AN: WARNING: There is violence in this chapter, and testing and animal cruelty in the form of testing on animals. Please skip this chapter and chapter 18 if you prefer not to read. Chapter 17 does not contain violence. And chapter 19 will have a summary at the beginning.
It was late but Penny wasn't interested in sleep. She'd spent the better part of the day with people in white robes asking her to perform a series of specific tasks with and without a wand. The entire thing was quite dull, but Penny greatly preferred it to her nighttime visitors, because at least the daytime crew spoke and laughed with her.
Penny was sitting at her table with the wizards chess set Tonks gifted to her. It was charmed by Arthur Weasley, but the set did more than simply play against Penny. It was another truly ingenious invention by Mr. Weasley. The board spaces were engraved with 60 different symbols on the face of it. At first look it was quite pretty, but Penny suspected there was a purpose to them beyond their aesthetic. The fact that there was no theme between the symbols solidified this hunch. She figured their meanings were to be interpreted. For example, the shaggy black dog bore remarkable similarity to Sirius' animagus form, which could be a specific reference to Sirius, but dually, the dog could also represent loyalty. The bald eagle clearly represented the MACUSA, and the half-moon spectacles were Dumbledore. The rest would take some thought to use.
It was an intricate and challenging way to send messages especially when considering which pieces to place on which symbols. Penny would arrange several of her pieces to display the message she wanted, and she guessed those pieces would move on the linked chessboard. When the other person decided on a reply the white pieces on her board would move. It was not a very secretive form of messaging, and anyone who was paying any amount of attention would realize in chess only one piece is supposed to move at a time. But, as it was, no one seemed to be observing Penny's time in her room with much care. She'd spent the better part of the last hour testing the function of it and trying to interpret the responses she was receiving. The process had given Penny a headache and she was rubbing her temples when the door opened and light blinded her. She blinked against her watering eyes and looked up into the blond features of Yaxley. Beside him were two strange men who wore tidy suits, thick robes, and bowler hats on their heads. The three entered, Yaxley waving his wand at the light bulb in the center of the room.
"Penny! Wonderful, you're awake, I was hoping we wouldn't be disturbing you," said Yaxley, conjuring chairs for them.
"Oh, you're definitely disturbing me. But if you just wanna walk back the way you came, you can rectify the mistake," said Penny, scooting herself closer to the wall as Yaxley took up residence in the chair closest to her.
"Such a charming girl. Alas, science calls us here," Yaxley said dismissively.
"Pray, tell me, what credible science is conducted in the dead of night on non-consenting children? And here I thought my brother had rid the world of that kind of ideology."
"Some say he merely paved the way for someone to expand on it. That is why it is the job of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement and the MACUSA to ensure that no such thing takes place, ever again," Yaxley replied, giving Penny an ugly yellow grin.
Penny looked away from the grotesque, waxy man in disgust. The fabrication and fear mongering was insulting. Yaxley merely saw an opportunity for personal gain and he did not care who he trampled to get there.
"I assume you must be the MACUSA," Penny said, crossing her arms.
"Yes ma'am. We are committed to ensuring a talented lady such as yourself is safe from the manipulation of any persons, international or domestic, for political or personal gain," the younger man seated across from Penny said in a thick American accent.
"And who will protect me from you?"
"We have your best interest at heart ma'am, there is no need to fear us," he said self-assuredly.
"The problem is I don't care about your interests, My interests simply include returning to school to finish my education, which the law says I'm entitled to."
"You can write to Grindelwald about the rights you're entitled to," the grey-haired man beside Yaxley said in a cold, less aggressively American accent.
"At least one of you is honest," Penny said, pointedly turning back to Yaxley.
He looked unperturbed, rather, he appeared enticed by her insinuation.
"Penny, Penny, you'll learn soon enough. It will be in your interest to cooperate, these lovely gentlemen traveled a long way to ensure the highest quality-"
Penny snorted before Yaxley could finish. He was laying it on thick, and Penny's headache made it hard for her to have patience for his crap.
