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Chapter Twelve: Fission

'You okay?' Peter asked as I sat back down, looking concerned and sympathetic.

'Yeah,' I said, burying my head in my hands. 'I'm fine.'

'What was that about?' Sirius questioned curiously.

'Just... an argument I guess.' I replied vaguely.

'So, uh, you want to talk about it... or something?'

I considered the offer, then thought, screw it. I might as well. Fang chasing after Brigid isn't exactly news of the century.

'Sure, but can we go outside? It's kind of hot in here.'

Strangely enough, I wasn't lying. It really was hot, but that might just have been my emotions getting to me. I was starting to sweat.

'Uh, sure, if you want.'

Sirius led the way out, me and Peter following him. We ended up behind The Three Broomsticks, Peter leaning against the wall and Sirius lying in the snow. I sat down awkwardly, wincing inwardly at the cold wetness that greeted my backside.

'So?' Sirius prompted.

'Fang's leaving.' I blurted. Peter looked at me sharply.

'What, leaving Hogwarts?'

'Maybe leaving the country.' I said, trying to hold back the tsunami of misery that was threatening to overwhelm me.

'Why?' Sirius asked incredulously.

I shook my head. 'He's gone to... to help Brigid.'

'Who?'

'Brigid Dwyer. We helped her out once, and apparently Fang promised he'd be there for her if she needed help again, and I guess now she does. So he's gone off to find her.'

'Ouch.' Sirius said. 'That must hurt for you. Were they close?'

I closed my eyes, and admitted: 'Closer than I'd like them to be. And she's like, twenty.' I added, anger flaring up again, only to be defeated by jealousy and despair. 'But she's pretty. Really pretty. She has red hair.'

'Oh.' Peter said, unable to think of anything else.

We were silent for a while. I didn't mind. I wasn't exactly great at comforting myself, and I definitely appreciated the fact that they had tried. Besides, this way I didn't really need to cover up Fang's disappearance. I just hoped he would tell the rest of the Flock.

Sirius sat up and shook the snow out of his hair, looking past us as if he expected to see something.

'What -' Peter began, when Sirius gestured for him to be quiet.

'Can you hear that?' he whispered.

Laughter.

I wasn't sure how Sirius managed to hear it before me, but it didn't matter. Someone was coming.

'I recognise that voice.' Sirius muttered. 'It's Bellatrix.'

'Should we go?' Peter asked.

'No.' Sirius declared. 'We were here first.'

As it turned out, Bellatrix didn't even notice us. She was a little preoccupied making out with Fang.

No, I lied. It was Rodolphus Lestrange.

Peter shot Sirius a look that seemed to say, Can we get out of here?

Sirius either didn't see or ignored Peter, too busy staring at his cousin, a look of annoyance creeping across his face.

'Bella?'

The voice belonged to a girl, younger than me. At the sound of her voice, Bellatrix pulled away from Rodolphus.

'Damn.' Bellatrix whispered. 'I forgot I promised Cissy I'd help her pick out a present for Andy. Sorry.'

'It's fine.' Rodolphus replied.

They still hadn't noticed us.

Narcissa Black ran up to her older sister, and opened her mouth to say something when she was interrupted by a truck that came skidding towards us.

'What the hell?' Sirius exclaimed. Bellatrix whirled around, finally noting our presence.

'How long have you been there?' she demanded.

'Longer than you, you oblivious prick.' Sirius retorted.

Their argument was cut short when a man jumped out of the truck and approached us. He was holding a gun, which surprised me a lot more than it probably should have.

To be fair, though, it had been ages since I'd seen a gun. This was an exclusively magical area, after all.

Well, until now.

'I have come to collect you.' the man said. 'Please get into the truck.'

'I don't think so.' I snapped.

'I suggest you do as I say.' he said lightly, gesturing to the truck with his gun.

Narcissa started to back away, looking worried. The man pointed his gun at her and she stopped, dead still.

The reaction was instantaneous. Bellatrix leapt in front of her sister, pushing her backwards. Rodolphus lashed out at the man with a spell I didn't recognise, but looked appropriately scary. Even Sirius, who claimed his cousins meant nothing to him, stepped forwards and shouted incoherently in protest. Peter stiffened, unsure of what to do.

Rodolphus' spell seemed to hit some sort of barrier, and the man smirked.

'You can't touch me with your foul sorcery.' the man said, and touched the gold chain around his neck. 'I am protected. Get in the truck, please. All of you.'

'Why?' Peter squeaked. 'Why should we?'

'If you don't, I will kill you. Starting with the child.' the man replied, looking smug.

Rodolphus stepped forward, and punched him in the face. Apparently the man's (who I will now call 'Jack', for lack of anything better) 'protection' only applied to magic, and he hit the ground.

BANG!

Narcissa screamed. I flinched as the gun went off and Rodolphus collapsed. I wondered why no one was coming to help us. Surely the gunshot was loud enough to alert at least one person.

'Get in the fucking truck!' Jack yelled.

No one moved. Bellatrix looked frantic, desperately wanting to run to Rodolphus, but hellbent on protecting her sister, who was clutching her hand, eyes wide with terror. Sirius seemed to be frozen in shock. I noticed Peter was trying not to panic. I was finding it hard myself.

Fang, why aren't you here? I need you too.

The world exploded, and I felt myself falling.

-o-o-o-o-

I was sitting upright. That was the first thing I noticed. Had I fallen asleep in a chair? The throbbing in my head seemed to think otherwise.

I opened my eyes.

Ah.

I was strapped to a wheelchair.

Well, isn't this familiar?

A pang of sorrow struck me. The last time I had been in this position, Ari had still been alive. Poor Ari. It wasn't his fault. If only things had been different, if fate had been kinder...

