CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: Snatchers
Tumbling, gasping, and pain, as air filled her lungs. The sky overhead was dark with gray clouds, her side burning. Coughing she tried to expel the dust from her lungs. Around her she could hear Hermione muttering spells as the boys cursed their luck.
She had warned them.
It wasn't safe.
Nowhere was safe.
"That treacherous old bleeder!" Ron panted, somewhere near her. She kept her eyes shut, as she felt her breakfast churn in her stomach.
"Ev?" Harry called.
"What's up, Harry?" she asked trying to feign happiness. "Isn't the weather amazing?"
"You alright?"
"Right as a Erumpent Horn on a Saturday," she replied opening her eyes.
Harry stared at her as if she'd lost her mind.
"That's not funny," Ron snapped, "we could've died."
"I told you it wasn't safe," she said in a sing song voice. "But you didn't listen!"
"Well maybe you should have had the guts to-"
"Stop it!" snapped Hermione, as Ron's face turned a lovely shade of red. "It's not funny, and Mr. Lovegood's probably still in danger." A troubled look crossed her face. "I hope they don't kill him."
"Poor Luna," Evangeline murmured. They had gone to Xenophilius Lovegood's strange home, only to find Luna's room in a state of neglect and Death Eaters on the doorstep. But they did learn something important.
The Deathly Hallows.
Silently they put the tent up and settled inside. Hermione moaned about how it was a bad idea that they went and Evangeline kept glaring at the wall. If only they'd listened.
"- and the Deathly Hallows?" said Hermione, "Rubbish! He made it up to keep us there."
"No it's not," Ron said, "it's a lot harder to make something up under stress than you think, 'Mione. I reckon he told us the truth."
"Well it doesn't matter now," Hermione said with a sigh.
"But Harry's got an invisibility cloak," said Ron.
" 'The Tale of the Three Brothers' is a story," Hermione said firmly.
"I don't know. We could do with an unbeatable wand," said Harry, looking dismally down at the blackthorn wand he was holding.
"There's no such thing, Harry!"
"But you said there were loads of wands, the Deathstick. . ."
"Whatever! Even if the Elder Wand's real, what about the Resurrection Stone, hm?" Hermione asked sarcastically. "No magic can raise the dead!"
They argued about the girl from the story, and then Cedric Digory, a boy she knew nothing about. Eventually Hermione gave up and Ron stepped in trying to ease the tension.
"What about that Peverell bloke who's buried in Godric's Hollow," he asked hastily.
Hermione sighed, "I looked him up after I saw the mark on his grave, but the only place I was able to find the name 'Peverell' was in Nature's Nobility: A Wizarding Genealogy. It lists pure blood families that are now extinct in the male line. Apparently the Peverell's were one of the first to vanish."
" 'Extinct in the male line'?" Ron repeated. Evangeline rolled her eyes, really?
"It means the name's died out, centuries ago. The Peverell's could still have descendants, though, they would be called something else."
Harry perked up at this.
"Marvolo Gaunt! You-Know-Who's grandfather! Marvolo Gaunt was descended from the Peverell's," he said suddenly, "That would make him your great-something grandfather, right Ev?" They looked at him bewildered. Evangeline clenched her jaw, grinding her teeth together.
"Yes," she said slowly. Ron and Hermione looked bewildered, so Harry eagerly elaborated.
"The ring that became the Horcrux, Marvolo Gaunt said it had the Peverell coat of arms on it. I saw him waving it in the bloke from the Ministry's face," he said.
"The Peverell coat of arms," Hermione said sharply, eyes narrowing, "what did it look like?"
"I couldn't really tell," Harry said scratching his head. "Nothing really fancy and only a few scratches, I only saw it close up after it had been cracked open."
Comprehension dawned on Hermione's face, her eyes growing wide, Ron looked astonished. Evangeline glanced away from them uncomfortably.
"You don't reckon it was the sign of the Hallows, do you?" Ron asked.
