"Where have they gone?"

Through the darkness, Daphne was suddenly back.

She gasped a deep breath, filling her lungs with as much air as she could manage. It felt foul. Her mouth was dry and her tongue tasted like the back-end of a Squonk. A dull throbbing pain begin to arise in the back of her head.

"Must be in the water, come on, we can head them off!"

As her thought process began to boot up, it went every direction but straight. It went up, it went down, it backtracked, it brought up memories of long ago and some she didn't even knew she had.

She saw herself playing with Tracey, buying her first wand, getting accepted into Hogwarts, then joining Slytherin House, meeting Harry and receiving her mark, these images and even more danced around in front of her. Then as things got closer to the present they slowed and began to fade.

There was a green glow, darkness, and then… redness.

The night around her was cold. Her robes clung to her. She caught a whiff of musk and recognised it as her own sweat. But that wasn't all she could smell, there was a fresh, earthy scent lingering in the air as well. At that moment her hearing returned and her ears became full of the sound of rushing water. Shifting her head, Daphne opened her eyes. It took a second for them to focus, then as they did she found herself - much to her own confusion - sprawled out across a forest floor. She'd missed the river she was aiming for and landed about a couple meters away from the shoreline. She spied something more; there was blood on her robes. Moving to get a better look, she discovered there was a lot of blood on her robes.

Lifting her head caused the throbbing pain to worsen, so she relaxed it back and stared at the night sky.

She couldn't hear the Death Eaters - no, not Death Eaters - the Aurors, anymore. Or, at least, she presumed it was those voices that had woke her up. How could they not seen her? She had tried to launch herself and Merula into the river so they'd be swept away to safety, but she must have passed out somewhere along the way down. She wasn't exactly out in the open, but maybe through the darkness and the foliage she just wasn't easy to spot? That, and the Aurors were probably still recovering from her Bombara to the face.

As she pushed herself upright, a world of pain hit her like a freight train. She inhaled sharply. Her abdomen felt like a knife had been jabbed deep inside of it, which sent a red hot stinging right through into her core. She clenched her fists and pushed herself to her knees.

They'd fallen about twenty feet down a steep hill. It wasn't quite a cliff, but it was no wonder she lost her footing trying to get down. From what she could see over the ridge, the road above them was still, hopefully meaning the Aurors truly had left the area. That was lucky because going back up there might end up becoming her only option, as a further look at her surroundings didn't exactly thrill her with confidence. She was blocked in on all sides of the crevasse by thick foliage and stacks of rubbish. Merula - or a breathing shape she certainly hoped was her - was in a pile a couple feet away from her.

Daphne took another sharp breath. She moved to try and pull herself up with a nearby log.

The screaming in her limbs and throbbing in her skull told her she didn't have long before succumbing to exhaustion again. Food, water, any kind of relief would come as a godsend right now. She was suddenly the hungriest she'd ever been in her life.

As she pulled herself to her feet, her legs began to shake as they took more of her weight. Almost fully up now, with both hands on the fallen branch she began to pull herself through the foliage.

Merula was still completely out, but seemed stable enough. There was no chance she'd be apparating either of them any time soon. Daphne checked her wand was still on her - mercifully, it was- but she dared not attempt apparating them again. Her eyes leaked back over to the ridge they'd come tumbling down, not liking her reality.

There was another thing, she now realised, her face felt different. She brushed a strand of loose hair from her eyes, and it then occurred that she was no longer wearing her fathers mask. It must have come loose way down. She cursed. Now she was unmasked and exposed. She had better hope to find it on the way back up, otherwise she would never be hearing the end of it.


Daphne re-approached the rim of the ridge cautiously. She could spy the fence she'd broken on the way down and the remnants of the destroyed tunnel they'd apparated into. She lingered still for a moment. There was no sounds of movement, nor any signs of the Aurors.

With a hearty grunt, she dragged herself the rest of the way up the incline and collapsed against the wooden fence.

She began breathing slow, deep breaths. Stretching her lungs out was painful to her, but she needed it right now. She blinked a few times and licked her lips, regaining her composure. Doing as much as she could to keep herself hidden behind the fence, she studied her surroundings. The lack of light and blood pumping viciously into her head was disorientating her. She'd lost two of her senses entirely, and could barely see or hear a thing. She leaned against the fence for support and started shuffling along the grass.