"Come to see the show, check on your investments, of course. I look forward to it, because none of you will be able to wash your hands of injustice once the night is through," she spat, looking toward the door where her regular visitors entered.
They looked around uncertainly at her guests, causing Penny to smirk. They wanted Penny to cooperate, but she would do no such thing. They moved around Yaxley, pulling the dreaded collar from the pile.
"We need to put this on you to ensure safety," Marshall said in a deeper voice than Penny imagined him having.
"I'm feeling a bit tired tonight, so I think I'll pass," said Penny, pretending to yawn and not bothering to look at Marshall.
"We will be putting this on, it is better for you to cooperate."
"Did I not make myself clear? I said no, unless you intend to force me," she said, turning to him to stress her point.
He nodded to the other two and they descended on her. Penny kicked out at the first, catching him in the groin.
"Don't touch me," she growled, intending to make the biggest spectacle she could muster.
Oliver grabbed her right hand in an effort to subdue her, but her legs lashed out at him. The first took hold of her left arm once he recovered, and they wrestled her violently to the floor. Her head smashed into it, the two of them pinning her hands behind her back. Moments later her collar was attached along with the other three and she was turned over. She wiped blood from her mouth, her eyes locking onto the shocked expression of the young American. His ignorance irritated her, but she had little time to dwell on it. Marshall was forcing her by the arm to her feet. Down hallway after hallway, he dragged her, ignoring her every effort to stop his progress.
Penny finally got his attention when she bit his upper arm, causing him to yelp. His dark feature contorted in anger, and he looked on the verge of hitting her, but he settled for taking a fist full of her hair to prevent her from biting him again.
"I can only imagine what the Wizengamot would say if they caught wind of this kind of treatment," Penny yelled.
Marshall's yanking stopped, and he released her hair while he tinkered with the door he intended to go through. Penny had little time to straighten herself before Yaxley was on her, his thick fingers grabbing her chin.
"The Wizengamot has trusted me to make the appropriate calls to ensure. . .public safety," he said in a smooth voice.
Penny ripped her face from his hold, backing away until she bumped into Marshall, who'd finished with the door, which he pushed her through. She stumbled, catching her balance before she collided with the chair in the center. Penny's stomach churned as she looked around the room. The chair was reminiscent of a dental chair except for the restraints at the arms and legs. Beside it was a pile of objects that sent a chill up Penny's spine. Beside the objects were a dozen or so animals that were crying from their too small cages. They were underfed and showed evidence of abuse. The sight sickened Penny to her core.
"Do sit Penny, I daresay we are all bursting to see what you can do," Yaxley said in Penny's ear, his tongue flicking her lobe.
The revulsion was almost too much for Penny to contain. She wanted to vomit all over the man's shoes and scream at the group filing in. The MACUSA followed Oliver, undisturbed by the contents of the room, to a plexiglass viewing room while Marshall and handler number three began attaching parts of the percolator-like machine to the cages the animals were squeezed into.
Turning on her heel, Penny tried to push past the man who was much too close to her, but he caught her left arm with a firm grasp, a horrible smile working its way across his face.
"Sit, I insist."
Penny reached for her magic, summoning the black crystal from the table and sending it soaring at Yaxley. His reflexes were barely fast enough, he let her go and pulled out his wand. By the time he stopped it with his spell, Penny had already sent all the other items flying, like a tornado, around the room. She heard Marshall yell as a glove collided with his neck and began suffocating him. Spells were being shot out in all directions, one grazing Penny's cheek as she dived. The animals squealed in fear, a rabbit's tiny red eyes begging Penny for mercy. She reached for the latch, but midway she was stopped by an electric shock pulsing through her body. She screamed, and fell backwards. She could not control her muscles which were now convulsing violently.
