Forsaken

Now the day has come,

We are forsaken,

There's no time anymore

Life will pass us by,

We are forsaken,

We're the last of our kind

Harry

3/10/11

2:03 p.m.

"I heard a bang and her shriek, so I went outside the barrier to see if she was there. I heard what sounded like struggling, so I came back to get Lupin. When I saw something move in the woods, I only went to disarm it. When it actually worked, Lupin and I ran over. I tripped over Jenny and got her untied. I was about to remove a silencing charm on her when he blasted me away. I hit a tree," Draco mumbled, looking like something inside him had died as Tonks examined the back of his head. There was a huge cut across it, and blood was pooling down his head neck and back. Tonks was silently crying as she healed it with a trembling hand.

"I went after Kingsley. We dueled, he disarmed me then punched me. Then he blasted me off my feet and went after Jenny again. I found my wand and ran after him. I got there as he Apparated." Lupin's voice was so quiet in his fury, I could barely hear him. He was trembling and glaring at the ground. He had huge bruises under his eyes, and I could tell his nose was broken.

"Where would he take her?" I forced myself to ask. A kind of ice had sealed my skin, making me feel sluggish and dumb.

"My house. It's their headquarters now." Draco whispered, gazing at the forest floor. He looked up, and his eyes were full of fire. "Which means there is no way to get her back. That house is a fortress, and with all the Death Eaters there, it will be impossible." He put his head in his hands as his brief moment of passion died.

"They'll kill her," croaked Tonks, who had sunken down onto a log, one hand on her bump, the other over her mouth. "She's a Muggle and a spy, they'll kill her." Hermione groaned into Ron's chest and cried harder.

"They won't kill her right away. Not yet." Draco said lifelessly. "They'll get as much information from her as possible. But I couldn't count on her living past the next full moon. They wouldn't take her out to transform." Lupin swore and punched a tree angrily.

"Are you saying there is nothing we can do?" Ron asked shakily, holding Hermione tightly.

"Unless you know a way into my house that I don't." Draco snapped, stood up and left, walking dejectedly back into the woods.

…

Jenny

3/10/10

2:28 p.m.

"You were right about the pain tolerance, Shacklebolt. Look at her…still standing." Voldemort laughed softly as I stood up again, my limbs trembling uncontrollably. I hadn't cried, screamed or begged yet, only taken each attack silently. He didn't ask any questions, he didn't demand any answers or secrets. He would just torture me, wait for me to stand, walk around me for a bit, and then do it again.

"It's a rather unfortunate quality, My Lord." Kingsley said calmly, watching me with deep satisfaction. Voldemort did something strange. He came over and placed both hands lightly on either side of my head, watching me intently as I gazed lifelessly into his chest region, shaking.

"Why can this," he pressed lightly on my temples, "Muggle withstand more than one of my Death Eaters with no reaction? Why is this," he put a long spidery hand on my chest, "heart able to beat more strongly, hold more bravery and courage? Why can you handle more?" He asked me softly, placing his hand back on my head again. When I didn't answer, he paced around the table, occasionally glancing at me. Finally, he spoke, "I am on a schedule. Usually, I would use Veratisereum and kill you when I was finished; you are only a filthy stupid Muggle after all. However, you are the exception to my rule, and you've made me curious. I wonder how long you can survive, how much you would tell us under…pressure. Miss Quinty, it was an enlightening experience. Lock her in the cellar." Kingsley seized me and forced me roughly along, down a hallway, to a living room, to a door, down stairs to a dark and cold room, where he shoved me with all the force he could muster.

I stayed where I fell, crumpled to the ground. I felt like I was floating, every inch of me sore and screaming from the transformation and from the day's torture. "Is someone there?" A shaky yet musical voice asked into the darkness. I went to answer and stopped up short. Kingsley had never removed the silencing charm; all of my work to stay quiet had been useless. I weakly tapped the floor as my answer and pressed my face to the cold cement, trying not to cry. Something shifted, and then someone I thought I would never see again appeared, then knelt beside me. It was Hestia Jones, the missing Auror from the Order.

"Oh, Merlin no. Jenny?" She whispered, lightly touching my shoulder. I moved my head slowly to look at her. Her face was pale and sunken, her curly brown hair limp and ragged. "How did you get here?" She asked, and I slowly sat up then touched my lips and shook my head lightly. "Jenny, you can talk down here, it's alright." She said, but I shook my head again, wearily, and tapped my throat. "You can't talk? As in you physically can't?" She asked, and I nodded. "Why? A Silencing Charm?" She asked, and I nodded. She sighed and sat back on her heels.

