The bottom of her feet felt like they were being shredded. Her high heels had been disposed of some time ago, and the rocky path the woman was leading her down was digging into her soles.

Her head pounded to the point of blurry vision, not that she could see anything in the darkness anyways, and when she stumbled on an unstable stone she didn't have the sense or balance to keep herself upright. She caught herself before her face hit the ground, but her hands were now bloody as well.

"Get up," The woman jerked her arm, but Rose just tumbled to the side.

She wasn't going to live.

"How have you passed for a normal witch all these years?" Rose mumbled and the woman laughed haughtily. Rose had seen her at Ministry functions before and Rose wondered how she had infiltrated the Ministry. There were so many questions running through her mind. Who was the other woman who had escaped from Azkaban?

"Mmm… I'm tempted to tell you. If nothing else so you could see how idiotic the Ministry is." She yanked Rose off the ground.

"Are you going to kill me?" She croaked.

There was a pause and then the woman muttered something and brightness erupted around them. Rose shrank away from the light, trying to adjust her eyes to the sudden brightness. When she looked around, she realized they weren't walking outside along a path…

"We're in a dungeon," She whispered, horrified.

The woman cackled. "I am going to kill you. But not yet."

Rose stopped breathing and then she lunged at the woman, prepared to fight. But just when she was about to make impact, the woman apparated and disappeared.

She fell onto the ground and once again her hands and arms took the brute of her fall.

It took everything Rose had not to burst into tears. Instead, she started hyperventilating.

Her fingers and face started to tingle from lack of oxygen.

Rose closed her eyes and tried to take deep breaths. After a few minutes she opened her eyes. She was sitting in a dungeon. A rather big dungeon as it were. There were pillars with torches lining them. There were rows upon rows and Rose couldn't even see where this place ended.

The only thing that saved her from totally having a fit was the fact that she knew her family, and friends, would be coming for her. She thought about Scorpius and she knew he would be searching for her.

"No…"

Rose remembered the flying glass and how he had pushed her out of the way. She hadn't seen what happened to him and the more she thought about the worse her breathing became.

"Shut up." She whispered to herself. She couldn't think like that, not if she wanted to make it out of this place with her sanity in tact.

Scorpius would come for her. There was nothing in the world that could stop him, short of death.

Atria looked at Scorpius's still body. It wasn't the first time he had lain unconscious in a hospital bed and it probably wouldn't be the last. It wasn't even his first time being slashed open within the month. And both times had been because of Death Eater attacks.

It was probably a bad idea to jump Albus in front of Amanda, Mrs. Malfoy, and everyone else on the third floor of the hospital. But all she could think of was that it might be the last time she ever got to kiss him. And she wanted to make it count.

This is it. She knew it will all her heart that all of her secrets were going to come out within the next few days. There was nothing linking her to the attack, nothing linking her to her mother, but somehow she knew… without a doubt.

"Attie, dear you should go lie down," Astoria rubbed her shoulder comfortingly. Atria shook her head. She wanted to be there when Scorpius woke up. She wanted to see him smile and laugh one last time before everything fell apart.

A shadow appeared in the door and both women looked.

Astoria sighed, "Draco." She got up and went to her husband, who took her in his arms. But he was looking at Atria and Scorpius with an unwavering expression of forced passiveness. He was stiff and unmoving as he entered the room.

Draco opened his mouth several times, but said nothing. He was rubbing his thumb and his pointer finger together nervously.

"Draco, what's the matter? The healer said Scorpius would be fine in a few days." Astoria whispered adamantly as if she was daring him to say otherwise.

Draco gave a jerky nod. "I know. It's not about Scorpius." Atria frowned as he looked at Scorpius with pity. "Ms. Williams, if I could speak with you outside?" Her heart dropped. Did he know something… "It's about Ms. Weasley." Draco said stiffly.

Atria looked at Scorpius. "What about Rose?" Scorpius's head turned to the side, as if he recognized Rose's name. Astoria rushed over to the bed and gripped her son's hand. His head turned again and his lips parted.

"Scorpius can you hear me?" Astoria asked, clearly choking down tears.

Draco stood over his son, staring, waiting for something to happen.

"What about Rose?" Atria pressed Draco. Scorpius's jerked and Astoria leaned down to caress his forehead. Draco's head dropped and he pinched the bridge of his nose.

Scorpius's eyes flipped open suddenly. Astoria gasped and gripped his hand.

"What about Rose?" Scorpius croaked.

Draco looked at his wife. "You shouldn't worry about that-"

"What happened to her? I thought I got in front of her-" He gasped as he tried to sit up and Astoria admonished him and helped him ease back.

