The days passed slowly but surely. We couldn't keep track of the days too well, having to measure time by our meals. They only gave us one a day, and it was always the same thing. The wizard came by for me every other day, always asking the same thing. Fred was the reason I didn't go crazy. We kept each other entertained, both trying to comfort and encourage the other. He told me jokes constantly, always making me laugh when ever I felt down. I told him my favorite stories, mostly muggle ones he'd never heard of. He liked Lord of the Rings best, finding it the most interesting one.
The days added up, turning into weeks, and finally months. I was beginning to get desperate trying to think of some way to escape. We only had the items that had been in our pockets when we were captured, so we had to be inventive.
I finished eating the awful soup and set my bowl down, leaning against the wall and watching Fred finish his up.
I was just about to ask him about a new idea on escaping when the door opened. I turned towards it in surprise; he'd never visited us after a meal before. He waved his wand and Fred fell forward unconscious, unable to stop the wizard. Ever since that first day the Wizard had frozen Fred when he came for me, apparently he was scared that Fred would try and hut him.
"Witch, come with me." He said darkly. I rose up quickly and stepped forward. I'd refused once before, and he'd whipped Fred because of it. I wasn't about to let something like that happen again. He bound me like he always did before apparating us away to the familiar shack. He tied me to the chair and blind folded me, leaving me blind and unable to move as always.
"Where is the keyfinder?" He hissed. I shook my head, not bothering to speak. He never believed me, and he never changed his question. I was beginning to think he was quite mad. I braced myself for the slap that was sure to come, it always did when I told him no. This time though, no slap came. I waited for a moment, and then I screamed in pain as he hit my ribs. It wasn't with his fist either, it was something long, thin, hard, and cold. He pulled the weapon back and hit me again, I heard a crack and knew several of my ribs had just broken. Tears poured down my eyes and I couldn't stop them, couldn't fight them. I gasped for breath desperately, trying not to scream as my side throbbed in pain.
"Where is the Keyfinder?" he yelled again, drawing nearer my face.
"I don't know!" I cried out, tears streaming down my cheeks.
"I don't believe you!"He bellowed, his spittle flying onto my face. I was in too much pain to be disgusted. He hit me again, this time with his fist on my jaw. My head snapped to the side, pain and blood filling my mouth. I spat it out, horrified to feel a tooth fall with the blood. Merlin, why had he taken us? What had we done to him?
"I've a new plan for you, something that will surely loosen your tongue." Panic filled my stomach and I fought the urge to scream. He grabbed my right arm and pulled it out, straightening it and forcing it palm up.
"This might hurt." He whispered viscously. A moment later I felt what must have been a hundred needles sink into my skin and I let out a blood curdling scream. The awful feeling of liquid fire flowed through my veins, and then the blessed darkness over took me.
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"What did you do to her you bastard?" Fred's wonderfully familiar voice rang out, echoing in the dark cell ominously and full of rage. I opened my weary eyes and immediately shut them again as my body flared in pain. Everything hurt, my head, my chest, my arms, even my legs! I heard a bang and a crash and forced my eyes open and my body up, looking around wildly for Fred, he was nowhere to be seen. The cell was empty, and I was alone.
He'd taken Fred.
"No!" I screamed out, stumbling to my feet painfully. Not Fred, I couldn't let him hurt Fred. I ran towards the door on unsteady feet and pounded it with my fists. No response came, the only noise the echo of my fist banging against the dirt. I sunk to my knees painfully, still screaming out for Fred with my hoarse voice. The light disappeared and I was alone in the dark.
How had this all happened? Why had he taken us? What had we done? Even Trelawny with her doom and gloom self would never have predicted this could happen. Who would have? The war was over, we weren't supposed to be fighting anymore, we weren't supposed to be in danger.
But we were, we were trapped in a dirt prison and our captor was going to kill us. My heart was beating wildly in my chest and my lungs were burning from lack of oxygen. One thought kept playing over and over in my head. I must save Fred. I had to save him, I had to get him out of this nightmare. Panic threatened to grip me but I pushed it away angrily. I would not lose myself, I would not let panic take me.
The time for thinking was past, it was time to act. It was time to get the hell out of this prison. I crawled along the floor to the far left corner, running my hands along the floor in search of an uneven patch. I found it a moment later and clawed at the loose dirt with my sore fingers. I kept digging, pushing the dirt away until my fingers came into contact with cold metal. I pulled the Galleon out of the hole, along with the string, quill, balls and pastille. We'd buried them in this corner to make sure they stayed safe. It wasn't much, but it was all we had.