Using her core muscles to climb made her stomach throw a temper tantrum, it still rumbled inside her like a naughty child on the time-out step. Satisfied that the coast was clear, she wove her wand hand through the air. A levitating Merula followed it's pattern, hovering on the spot for a few seconds and them slumping beside her against the fence.

Now she felt a lot less safe, being back in the open. She felt very aware of her own presence, as though she was the smallest living entity in an eternity of dreadful things, lurking just behind the darkness. Only now did she notice the heavy chorus of natural noises hanging around her: the harsh winter wind lapping at her hair, trees blowing all around her and indistinguishable noises of movement, put together it was almost deafening. The fence acted as her only anchor, almost like she was out at sea clinging to a piece of debris.

She coughed into her elbow. She'd tell herself it was due to the tightness in her chest, but really it was an attempt to break the uncomfortable stillness.

Daphne's delight over being free of her pursuers was fleeting, as it still left her with the overwhelming problem of not having a single clue where she was. Apparition was supposed to only be used to travel between places a person knew. She had chased a feeling, not a place, and was now left stranded in old-gods-know-where.

The Aurors would come back soon, she knew. They had temporarily lost sight of her, which for all intents and purposes meant she was now off the hook, but even without a mask, the state of her would be a dead giveaway. Not to mention the unconscious Death Eater levitating beside her.

She needed to find a way home. The mission failed and she had no desire to be tracked down and hunted like an animal. It was the Carrows that botched the job, she didn't have to worry about this coming back on her. Merula didn't exactly seem trustworthy, but she had undeniably had her back on the battlefield, she'd validate her claims, right? When she relied tonight to her father, she just had to keep honestly her top priority.

It was a rare relief, she observed, that something went horribly wrong and it wasn't down to her piss-poor decision making.

She was getting ahead of herself. She wasn't completely out of the woods yet. She still had to make it home in one piece. Apparating wasn't going to be an option and she doubted they were close to any kind of floo network. She needed to try and find them both some shelter, a farm or an inn of some kind - she'd frankly settle for a barn at this point. It was probably the exhaustion catching up with her, but she was now suddenly the most starving she had ever been. If she could just find them somewhere safe to keep their heads down, then she could worry about recuperating and trying to find a way back home after.

There was a road running vertical with the fence, she decided following that would probably be a good start. She started to limp her way down it but stopped again almost immediately.

It was a solid black kind of road, the ones you typically only got in Muggle ends of the country. If she was in a Muggle area then that could definitely be an advantage to her. There meant less people looking out for them. She could get help for Merula without any nasty questions, not to mention if they were somewhere densely populated enough, that they could blend in relatively easily. But all that came with a dilapidating consequence; she wouldn't be able to use her magic.

She slipped her wand into her robe pocket and then moved to relieve Merula of her silver mask. Seeing her face, Death Eater was in bad shape, with a busted lip and temple red with swelling. She dared not think of the state her own face was in right now. Pulling strength from Merlin-knows-where, she swung Merula's arm over her shoulder and together, the two of them began down the side of the raid.

Her walking was slow. Each step was a limp, Daphne's only guess was at some point she must have twisted or landed on her own foot, because she was getting a lot of pain from each pace. She kept her head down, watching her own feet as took step after step. Another breeze snaked its way around her, causing her body to instinctively shiver.

She felt extremely vulnerable out here.

It was just due to the sudden change of environment, she figured. She'd gone from escaping a battle scene by the skin of her teeth to being plunged in the middle of nowhere. She didn't know which direction the Aurors had gone, but decided they would probably have tried to follow them downstream - which was why they were heading upstream. She felt good about her chances, but as each step sent a surge of pain through her system, that hope began to dampen.

The twisting in her stomach had returned, each step was now becoming an accomplishment. The pain she was going through now was a lot more stable than earlier - provided she didn't move her upper torso that much - but that was hardly much consolation out here in the cold.

Somewhere behind her a branch snapped.

Daphne glanced over her shoulder. Nothing was there, nor were there anything moving on the horizon. She silently cursed herself for getting scared so easily.

As she turned back to face the direction they were heading, she noticed something quickly coming into sight. They hadn't been moving more than five minutes before happening across a road sign. Now she'd actually have a chance to figure out where she'd brought them.

