VII.
Brett was staring at Patrick. "Why the bloody hell'd you have to sneeze?" Voldemort was drawing nearer and nearer, smiling and raising his stick. He stopped a few feet from the bush, waved his stick, and the four of them were lifted up into the air and brought back down with a 'thump' in the middle of the clearing.
"What do we have here?" said Voldemort, looking down at them. "Four filthy Muggle children, it seems…what do you think I should do with them, Death Eaters?"
None of the Death Eaters spoke. They were pointedly looking away from Voldemort and the four of them – some of them were still shaking.
"Which one of them sneezed? Which one gave them away?" Voldemort asked the silent cemetery.
Jamie, Erin, and Brett were avoiding each others' eyes. Patrick had begun to shake, and Voldemort figured out the answer to his question fairly quickly. "You, how long have you been hiding in the bushes?" he asked Patrick.
"Not very long, we just came down from the village…" Patrick began hopefully.
"You lie. You saw my rebirth, my Death Eaters, Potter, everything?"
"Yes," Patrick said in a small voice.
"Well, you have seen too much then. Avada Kedavra!"
Once more, green light filled the cemetery, and Patrick fell over backwards, unmistakably dead.
Erin let out a whimper, a whimper that carried throughout the silent graveyard. Jamie placed himself between her and Voldemort. If she died, it would be his fault. He would have to stand in front of Ernie and his parents and say that it was his fault she was dead; he could not live with that…if she died, he was going to as well…
"Bravery, I admire that. And selflessness. Unfortunately, that does not spare your life…Crucio!"
Jamie keeled over; he was completely overwhelmed by the pain he was experiencing. Screaming at the top of his lungs, he wanted to be found by the village…anything to stop the pain…it was as if every bone in his body had broken and he had torn every ligament and muscle he possessed…over and over again, his bones broke and his muscles tore, and Jamie was screaming harder than ever…screaming for release…
Finally, it stopped. He was curled into a tight ball at Erin's feet – she was looking at him with concern and worry on her face. Jamie looked around through glazed eyes, still twitching violently. Where's Brett?
Voldemort and his Death Eaters were laughing. "What is your name, boy?"
"His name's none of your business, and if you want to touch him again, you'll have to go through me!" Erin said angrily, stepping in front of Jamie so that she was a foot from Voldemort.
Voldemort looked, surprised, down at Erin, who recoiled slightly but stood her ground. "You are no Muggle," he said, "You!" he said to the nearest Death Eater. "Tie her up!"
Erin looked terrified at being at the mercy of Voldemort, but she really didn't have a choice. The Death Eater bodily picked her up and carried her to the Riddle tombstone, where he repaired the ropes that had bound Potter and then secured Erin tightly. He was in the process of picking up the gag, but Voldemort said, "No, don't gag her. I want to remember how loudly little girls scream – it's been years…"
Erin stared helplessly at Jamie with pleading eyes, but how was he supposed to help her? He was still breathing very hard, and Voldemort would surely kill him if he tried to do anything…
"You!" Voldemort said suddenly. Jamie looked up. "Where is your other little friend? I counted four, and now there only seems to be three…"
Jamie began to breathe very fast. Brett got away…what if he raised the alarm in the village? It was too late for Patrick, but not for Erin and himself…
"Where is he?" Voldemort repeated. "Imperio!"
Indeed, it was as if his brain had been removed. A small voice, in his ear it seemed, was saying, "Answer my question." Why not? Such a simple thing to do…Jamie opened his mouth to answer, but then realized that he didn't know. What would Voldemort do to him? Oh well, better tell the truth then…
"I don't know," he spoke to the graveyard.
"So you don't know where he went? Are you sure?" It seemed as if his brain had been returned – all the pain, all the worries were crashed down onto his head in an instant. "Very well, I'll question the girl."
Voldemort moved over so that he was directly in front of Erin. "What is your name?"
"I won't tell you, I'm not stupid," Erin replied scathingly.
Voldemort smiled. "Spunk, I like that. You won't tell me your name; fine. What Hogwarts house are you sorted into?"
Jamie was confused. What does he mean by house? Apparently Erin would not tell him that either. "Crucio!"
Jamie's "No!" was drowned out by the bellows that came from Erin as Crucio took effect. For once, he was glad Erin was a girl…girls could really scream when they wanted to…surely the townspeople would hear this…
Voldemort kept Crucio longer on Erin than on anyone else…apparently he didn't realize the danger of her screams. They were getting more high-pitched by the second…could Crucio kill…?
Finally her screams stopped and Voldemort raised his stick, her eyes glazed over, and she went limp. With a yell of rage, Jamie flung himself at Voldemort, but he was not the only one to do so. "Brett?" Jamie asked, bewildered.
Brett didn't answer, but continued to try and attack every inch of Voldemort he could reach; however, it didn't seem to have any effect on him; he just laughed and said, "Here is your little friend!" He raised his stick, and both Jamie and Brett were slammed into the Riddle tombstone.
Stars popped in front of Jamie's eyes as his head made contact with the marble. He could hear Brett saying, "You jerk! What did we ever do to you? What did you kill Patrick for? He was our mate! You all are just a bunch of insensitive warts…" Jamie groaned inwardly. This couldn't turn out good.
Finally, Voldemort seemed to have had enough. "If you want to see your friend, fine, there is a simple enough solution. "Crucio!" Brett's screams rent the night air and they continued for three whole minutes. Finally, Brett still panting on the ground, "Avada Kedavra!"
Jamie yelled "No!" but could do nothing to stop it – Brett, too, keeled over; unmarked, but completely dead. Without blinking, Voldemort turned to Jamie. "You are the sole survivor of tonight. But you cannot go blabbing it to everyone." To his Death Eaters he said, "Let's see how long it takes before he cracks, shall we?" To their raucous agreement, Voldemort yelled, "Crucio!"
The pain came back again; it felt like his very cells were being ripped to pieces. The pain did not stop, and Jamie felt as if he would welcome death rather than this. He, too, went limp, after five minutes under the curse.
Voldemort screamed in triumph. "Let's go now, before the Muggles show up."
Voldemort disappeared, along with his Death Eaters. Nothing and nobody moved in the cemetery, as all four children were thought to be dead.