A Well in the DeadLand
By Marz
Chapter 7: I HeartN.Y.
She tried to move her little finger, just a bit, just enough to touch the glass of the tiny window. It didn't work. She wanted to cry but she couldn't. All she could do was watch as the plane circled, and then dropped shuttering onto the runway. The stewardess said something, but Dawn wasn't really listening. We're back in New York.
That gave her some hope. Her sister was in the same city. She'd be rescued any minute, and they'd get a call from Xander and Giles saying everything was fine, and that the airline was providing them with free tickets for life to make up for their terrible security. Everything would be fine. No it won't! Dawn struggled with the suffocating calm that would not let her worry properly. She wished she'd read more of Willow's magic books. She couldn't remember anything about mind control spells.
"Get up," the boy said.
She'd cling to the armrests and kick and scream, but she couldn't. She got up.
"Follow me."
Dawn glared at him. It had no effect. Whatever magic he'd used to take over her mind, he didn't seem to be listening to her thoughts. Maybe he just didn't care. She was hopping he'd pass out. He hadn't slept at all on the plane. Unfortunately, despite the bags under his eyes, he was completely alert. He hadn't gone to the bathroom either. I hope you burst a kidney! She glared again.
They walked off the plane, through the terminal. They cut the line in customs and no one stopped them. Dawn tired to force the strange floating feeling out of her mind. She felt as if she'd been pushed out of her own body, and an impenetrable wall of marshmallows had sprung up to prevent her return. I hate you! She thought as hard as she could. The boy did not respond.
Dawn's eyes wandered over the crowds in the airport. An Asian man was pointing out some sort of display to his rather bored looking family. Two men in suits argued over the ownership of an unlabeled black suitcase. A man stood by the information desk looking a map. His shoulder length greasy black hair hid most of his pale face. Something about him wasn't right. He's wearing a dress, she though. Or he's a really ugly she. He passed out of sight and she couldn't turn her head. She tried to step on the back of the boy's shoe. It didn't work.
They walked out of the international terminal and crossed to continental flights. The boy stopped and looked up at the departure board.
"L.A.X., leaves in twenty minutes," the boy muttered. He grabbed her wrist. "Hurry up."
As he dragged her through the terminal, a dark shadow caught the corner of her eye. She couldn't turn her head, but she rolled her eyes as far as she could. The man in the dress was following them. That made her a bit hopeful. Maybe it's not a dress, maybe it's a superhero costume. Yeah, right. The boy must have noticed something too, because he veered suddenly and pulled her through a door marked "Employees only". He slammed the door behind them. They were in a hallway. It smelled moldy and the flickering fluorescent strip-lights made her eyes twitch.
"Don't make a sound," he ordered.
Dawn glared, but obeyed. She strained her ears but couldn't tell if the man was coming towards the door or not. They stood silently for several minutes. The boy was still holding her wrist. His hand was cold and wet. He let go and checked his watch. He took the wand from his pocket and reached for the handle of the door.
BANG!
Dawn wanted to duck as the sound echoed off the walls, but she was stuck standing statue still, facing the door.
"Going somewhere Potter?" asked a low sneering voice.
"I am actually," the boy answered.
"Drop the wand now and perhaps you'll still have higher brain function for the journey back Hogwarts."
The boy laughed. It was a low unnerving sound that reverberated through the narrow hallway. "You're going to stop me Snivellus? I don't see that happening. Go back to Dumbledore. Tell him he can find another puppet."
"Oh, So the Golden boy has quit? I certainly didn't see that coming." The man in the dress sneered. "You're going to have to tell the headmaster yourself, Potter. I'm not your messenger."
"No, you're just a murderer," hissed the boy.
Dawn felt the smothering layers of fluff around her mind loosen. Very slowly she turned her head.
"Am I? What are you planning to do with that muggle Potter? Couldn't find a date perhaps? I dare say you've lost the moral high ground boy."
"Shut up Death Eater. I know you're still working for Voldemort!"
The man in the dress flinched a bit as the boy shouted the strange name. He recovered immediately. "If that were true you'd have been dead long ago boy. I don't have time for this idiocy. While you're throwing a temper tantrum more worthy people are dying at the Dark Lord's hands."
The boy leveled his wand at the greasy haired man. Dawn could see them bother shaking with barely controlled rage. She also felt the boy's control slipping. She took a very slow step towards the door.
