"Hurry up, Winky, I need those ingredients immediately!" Rose called, stirring the contents of a copper cauldron carefully.
The house-elf emerged from the other room, carrying a bag of strange-looking plants. Rose thanked the little servant and added some meadow rue to the potion.
It was quite cold in the dungeon, but the fume from the cauldron kept the girl warm. Barty had disappeared somewhere, which wasn't surprising at all - he had this annoying tendency to come and go whenever he liked, usually scaring the hell out of his wife by suddenly emerging from some dark spot, or creeping quietly right behind her.
The liquid changed colour from light blue to purple. Now Rose had to leave it for a couple of hours, then it would be ready. Small bottles were standing on the table, cleaned and labeled. Barty told her that he'd need at least 50 of them, so Rose had her hands full of work. Not that she complained. It was nice to do something, to put her skills to use. The girl was seriously surprised when her husband asked (or more like ordered) to prepare the Healing Potion.
"What; can't do it on your own?" she had asked him with a smirk when he made his request. That earned her a dark glare, which would scare the hell out of any sane man. Rose wasn't a man though, and her sanity was long gone too.
"No. If you must know, I have better things to do than waste my time on potions. You on the other hand, have plenty of time. You've worked as a Healer, haven't you?" he replied, clearly annoyed.
"Oh, yes, but I have thought that you didn't want me to mess with magic," she answered innocently, ignoring the man's scowl. Barty put an arm around her waist and pulled her harshly close to him. He bit her earlobe lightly, chuckling when she shuddered.
"I won't give you a wand, pet. Winky will make sure that you won't try anything funny with the Potion," he purred and flicked his tongue.
'Oh yes, like poisoning a whole bunch of wounded Death Eaters,' thought Rose, giving her husband a perfectly innocent smile.
So that's how she ended in the dungeon, chopping all of the ingredients, stirring the potion, with Winky watching her every step. Rose sighed as she sat down on the chair, thinking about her task.
The Death Eaters were gathering forces. The war was getting closer and closer with every passing day. Rose was well aware of the fact that by making the Healing Potion for Barty, she was aiding the enemy with supplies. But what could she do? It was impossible to ruin the potion - Winky was observing her closely when she was adding the necessary ingredients to the concoction. Barty wasn't stupid too. He was a top student during his days at Hogwarts, surely he'd tell if she'd tried to trick him.
Rose had also other reasons for not changing the potion's recipe. She didn't want to think what would happen if Barty by some chance drank the noxious potion. Her husband's well being aside, Rose wasn't a murderer. She wasn't capable of killing a person, no matter if that person was a Death Eater or not. The image of a man or woman in pain, waiting for the potion to help, but getting a lot worse instead was awful.
Nonetheless, Rose felt guilty. Until now, she hadn't betrayed the Order by any act - she just happened to share a bed and fall in love with her captor, as crazy as it sounded. None of it was her fault, she couldn't help it. Or maybe she could, but didn't want to. She wasn't hurting anyone beside herself by doing it, though.
Now, Barty drew her in doing work for Lord Voldemort. It was the entirely different thing and Rose wasn't happy about it.
The blasted potion bubbled lazily inside the cauldron, and the girl smiled slightly. It felt good, despite everything. Oh, how much she missed her job at St. Mungo's. Every patient, every sickness, all of it was a constant challenge. And when she'd manage to cure someone...the smile on that person's face was priceless. Rose had never felt so satisfied as during her work in the hospital. Will she be able to return there some day? She doubted it.
Rose musings were interrupted by opening of the door. Barty strode in, wearing his leather coat, looking as mad as always. His tongue darted out of his lips as soon as he looked at Rose. With a grin, he approached her and captured her lips with his mouth. The girl didn't put a fight, instead she kissed him back, ruffling his hair in the process.
"You're fantastic," he rasped when they finally broke apart. Rose looked into his brown eyes, searching for any sign of sanity, but finding none. Whenever Barty was near her, his pupils were dilated, his tongue flicking from excitement.
He desired her. Badly.
Rose put her hands on his chest, snuggling closer.
"You like to cuddle a lot, don't you, pet?" he said with a small smirk.
"I can stop if you don't want it," Rose scowled and tried to pull away. It was too late - Bart was already crushing her in his arms, leaving her breathless. It was weird how such a thin man could be so strong.
"Don't be mad, silly," he purred, kissing her neck, stroking her hips. "You can cuddle with me as much as you want."
Rose sighed contently and let him caress her for a minute, before glancing at the clock.
"The potion!" she called, wriggling out of her husband's grasp. At first he refused to let her go, but the potion started to bubble louder, so he had no choice. With a flick of his wand the bottles began to fill with the concoction on their own. A few minutes later everything was ready - the potion bottled and placed in five boxes - ten cruets for a box. Barty wrapped the boxes in brown paper, placed the necessary labels and cleaned everything from the table. Then, he started to kiss Rose once again.
"You're a real treasure," he praised, hugging her to his chest. Rose didn't say a word. She knew that his displays of affection had nothing to do with real, healthy feelings.