"You did, darling." Astoria smiled. "You were so brave."

Some tension eased out of Scorpius's body, but he was still looking at his father. "I want to see her, I have to tell her something-"

"She's gone."

Atria's eyes flared. Scorpius looked uncomprehending for a moment and then he jacked up in bed. He grimaced in pain, but he didn't seem to care that he could be ripping open his wound.

"What do you mean?" Atria seethed.

"She can't be gone!" Scorpius exploded a moment later.

"Scorpius," Atria tried to get him to lye down, but he shrugged away from her.

"She's missing." Draco stated. "No one has seen her since you pushed her down. We've checked through the hospital charts and while doing a head count, we realized she hasn't been seen."

Scorpius shook his head wildly. "That's not possible! That's not fucking possible!" Scorpius shouted and Astoria jumped.

"Language!"

"Mother, I don't give a shit if you don't like what I'm saying! I need to get out of here-"

Draco stopped his son from jumping out of bed. "Scorpius Malfoy, you are going to lay down and treat your mother with respect." He said in a deadly quiet voice.

Atria swallowed, "How did this happen?"

Scorpius and Draco glared each other down for a few moments and no one said anything. Finally Draco released a long breath.

"I found out five minutes ago, but I believe the theory is that the Death Eaters had someone on the inside. I found out because the Head of the Department of Law Enforcement wants to question me. Potter gave me a heads up."

Astoria gasped and gripped his arm. "They can't think you had anything to do with this?" Scorpius looked guiltily at his father. "You've been helping people-"

"They need to explore every possibility." Draco shook his head and Atria scoffed.

"You've been here for hours, helping victims! Why would you stick around?" It was completely ridiculous. But then who did take Rose, if she had in fact been kidnapped? "And why wouldn't they bring you in before?"

"They didn't suspect me until they realized that someone must have been there. At first, Aurors assumed it was all done remotely, but when Ms. Weasley-"

"Her name is Rose!" Scorpius snapped.

Draco looked like he wanted to reprimand Scorpius, but then thought better of it. "When Rose was discovered missing, they concluded that at least one person had to be at the Ministry."

"How could this have happened? Aurors were monitoring the Floo's and there were no other entrances." Atria bit her lip in deep thought. Her mother had to be behind this, but Atria couldn't figure out how she would have pulled this off. "Polyjuice potion?" Atria wondered.

Draco shook his head, "There were spells against that…"

"I need to help," Scorpius tried to get up again but this time Atria help him down.

"Scorpius, you need to heal. There's nothing you can do in your state." She sighed and waited for the blow up.

She wasn't disappointed. "How can you say that?" He yelled. "Rose is missing, and you expect me to lay in bed?" His cheeks flushed and his grey eyes turned dark.

"Scorpius," Atria gripped his hand firmly. "You can help Rose. But just stay here while we gather all the facts. You need another day in bed and then you can help as much as you want." Her eyes pleaded with him. "Rose wouldn't want you to hurt yourself." She said firmly and Scorpius finally paused.

He took some shallow breathes and the laid back. "If you find anything…"

"We'll tell you." Draco said automatically.

"You have to find her." His voice cracked.

Rose looked at her hands. She had to do something about the bleeding and the stinging. She looked at her dress, the beautiful while not tarnished with dirty and the ruffled in tatters.

She let out a quick huff and then ripped some chiffon off of her dress. Her lower lip trembled as she remembered how much fun it had been dancing with Scorpius and feeling the skirt of her dress float around her.

She wrapped the piece of fabric around her left hand and used her teeth to tie a knot. Then she worked on her right hand and did the same. Blood stained the white and Rose leaned back against one of the stone pillars. Light flickered above her from the torch.

She tucked her knees against her chest and thought about many things. But the one thing she kept coming back to was Scorpius. More than anything, she wished he was here. It was selfish to wish something so horrible on him, but she needed his strength more than anything in the world right now.

Then she thought about her parents and how they must be terrified.

And about how many people had died in that explosion. Did they realize that it was a Ministry worker who did it? Were they looking for her?

"Of course they are."

Rose jumped and saw… a woman, but not the woman, standing there. This was her… the one who had broken out of Azkaban. Rose went to stand up, but the woman tsked.

"No, no, you wouldn't want to bloody your feet even more."

Rose's eyes strained to get a better view of the woman, but all she could tell was that this woman had dark hair and a boney figure.

"Where is she?" Rose's voice sounded gravelly.