WELCOME ! - YOU ARE NOW IN SALFORD

PLEASE HELP KEEP SALFORD CLEAN !

SALFORD IS TWINNED WITH LUNEN, GERMANY, SAINT QUEEN, CLERMONT-FERRAND AND NARBONNE, FRANCE

Daphne frowned.

How in Merlin's name had she taken them to Salford?

She began to recall her most recent memories. The last thing she remembered before apparating was trying to picture somewhere safe. Her bedroom occurred to her, as did her dorm room, and Harry's Room of Requirement. None of them were in Salford, though, and all of them lay inside Hogwarts protection wards. So then she thought deeper, and imagined going on holiday with father, playing with Astoria in the Woodhouse grounds, visiting Tracey and her moth-

Her thought process grinded to a halt.

Tracey was from Manchester. Salford was in Manchester.

An unintended groan escaped her lips. She knew instantly where they were. She hadn't visited Manchester since she was a girl, but the memories attached to it must have kept the location alive in her mind. She'd brought them near Tracey's old neighborhood, and this was the exact sign she'd always feel giddy about whenever they passed.

They were on the main road leading into Manchester, if she carried along this way she should end up in the pedestrianised cities centre. There was a hospital somewhere near there, she suddenly recalled, having visited it once when Tracey ruined her ankle.

A hospital, a heavily populated muggle one nonetheless, would be the opposite place they'd want to be while keeping a low profile. Dragging Merula with her would worsen matters, but she couldn't find it within herself to abandon the Death Eater on the side of the road. Bigger towns like that always had a population of magical neighborhoods - if she spoke to the right people then there was a chance she could find her way to a floo network. She had no idea where to start, or what the magic-safe locations even were in this city.

She had never even been into a muggle city on her own before, but knowing the alternative night that awaited her, she began to reluctantly limp forward again.


Daphne fought the urge to whine out loud.

What in Merlin's name even was a cappuccino? She'd never heard of a drink like that before and couldn't begin to picture what one was. Was a cup of tea seriously that difficult? She leaned in to what she deduced was some kind of speaker.

"A cup of tea, please. No sugars and only a little milk."

She waited a second, but the electronic machine gave no response.

"You press the button, sweet."

Daphne's back snapped straight and she turned to see an impatient muggle in line behind her. The muggle pointed at rounded buttons next to the drink names and she mumbled a hollow thank you at them.

She pressed the button next to the cappuccino label, but again, nothing happened.

"It takes cash… honestly..."

She turned back to the muggle again.

"Money?"

"Mmhmm. You got any?"

Even with the rude tone she was using, Daphne couldn't be annoyed at her.

She was a stranger in their world, after all

Saving as much face as she could, she politely excused herself from the growing queue and quickly made herself scarce.

There was a harsh sterile hue covering the scene, inescapably reflecting off of every surface around them. It burned her eyes and because of it, she kept her hood up. It had earned her a few funny looks, to which she deduced robes like hers were not the norm in the muggle realm. The Death Eater robe was the only item of her clothing they'd allowed her to keep on, and that was only after she started complaining about being cold.

She stepped back into the ward she had come from. There was a sign above the door that read "SHORT STAY UNIT" and a gathering of maybe six beds, full of patients who were long asleep by now. She crossed down the aisle and behind a drawn curtain, where Merula was passed out in a hospital bed. She had an alien-looking machine beeping beside her and plastic wires sticking out of her person.

The grotesque sight of her churned Daphne's stomach. The methods of healthcare muggles used where borderline barbaric, but knowing their situation, she couldn't find it in her to argue with them.

She recalled her time in Muggle Studies. It took a lot to make a subject boring for her, but by Merlin had Professor Burbage achieved it. She'd learned enough in there to understand the basics of how the muggle world worked, and she knew well of their over-dependence on electrical machinery.

As she stopped moving it took a second for her surroundings to settle around her.

She was still in a state, but felt a million times better than she had done not an hour previous. The muggle nurses had swapped out her clothes and given her clean, hospital-issued ones, then gave her stuff necessary to clean up her face. Now she was out of the darkness she realised her sight had a red tinge to it, and the source of that was a bloody great gash leading up her right eyebrow, to which the doctors had fastened a bandage around for her. When she looked in the mirror, the bloodied up, eyepatch-wearing Death Eater that looked back was unrecognisable.

