couldn't hear her, not now, not after what they'd done to him. She shuddered remembering the memory of only a few hours before. It was hard enough to sleep without remembering it.
"What's this?" a voice had asked, a voice that Tonks knew well, Bellatrix Lestrange.
Of course the fact that she'd found the ring worried Tonks, she'd been listening to it for almost a full day with nothing, and then, when it had come it was the sounds of Death Eaters.
"It is a communication device," a voice responded, one Tonks did not know. "We saw it being used in Hogsmeade and have created wards to keep it from being used. We had also researched the composition and determined that he cannot be tracked by it so the wards are only to prevent someone from using it to communicate."
"Who is listening on the other side, waiting to hear little Harry's voice?" Bellatrix asked, laughing.
"The Auror named Tonks is the only one we know of."
There was a sickening laugh and then a crunch that Tonks knew well, a bone breaking. She could hear Harry whimpering, but when she looked through the ring there was nothing but blackness, and she supposed that while the warding had stopped the ring from transmitting originally it was breaking down and now she could at least hear what was going on. If she listened long enough perhaps she could hear where they were.
"Remove the wards," Bellatrix said and Tonks could imagine the evil smirk on her face as she continued. "We want an audience for the torture."
Right then Tonks had almost screamed into it that no matter where Bellatrix went she'd be chased down if she so much as laid a finger on Harry. Of course, Tonks knew that would only instigate the woman to do more harm, so she kept quiet, as quite as she could manage.
"Harry..." Bellatrix said. "Harry wake up."
There was a magic spell – an enervate performed and she could hear Harry's breath changing. Whatever it was that had been done to him must have knocked him unconscious and it must have been painful – because when they'd broken one of his bones he didn't wake up.
"What?" Harry asked, and Tonks was astonished at the way he spoke, she'd have never thought he could be broken so quickly. Harry was a fighter. She would have thought that he'd be swearing them off until they did something imaginative with his mouth to keep him from talking. But they wouldn't do that – it would keep the screams toned down.
"Come now," Bellatrix said. "You've only lost two of your friends."
Through the quite Tonks could hear sobbing, a soft sobbing that broke her heart. What had Bellatrix done to him? Who were the friends she was talking about?
"You didn't have to kill them, I told you I'd do anything you wanted."
"We offered you a choice Harry, Ron or Hermione, you couldn't choose, so we decided for you. Besides, it was best to get them out of the way. It made you much more fun to toy with."
"Just don't kill any of the others," Harry said, even quieter. "Don't harm them anymore, please..." he begged.
At this point Tonks was choked up with a vivid imagination of what must have happened. The Death Eaters had used such tactics before, she'd read about them in her studies before she'd become a fully qualified Auror. It was easier to break a prisoner if there where others there, others he cared for. Usually they kept all the 'prisoners' in separate places, bringing them together only when the torture was to begin. They would force the true captive to watch as people he or she knew and loved where tortured, raped, or killed in front of their eyes. It was a horrendous and effective tool.
"Stand," Bellatrix said and Tonks could hear Harry moving. She was fighting with herself to reveal that she was there and reveal that it was all fake. She ached to tell him that Ron and Hermione were fine, a little beaten up after the fight, but in otherwise good health. He'd tell her not to come save him, she was sure of that, but at least he'd know she was trying. She waited though, waited for her chance to tell him and not let anyone else know.
"Now let's do something about this little trinket," Bellatrix said. "How does it work?"
"Sin believes that it has a use similar to an orb, but it transmits picture through the hole as well as voices. If you were to face the ring outward the person on the other end would see everything that is visible, but by facing it inward you are able to hear and see the person on the other end. We have not been able to test this theory yet, because of the wards blocking the linking of the two devices."
"How can we seal off communication from the other end?" Bellatrix asked, her voice smart, and very interested in the little ring. Tonks shuddered, she would have hated to see the calculating look that Bellatrix must be giving the ring, wondering how she could use it to her advantage.
"You merely have to seal off the proper side, it is simply to decide, these marks... they show which side sends information and which side receives it."
"Let us wake up our audience on the other end then." Bellatrix hissed. "Ardoris!"
Tonks knew what the spell did, it was used for warming things, like putting it on a rock before placing it under the end of your sheets, but it was a calculated spell, something that had to be used carefully. There was silence except for the breathing Tonks could hear from Harry and then there was a whimper again, this one a whimper of extreme pain that Harry was trying to hold back. Then, a scream. A scream that Tonks knew she'd never forget. The sort of scream that wasn't quite human anymore.
The screaming continued until Harry had to breathe and then it sounded as if he fainted when something slumped to the ground and the voices became more muted. "Shame he's so weak," Bellatrix said, laughing. "It would have been fun to finish melting this before he blacked out, it's an interesting feeling, hot metal cooling against the skin."
Then it struck Tonks what they'd done and she started sobbing, the sort of thing she'd sworn off a long time ago. She knew then if she ever saw Bellatrix face to face only one of them would walk away.
All she could hear now was his heartbeat and harsh breathing. Whatever Bellatrix was doing to him now had been stopped. She'd heard the woman walk away. "It is not good to defy her," the voice said, the one that Tonks had yet to identify.
"Sin, what do you want from me?" Harry asked, and Tonks blinked. The voice earlier had referred to Sin as a third person, but now Harry was calling this person by the same name. "Why don't they just kill me?" he sobbed.
Silence.
It was more than Tonks could handle, she kicked her bedpost, slipping on a small patch of water she'd spilled earlier and falling back on her head. She laid on the floor, sobbing. She hated it, hated that she couldn't be there and save him. Dumbledore had ordered her to get some rest before she went out and did something like that, after all she hadn't slept since he'd disappeared almost three days ago. When she'd finally fallen asleep earlier it was only to wake up ten minutes later to Harry screaming again, whatever they were doing they would pay she resolved, even if she had to do it illegally.
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