"Oh, Jenny, I hoped so dearly that you wouldn't be caught. Kingsley got Dedalus and I and brought us both here. We were questioned, I'm sorry. They…they killed Dedalus." She choked, and I hugged her gently. She resumed her narrative with a quiet sniff. "I don't know why I'm still here. I probably won't last much longer, now that you can tell them more." She went silent for a moment, and I lay back down, wincing as I moved to my back to watch the dark space above me. "I wish you could talk. We haven't heard anything." I looked at her, and she quickly added, "We aren't alone. A lovely young woman named Luna is here with us, and so is Mr. Ollivander, the wand maker."

"It's terrible to meet you here, Jenny. I'm Luna." Spoke the musical yet shaky voice.

"Hello," croaked a feeble man's voice.

Silence descended when I obviously couldn't say anything back to them. I thought of Draco, of Tonks, Lupin and my golden trio. What would happen to them, what had happened to them? Were there more Death Eaters, was anyone else killed, hurt? "Everyone stand back." A woman's voice said coldly, and I recognized Draco's mother. No one bothered to move as the door opened and she stepped inside, her wand lit, scanning the cellar and coming over and jerking me to my feet. She took my upper arm in her hand in a strong grip and led me back up the stairs and into the living room, where another woman was waiting. Her black hair was fierce, and she had heavily hooded eyes.

"Ah, the Muggle. Thank you, Cissy." She said, and Narcissa hesitated, glancing at me.

"May I speak with her a moment?" She asked, and the woman snorted.

"Don't take too much time, I'm on a schedule." Then she strode out, closing a door behind her, leaving us alone. Narcissa moved around me to stand in front, looking at me closely as I stared lifelessly past her like I had with Voldemort. "Your name is Jenny, correct?" she started, sounding strained. I didn't respond, and she suddenly grabbed my shoulders, looking down at me. I was surprised into looking back at her. "You've seen Draco recently, he cares about you, or he did, according to Shacklebolt." She ranted, and looked at me expectantly. I hesitated, then touched my throat, making her frown. "I don't care if you are thirsty." She snapped darkly, drawing her wand. I shook my head and touched my lips moved my hand away as if I was projecting sound and she looked at me a moment. "Finite." She pointed her wand at me and laughed darkly. "That idiot, Shacklebolt. Now," she lead me over to a chair and sat me down.

"You've seen Draco? Recently?" She asked, and I nodded after a seconds hesitation. This was his own mother, but I felt stupid for talking with her so willingly. "How did he look? Is he still a prisoner? Is he alright?" She whispered fiercely, on her knees to look up at me imploringly, desperately. I nodded, shook my head, then nodded, looking down into my lap as she sighed, sitting back on her heels and rubbing her face briefly. "Of course you won't talk to me…does he still care for your well being?" she asked, using Kingsley's words exactly, probably. I hesitated, then closed my eyes and spoke.

"He loves me." I said softly, my voice high and hoarse, and she flinched sharply, either from my voice or from what I said, I didn't know.

"Look at me," she ordered, and when I didn't, she took my chin and moved my face. I opened my eyes slowly. She was taking me in carefully. "You are beautiful…and his judgment is usually excellent…but a Muggle…" she looked at me in surprise and shock, almost amusement, letting go of my chin. "I believe you," she added unnecessarily, stowing her wand out of sight and standing up. After a hesitation, she asked quickly, "Is he happy and safe?"

"He's free from here," I whispered, and Narcissa gasped, then knelt down again until she was directly in my face.

"How much did he tell you? Quickly." She looked behind her, then back to me. "Did he say we were forced—"

"Cissy, I can't let you chat anymore." The woman said casually from the doorway. Without warning, Narcissa hit me full across the face, and backed up then over to her.

"Bella, she's all yours." She said this coldly, but from behind 'Bella's' back, she gazed at me worriedly and almost hungrily before she hurried away and her friend yanked me up from the chair and across the room, following me as she drew her wand lazily. She placed it right between my brows as she spoke.