A muggle nurse, a small elderly lady, moved from tending to Merula and began to talk to her.

"Your friend is in a very bad state. You did well to get her away from the men who attacked you, Miss Davis."

The voice that left Daphne's mouth was dry, tired and barely hers.

"Will she live?"

"Oh, without a doubt! She'll need an overnight stay though, definitely," the muggle nodded and crossed her arms. "Maybe even more than that. She'll be up and walking in a few days 'though."

Daphne scratched her nose, her eye contact constantly shifting around the room.

"Can she not be out tonight?"

"With the painkillers she's on?" Muggle Nurse chuckled. "The only way she's leaving here is if you haul her over your shoulder!"

She worded it like a joke, but considering that was pretty much exactly how Daphne had gotten her here, she didn't get the humour in it.

"Now, I'm not really qualified to talk to you about your assault, so a doctor will be in to see you shortly. Can I get you anything in the meantime?"

Daphne shook her head, thankful for the thought of coming isolation, but then suddenly answered.

"A cup of tea?"

Muggle Nurse smiled at her.

"Of course."

They then left her alone and Daphne did her best to ease herself down into a bedside chair. Upon contact she melted into it, and it was in that moment she decided it was the comfiest chair she'd ever sat on in her life.

She closed her eyes and let out a much-deserved sigh.

Everything finally seemed quiet now. The Muggles had done less well at helping cease her pain than they had done at cleaning her up, but truth be told, she hardly had high expectations. Muggle technology could never hold a candle to good, old-fashioned potion making. Even a second year with the right ingredients could whip up a wiggenweld potion that would have her jumping around again in no time. But she wasn't one to look a gift horse in the mouth; she'd even caught herself being praising the nurses as they tended to her.

Getting Merula into the hospital building had been one of the most challenging moments of her life. Daphne had no idea how the public transportation worked in this city, and by the time she finally carried her bridal-style through the hospital doors, she was well and truly on her last legs. At that point she was gasping every breath and blood was pouring from her eyebrow. But now, they were finally safe, and she found the long and unending corridors of the hospital helped return her to a state of familiarity.

She'd stopped being cold a long ago, but only recently stopped shivering.

Wincing, she lifted her hand and pressed it between her breasts. She could still feel a tightness trapped inside her chest, like a balloon inflating far past the size it was supposed to reach. Now she was off her feet it was the worst she was dealing with, and truth be told, it was the only thing keeping her from dozing off on the spot.

The knowledge that no matter the hardship she faced in the future she would never have to go through a struggle as great as the one she had faced tonight again, even in spite of the pain she was still in, did a lot to soothe her. She would still have to get them back to her father and explain how the mission had gone wrong, of course. But right now, as she pressed her face against the softness of the headrest, she found herself really struggling to care about any of that.

She was just thankful to be alive.

It was remarkable how black and white things had become in the face of danger. The rest of her problems didn't matter anymore, the first thing she was doing when she got back to Hogwarts was giving Harry the biggest kiss of his life and telling her father where to stick his dark mark. Okay - a mild exaggeration - but Merlin's Beard if it didn't feel good to imagine that.

Daphne then flinched awake as another muggle came in, this time a large black man in a white coat. The doctor of the ward, she imagined. He gave her a look that made her shrink away on instinct.

"Hello, Miss Davis. How are you doing?"

She nodded and gave him a weary smile.

Muggle Doctor made his way down to the bottom of the hospital bed, unhooked a clipboard from the railing and began to read aloud from it.

"Your friend is in bad shape. Very serious concussion, bruising on her lungs and a deep cut on her leg. We've put her in a barb coma for now so she doesn't hurt herself. And yourself…" he continued, "Concussion, rib-cage cracked in two places, eyebrow in need of stitching and a number of serious bruises on abdomen, legs and arms. That all sound about right?"

Daphne nodded again.

She was surprisingly not taken aback by this news. The cracked rib cage made sense, that would have been from getting hurled into the fence. It also explained the tightness when she breathed. The bruises would have been from the direct hits she took in the field. She didn't recall what could have happened to cut her eyebrow, as she had the mask on for the majority of the stand-off and only lost it recently.

Muggle Doctor moved to lean against the bed railing.

"Now I've got a few questions that I have to ask you for legal reasons, that okay?"

Daphne bobbed her head in acknowledgement, trying to mentally prepare her voice.

