Ch. 2:
Taken
By the look on Bellatrix Lestrange's face, Harry knew he had made the decision she had been awaiting. Even through the mask, he could see a wide, evil grin spread across her Azkaban-sunken face and a malicious gleam fill her heavy-lidded eyes, which showed the utmost triumph. But there was no way Harry would have allowed his friends to be tortured and killed on his behalf, even if it meant turning himself in to the Death Eaters and Voldemort, resulting in his own, painful death.
"Ah, Potter, you are too easy. The Dark Lord knew you would 'play the hero' once again. Haven't you learned yet boy, that your heroics have never paid off? And I thought you would have learned your lesson after what happened with your dear, beloved godfather in June. You'll never change, Potter. You'll always be weak." She paused and stared at him, and Harry returned the glare, his own eyes filled with hatred. Bellatrix then spoke again, but this time, to give orders to her group. "Bind him! And release the others! Modify everyone's memory except the ones we planned! NOW!" Some of the Death Eaters left to perform the memory charms, the others stayed to guard Harry and his friends.
Knowing his friends would be free was his only condoling thought as the ropes from two of the remaining Death Eater's wands bound him tightly from his neck to his knees. But, he soon found out their immediate release was not such a good thing, for as soon as their binds were gone, Ron and Hermione ran towards him.
"Harry! HARRY!" They fought against the mass of Death Eaters blocking them from getting to him.
"Stay there, or you will regret your next step!" Bellatrix screamed at them, but they made no inclination that they had heard her.
"NO!...we...need....to get to..Harry!" They struggled, but got nowhere, for many Death Eaters had grabbed them to stop them from becoming Harry's rescuers.
"Ron! Hermione! Stay there! Don't...." Harry screamed, trying to stop his friends from whatever Bellatrix was planning, but he was too late.
"Too late, Potter! You two should have listened to me!" Bellatrix snapped her fingers, and two Death Eaters stepped towards Ron and Hermione, wands out. Harry knew what they were going to do before it happened. "NOOOOOO!!" He screamed, but his voice was lost amongst the others that filled the train.
"CRUCIO!" The Death Eaters who had stepped forward shouted, wands pointed at Harry's struggling friends. A jet of white light issued from the wands and right to Ron and Hermione. Their efforts were immediately stopped as they both fell to the floor, screaming, convulsing, and jerking from the unbelievable pain and torment that was the result of the spell. The Death Eaters that filled the train laughed as they watched them being tortured on the floor in the middle of the aisle of the Hogwarts Express.
"NOO! Bellatrix, stop it! Stop it!:" Harry screamed at her, unable to watch his friends go through that. "Bellatrix lift the curse!"
"Aww, whats the matter, Potter? Fwustrated because you can't save your widdle fwiends?"
"Bellatrix! Lift the curse! You have me, isn't that enough?"
"Your right....Macnair, Avery, that's enough. Put it on Potter instead!" Ron and Hermione's screams turned to whimpers and gasps, as they lay on the floor, relieved of the spell, which was instead turned on Harry, something which he had not expected to happen.
"CRUCIO!" The spell rang through the air again, this time both wands were pointed at the same victim. Harry watched it as it was issued from the wand, through the air, and at his own chest. It connected, and soon it was his own screams that filled the train, mixed with the Death Eaters laughter, which had grown louder.
His entire body felt as if it were aflame, as if fire flowed through his very veins. It was as if he was being repeatedly and simultaneously stabbed throughout his body with knives that had been heated with the very fires of Hell. The pain in his scar was lost amongst the rest of the pain, as his body twitched and jerked uncontrollably on the ground at the feat of dozens of Death Eaters. No thoughts ran through his mind except for the fact that the pain was so all-consuming that he would rather be dead than have to live through another five seconds. And yet it did not end. At least not until another Death Eater was able to convince Bellatrix through her insane laughter that it was enough. It was finally lifted and Harry lay at her feat, gasping for air.
"Oh, Harry, you do not know how good that felt. To have the satisfaction of torturing the boy who has caused us and the Dark Lord so many problems. Ah, what a feeling! Of course, I shall pay for it later, as my master did want you unharmed, but no matter what the consequences, just those few moments of your torment were worth it!" She laughed again.
