This. . .This chapter is horrible. I'm practically ashamed of it. Actually, no. . . I am ashamed of it.

Chapter 4: Can't Save Me Now

Those next few weeks were probably the worst I'd ever suffered with Marcus and Evangeline.

The summers have always been bad, even before Evangeline moved out and got married to Marcus. Evangeline has always been determined to make me miserable, and her determination has grown since she met Marcus.

Her methods have also 'improved.'

When Mom was still alive, she hardly noticed how Evangeline's hatred for me grew every year.

Evangeline is the squib in our family. Honestly, she's not exactly a squib, considering our family isn't pureblood, and my mom was actually muggleborn, but Evangeline has always hated me because I have the magic that she doesn't, because I get to go off to some fancy school while she's stuck at home.

In the beginning, it was just small things, like breaking things and blaming it on me, hiding Mom's keys and telling her that I had them, things like that. But it started to progress, especially as Mom started staying hospital more and more. She would shove me into a closet and block off the door, lock me out of the house, hide any food that I could possibly find.

When she'd gotten married, I'd thought I was finally free.

And then Mom died, and I was stuck with them.

Marcus was a muggle, but Evangeline told him about our family. He liked it even less than Evangeline did.

The summer after fourth year, my first summer with them, they'd rented a cottage in Ireland because they didn't want anyone to know about me. They made sure they got one with a basement.

And for the whole summer, they locked me down there. The brought me food once every two days, shouting insults every time.

And let me tell you, that basement was cold. For someone who has always been smaller than average, it would be torture. But when you're smaller than average and haven't gotten any meat since you left school? I thought I was going to die.

And it didn't help when Marcus started coming down with a baseball bat, deciding it was better than risking the evidence that would be left if he used his hands.

He never hit me where it could be seen, and Evangeline was always standing right behind him, smirking, telling me that I deserved it for being such a freak.

And Lily thought that she had it bad.

I never made a sound. I knew that if I did, it would just continue.

To be truthful, after not too long, I was able to block it all out. Retreat into my mind, not feel the pain, not hear what they were saying. And honestly, what they said didn't even effect me anyways. I'm not sure they realized what I was doing, but I think they did, because that was when Marcus decided that my head was just as good a target as my ribs. I knew that they were just afraid I would do something.

And at the end of the summer, I did. When Evangeline informed me that they weren't going to let me out to go to school, I knew that I needed to get out.

For such a small person, I pack a pretty decent punch. I remember punching my sister in the face and then doing the same to Marcus. While they were distracted, I ran up the stairs, grabbed my wand from its hiding place, and hightailed it out of there.

I knew that they'd find a way to get back at me, and I also had a pretty good idea what it was.

I'd found a payphone and called the Potters', who, thank Merlin, I knew had a phone. When James answered, I just told him that I needed them to come get me at the Calgarndo pub in Ireland. Even to myself, my voice sounded dead.

Less then five minutes later, Sirius showed up. He said that Mrs. Potter was getting some food ready for me and that James was getting a room ready, so they'd asked Sirius to come get me.

One look at me, and he was right in front of me, inspecting every cut. I knew I was a mess; I hadn't brushed my hair in ages, my arms were covered in bruises, and my face was covered in blood. But he hugged me, despite that, and I'm proud to say that I didn't break down.

Although there may been a few tears. But that's not considered a breakdown.

I spent a lot of time at the end of that summer with James and Sirius, who frequently suggested that I just move in with the Potters. I learned a few things about Sirius and his family, and with that came an understanding between us. Not friends, but I guess I didn't hate him anymore.

We didn't speak of it after that, not even when fifth year ended and I had to go back.

The same thing happened, except now I was only getting fed twice a week.

And that time, I managed to get a hold of my wand.

I hexed them both and then used a stunning spell so that I could escape. I went to the Potter's house for a few days, and they made sure to go back and. . . unstun them? After about a week, I decided to get a room at the Leaky Cauldron. Considering I was at the Potter's house for a week, I feel pretty stupid for not noticing that Sirius was living there.

But I knew that Evangeline and Marcus were going to want payback. And what better way than to take me away from the only thing that made me happy? They knew that I'd always looked forward to going back to Hogwarts.

No one knew about what they really did to me. Sure, Sirius and the Potters knew bad things happened, but it's not like they had any proof. They couldn't get me out, and even Dumbledore, (Who I really think knows everything) couldn't find a way to get me away from them. Evangeline was the only family that I had left, so therefore she was my legal guardian.

And she had all control over my life.

So now here I was, in this stupid basement in this stupid cottage again, instead of being with my friends at Hogwarts.

Well, at least I only have to last until I'm seventeen. I thought wryly to myself.

Which means that while it is now the middle of November, I have to wait until April.

And when you're with this 'family?' That's a very long time.

People have always said that I'm strong, that I'm too stubborn to ever give up. That I'll always fight.

I used to believe them.

Now? Now, I'm not so sure.

.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.

"So, how does it feel, eh? Not so fun to get beat up by someone who shouldn't be touching you, is it?"