Yaxley stood above her, and along with Marshall, they pulled her roughly from the floor and dropped her unkindly into the chair, the restraints springing to life instantly.
"Let it go for another minute, so she learns," Yaxley said, watching her agony with hungry eyes.
She wanted to hex him, make him feel her pain, but the more she tried to perform magic, the more pain she experienced.
"The unspeakables created this with you in mind. Without an outlet, expression turns destructively inward. That pain you feel is your own magic, prevented from connecting to your mind, is redirected through your nervous system," Yaxley said quietly, petting her cheek.
What he said reminded Penny of Tom's explanation, how he'd protected her from a similar experience by isolating her from her nervous system. But the collar's purpose was to do the exact opposite, and unless she could somehow control herself, she would continue to torture herself into the submission they wanted. Desperate for the pain subside, Penny struggled to subdue the rage in her chest, to clear herself of all emotion. It was much harder in the moment when horrible fear and disgust overwhelmed her. But she closed her eyes and imagined the last page she'd read in her text book.
Page 49, bezoars, taken from the stomach of a goat and acts like an antidote to most poisons, she thought, imagining the dark features of Severus Snape before her. The pain began to ebb, her muscles collapsing in exhaustion. Penny panted heavily, Yaxley watching her with his hallow eyes.
"That's a good girl, I trust you have learned your lesson," he said, smiling widely.
Penny, needing some way to make him know how much she hated him, spat in the grotesque creature's face. He wiped it away slowly and then backhanded her, leaving her cheek throbbing.
"Now, now, manners, Penny. Save your energy for the show," he said, taking his leave.
Losing the last of her patience Penny let out a blood curdling scream of frustration. She felt like she could scream until she lost her voice. She wanted to curse every one of the awful men that did not care they were torturing a teenager and innocent animals. It was they who should be locked up, but there was no one to help Penny, and she was at their mercy. Marshall continued hooking the peculator-like machine to the rabbit, and then connected the tubing to Penny's restrained right hand. Today they did not seem to want pearls, not knowing what they did want unsettled Penny. Satisfied, Marshall joined the others and Penny waited for the first cursed item to make its appearance.
It was the animated glove she had sent flying that landed softly on her stomach. It immediately sprang to life, moving its fingers in a way that was eerily similar to a spider. Penny tried to shake it off her belly but it simply scurried to her chest. It stopped at the v-neck of her shirt, and crawled beneath it. Involuntarily, Penny screamed, shaking back and forth violently to try and dislodge it. It stopped at her hip and then began digging at her skin almost as though it were trying to burrow beneath it. Penny's screaming continued, as her flesh was scraped away by the somehow sharp ends of the glove. Terrified, Penny was uncertain what to do, she wanted to make the pain stop, but she was afraid of what would happen to the rabbit as a result. Her anger made her refuse to give her captors what they desired, but it was she who paid the price for it, not them.
Hot sticky fluid was running down her side when she could take it no more. She reached out to the item, causing it to dig even more frantically. Gritting her teeth she yelled "ASCENDIO" and sent the glove tearing through her shirt and into the air. Once free of the pain, she closed her eyes and imagined chains weaving their way around the cursed object. The glove fell with a loud, clunk onto the floor, struggled for a moment and then collapsed under the weight of the chain. Craning her neck, Penny stared down at the blood stain growing on her hip, her chest heaving.
However, a moment later an awful screeching caught her attention, and Penny looked at the rabbit that was now being encased by the thick fluid coming from her hand. She could hear the sickening sound of its skin sizzling where the fluid touched it. It had nowhere to escape to, the liquid relentlessly oozing over every inch of its' body.
Penny struggled violently, yelling "Stop! You have to help it!" tears blurring her vision. The desperate red eyes of the rabbit stared at her accusingly, until every portion of its' flesh was covered and the rabbit became motionless. The surface of it was slick, as though it were some sort of polished jewel. Penny reached out desperately, searching for the life of the rabbit, but it was gone, and in its place was an eerie silence. There was no doubt in Penny's mind that what she felt was death. The thick substance that had come from her arm, the essence of it was, death.
