A/N: This is probably a bit shorter than my other chapters, but I thought it had been too long since I last updated, and basically typed this out in a night.
Disclaimer: Nessa, Lessien and Thelonious are my own creations. The world of Harry Potter (inc. the Death Eaters) doesn't belong to me - which just takes all the fun out of life .:Pouts:.
Nessa trailed along behind Thelonious, trying to keep as much distance between them as she possibly could. As much as she hated to admit it, Thelonious scared her in some way, and she'd had no choice but to obey him as he ordered them to follow him out of the clearing. Absorbed in her thoughts, she didn't notice that he'd stopped walking, and promptly bumped into Lessien's back. She touched the other girl's shoulder lightly in apology, and then peered ahead trying to see why they had stopped.
"Can you hear what he's saying?" she murmured to Lessien, watching as Thelonious spoke to another Death Eater.
"Nope, don't care either," Lessien replied curtly, her eyes fixed on Thelonious despite her apparent disinterest. She glanced over her shoulder at Nessa and raised an eyebrow, mouth twisted to one side in a wry smirk. "They're probably just debating the best way to kill us off, anyway."
"Hardly, my dear," Thelonious interjected smoothly, gliding over to where the two girls were talking. "We merely believe that it would be better for us all if your darling older sister was blind-folded…"
"So you admit it – Nessa really is my family!" Lessien demanded, her jaw setting and expression hardening. "You knew all along, and you never once told me!"
"What was the point? You never cared before, so what makes you care now?"
"I care!" Lessien yelled, letting all her anger and bitterness towards the man fill her voice. "I've always cared! What part of your deluded mind even made you believe that I could ever be happy with those… people, although I hesitate to use the word to describe them, especially when they made it so clear that I was in no way their daughter, and as such, would never treat me as one? Yet you honestly believed that I never, even once, wondered who my real family was, if they'd care for me?" She fixed Thelonious with a withering glare, her hazel eyes even stonier than his. "You're even stupider than I thought you were," she whispered coldly.
Nessa watched, frozen by Lessien's outburst, as Thelonious' hand lashed out and connected solidly with the girl's cheek, knocking her to the ground. The sound of Lessien hitting the earth shook Nessa out of her shock, and she moved swiftly to kneel in front and beside Lessien, using her own body to shield her sister from the kick Thelonious had aimed at the younger girl. Wincing, she bit down on her lip hard to stop from yelling out as the man's shoe connected solidly with her ribs, and she blinked rapidly, clearing the tears from her eyes before anyone could notice. It wouldn't do to seem weak in front of this group of Death Eaters – Merlin only knew what they'd do.
Feeling rough hands grasp her collar, Nessa quickly scrambled to her feet, and was pulled around to find herself facing Thelonious' gaze.
"Such an act of protection for someone you don't even know properly," he commented, sounding genuinely curious.
"She's family," Nessa replied coolly, not appreciating the grip he had on her. "I protect friends and family as best I can."
Thelonious snorted and let go of her, ignoring Lessien and beginning to walk away. "It's pathetic, loyalty like that."
"Loyalty is a fair better trait than cruelty," Nessa shot back, holding her hand out to her sister and helping the girl to her feet. Noticing the sudden tension in Lessien, she wondered whether it had been wise to react to Thelonious at all, and risked a glance in his direction. The man appeared to be frozen in mid-step, and she bit her lip again as he suddenly spun on his heel and gave her an appraising look.
"Put this on the older Meneldur," he merely said, shoving a piece of cloth into a nearby Death Eater's hand, and turned away, heading off into the forest once more, no doubt trusting that they would all follow in time.
Intercepting the Death Eater, Lessien jerked the cloth out of his hands with a glare and turned to face Nessa, walking forwards and carefully placing the makeshift blindfold about Nessa's eyes.
"It's better I do it than him," she explained, half-apologising as she tied the two ends together. "He'd probably manage to take your eyes out if I let him put this on you."
"It's alright, I understand," Nessa said, a little nervous at having to walk through the forest, for all intents and purposes, blind. "I thought I was in trouble for a minute there, with Thelonious."
"I thought you were, too," Lessien replied bluntly, checking that the blindfold wouldn't fall off. "I suspect if it had been anyone else… well, never mind that." She gestured curtly for Thomas to stand on the other side of Nessa, and together they began to guide her forwards.
Walking in silence for a moment, it suddenly occurred to Nessa that of the three of them, she was the only prisoner, in essence. In a way, it made sense, she reasoned – Lessien was a Death Eater already, and Thomas was going to be one. She was the only one that had no real link with the Death Eater group, and of course they were going to be more cautious with her.