Marcus had been going on like this for hours, punctuating each rant with a few hits from the baseball bat. (Hehe. Even when I'm going totally insane, I can still rhyme without trying to. That is what we call skill.)

I knew that this was technically my fault, considering I was the one that had used my wand on him over the summer, but really, can you blame me?

When this first started, I promised myself that I wasn't going to become one of those pathetic girls who believed every bad word someone said to them just because they were abused. I wasn't going to be one of those girls who believes she deserves it, who believes that there's nothing she can do.

Of course, I had no idea what I was going to do yet, but I always come up with something.

Meanwhile, I would have to take it.

But I wasn't going to take it like a good little girl. I have too much pride for that.

And too much stupidity, I guess.

When Marcus finally decided to leave me alone for the night, I found my way over to the corner, since it was the warmest place in this basement that I'd ever been able to find. And then I thought about how the bloody hell I was going to get out of here.

They kept the door at the top of the stairs locked, and considering it's a basement, there aren't any windows. And even if I was to escape, they could just come and find me again, and there was nothing that I could do about it. I had absolutely no control over my life until the twenty-third of April.

Unless, of course, the ministry were to find out about this. . .

I knew that the magical world had some of the same laws as the muggle. The obvious things such as no homicide or breaking & entering or trespassing. So if they found out about something like this, there was no way that they could let me continue living here.

Now, how I was going to make sure they knew, I had no idea. And I would say that I could worry about it tomorrow, except I couldn't. I was pretty sure a few of my ribs were broken, and that meant that there could be possible internal bleeding. Not to mention the fact that I was extremely dehydrated.

And, you know, I was hungry. Like, really hungry.

Mmm, I could really use a cranberry muffin right now. Those have always been, like. . . My undoing.

Damn. Muffins. Black. Bet.

. . . Hire someone to strangle Elvora?

Hey, at least then it would look like a muggle murder. And I'm locked up in a basment. How could sweet, innocent, trapped little Daelia have arranged for something like that?

No? Too far-fetched? Yeah, I guess so.

But whatever keeps me going, right?

.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.

For the next three weeks, I endured the torture. I threw at least one snide comment every day, even if I knew it would make it worse, but I never got any farther in my plan to alert the ministry. I didn't have my wand, my owl was still at school, and I hadn't yet learned how to apparate.

It saddened me to think of that; If I was still at Hogwarts, I would probably be learning how to do that by now. The lessons were supposed to have started about two weeks after I 'left.'

Sometimes I wondered what Professor Dumbledore had told my friends. I knew that Sirius and James would know the truth, and maybe even Lily, but other than that, everyone else would just assume that I'd wanted to leave or something.

Honestly, I wanted to know what he had told them. I'm not exactly 'popular' or whatever those muggles call it, but having a connection to James has made me quite well known.

Not to mention the whole getting a nickname from Sirius Black thing.

Which reminds me. . . (Again)

I wonder if I'd be excused from the bet, considering I'm locked in a basement right now. But no, of course not, Elvora would never let me do that. She'd probably find some sick satisfaction if she knew what was going on right now.

Which was why I was still contemplating the whole hiring-someone-to-strangle-her thing.

Sadistic, you say?

Yeah. I can't really even try to deny it, can I?

I briefly considered screaming for help, but I knew that it wouldn't work. It was another reason Marcus and Evangeline had decided to rent a cottage in Ireland; The nearest neighbor was at least a mile away.

No one to hear you scream. No one to help you.

I was slowly coming to terms with the fact that I was trapped.

I wasn't giving up, no, but I'd figured out that I wasn't going to get out of here with a snap decision. I was going to need a plan, and I was going to need help.

Except the only people I was in contact with were Marcus and Evangeline, and neither of them was going to help me. I almost starting laughing hysterically at just the thought.

At some point, I even considered asking Evangeline for help. It would be easy; She was always the one that brought down the food, most of the time without Marcus. But I knew that she would never help me. Everything that was happening? It was her fault. She'd told Marcus what I was and planted all those false ideas in his mind of how dangerous I was. (Okay, so maybe I'm a teeny bit dangerous, but they didn't know that.) Granted, I probably made things worse by not being able to keep my mouth shut, but that was to be expected. Keeping my mouth shut has never been my forte, nor will it ever be my forte. I don't think before I speak; It's just the way I am.

I heard the door creep open and shrunk back into the corner, hoping that it was just Evangeline bringing me some food.

But I knew it wasn't. I'd been fed yesterday. Which meant no food today.

Marcus walked down the stairs, and even through the shadows I could see the sneer on his face. Evangeline was right behind him, as usual, but I noticed that she had blood running down the corner of her mouth, and a bruise that looked suspiciously like many of mine right under her eye.

As Marcus advanced on me with a smirk, I thought that maybe there was still some hope for my sister.

And maybe some hope for getting me some muffins. . .

.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.

Marcus didn't come down the next day. I could have sworn that I heard screaming upstairs, but that might have just been wishful thinking.