"Why not?" Harry said excitedly. "The old git probably thought the scratched on the stone were a coat of arms, because he was only concerned with having pure blood." A grin spread on his face as his eyes held a far off look, like he was a thousand miles away from them at that moment.
Hermione tried to argue that the Resurrection stone wasn't a possibility, but it was a lost cause. Harry was babbling that Dumbledore had the cloak the night his parents were killed, that Ignotus Peverell was his ancestor and then he was shoving a letter into Hermione's hand.
Evangeline glanced at the floor as the Golden Snitch thudded against it, Harry bent to pick it up, and shot upright.
"IT'S IN HERE! He left me the ring inside the Snitch!" he said excitedly.
"You reckon?" Ron asked dubiously. Evangeline found it hard to keep up with Harry's changing emotions, almost as if he were speaking an entirely different language. She didn't bother to try and keep up, she was just tired by it all.
"That's what he's after," Harry suddenly whispered, deflated. "You-Know-Who is after the Elder Wand."
They stared at him with gaping mouths, unsure if the Harry Potter had finally lost it.
"This is it, this explains everything. The Deathly Hallows are real, and I've got one - maybe two -" he held up the Snitch "You-Know-Who is chasing the third, but he just thinks it's a powerful wand."
Least to say, Hermione and Ron didn't talk about the Deathly Hallows much after that. Three days later Hermione and Harry fought about it after she told him off for not caring about hunting Horcrux's anymore.
The night was spent in stony silence.
As Harry spent more and more time obsessing, though Evangeline would never say that to his face, Ron took charge of the Horcrux hunting mission. It was a change, but a good one. Evangeline slowly slipped into silence, and stayed more out of conversations. She began to dream of Draco. It was mostly nightmares. Him dying at her feet, watching him be killed by Harry, him being killed by her father, him being killed by her . . . Evangeline missed him terribly. One night she had woken to find Hermione staring at her. She'd been saying his name out loud.
Ron introduced them to Potterwatch. Evangeline didn't really listen, just stared off into space, thinking about nothing. Harry began laughing at one point in the evening while they listened, it was nice to hear him laugh. Hermione gently touched her shoulder, handing her a bowl of steaming soup, worry written in her eyes. Evangeline took it and began eating slowly as the show slowly winded down.
"Listeners, that brings us to the end of another Potterwatch. We don't know when it will be possible to broadcast again, but you can be sure we shall be back. Keep twiddling those dials: The next password will be 'Mad-Eye.' Keep each other safe: Keep faith. Good night."
Static filled the air and then the wireless's dial twirled and the lights behind the tuning panel went out. Harry, Ron, and Hermione were beaming at each other. Evangeline kept her focus on her soup, feeling immensely tired.
"Good, eh?" Ron said.
"Brilliant," Harry replied enthusiastically.
"So brave of them," sighed Hermione admiringly, she glanced over at Evangeline. "Let's get you in bed." Hermione addressed her like she was a child, Evangeline obliged even though she didn't want to. When had Hermione started doing that? Last week, or the week before?
"Did you hear what Fred said?" asked Harry as Hermione helped Evangeline to her feet. "He's abroad! He's still looking for the Wand. I knew it!"
"Harry-" Hermione said looking over her shoulder as she helped Evangeline into bed.
"Come on, Hermione, why are you so determined not to admit that Vol-"
"HARRY, NO!"
"-demort's after the Elder Wand!"
"The name's Taboo!" Ron bellowed. Evangeline stiffened as a loud crack sounded outside the tent, her hand slowly gripping her wand as she struggled to sit up. "I told you, Harry, I told you-"
Ron stopped talking and they all looked at the Sneakoscope on the table as it lit up and began to spin: they could hear voices coming nearer and nearer: rough, excited voices. Ron clicked his Deluminator, and the lamps went out.
"Come on out with your hands up!" came a rasping voice through the suffocating darkness. Evangeline stiffened: she knew that voice. She would know it anywhere. Unconsciously her hands went to her scarred neck.