"Full name?"

"Tracey Davis."

He scratched down her answer.

"Date of Birth?"

"June ninth... nineteen eighty."

"You don't sound very sure about that."

Daphne sighed at herself. She delayed answering perhaps a second longer than she should have. How did she not know Tracey's birthday off by heart?

"June ninth, nineteen eighty," she repeated.

The muggle stared at her a moment longer, before shrugging and writing her answer down.

"Who's your next of kin?"

"My mother, Moira Davis."

"You have her number?"

She couldn't help the frown she sent him.

"I… don't know it off heart, no."

Did muggles use identification numbers? She grimaced. That certainly sounded morbid.

"Okay, now push with me through these next ones, alright? These are strictly what we, as the hospital, needs to know. Information said here won't be repeated to anyone else, we just gotta get you and your friend the right treatment."

Daphne eyed him carefully, but nodded all the same.

"Okay."

There wasn't anyway this muggle could have any idea who she really was and why she was here, but there was something in his tone setting off alarm bells.

"Have you or your friend had any illegal substances in your system within the past forty-eight hours?"

She shook her head.

"I have not. I cannot speak for her."

"Either of you drink alcohol?"

"I do. Occasionally. Again, I don't know about her."

"What do you know about her?"

Daphne shifted uncomfortably in her seat.

"We are… new friends."

He regarded her a moment longer, then nodded and wrote down an answer.

"Sexually active?"

"No."

"Hmm. And the men that attacked you... was your interaction with them purely a physical confrontation, or was there any level of sexual assault involved, to either of you?"

Daphne's heart sank a little. His unusual wording suddenly made sense to her. A shameful blush rushed its way to her face.

"No, nothing like that." she said quickly. "Just the normal one, please. Both of us."

"The normal one, I see... And, again, you claimed this was unprovoked assault?"

Daphne stared at him.

Why did it feel like she was being examined right now? Did he know something she didn't?

"I did."

"Do you feel you could give an accurate description of the men involved?"

Daphne considered for a second.

"No, I do not. It was dark and... they surprised us from behind."

Muggle Doctor nodded.

"So, let me just sum this up... you and a girl you don't know where attacked by a group of men, and without getting a look at any of the attackers faces, you then managed to fight them off alone and drag your friend half-way across the city here, by yourself?"

That sinking feeling moved somewhere into her gut.

Well, when he worded it like that...

Muggle Doctor nodded again and stood up.

"I think I've got everything I need. As soon as there's a bed available we'll try and get you moved into one. You gonna be okay until then?"

She nodded sharply.

"Good. Police are on their way, you just sit tight until they get here."

As quickly as Daphne had laid her head down in the headrest, she brought it back up again.

"I didn't request law enforcement?"

He shook his head.

"Didn't have to. Standard procedure to call 'em when we have a patient whose been assaulted. They'll just ask you a few questions, probably take a statement, nothing to worry about. Just tell them everything you told me and that'll be all."

"I don't want to involve the…" she took a second to recall the word he used, "the police. I would rather keep this matter quiet, please."

Muggle Doctor offered her little more than a shrug.

"It's procedure, honey. Not my call. You hang tight, okay?"

As he made to leave, he handed her a small plastic capsule and a cup of water.

"Sweets?" she asked him.

He stared blankly back at her.

"Pills... Painkillers. Take two now and another two before you go to bed."

Daphne nodded, unsure, but willing to go along with the muggles methods. She unscrewed the plastic top and popped two of the pills into her mouth, swallowing them instantly. As the dry, sour taste hit the back of her throat, her nose scrunched up.

The muggle shook his head, grimacing.

"I hate everything about everything that you just did."

He exited behind the curtain and Daphne was quick to chug down the water he'd left. Her mouth already tasted awful, swallowing that dry pill certainly hadn't helped matters. It was the first drink she'd had all night and felt like precious nectar as it slid down her throat.

Finishing her drink, she again began to descend into panic mode.

It was plain as day that he hadn't believed a word of her story, and the last thing she needed right now was to be carted off to some muggle law enforcement place. She didn't know what records they kept or if they were strict as those of the Ministry, but she didn't put it past them to also figure out she was lying about her identity too. She knew Tracey had a muggle record and had just said the first thing that came to mind. It would only take a semi-intelligent person to look at an ID picture and figure out she was in fact, not the brown-haired tomboy, Tracey Davis.