It would be just enough to get us out of this prison. Well, if everything went to plan, and I was going to make sure it did. I worked quickly, putting everything I would need in place, praying it would all work. Once I had everything in place, I sat back down and let out a painful breath. My body was throbbing from pain, and tingling in anticipation. I couldn't wait to see if everything worked, but I was also terrified it wouldn't work. All I could do was wait, wait and hope.
I didn't have to wait much longer. I heard the distinct patter of approaching feet and hopped up eagerly, grabbing the galleon and balls tightly in my hand. I swallowed the pastille and threw up the soup and bread I'd eaten earlier. I stepped back, wiping my lips and grabbed the rope I'd tied off before kneeling down and readying myself to act. The door swung open and Fred was thrown in, over my rope and into the middle of the room.
"That light gone out again!" the wizard bellowed, stepping forward. He stepped over the rope and onto the pile of sick, slipping. He stepped backward, and I pulled the rope tight, tripping him and causing him to bellow in pain as he hit the floor. I threw the balls at his head, making him bellow in pain as I jumped on top of him, my quill firmly grasped in my hand. I stabbed blindly at him with my right hand, praying that I made contact. I pummeled my fist into the side of his head with my left fist and he screeched out, swinging wildly at the air, but I was already moving. I brought the rope up around his arms, tying his hands in place with strength I hadn't known I had. His hands firmly tied in place I moved to his legs, tying them in place with what little string was left. My hands ghosted back up his body, feeling his pockets for the weapon I had yet to find.
Where was his bloody wand?
"Fred?" I called. Standing up and running towards where he had landed. The wizard didn't have a wand on him, so I decided we'd just leave out the still open door. I found him a moment later, crumpled up and unconscious. His left arm was bent at an unnatural angle and his left eye was swollen shut. Anger filled me and I had to fight the urge to turn back and kick the unconscious wizard in the head.
I shook Fred's shoulders gently, trying to wake him quickly without hurting him. He stirred a moment later, moaning in pain as he woke.
"Mione?" he questioned groggily, his eyes still closed.
"Yes Fred, it's me. I need you to stand up right now." I said, pulling him into a sitting position. He hissed in pain, but tried to push himself up. I wrapped my arms around his waist, ignoring my throbbing chest and tugged him up. He grabbed hold of my shoulders and a moment later, we were both standing.
"Come on, Fred. I'm not sure how long we have before he wakes up. " I gasped, struggling forward on my shaky legs. Merlin, this was so not a good time to have a sprained ankle. Fred wrapped his good arm around my waist and struggled forward, helping take some of the weight off my bad foot.
"What happened?" he asked as we walked out the door. He was looking around with his right eye wildly, trying to figure out what was going on.
"I executed our escape plan." I huffed, staggering down the dark hallway. I had no idea where it led, but we didn't have any choice but to follow it. It grew brighter as we followed it, and narrower. It curved to the left, and then a staircase appeared. We took the steps as quickly as we could, adrenaline giving us strength and dulling the pain of our many injuries. We climbed for what seemed like forever, only able to see that the stairs led to some sort of landing.
Fred, being several inches taller than me, saw what was at the top first. He was fully awake now, but hadn't drilled me with questions as I had expected him to.
"It's a door 'Mione! I can't tell where it leads though." He gasped out, struggling for breath as we climbed. A moment later I saw the door as well, we were about. We stumbled up the last few steps, leaning on each other as we neared the top. We almost fell to our knees as we climbed the last step. We stumbled forward, groping blindly for the knob. I found it underneath my hand and twisted, pushing the door open.
It scraped against the ground loudly, echoing in the small room. Fred leaned heavily against me and then we both forced the door open, sucking in a deep breath when we saw the gentle light of the moonlit night.
We had made it outside. There was a clearing in front of us, and at the other end of it was a forest of some sorts. If we could make it across to it, we would be home free. We could hide in the cover of the trees. We took a deep breath, and then together, we ran for the trees.
"REDUCTO!" Someone yelled from behind us. The ground exploded mere feet from us, and we redoubled our speed, completely ignoring all the pain in our legs and pushing with everything we had. More spells came flying all around us, lighting the night and our path. We dodged left and right, never moving further than half a meter from each other. Another spell exploded behind us, and the force of it knocked us forward, into the cover of the woods. I pulled myself back up, grabbing Fred's arm and helping him up as well. We ran forward again, diving into the cover of the woods.
We ran blindly, avoiding the flashes of light that were still flaring behind us, heading deeper into the woods. We ran uncaring, wanting only to lose ourselves in the cover of the trees.
We ran out onto an open road.
I pulled up short, stopping Fred as well. Lights were coming towards us and a wildly dangerous idea occurred to me. I raised my hands and turned towards the lights, praying to Merlin the car would stop.