Then a bang filled the air followed by white light. Disorientated Evangeline stumbled to the ground, only to be jerked up roughly and feel someone going through her pockets. She screamed, lashing out only to be met with a hard blow to her head. Black spot appeared before her vision, she could hear the others struggling too.
"Get - off - her!" Ron shouted. She heard knuckles hit flesh and Ron grunted in pain as Hermione screamed, "No! Leave him alone, leave him alone!"
Evangeline nearly vomited as the voice filled the air.
"Your boyfriend's going to have worse done to him if he's on my list," it said. "Delicious girl . . . What a treat . . . I do enjoy the softness of the skin . . ."
Pain. Screams. She was back at Hogwarts again, he was breathing down her neck, tearing into her flesh, Draco was screaming.
"Now let's see who we got," he continued. Evangeline heard a body rolled. A barking laugh filled the air. "What happened to you, ugly?"
Silence.
"I said," he repeated, she heard a 'thwumping' sound followed by a groan, "what happened to you?"
"Stung," Harry muttered.
"Yeah, it looks like it," another voice said with a cackle.
"What's your name," snarled the first.
"Dudley," Harry said. "Vernon Dudley."
"Check the list Scabior," he said, a twig snapped as he moved on. "And what about you ginger?"
"Stan Shunpike," said Ron gruffly.
"Like 'ell you are," the second person said. "We all know Stan."
There was a thud followed by Ron groaning.
"I'm Bardy," Ron said thickly, as though there was something in his mouth. "Bardy Weadley."
"A Weasley?" rasped the first, sounding interested, "and what about your pretty little girlfriend . . ?" The was a note of relish in his voice.
"Easy, Greyback," said the second man. Evangeline opened her eyes, since her face was pressed into the dirt. She could only see their shabby shoes.
"Oh, I'm not going to bite her, yet. Who are you, girly?"
"Penelope Clearwater," Hermione said in a terrified voice.
"Blood status?"
"Half-blood."
"And who is this?" Greyback asked. A foot collided with her side, as pain blossomed in her rib cage. She was rolled over, able to see the gray sky and barren trees. Greyback's face swam into view, a malicious grin spreading wider and wider with each passing second.
"I'd know this face anywhere," he said gleefully. "Little Miss Fallon, eh? People was beginin' to think you were dead, but that's not so now is it?"
"Burn in hell," she hissed.
"Still feisty, just how I like them," he laughed a barking laugh.
"Leave her alone," snapped Harry. Greyback snarled at him, turning on Harry with a raised fist.
"Oi, Greyback," said one of the men, "there's no Vernon Dudley on 'ere."
"Interesting," said Greyback, "that's interesting. I think we'll take little Evangeline and her friends to her future in-laws place."
"Look at this, Greyback!"
Evangeline turned her head and saw one of the Snatchers holding Harry up, his hair pulled away from his face which was swollen as if he'd been stung several times, except for his scar which could be clearly seen in the dimming light. Greyback peered at him closely.
"You're not Vernon Dudley," he declared, "you're Harry Potter!"
Collective gasps filled the air, Evangeline shut her eyes as she was yanked to her feet. Opening them she saw Hermione white as a sheet, trembling, her chest rising and falling rapidly. Evangeline felt her heart pounding faster and faster in her chest. Darting her eyes around she found that they were completely surrounded, by men in dirty clothes with unshaven faces. Fear gripped her as she was held tightly, closely to Greyback.
She held her breath, as his stench washed over her. His nails were yellow, digging into her flesh. Then she felt the familiar pulling of apparition. When the land materialized beneath her feet she looked up and sagged under her weight. Ahead of them lay the wrought-iron gates leading up to the Malfoy Manor.
Greyback lifted her back up to her feet and forcefully led her forward. She weakly followed.
Two chapters in two days! Yay! I feel really happy right now. Thank you to my lovely reviewers: X . Ember . Uchiha . X, xXMizz Alec VolturiXx, and The Mysterious E!
Draco is coming next! FINALLY! :) (I'm doing happy dances in my head right now!)
~Ciao