The Ministry had undercover workers positioned all across the UK to mediate interactions between Muggles and reckless magic-users, Daphne would show up as a red flag for them as soon she entered the system. The Aurors that followed her here had probably figured out where in the country they were and had others out searching for them too. If she was found out, they would have people on her in minutes. And if she was detained somewhere tonight, she wouldn't be leaving.

Any and all comfort Daphne felt was now being drained painfully from her soul. She still wasn't out of the woods. She'd taken her five minute rest and was thrown right back in the thick of it.

She needed to be gone from here, quickly.

She rose to her feet, steadying herself on the bed railing, and moved to where she'd placed her pile of clothes. Or where she thought she'd placed her pile of clothes. All that was left now was an empty table. Cursing herself, she dragged back the hospital curtain, and found Muggle Nurse from earlier returning with her cup of tea.

"Where are my things?"

"Bagged up, sweetie!" she replied briskly. "Doc says police want them as evidence."

Daphne gritted her teeth into a forceful snarl.

"Well I would like to have them back."

The muggle moved to place Daphne's tea on the bedside table and reasserted.

"Reception has them, you can certainly ask, but I don't think you're going to get them back until police have seen to you. Can I get you anything else?"

Fighting the urge to snap again at the innocent muggle, Daphne shook her head in forced silence. As she was left alone again, she started to pace back and forth, limping with each step.

She was really in the shit now. Her wand had been placed with her things, if police found that, they'd no-doubt contact Aurors to deal with her. That was the routine, she'd heard about it. One undercover Auror on every council to maintain the wizarding/magical peace. They'd no doubt have a lot of questions about how a sixteen year-old schoolgirl ended up beaten and bloody halfway across the country, and with a known Death Eater nonetheless.

Daphne's eyes snapped back to the bedside table.

They'd taken Merula's mask as well. That was as good as being caught at the scene of the crime.

She anxiously chewed the inside of her mouth.

Where had the nurse said her things were taken? Reception? Carefully, she tugged back the curtain surrounding the bed just enough to peak through it. Angling with her good eye, she spied the reception desk just across from the beverage machine she was at earlier. A young woman was sitting at the desk, seemingly minding her own business, but it was what was behind her that grabbed Daphne's eye. A wall of pigeon holes, each with what looked like plastic bags inside. She was willing to bet that was where they'd taken her belongings. She glanced around; there was nobody in line there and nobody at the machine, which meant right now she had a straight-shot from here to there.

Then at that moment, a trio of people in black and white official-looking uniforms rounded the corner and began down the corridor towards her. The were following behind the same muggle doctor she had spoken to earlier.

She retreated quickly behind the curtain.

Those were no doubt the police he had mentioned, which meant she had to move quickly.

Tip-toeing as best she could, she snaked her way around the back of the curtain and into the next bed cubical over, which was thankfully vacated. She felt bad leaving Merula, but knew the reality of her situation. There was no way she could carry her out unnoticed and without the assistance of magic. It wasn't like she was being abandoned on the side of the road, either, she needed help and was getting it here. Daphne had brought her this far, which considering the woman was a full-blown Death Eater, was probably more than she owed her. She felt no guilt in leaving her behind now.

As she popped her head out of the curtain, it was just in time to see the last of the police officers disappearing into Merula's cubicle, where she'd been not a moment ago.

Her gaze drew to reception. If she could just get her belongings and get out, she could also then take any evidence of Merula being a witch along with her. That would make her unnoticeable by any Aurors, and would save her from being outed as a Death Eater. Daphne couldn't imagine she would be particularly happy about her wand being stolen, but given the alternative and the fact she would be long-gone by the time she regained consciousness, it was a decision she didn't think twice about.

Waiting another second to ensure the coast was clear, she emerged from behind the curtain and made a bee-line for the reception desk.

Her tired heart had again started pounding quicker. The faster she walked the more noticeable her limp was, so she tried to keep a steady pace, only speeding up when she was sure nobody was looking. It was difficult to keep track of her surrounds with only one working eye. She winced with each step she took, but the pain was slowly getting drowned out by the adrenaline pumping into her system.

Reaching the desk, she found it mercifully abandoned, the woman from a second ago was gone and a 'BACK IN TEN' card left in her place.