"As if you care! You knew he was putting things in my head! You knew it wasn't real! You let him die!" As the boy shouted red light blasted from the end of the wand. The man in the dress flicked his own wand and the light was deflected into the wall, scorching it.
"Still blaming your idiocy on me? As I recall Black died trying to save you from the mess you made." The man smirked as he spoke.
"SHUT UP!" the boy roared.
This time it was a green light that flew from his wand. The man in the dress shouted something as well and the green light crashed into a thin net of blue lightening. The man in the dress staggered backward. The strip-lights along the right side of the hall burst in a shower of sparks and glass. Dawn took another step, and the boy ignored her. He advanced on the faltering man.
"Expelliarmus!"
The boy's voice was low and confident again. A red light flew from his wand and struck the man, slamming him into the concrete floor. The wand flew from his hand, and like some sort of crazy boomerang in went straight into the boy's out stretched palm.
"You were saying something Snape? You were saying something about this being my mess?"
The door was right in front of her. The boy wasn't looking. He'd forgotten her, but she couldn't turn away from the unraveling scene. The man propped himself up on his elbows, struggling to catch his breath.
"Potter…it has always been…your mess. Before you were born…it was your mess."
Dawn wished he would shut up. He didn't seem to be helping the situation. The air around them was getting colder it seemed. The boy stood over the prone man, glaring down at him with a look of hate that would have given the Slayer chills. The man didn't seem overly concerned. Dawn say his eyes slide over the wands loosely held in the boy's hands. She knew what he was thinking. She knew he wouldn't be fast enough. The man in the dress lunged for the wands.
With inhuman speed the boy's foot slammed into the man's stomach, crumpling him in half and sending him sliding further down the hall. The boy walked after him, unhurried.
"You knew what I meant in Umbridge's office, when I told you Padfoot was trapped. You knew didn't you?" the boy asked.
The man glared up at him, silent.
"I asked you a question!" he shouted and delivered another kick to the fallen man. There was a sickening pop as the boy's shoe struck the man's chest. The wands dropped to the ground, forgotten. The man tried to grab the boy's ankle and pull him off his feet, but the boy seemed to be planted to the ground with iron rivets. The boy bent down and grabbed the front of the man's dress. He dragged the man upright and pinned him against the wall.
"You knew Voldemort was putting things in my head! You knew what was behind that door! You knew about the Prophesy!"
The man coughed and blood ran down his chin and splattered the boy's cheek. He grabbed at the boy's wrists and tried to push him away, eyes widening as his efforts failed. "I knew…you'd do something stupid…whether I told you or not."
The boy let go and the man tried to move away but a second later a hand caught his throat and he was slammed against the wall again. His greasy head struck hard and his eyes grew unfocused. He gasped for air.
"THIS IS YOU'RE FAULT!" the boy bellowed.
The man struggled to focus. The boy stepped back and let him sink to the floor on his knees. Dawn let go the breath she didn't realize she'd been holding. It's over. Then the boy glanced at her. He had darkness for eyes.
The man brought up his arms but it didn't do him any good. They were knocked easily aside as blows rained down on him. It was less then a minute before he stopped fighting back. The boy didn't stop. He scooped up the limp body and threw him further down the hall.
They were thirty feet away, almost at the end of the corridor. It was a better head start then she could have hoped for. Dawn looked at the door. The boy wouldn't even notice her going. She turned back as another cracking sound echoed up the hall. She couldn't do it.
She knew her feet were moving. She felt them hit the ground and she felt the shock in her knees and spine. She knew what she was doing, but the why of it never quite caught up to her. She squared her shoulders. Her tackle caught the boy in the lower back.
They went flying over the unconscious man, and rolled across the floor. The hall turned toward a staircase, and before the boy could get to his feet Dawn kicked him toward the stairs. He rolled over the edge, but his hand darted out and caught her ankle as he went. Dawn got out half a scream before her back struck the edge of a step and the air was forced out of her lungs. They bounced down to the next floor, landing in a tangle at the bottom of the steps.
Dawn gasped. She was too dizzy to stand. She kicked herself free and started to crawl away. He landed on her back and his hand caught her hair, pulling mercilessly. She screamed.
"Imperio!"
The marshmallows returned.