I don't mean to sound like a heartless bitch, because I'm not. I care about my sister, even if she hates me. (Which she does.) But my sister is the one that chose this. Granted, she might not have known what would happen when she went into it, but she was staying, wasn't she? She was letting her husband beat the only family that she had left.

I spent the day planning.

I guess it could also be called plotting, but in my opinion that's always seemed a bit too evil for me. True, I have my evil moments, but when you've got the war with Voldemort going on and you're trapped in this place, evil is an understatement. During these days, no one can call themselves evil.

Unless they work for Voldemort.

Or unless they're Slytherins.

I had no idea if this was going to work, but at this point, I was really out of options. I figured, really, there was no way following through with this was going to make anything worse.

Then again, what the bloody hell do I know?

When I heard the door at the top of the stairs open, I took a deep breath to prepare myself. I didn't exactly have what I was going to say planned out, but I've always been better at coming up with things right on the spot. Less chance of messing it up or veering off course that way.

Evangeline came down the steps, and in the faint light streaming in from the door I noticed that the bruise on her face had worsened.

She walked over to me silently, not even glancing at me, and set the tray down in front of me. (Tomato soup and a piece of wheat bread. Careful there, dear sister, or people might actually start to think you care about my nutrients.)

As she turned around and started back towards the stairs, I finally spoke. "You don't need to deal with it, you know." In the silent basement, my voice sounded immensely loud. Evangeline froze, so I continued. "It's hard, yeah, but better than being here. With him. People escape all the time. And I know someone that could help you." I was thinking of Dumbledore, but she didn't need to know that.

She was breathing heavily. "You don't know anything, Daelia." She said harshly, turning around to face me.

I just raised an eyebrow. "Don't I? Evie," I said, using the nickname that I hadn't used since before out mother died, "You know what he does to me. Doesn't that ever scare you? Haven't you ever thought about the fact that he could just as easily do this," I motioned to myself, "To you?" She was glaring at me, but not with any real malice, and I could see her eyes flash in fear. I continued, talking with much more emotion now. I needed her to understand. "Evie, he hurts me all the time. I'm your sister, Evie. I know you hate me, but Mom wouldn't have wanted this. She loved us both. And she would hate to see someone doing this to me or you." I saw her fists clench at the mention of Mom.

Good, I thought. That means it's working.

"Evie, if he does this to me every day, think about what he could do to you. If you just said one wrong word, he could kill you. And you know it."

I was staring straight at her, but Evangeline had her eyes closed. Although it was dark, I thought I could see a few tears rolling slowly down her face. I felt a bit guilty for a few seconds, but reprimanded myself. This was what was supposed to happen.

"He's an abusive prat, Evie, and you know it. I can-"

"You don't know anything, Dae!" She suddenly burst out. I jumped, shocked that she'd decided to speak. But she was shaking, and I could see her composure breaking. "He gives me a house, Daelia. And all the money I want. He got me away from you." I expected her voice to me much harsher when she said that last part, but she almost sounded. . . resigned.

"Evie. . . You don't know what he's going to do to you." I whispered. "And. . . I'm the last of your family, Evie. Why would you want him to do this to me?"

I stayed silent for the next few minutes, hoping that this would work.

Finally, she spoke. "I. . . I don't know." She looked at me and hesitated before speaking again. "I guess. . . It's just that. . . I always wanted to go away to a boarding school. And then some guy comes and tells us that all along you've been the odd one because you can do magic. I guess. . .I think that I resented you for that. And then Marcus said there was an easy way to put you in your place. . ." Her eyes widened. "Oh, God. I can't believe that I let this happen."

I smiled softly, even though my insides were doing the conga. "You can still stop it, Evie. I can help you."

I sat there and waited for what I'm pretty sure was close to ten minutes, waiting for her reply.

Finally, she sighed. "I know you're right, Dae. We. . . We have to get out of here."

Unfortunately, this was the time that Marcus decided to make his (usually) daily visit.

I shot Evangeline a warning look, and she nodded almost imperceptibly as Marcus walked up to me, ready to inflict his usual torture.

Except this time, it wasn't the usual torture.

He didn't even say anything. He just kept hitting me, over and over and over again. I tried to ignore it, think about something else, but this time, it was impossible. He was hitting harder than usual, and excruciating pain suddenly erupted in my abdomen.

And excruciating is not something you can ignore.

Unbidden tears formed in my eyes, and no matter how hard I tried to stop them, they started falling down my face in rapid succession. And he just continued, as I screamed out in agony for the first time since this had all started.

And then. . . Then I saw the baseball bat right above my head. It slowly came down, closer and closer, and then the world went black.

I know. Horrible, horrible chapter. I'm severely disappointed in myself. But it was kind of needed for this huge plot thing later on. I thought about totally removing this chapter, but then I would have to rewrite a bunch of chapters, and I didn't want to do that. . . I'm sorry. Feel free to tell me how much you hate this chapter. But there's some Sirius/Daelia action next chapter! :) So even if you're going to say something mean, you can still review.