She thanked the old-gods and wasted no time in manoeuvring herself around the desk and snatching the largest plastic bag from the cubical. Giving it a once-over was enough, she could easily make out Merula's silver mask inside and could feel the impression of at least two wands. She brought herself out from behind the desk as quick as she could, and then started in the opposite direction of the police officers.

There was a lift at the end of the corridor. Her way out.

It seemed close enough to the type the ministry used - albeit it larger and more sterile-looking - for her to know how to use it. Limping, Daphne stuffed the plastic bag under her shirt and marched towards it, freedom on the brink. She reached the doors and clicked the button. The doors immediately opened and she stepped inside.

"Hold the lift!"

She turned around, and she saw one of the police officers from earlier rushing down the corridor. She froze on the spot. Never more in her life had she wished to be skilled at wandless magic, as she willed the doors to close in time.

The officer reached the lift just in the nick of time, but then instead of apprehending or whatever muggles did during arrests, simply fell in line beside her.

"Cheers for that. You going down?"

Daphne stared at them with wide eyes and raised brows.

Didn't they recognise her? Wait, of course they didn't, they'd never met her. They couldn't have even seen a picture of her before. For all the officer knew, Daphne was just another patient at the hospital.

She forced a smile through her anxieties.

"Yes, I am."

The police officer, who she could now make out to be a middle-aged eastern woman, clicked a button into place and the doors sealed shut. The two were now locked in together. The lift came to life around them and she got that sinking feeling again, and it was nothing to do with the lift.

"When're you due?"

It took a second her to realise the police woman was talking to her. And more than that, she was smiling.

Daphne could only frown back in confusion.

"Pardon?"

It took her a second, which was way longer than it should have done. She caught onto the exact positioning of the plastic bag under her hospital gown.

"Oh… "

She pulled her toothiest smile, and took to caressing the plastic bag-shaped lump on her stomach.

"Soon, actually! That is why I am here... at the hospital... because I am pregnant... with a baby... and nothing else... and I'm going out for some fresh air now."

The police woman smiled back at her. She seemed completely oblivious to how much she was melting behind her facade, and of the sweat building on her neck.

"Do you know if it's a boy or a girl yet?"

She swallowed hard.

It was getting a lot hotter inside this lift.

"A boy, actually!"

"That's nice," the officer nodded. "Me and my husband are trying for a boy. Do you have a name picked out?"

It was definitely getting hotter in here. And this was the longest lift journey of her life. How long had they been here already? True they didn't have the assistance of magic, but she swore it hadn't taken this long getting Merula up here.

"Harry."

"That's a cute name."

Daphne's ears were burning.

She had completely forgotten everything she'd known about being a normal, conspicuous person. Her mind was blank, and the awareness that this was without any doubt the most important conversation of her life was the only thought bouncing around in her head. Tracey always claimed she was terrible at lying, now Daphne felt she'd been being truthful the entire time.

In a desperate attempt to make her story seem more genuine, she suddenly spoke up again.

"It's after the father, actually!"

Mercifully, an electronic beep then sounded and the doors opened in front of them.

"Thank you. Bye."

She wasted no time and exited the lift as fast as her sore pregnant-lady feet would carry her.

She came out into a big empty corridor, not dissimilar to the ones she saw in the ministry, but again with that sterile hue coating everything. Then she spotted a pair of glass doors and began to make the final push to end her miserable night. Marching towards them, her hands disappeared inside her hospital gown. She definitely had hers and Merulas wand on her, that was good. She didn't think that she'd managed to lose them, but her yearning to just get this night over with forced her to double check.

As she reached the entrance, she tried the doors and they wouldn't budge. A second later a security guard, she presumed, made his presence known to her.

"Can't let you out after hours, sorry."

Daphne pulled her best puppy-dog eyes at him.

"I just want some fresh air! Look! I'm pregnant!"

She gestured to the lump on her stomach again, as if it weren't obvious.

"There's an outdoor sitting area for that, just down the hall and to the right."

She shook her head.

"Could I not just go out the front? I only want small walk… please… I will be right back?"

The muggle shook his head still, resolute in his words.

"Afraid not, m'am. Security risk."

Daphne fell back onto balls of her feet.

As her options drained discouragingly from her mind, she felt her strength failing with it.