Harry struggled to get to his feet, but the effects of the spell left him drained of energy, and the binds that covered his body left him unable to move at all, so he had no choice but to lie there helplessly.
"What's the matter, was that too much for you widdle baby Potter? You are a weakling, boy. However you escaped the power of the Dark Lord so many times is a question that will never be answered. But you will not escape this time, boy. Actually, its time to go now, isn't it? We'll soon see how pathetic you really are, now won't we Potter?"
Harry took one last look at his friends, who had now moved to lean against a compartment door, both looking very pale and weak. They looked back at him through the cracks between the Death Eaters with apologetic faces, which were also filled with fear, helplessness, and sorrow. Harry wondered if it was the last time he would ever see them.
A Death Eater moved in front of them, wand out. "Obliviate!" He said, wiping their minds of everything that had happened. With another spell, they were both in a compartment, talking to each other as though nothing had happened. Harry realized every compartment on the train was the same way, no one remembered anything or seemed to realize Harry Potter lying in the middle of the aisle surrounded by dozens of black-robed figures.
Three of those figures grabbed him and lifted him to his feet. Others Disapparated with loud cracks, vanishing from sight. One of the Death Eaters holding onto Harry took out his wand and tapped Harry with it, muttering a spell that Harry did not hear. But he soon found himself filled with a strange feeling, as the colors around him began to blur. Right before he left too, a compartment door slid open and a blonde-haired boy with a pale face stuck his head out to watch, wearing a large, malicious sneer. It was Draco Malfoy, and Harry realized just as the colors swirled around him into a blackness, taking him away, that Draco knew perfectly well what had just happened, and would be able to alter it in anyway he wanted or was told. That meant that no one would know what really happened, and they never will, because Harry was never going to be back again. This was his last thought as he was taken away to Voldemort and his own death.
All the Death Eaters had left the train, thinking their plan had gone perfectly well: they had Harry Potter, no one knew what happened, and Draco was going to make up an excuse as to why Harry's missing. And yet there was only one flaw to their plan, something they did not realize: one person that they had not planned on to know what had happened still remembered what happened very clearly. That person was a first year student in the very last compartment of the train named Mark Evans.
Taken
By the look on Bellatrix Lestrange's face, Harry knew he had made the decision she had been awaiting. Even through the mask, he could see a wide, evil grin spread across her Azkaban-sunken face and a malicious gleam fill her heavy-lidded eyes, which showed the utmost triumph. But there was no way Harry would have allowed his friends to be tortured and killed on his behalf, even if it meant turning himself in to the Death Eaters and Voldemort, resulting in his own, painful death.
"Ah, Potter, you are too easy. The Dark Lord knew you would 'play the hero' once again. Haven't you learned yet boy, that your heroics have never paid off? And I thought you would have learned your lesson after what happened with your dear, beloved godfather in June. You'll never change, Potter. You'll always be weak." She paused and stared at him, and Harry returned the glare, his own eyes filled with hatred. Bellatrix then spoke again, but this time, to give orders to her group. "Bind him! And release the others! Modify everyone's memory except the ones we planned! NOW!" Some of the Death Eaters left to perform the memory charms, the others stayed to guard Harry and his friends.
Knowing his friends would be free was his only condoling thought as the ropes from two of the remaining Death Eater's wands bound him tightly from his neck to his knees. But, he soon found out their immediate release was not such a good thing, for as soon as their binds were gone, Ron and Hermione ran towards him.
"Harry! HARRY!" They fought against the mass of Death Eaters blocking them from getting to him.
"Stay there, or you will regret your next step!" Bellatrix screamed at them, but they made no inclination that they had heard her.
"NO!...we...need....to get to..Harry!" They struggled, but got nowhere, for many Death Eaters had grabbed them to stop them from becoming Harry's rescuers.
"Ron! Hermione! Stay there! Don't...." Harry screamed, trying to stop his friends from whatever Bellatrix was planning, but he was too late.
"Too late, Potter! You two should have listened to me!" Bellatrix snapped her fingers, and two Death Eaters stepped towards Ron and Hermione, wands out. Harry knew what they were going to do before it happened. "NOOOOOO!!" He screamed, but his voice was lost amongst the others that filled the train.