My wings were still furled up, so there was no hope there. Even if they weren't, I was pretty sure whoever had me wouldn't have been stupid enough to let me escape that easily.

I glanced around quickly, taking in as much as I could. I seemed to be alone. That realisation worried me. Where were the others? Were they here, wherever this was? Were they somewhere completely different? I didn't even know if they were alive...

Okay, Max. What's the last thing you remember?

I flipped through my thoughts, trying to keep calm.

The man - Jack, I had dubbed him - came in a truck. He had a gun, a shiny one. I didn't know all that much about guns, to be honest. Pretty much all I knew was that if someone was pointing one at me, I should probably duck and run. Or fly. Or drive. Or anything that got me out of range.

Come on, focus, I reminded myself. What happened next?

Sirius' cousin, Narcissa. Jack had aimed his shiny gun at her. He was protected from magic. I should've punched the crap out of him. He wasn't immune to physical attacks, was he?

No, my brain told me.

But he had shot Rodolphus. That would be why I didn't kick his ass. Again, I wasn't exactly a huge fan of guns.

And then...? I came up blank. I had no idea what had happened next.

Maybe I passed out? Is that how I ended up here?

Where was here, anyway?

'The creature is intact?'

I looked up towards the doors, which was useless since I couldn't see through them.

'It is. I checked myself.'

'Good. You already damaged one.'

'I am very regretful to inform you that it was, in fact, one of your colleagues who damaged him. Tell your employer that. I was forced to send in my own people to bring them in without any further harm. I suppose that's what happens when you send a muggle to do a wizard's work. No offense, of course.'

The door hinges began to creak. I stared at the doors defiantly as they opened. I wasn't going to feign unconsciousness; I wanted to meet the jerk who had captured me and my friends (and my friend's extended family, and my friend's extended family's boyfriend).

'We are able to fix the damage.' the man said.

'Thank you, but no. It would be foolish to waste a perfectly good shot. After all, who's to say that he'd survive another?'

'Indeed. There's no safe place to be shot, as I'm sure you know.' He shot her a sideways glance. She ignored it.

I decided to interrupt. I was sick of being ignored.

'So who do I have to thank for my current, very lavish, lodgings?' I sneered as the two people - a man and a woman - entered.

'It talks.' the woman's eyebrows rose. 'It is as successful a hybrid as I heard.'

'It does talk.' I snapped. 'And it also wants to kick your face in.'

'I apologise, Dr. O'Neill. If I had known how... uncouth the creature was, I would have kept it sedated.'

I scowled.

'It is no matter.' she replied, then gestured to someone I couldn't see. 'Mr. Hunter, would you be so kind as to transport it to the vehicle?'

Her snobbish tone grated on my nerves, and if I hadn't been strapped down, I would have thrown something at her. I was about to make a snarky remark when I felt something being jabbed into my arm. Somehow, a man (Mr. Hunter?) had managed to sneak up on me and inject me with something.

'Hey!' I protested, struggling as best I could, but it was a complete waste of energy. I couldn't even spit at him, the asshole was too clever to stand right in front of me.

Hunter, if that's who the man was, started pushing me towards the door, the other man and the woman stepping aside to let him pass. There were several more people lining the hallway; bodyguards, probably.

The possibility of escaping seemed to be getting slimmer with every passing second. I could feel myself getting tired, and I had to fight to keep myself awake.

My eyes slid shut, and slowly, the sound of Hunter's shoes clicking rhythmically against the floor was the only thing I knew.

I have to... I have -

-o-o-o-o-

I hugged the thick blankets and curled up. It was warm here.

Just a little longer. Five more minutes and I'll get up. Surely breakfast doesn't -

I shot upright, throwing the previously welcome blankets to the floor. I wasn't in my dorm. I wasn't in Hogwarts. I didn't even know if I was still in Europe.

The small room was stark white, the only thing that disturbed the blank whiteness was the shadows cast by the overhanging lightbulb. The room contained only a metal-framed bed, which I was currently sitting on, but had two doors.

I stood up and paused, waiting to see if dizziness or some such annoyance would strike. Nothing. I flexed, making sure I wasn't injured. Again, nothing. What's more was that my wings were free. There were even slits in the back of the white shirt they'd stuck me in. I unfurled them slowly, enjoying the sensation after so many weeks of having them pressed flat against me. The room was just big enough to stretch out my wings, so I gave them a small flap.

I opened the door on the left. It led me to a room of about the same size, a simple bathroom. There was nothing of value to be found there, so I went to investigate the other door, which I guessed led outside.

To my surprise, the door opened easily. I peered around. An empty hallway greeted me, so I took a cautious step out.

Nothing happened.

I took another step, and then another. I flapped my wings, and smiled as I rose up off the floor. It felt good to fly again.

But why was I able to fly? Why was my door unlocked? It all seemed too perfect. Even the ceiling was ridiculously high, providing me with plenty of room.

Perhaps they had abandoned me here. Perhaps no one else was here and all the exits were sealed so I couldn't escape.

But no, that woman, Dr. O'Neill, she didn't want me 'damaged'. Surely she wouldn't go to so much effort to make sure I was whole if she was just going to leave me here to rot.

There was nothing here. It was completely silent, except for the light flapping of my wings.

It made me nervous.

But I made my way along the corridor all the same. After all, what did I have to lose?

After at least ten minutes of flying, I finally reached the end of the corridor. There was a door there, identical to the one at the beginning of the corridor, the one that led to the room I had woken up in.

Maybe they were keeping one of the others in here too.

I landed, put my hand on the knob, and opened the door.