The comprehension sent her world spinning until she vomited all over herself without realizing it. Emptiness closed in around her, swallowing her like the fluid did the little red eye that had begged for mercy. Penny could not comprehend it, nor did she want to. But there was no time to dwell on it because Marshall was sending the rabbit statue away into the plexiglass room to the 'oohing' and 'ahhing' of the evil men watching. And then he was attaching a monkey that was much larger than the rabbit.
"Marshall, don't, please," Penny begged, but he ignored her, readjusting her wrist.
Everything seemed to move in slow motion. The object was brought before her, but this time Penny ignored it, completely unaware of what was transpiring. All she could focus on were the small monkey hands clasping the bars of its cramped cage. Beady eyes darted around in fear, still full of life. The collar was suffocating her, black and blue dots springing up in her vision. Still, its life was there. Penny couldn't, she wouldn't. Before all became dark, her magic spiraled out of her, shattering the object to thousands of tiny pieces. The tube in her wrist seemed to gurgle and death made its slow journey through the percolator, getting ever nearer its victim. Penny could do nothing but watch, until she could bear the screeching no longer and she shut her eyes, trying to make its screaming stop, but it wouldn't, not until it succumbed to death.
Penny blinked, uncertain how she'd made it to her bed, or how long ago her visitors had deposited her here. The fatigue was almost enough to overwhelm her again, but somehow she managed to drag herself to her desk. Even though she was on the brink of collapse, she did not want to sleep. Instead, she retrieved a pen and ink and began writing. Her penmanship was messy, but she did not care. She'd had an idea and needed to get the letter to Draco sooner rather than later and she was afraid that once she fell asleep she would not wake up again for days. When she finished, she sealed the letter and addressed it as neatly as she could to Draco Malfoy, hoping he was right, and no one would open the letter. Before resigning to blessed sleep, she pulled out another piece and wrote a second letter.
Dear Professor Snape,
How thoughtful of you to write to me and ensure I do not lag behind in my studies. I am indebted to your diligence. I imagine this task keeps you happily busy in my absence. Fret not, I'll be returning soon enough and again grace you with my enthusiastic classroom participation, so hang tight! My response to the first assignment is attached below.
Homer's Iliad recounts the story of Helen of Troy and the Trojan War also known as: The face that launched a thousand ships. Overcome with infatuation, Paris took Helen and entangled his kingdom in battle to keep her. However, infatuation led to arrogance and those in Troy did not heed the warning about the gifts of the Greeks. Accepting the Trojan horse into their once impregnable walls, bringing their defeat from within and returning Helen to Sparta.
Amortentia while powerful, can never produce an infatuation this persistent. However, in the end cleverness proves itself the victor.
Penny rubbed her eyes vigorously. She hoped Snape would be a smart enough man to catch onto her message. Draco would be her trojan horse, able to pass through the walls undetected. Penny just hoped he would live up to his word and do as she requested. Only time would tell. At the bottom of her page, before she signed off, she decided to leave her message for Snape. Grabbing her textbook she looked for the appropriate pages and left the code in her reference page. She double checked the scribbled message to be certain she'd used the correct references.
It is customary to inquire how someone is doing when you write to them.
Signing it, she addressed it to her professor and then collapsed in bed. She would write to Lupin tomorrow when she regained her composure. She was afraid she would not have the strength to lie to the man tonight. Before she dozed off to sleep, she reached out with her magic and moved the first chess piece she could feel and willed it to the '+' engraved on one of the spaces. Muggles placed this symbol on their hospitals and Penny hoped whoever was reading the board would interpret it as, emergency. If things did not change soon, something was going to break, and Penny would not let it be her. She would topple the walls of the Department of Mysteries before she let that happen.