"CRUCIO!" The Death Eaters who had stepped forward shouted, wands pointed at Harry's struggling friends. A jet of white light issued from the wands and right to Ron and Hermione. Their efforts were immediately stopped as they both fell to the floor, screaming, convulsing, and jerking from the unbelievable pain and torment that was the result of the spell. The Death Eaters that filled the train laughed as they watched them being tortured on the floor in the middle of the aisle of the Hogwarts Express.
"NOO! Bellatrix, stop it! Stop it!:" Harry screamed at her, unable to watch his friends go through that. "Bellatrix lift the curse!"
"Aww, whats the matter, Potter? Fwustrated because you can't save your widdle fwiends?"
"Bellatrix! Lift the curse! You have me, isn't that enough?"
"Your right....Macnair, Avery, that's enough. Put it on Potter instead!" Ron and Hermione's screams turned to whimpers and gasps, as they lay on the floor, relieved of the spell, which was instead turned on Harry, something which he had not expected to happen.
"CRUCIO!" The spell rang through the air again, this time both wands were pointed at the same victim. Harry watched it as it was issued from the wand, through the air, and at his own chest. It connected, and soon it was his own screams that filled the train, mixed with the Death Eaters laughter, which had grown louder.
His entire body felt as if it were aflame, as if fire flowed through his very veins. It was as if he was being repeatedly and simultaneously stabbed throughout his body with knives that had been heated with the very fires of Hell. The pain in his scar was lost amongst the rest of the pain, as his body twitched and jerked uncontrollably on the ground at the feat of dozens of Death Eaters. No thoughts ran through his mind except for the fact that the pain was so all-consuming that he would rather be dead than have to live through another five seconds. And yet it did not end. At least not until another Death Eater was able to convince Bellatrix through her insane laughter that it was enough. It was finally lifted and Harry lay at her feat, gasping for air.
"Oh, Harry, you do not know how good that felt. To have the satisfaction of torturing the boy who has caused us and the Dark Lord so many problems. Ah, what a feeling! Of course, I shall pay for it later, as my master did want you unharmed, but no matter what the consequences, just those few moments of your torment were worth it!" She laughed again.
Harry struggled to get to his feet, but the effects of the spell left him drained of energy, and the binds that covered his body left him unable to move at all, so he had no choice but to lie there helplessly.
"What's the matter, was that too much for you widdle baby Potter? You are a weakling, boy. However you escaped the power of the Dark Lord so many times is a question that will never be answered. But you will not escape this time, boy. Actually, its time to go now, isn't it? We'll soon see how pathetic you really are, now won't we Potter?"
Harry took one last look at his friends, who had now moved to lean against a compartment door, both looking very pale and weak. They looked back at him through the cracks between the Death Eaters with apologetic faces, which were also filled with fear, helplessness, and sorrow. Harry wondered if it was the last time he would ever see them.
A Death Eater moved in front of them, wand out. "Obliviate!" He said, wiping their minds of everything that had happened. With another spell, they were both in a compartment, talking to each other as though nothing had happened. Harry realized every compartment on the train was the same way, no one remembered anything or seemed to realize Harry Potter lying in the middle of the aisle surrounded by dozens of black-robed figures.
Three of those figures grabbed him and lifted him to his feet. Others Disapparated with loud cracks, vanishing from sight. One of the Death Eaters holding onto Harry took out his wand and tapped Harry with it, muttering a spell that Harry did not hear. But he soon found himself filled with a strange feeling, as the colors around him began to blur. Right before he left too, a compartment door slid open and a blonde-haired boy with a pale face stuck his head out to watch, wearing a large, malicious sneer. It was Draco Malfoy, and Harry realized just as the colors swirled around him into a blackness, taking him away, that Draco knew perfectly well what had just happened, and would be able to alter it in anyway he wanted or was told. That meant that no one would know what really happened, and they never will, because Harry was never going to be back again. This was his last thought as he was taken away to Voldemort and his own death.
All the Death Eaters had left the train, thinking their plan had gone perfectly well: they had Harry Potter, no one knew what happened, and Draco was going to make up an excuse as to why Harry's missing. And yet there was only one flaw to their plan, something they did not realize: one person that they had not planned on to know what had happened still remembered what happened very clearly. That person was a first year student in the very last compartment of the train named Mark Evans.