'If only there was a potion to cure you,' she thought, placing a small kiss on his cheek. Barty held her close, not moving an inch. Recently he's became gentler with her, hugging and kissing her even more often than before. Sometimes Rose would notice the mad gleam in his eyes when he looked at her - the same gleam that he had whenever he spoke about Lord Voldemort. She tried her best to ignore it.
'He doesn't love me,' she reminded herself constantly. 'He may want me, he may be even obsessed with me, but he'll never love me. Not the way I would want him to.'
Those thoughts weren't happy, so the girl avoided them as much as she could. She painted, helped Barty with potions, read, and gardened with Winky. Her husband made sure that she wasn't bored - Saturday trips became a habit and soon, Rose started to gradually forget that she was a prisoner.
And then, Barty seemed to forget it too.
It was nice, warm day of spring. Rose was making a list of paints that she'd need for her new work. Winky was ready to go to the town to purchase them, waiting obediently in the kitchen for her Mistress to come. Barty was lounging on the sofa, reading some old, dusty book.
Rose glanced at him.
"Barty?" she asked, a sweet smile on her face. Crouch looked at her suspiciously. He knew her too well - she needed something from him. He wasn't mistaken, for Rose slowly approached him and kneeled on the carpet, her head leaning on his forearm.
"Yes?" he said, face devoid from any emotion. It was supposed to be intimidating, but the girl wasn't going to give up so easily.
"The weather is so nice, maybe we could go and buy those paints on our own?" she said, her hand massaging Barty's chest.
"I can't," he answered and tried to return to his book, before he caught a glimpse of Rose's crestfallen expression.
"Don't look at me like that!" he growled. Rose just kept staring at him with her doe eyes. Crouch snorted.
"I'll take you on the Saturday," the man said, his tone leaving no place for discussion.
"Or maybe I can go today with Winky? She'd first die than disobey you, she'll keep an eye on me. We'll return quickly."
Rose had no idea why she asked him something like this. To her surprise, he didn't laugh or scold her like she'd expect. Instead, he just watched her, his expression blank. Rose didn't turn her eyes away from him. She felt a slight pressure inside her mind - Legilimency. She didn't fight it. Since the day she had entered this house, the girl practiced Occlumency constantly, there were some books about that subject in Crouch's library. How careless of him - he hadn't even considered a fact that she'll be able to learn and use the art of hiding thoughts from his own book, which he kept in a room where she could easily find it. The library was big, he probably forgot what exactly could be found inside. The memories of Snape's visit and the Amulet were well hidden in her head. Barty wasn't even searching for those kind of thoughts, so he didn't notice anything wrong. He searched for thoughts of an escape.
There were none.
Barty stayed silent for a moment.
"You know that if you even consider running, I'll have to kill you, don't you?" finally he said, his eyes gleaming threateningly.
"I know. But I won't. We both know it," she answered, taking his hand in hers. The wizard seemed to be deep in thoughts. Rose tried very hard to hide her growing excitement. She was sure that he'll let her go now. After all, she had no wand, she couldn't Apparate without it. The town was filled with Muggles and possibility of meeting any wizard was very small, let alone a wizard who would recognize Rose Clifton, a girl who had disappeared months ago.
The girl could already see the decision forming inside her husband's head. His tongue began flicking out nervously. Of course, he didn't want to lose sight of her even for an hour. On the other hand, his strange obsession urged him to try to make her happy inside her golden cage. Possibly he had also other reasons, reasons Rose didn't know at that time.
"You can go," he whispered hoarsely. "That'll be your final test. We'll see if all of your 'love' talk is true."
Rose squeezed his hand and kissed him, softly, tenderly. She stroked his hair.
"You know it's true. I love you, Barty."
Crouch snorted again. It was clear that he considered her stupid because of her confessions. Love was for the weak. Rose didn't mind being weak, in fact, she'd always knew that she wasn't very strong. Nor strong, nor brave, she was just Rose. And it was fine.
"Oh, I forgot that you, Death Eaters despise anything that inclines you're just humans," she snickered. In response Barty bit her lower lip and pulled her closer onto his lap.
"Because we're not just some ordinary humans," he said, stroking her neck with his hand. "We're better. Stronger."
'And foolish,' Rose thought, leaning into his touch. 'Foolish, lonely and miserable.'
It was better to be weak, than to live a life like that, lost in the darkness of one's heart, with no friends or family. Consumed by the hatred. Dependent on an old, crazy murderer.
A few hours later Rose was walking side by side with Winky, down an empty street. They were heading for the only wizard shop in town, filled with books, papers and painting supplies. It was perfectly safe - the witch that ran the shop was a sister of one of the Death Eaters. Barty sent her an owl, telling her that his wife will visit. After doing this he locked himself with Winky in the study, surely to give her a warning what would happen if Rose tried to escape. Everything was perfectly planned, just to let the girl get the illusion of being free for a while.
The day was still sunny and quite warm. Winky remained hidden from Muggles' sight until they've entered the bookshop. Rose bought everything she needed, ignoring the owner's pitying look.