What had she done that was so bad that everything was out to get her? The universe just kept taking and taking from her, it was never enough. Everything she had been through tonight, and yet, the old-gods were still out there coming up with cruel obstacles for her.

She had been through hell and now again, right on the verge of getting off the hook, she was forced to watch as her freedom was snatched away from her.

She looked at the guard up and down. He was an older guy, maybe in his fifties, but still looked like he could prove a force to be reckoned with. He was too big to get past physically, especially while she was in her current state. Though she debated it, she had heard how muggle buildings always had security recorders in them, and dared not cast a spell at him for risk exposure.

Daphne took a harsh breath.

She was sick to death of always getting lumped with other people's shit. There was a time she was formidable and a force to be reckoned with. Classmates used to be scared of her, once upon a time. How the mighty had fallen. She used to be prodigy witch of Hogwarts, now she was nothing more than a snivelling rat, afraid to stand up her herself in case it made others mad.

If she had fought harder against her father, she wouldn't have ended up a Death Eater. If she fought harder against Snape, she wouldn't have been sent here tonight.

If she fought with herself, she'd actually be able to stick up for herself...

She was sick of not being in control. She was sick to death of having old men tell her what to do. She was sick of being a coward. Adapting to any given climate was what Daphne considered herself good at, but it was always through necessity, not choice. But not this time, though. This time the choice would definitely be hers.

An abnormal expression leaked onto her face.

"I will ask you one more time. Please... let me through."

The security guard gave her a sympathetic look, but again, didn't budge.

"No, M'am. I'm sorry."

Her hands under her gown, Daphne slipped open the plastic bag and felt around inside.

"So am I."

Her hands sealed around what they were looking for, and as the security guard gave her a questionable look, she brought her wand into her sleeve.

"Imperio."

Hidden from sight, a fuzzy mist oozed from her wand and enters the muggles head. It seeped in through his nose, mouth and eyes, and a second later he straightened up, dull-faced but aware.

Her breath stopped. She'd done it.

A level of power surged through Daphne's being the likes of which she'd never experienced before.

"Unlock the door and let me out."

The security guard moved. He turned, shifted a key from his back pocket and unlocked the sliding glass doors. A beeping noise sounded and the doors moved smoothly open.

As she limped forward, the cold night air hit her like a physical blow. She definitely hadn't missed that. It took all her willpower not to retreat back inside. She gestured the guard towards a brick wall.

"Come and block me while I get changed."

The man obeyed again. She got into a position where she had the best privacy she could manage, which was barely any, and broke open the plastic bag fully.

Merula's stuff was all in here too, and she found herself stealing more than a few warmer-looking items. She cocked her hip to the side as she began to get changed, putting most of her weight onto her good side. She removed the hospital gown and doubled up with two pairs of leggings, and then her still-damp school pants over them. The cold bit sharply at her fragile figure, Daphne clenched her teeth and willed herself through it.

She helped herself to Merula's sweater, put her black cloak back it and then kept the remaining items in the plastic bag, which then went back to being tucked into her stomach. As satisfied as she could be stripping to her underwear in the dead of winter in the middle of a muggle city, Daphne steadied herself.

She turned back to the security guard to thank him for his assistance, but then a startling realisation hit her.

She had no idea how to reverse the spell.

The Imperius curse was unforgivable, and the unforgivable curses were shocking easy to perform, hence what made them so dangerous. It was the first - and hopefully last - time that she'd ever cast one, and as such, she had barely knowledge as to its inner workings.

Her hand shaking from the cold, she brought her wand back to the muggles head.

"Unperio?"

Her wand gave no indication of magic and the guard started unresponsively back at her.

Daphne bit down hard on her lower lip.

"Imperio nox?"

Again, no response from either. She cursed violently under her breath.

She couldn't just leave him like that. Even though she was now free, there was still something inside her screaming to fix this. It wasn't even that he was a liability, more than that, she felt immoral leaving a poor man's life in tatters just because he got in her way.

She thought extremely hard about her next choice of wording.

"Go inside and complete your shift as normal. After that… be happy. Don't let anybody tell you how to live. Never be selfish and... always be kind. That's it."

The security guard nodded. He offered her a small smile, then retreat back inside and started locking up the glass doors behind her. Daphne did the only thing she could think to do at that point.

Tears in her eyes, she turned, and made her way into the night.