"Lessien?" Nessa began softly, conscious of the girl's arm linked through her own. "Have you ever wished that you could have gone to Hogwarts?" She felt a slight hesitation in Lessien's footsteps before hearing the girl's voice answering her.
"Sometimes… in a way. I never really thought about it much until I met Thom, but then I just started hearing things about it, all the friends he'd made. I guess… I wish I could have had that opportunity."
Nessa blinked, slightly surprised at her sister's honest answer. It wasn't that she'd been expecting an evasion, per say, but she certainly hadn't been expecting that sort of response.
"Maybe," Nessa began cautiously, "maybe if everything works out alright, you'll get the chance."
"Yeah… maybe," Lessien replied, sounding disbelieving, and she let out a tiny snort. "Although, I can't see how this could possibly work out alright," she added, the muscles in her jaw twitching slightly, the only outward sign of worry that she gave.
"Lessien, you don't know Ness," Thomas chimed in suddenly, and Nessa jumped slightly at the sound of his voice. "If she's determined – and you look at her, she is – to get out of this alright, then that's what'll happen."
Lessien shrugged, her shoulder brushing against Nessa's. "Maybe you're right," she said finally, sounding only a little less doubtful.
"Less talk, please," Thelonious called, his clear, cultured voice travelling back to the three with very little effort. "If you don't mind, we have somewhere to be.
Hearing a small noise from both Lessien and Thomas, Nessa turned her head inquiringly between them. "What is it? Where are we?"
"Thestrals," Thomas replied softly, sliding his hand about Nessa's waist to balance her better as they prepared to lift her onto one of the creatures. "They're always around this part… favourite transport, you know."
Blindly grasping hold of… something, Nessa twitched her shoulder's lightly, feeling exposed and awkward. Hearing only hushed conversations, and nothing clear, she started wondering if she was going to be expected to ride the thestral on her own, when another body slipped behind her. She relaxed, assuming it was Thomas – the person was far too tall to be Lessien.
"Everyone settled?" Thelonious asked, although it was closer to a demand than a question, and Nessa jumped, his voice from directly behind her. She tensed, quickly realising that it was Thelonious behind her, and not Thomas. Rapidly feeling even less safe than she had before, she shifted forward as much as she could without the man noticing.
"Good. We've wasted enough time this evening." Thelonious gestured, and suddenly they were lifting up into the air, moving swiftly.
Nessa felt Thelonious put his arms about her waist, and she shivered, wondering if he was getting some perverse sort of pleasure out of it.
"Cold, my dear?" he asked, tone slightly mocking. "Never mind, we'll get there soon enough. In the meantime, I'd suggest you don't let go."
She gritted her teeth, her hand itching even more to slap him, but for the sake of keeping her balance, she restrained herself.
"You're too considerate," she managed to force out between her teeth, her voice laced with heavy sarcasm.
"I think only of my beautiful guest," he replied smoothly and just as sarcastically, and Nessa shivered again, wishing more than anything that he'd let her go. "You may as well get some sleep," he advised, lifting one hand from her waist to make a random gesture. "You'll need your energy."
Telling herself that sleep was the last thing she needed, Nessa's eyes slid closed despite her best efforts to keep them open, seemingly unable to resist the command of Thelonious. 'I can't sleep,' she thought desperately, clenching a hand reflexively in an attempt to keep from falling asleep. 'I just can't! It's not safe…' Slowly, one-by-one, her muscles relaxed, her hand stilled, and her breathing evened out, and Nessa slipped into a deep sleep, so against her own wishes and so deep that it could easily have been closer to unconsciousness than true sleep.
She stirred slightly, vaguely aware of gentle arms lifting her down from where she'd been sleeping, and carrying her to somewhere else.
"Just put her in here," a deep voice told the person carrying her. "She won't wake fully until tomorrow morning at the earliest, more likely the evening."
"I don't see that it was necessary to put her to sleep in the first place," a voice grated in reply, and her sleep mind named that voice Thomas.
"Don't be any more naïve than you have to be, William's son," the cold voice said harshly, obviously aimed at Thomas. "The blindfold was never enough, she was too curious. Now just put her in here – yes, there's a bed – and go to the main hall. A certain someone needs to have a few words with you."
Soft pillows met gently with her head, and the warm arms that had been cradling her slowly let her go. She rolled onto her side, making a soft whimper of protest as her only comfort disappeared.
"Just sleep, Ness," Thomas whispered, lightly touching her cheek. "I'll come back as soon as I can."
She made another soft noise, this time one of agreement, and shifted on the bed, finding a comfortable position. Letting out her breath slowly, she relaxed, the noises around her receding into a numbing silence as she slowly drifted back to sleep.