'She feels pity for me, but she wouldn't help me even if I asked,' the girl thought bitterly.
She shuffled through some books in the shop, but nothing caught her interest. Most of them she already knew - history of art, biographies of famous wizard artists. Nothing regarding the blasted Amulet. The damn thing was slowly driving her insane. How could she find it without any further clues? Dumbledore gave her a nearly impossible task.
"Mistress, we must go now,' Winky said, interrupting Rose's thoughts. "Master told Winky to return in two hours, we'll be late soon!"
Rose sighed. Time to return to her prison. It didn't pain her very much, though. She had abandoned the hope of being free long ago.
Soon, Winky was hidden once again, as she and her mistress began walking back to the edge of town, where the little servant could apparate both her and Rose to the Crouch's house. Rose enjoyed the time she'd spent during the short trip. The town was small, filled with Victorian architecture and beautiful gardens. Rose had no idea in which part of England they were. In fact, Rose didn't even know where Crouch's house was placed. It must've been well hidden from the Ministry and the Order.
Suddenly, Winky stopped and touched her mistress's hand.
"Mistress Rose! Winky is so sorry!" the house-elf squawked.
"What is it?"
"Winky forgot the package Master told her to retrieve from the shop!"
"Package? What package?", Rose asked curiously.
"Winky doesn't know. Winky doesn't meddle with her Master's business," the house-elf spoke with indignation.
"All right, all right", Rose said, raising an eyebrow. "Well, if that's the case, I'll just wait there, on the bench. Go and take the thing from the shop."
"But Mistress can't be left alone! Master had said-"
"Oh, for Merlin's sake!" the girl whined. "Look, I don't want to walk back all the way to that shop! I don't have a wand and running away on foot wouldn't be too wise, would it? I'd be caught anyway."
Winky stayed silent for a few moments. She observed closely her mistress, probably judging in her head her intentions. Finally, she said with serious expression:
"Very well. But Mistress must sit on that bench and not move from there. It is for her own good."
"I promise," Rose assured the little servant and approached the wooden bench which stood under a great oak. There was a bakery nearby, but no one could be seen around, the streets were completely deserted.
Winky hurried back to the shop. Rose was sure that the package contained some dark stuff. Death Eater's business. Still, it was no use to pry. Winky would first die than reveal her master's secrets and Barty won't tell her a thing either.
Minutes were passing slowly as Rose was sitting on her spot, admiring the view of the peaceful town. She could see the shop Winky probably had already entered. It was so nice to sit there, breathing fresh air. Soon, though, they'll have to go back to the house, otherwise Barty will throw a fit. The girl stood up, so she could see the street better. She decided that it would be good to remember this place, so she could paint it later. Winky told her to stay on the bench, but Rose started to walk down the street, in order to meet her servant halfway. A little walk would do her some good. She was passing by the bakery, when a ring of shop bell could be heard. Someone opened the door of bakery and Rose looked that way without a thought, curious, because it was the only person on the streets apart from her.
The man had brown hair and pale face. His jumper was quite battered and he had a few scars on his face. He appeared to be tired and sad. At first, he hadn't noticed Rose, but as soon as his eyes lied on her he froze on the spot.
"Rose?" a hoarse whisper came from his mouth.
The girl didn't recognize him immediately. Months spent in Crouch's dark mansion wiped out every familiar face Rose knew during her life. Now there was only Barty. Barty, Barty, Barty. He was her whole world.
"Rose," the man repeated, taking a step towards her. She stepped back.
"I'm sorry, sir, but you must be mistaken," she spoke quietly, her voice trembling strangely. "I don't know you."
Her head started to hurt. What was happening? She could hardly recall Snape's visit, let alone something that she saw so long ago, during her last days of freedom. She could see like through the fog two men, looking down on her with concern. A dog and a wolf.
The man took hold of her wrist, gently, but firmly. Rose shuddered from growing panic. Where was Winky?
"Rose, it's me," the man spoke in confusion. "What had happened to you? Where have you been all this time?"
"Please, sir, leave me alone," Rose said, shaking and fighting back tears. "I don't know you..."
"I'm Remus, don't you remember? What had they done to you?"
The girl started to hyperventilate, it was too much. She'd been waiting so long to see someone from the Order, but they never came... And now she was seeing her former teacher, one of the few persons that had a good word for her, who understood her...But for some odd reason, she could not remember his full name.
"Come, you're shivering. Are you cold?" the man's voice was full of concern, but Rose jumped away from him like burnt.
"No!" she cried.
"Rose, it's okay, you're safe now. Come with me-"
"NO! Help! Help!"
There was a loud crack followed by a cry: "Mistress Rose! Mistress Rose! Leave Winky's Mistress alone!"
And than another crack. Someone pulled the girl in a tight embrace and everything turned into blur. Rose couldn't hear Winky anymore. Instead she heard an awful shrill:
"MUDBLOODS, TRAITORS! BRINGING THEIR FILTHY WHORES TO THE HOUSE OF MY FATHER! CURSE YOU! CURSE YOU ALL!"