"The Dark Lord has ordered me to question you, and I'm not leaving here until I get all the answers I require." She flicked away some of my hair with her wand as she pondered me. "I've heard you're strong…this should be interesting. Now…where are Harry Potter and his friends?" She asked, taking a step back. When I didn't answer, she lazily flicked a curse at me, which I dodged, then stood straight again as she lowered her wand in surprise, then scowled and whipped a curse at me faster, which I dodged again. This continued for about a minute more until she fired two at once, clipping my shoulder. It felt like my eyes were burning out of my head; I grabbed my face and sunk onto my knees, crouching over myself in agony. "Where are they?" she asked in a deadly calm when she finally lifted the curse.

It continued on and on, until the light vanished from the windows, until I was lying on the floor, gasping and trembling as she stood over me. She had asked me everything and anything, where Harry, Ron and Hermione were, what they were after, where Aurors were, what I had found out from the Ministry, ect.

I hadn't said a word.

"You leave me no choice, Muggle. "Sectumsempra." She said, and I gasped sharply as I felt cuts appear on my chest, deep burning cuts that turned my white shirt red quickly. Then she disappeared for a moment, only to return with a bottle of clear potion. She forced me up and then into a chair, waving a wand over me. "Immobulus." She said, and I was suddenly frozen. She uncorked the Veratisereum and forced it down my throat.

"Where is Harry Potter?"

"Last time I saw him, he was in the middle of nowhere with us."

"Be more specific."

"I was traveling with Remus Lupin, Nymphadora Tonks and Draco Malfoy. Lupin and I were changing one night when we heard a gang of Snatchers had my friends. We scared away the Snatchers and took them in."

"What are they after?"

"A secret mission from Dumbledore. I don't understand their quest."

"You were a spy for the Order of the Phoenix?"

"Yes."

"Where did you spy, and what did you find?"

"I was sent to the Ministry under a Disillusionment Charm. I would go to different offices and either steal documents or hide and take notes of things I heard. I found an eye, a list of Undesirables, an order to Taboo the word Voldemort, a list of misbehaving children at Hogwarts, and information on what Muggle-Born families were going to be prosecuted."

"What are you doing here, Lucius?" She suddenly asked viciously, mockingly. I paused.

"Narcissa wanted me to ask some questions about Draco while she was still drugged."

"And what if I'm not finished yet?" She challenged.

"Please, Bellatrix." Was all he said, and there was a moment's pause.

"I can always ask more of her tomorrow. Filthy Muggle didn't crack under all kinds of torture." I heard her mutter and complain, and someone left the room.

"Is your name Jenny?" A new voice asked. It was smooth and slightly deep and hoarse.

"Yes."

"How much did Draco tell you about our family, and what we were forced into?" He asked this quickly and quietly, but it was too late. I blinked once, three times, and I was suddenly staring into the face of Draco's father, making me start. They looked so much alike, it hurt. He looked desperate, like Narcissa had. "Please answer me, I won't hesitate to hurt you," He tried to sound threatening, but it had no effect on me whatsoever.

"I don't remember your question." I said to my lap, and I heard him inhale sharply at the sound of my voice. He obviously hadn't expected me to answer.

"How much did Draco tell you, about the Dark Magic we were forced into?" He asked.

"When he was questioned under Veritasereum by choice, he said that if you and your family hadn't joined, you would be killed. Later he explained why." I said softly, picturing him made me want to cry. Seeing his father, extraordinary in likeness to him didn't help.

"And he loves you?" His father sounded truly curious and relieved that his burning questions had been answered.

"Enough to be willingly questioned to make Wolfsbane Potions for me. He loves me…and…I love him." I whispered the ending, stiffening and closing my eyes, remembering his icy and minty scent from only a day ago as a wolf. His firm arms, giving me safety and comfort, his sarcasm, his eyes, his smile—

Mr. Malfoy put his hands on my shoulders as tears started to streak down my face as I could hear Draco plainly, as if he was next to me, telling me to be safe. "Thank you…and I'm sorry." I could hear the anguish in his voice as he helped me up and walked me back down the steps, back to the cellar.

Once down there, I made myself a promise. I loved Draco, my friends and my second adoptive family. I didn't know what I had told Bellatrix, but in case I was physically tortured again, I had to forget everything, everything about them, to keep them safe. I inhaled silently, remembering Lupin's face, Tonks' laugh, Harry's sarcasm, Ron's smile, and Hermione's kindness. The Weasley's happiness that often inspired my own… Then as I forced everything else away, I remembered Draco's icy and minty scent from when I was a wolf for the last time before I forced myself to not think about it, to forget it for good.