"Mrs. Tashine?" This woman's voice was dry and empty.

"Why did she take me?"

The woman laughed and stepped out of the shadows. Rose's breath caught.

"You look like-"

"Bellatrix Lestrange. I know." She smiled, or smirked actually. Then her face changed and she became… the Tashine woman. Her dark wild hair became silky and blonde, and her face was fuller. "And now?"

Rose's breath choked in her throat. "That's how you did it?"

She changed back. "It's a very complicated story. I doubt you could follow." Even though she looked like Bellatrix Lestrange the woman seemed less terrifying than before. In fact, she looked like she was playing a game.

"Why did you take me?" Rose breathed.

The woman took a few steps towards Rose. "Well, I could tell you it's because you're the daughter of Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. Or because you're Harry Potter's niece. Or because taking any girl would be excellent for leverage." She prattled on or then her smile turned devilish as she stalked forward. "And all of that is true, but honestly… I was bored. You see, I have to go around pretending and I thought it might be nice to have a toy." When she stopped in front of Rose, she leaned down.

Rose flinched away when a thin hand stretched out and raked a nail down her cheek slowly. There was something sexual about the way this woman spoke and Rose's body started shaking.

"Where are we?" Rose choked out.

The woman stood up. "A special place. It's just you and I here."

"Then why do I have to be kept in the dungeon?"

A deep laugh came from the woman. "Well, you're still a filthy half breed."

Rose couldn't stop the gasp that came from her.

"But let's talk about your survival chances. You see, if you don't listen to every word I say, I'll get very upset. On the other hand, subservience is boring." Her tone was teasing.

Rose took a deep breath, "Can you tell me who are you?"

She laughed, "I'll leave you to figure that out."

Rose bit her lip and prayed this wasn't going to get her killed. "You look like Bellatrix Lestrange." The woman teetered around and waved a hand signaling for Rose to continue. "But Bellatrix didn't have any children."

Tsk, tsk. Rose looked up. "She did?"

"Yes, it was a very well kept secret. Before Azkaban she had one daughter."

Rose's eyes widened. "And you're a metamorphmagus?"

"Bellatrix Lestrange had a daughter. And that daughter had a daughter."

Rose's head jerked up. "What?"

"Yes, unbelievably. You know, I spent years preparing my daughter to become an excellent witch. She was my pride and joy, so gifted and talented, my little princess."

"What's her name?" Rose's lower lip trembled.

Please, no. Dear Merlin, no.

But when the woman's teasing smile turned to a sneer Rose knew. "So it was her. The girl in the red dress with the red hair. Odd, red was never her colour." The woman's words were teasing, but the tone sounded… betrayed.

Rose's stomach turned and she squeezed her eyes shut, unwilling to believe the truth.

But she had to find out more. "So the Lestrange line is still alive."

And just like that the woman's teasing demeanor was back. "Sort of. Bellatrix Lestrange married into the family and so she is a Lestrange, giving her descendants the name of Lestrange, but technically… the child wasn't Rodolphus Lestrange's." Rose looked up sharply.

"Then who…"

"Well, let's think about that." She ran her tongue of her teeth. "Who did Bellatrix Lestrange love more than anything? Who did she die for? Who did she go to Azkaban for? Who is the one person she would have done anything for?"

Tears slipped out of Rose and she shook her head. "You're lying! You have to be lying! Atria-" In a flash, the woman was in front of her.

SMACK! Rose's head snapped back from the impact and her head cracked against the stone pillar.

Her body slid until she was completely on the floor with the crazy woman standing over her. Tears continued to fall down her cheeks, but she wasn't even crying really. Her body was completely still and her mind was fuzzy.

The woman raised her hand threatening. "You are not fit to speak her name! It sickens me that she lower herself to your standards! Friends with a mudblood and speaking with the man who murdered her grandfather!" She looked at her raised hand and sneered. "Muggles are disgusting… but I must admit their form of torture is rather satisfying. The Cruciatus curse is fun to be sure, but there's nothing like putting your hands on someone and feeling their sanity and their life leave their body."

Rose's vision started to go black and she clawed for consciousness. Please, please don't… She didn't want her life in the hands of this woman. She wanted to fight, but her body wasn't having any of it. Her first thought was of Scorpius, her next was of Atria. Rose didn't want to die without seeing both of them. She needed to tell Atria... her consciousness started fading...

"That's right, baby…" Rose heard the words in the distance. "I'll tell you the rest of the story later. Assuming you don't die from bleeding in the brain."

So this chapter is shorter than the last few have been but I couldn't give it all away in one chapter! - Alex