Dawn broke, yet a chill remained in the air.
This morning they were on the hunt for a boy and girl, no more than seventeen. Today would be no different than any other; Scabior would give the order, they would scatter to predetermined locations, surprise and apprehend their marks. It was all fairly rote. However, the boy and girl tore off to completely different forest areas. Lucy knew based on their usual plan she should go after the girl, but she was far closer to the boy, Henry.
She ran as fast as her legs could carry her, throwing spells as she ran after him, making sure to duck his even return fire. Suddenly he had vanished, she couldn't find him anywhere. She was just about to head back to camp when an arm went around her waist.
"You bloody bitch," Henry, the aforementioned boy, started, twisting an arm painfully behind her. Lucy cried out.
"Stupefy!", Lucy heard, and turned to look. Fenrir Greyback had followed them both. Now Henry stood immobile as she untangled herself from the limbs.
She was humiliated. She had been made. She had been caught by those she was supposed to catch. This had never happened. She should have listened and gone after the girl, why had she not?
The rest of the group appeared with the girl, pushing her along in front of them as she struggled. Scabior came over the hill, into view.
"Oi! What the hell was that?," he spat as he approached her.
Lucy looked at the floor, then at Greyback, who shrugged and turned away.
"Thought I had 'im," she muttered, looking at the grass below. After a moments pause she brought her eyes back up to level with those steely blue ones of his.
"You thought you had 'im," he repeated, circling her, backing her against a large tree trunk.
"I-I did," she stammered. Suddently a hand was on her throat, constricting tightly, squeezing the air from her lungs.
"Don't ever disobey me again, my girl," he sneered at her, knocking her head cruelly back against a tree trunk.
Lucy's hands were all about his, trying to get him to loosen his grasp.
"You could have us all killed, is that what you wanted?," he spoke softly, almost like a lover. The contrast of his voice and actions chilled her to her very bones. A tear threatened to roll out of the corner of her eye. She couldn't nod 'no' or move at all. She was completely pinned and at his mercy. She choked on air if that was even possible.
"Look at this," he said, turning his shoulder slightly as he held her so she could see where his jacket was split, and blood seemed to be matted on the vest and shirt underneath. "Because of you I have this." He pushed her neck again. "Because of you I got hit."
Her hands struggled, and then stilled as she suddenly felt so very weak...
"Scabior-," Greyback started, obviously uncomfortable, walking forward, but was met with the steely gaze of the Snatcher leader, and decided to turn back away.
The men shuffled about nervously. They were all a team and it was disturbing at the very least to see one of their own held up in this manner.
"I didnt 'ear an answer," he continued, softly, bringing up his other hand, choking her, shaking her again into the tree. "Us killed...is that what you wanted?"
Her head was on fire and her world threatened to turn upside down. Her head drifted down. She felt so dizzy...
His hands squeezed again, and her eyes grew wide. Was this how it was all to end?
She choked out a sob, neither a yes or no, but it seemed to suffice. He dropped his hands and she dropped on her knees to the cold forest floor, coughing instantaneously. Bracing her hands in front of her she took large gulpfuls of air, trying to right her lightheadedness.
She was terrified. She hadn't thought anyone in her team was particularly nice, but she hadn't been afraid of them. Now she was afraid. She realized, no, they in fact were not mates. They were barely colleagues.
Scabior turned back up the hill, motioning for the men to bring the boy and girl. Lucy heard their retreating footsteps her head still pounding in her ears.