'Did you think you could escape me, Eleven? I made you, girl. You're my creation to do with what I please! You'd do well to remember that the next time you get it in your head that your place is anywhere other than here.'
'Obviously a punishment is warranted. A week in solitary, Lestrange. I'll be dropping by to see how she progresses. Let this be a final reminder that merely thinking of pulling a similar stunt again would be the end of you. My mercy extends only to how useful you are, Eleven. Do remember that assets can easily be replaced.'
The magical bell rang loudly across the dorm room, jolting the fitfully sleeping kids into dreaded wakefulness.
Eleven's eyes snapped open to cold grey walls and a deceptively luminous light that emanated from the magical cage surrounding her bed.
Her face darkened at the sight, any remnants of sleep forgotten.
It wasn't just a nightmare her fevered mind had conjured up then, she really was back in the lab.
Failure had never tasted so bitter.
'Ugh…..morning,' Pippin's groggy voice echoed in her mind as his fluffy white head emerged from under the covers. His eyes shone silver under the magical light as he gave her a scrutinizing look. 'Are you sad?'
'No, I'm angry,' Eleven corrected, even though she knew she couldn't fool her familiar.
Pippin huffed and his tail swished in a clear objection.
Eleven eyed the collar now fixed tightly around his throat and her hand automatically went to the cuff fixed around her own wrist, she gave a noisy exhale. 'You should be angry, too. Pippin'
'That's easy,' He hissed in her mind. 'Just thinking of seeing Two again does the job. I should fight him!'
'No, you shouldn't. You'll let me handle it." Eleven chided. 'I don't want you to get hurt, Pip.'
His nosed twitched in protest. 'I won't get hurt! I'm stronger than you think.'
As if to prove his point, Pippin shifted from a fox to a lion cub. Eleven muffled a snort. Instead of looking like a dangerous predator like he undoubtedly hoped, her familiar looked like a grumpy extra big kitten.
'You're a fierce lion, Mister Peregrin. Don't let anyone tell you differently.'
Pippin growled, his tail flicking in agitation. 'I can turn into a true lion! A strong big one and I'll eat Master and Two! Then we'll run away again. Go back up, up, up to the trees and the sun. I liked it up there…. I miss it.'
Eleven sighed. 'I miss it, too.'
"Get up you filthy little freaks!" The dorm's portrait bellowed suddenly, and the kids in the dorm jumped and hurriedly scrambled out of their beds. "Disgusting lazy halfbreeds!"
Jolted out of her musings, Eleven glared at the ceiling. She had not missed Mistress Black, that was for sure.
'Demented hag,' Pippin agreed in her head.
'Let's get this over with.' Eleven forced her limbs to move despite the pain lancing through her at each movement.
Daring to escape had reaped her one of Master's worse interrogations followed by the severest of punishments. She had always known that Master was quite unhinged, but it seemed that there were depths to his madness that all the years she had spent under his tender mercies hadn't managed to reveal to her until now.
She had been caught more than a week ago and it was only last night that Eleven had been released from the dreaded dungeons for a quick visit to the infirmary where the healer made sure only her worst injuries were healed before he had her escorted to her hated dorm.
Eleven scoffed internally, if Master thought his punishments would deter her from trying to escape again then he really did not know her at all.
'They look angry,' Pippin remarked. 'Well more than usual at any rate.'
Eleven sneaked a glance at the kids in the dorm, they were all glaring hatefully at her.
'Yeah, better be on the lookout today, Pip. If Master has his way, they'll try to make us pay for what we did soon.'
'Let them try! I'll fight them! All of them!'
Before she could reprimand her familiar for always underestimating Two's gang, Eleven made the mistake of meeting the dark eyes of the Portrait placed on the wall opposite to her bed and the woman's eyes lit up with unholy glee.
'The freak is back, children! The nasty byproduct of dirt and vileness!" Mistress Black screeched. "You thought you could run girl? Your master should have stripped the meat of your bones! You filthy freak! Spawn of devils and dirt!"
Eleven glared at the screeching portrait, Mistress Black was quite insane and she hated Eleven more than she hated the rest of the kids for some reason. Still, though she was nothing but a painting, there was something about her that made Eleven's heart race with what could only be fear.
'Hex her, would you?'
'I don't have a wand, Pip. And even if I did, I'm not keen on more punishment, kind of had my fill, thanks."
'I could just slash her to pieces?'
'If you fancy not having paws for the rest of your life, be my guest.'
'You're no fun,' Pippin harrumphed but wisely refrained from making good on his threat.
Tuning out Mistress Black's screeching was instinctive at this point for the pair. Eleven turned her glare towards her uniform instead. Between hiding from the Death Eaters and the Monster, she hadn't had much time to learn about the world above, but one nasty fact she did learn was that the ghastly grey robes and the black and white uniform underneath were based on the garb Azkaban prisoners wore.
Fitting, considering they were all prisoners whether they realised it or not.
She could refuse to put them on, refuse to participate in this madness. She had escaped, she had seen how life was different for those above and it had lent her already rebellious heart a thirst for more defiance. But before she could indulge the fire singing in her heart, the little girl that had spent years playing submissive reared her ugly head, reminding her that direct defiance only brought pain and misery.
Always weigh the risks, rewards and repercussions before you act. A memory from a long time ago echoed in her head. Following her ghost's advice had always helped her tamp down the rebelliousness blazing like an inferno in her heart and in turn helped her avoid reaping the punishments her defiance would have heaped on her.
She had to be smarter, she had to control her every move just like she did before until an opportunity to escape presented itself again.
Eleven loosened the tight grip she had on her uniform and unclenched her aching teeth, she would go back to acting like she used to before she had escaped, she decided. She would play along and act like an obedient little girl until the right time to rebel came again.
'I'm hungry,' Pippin grumbled as he shifted into a squirrel and leaped up to her shoulder. 'I'd spend another whole day as a Crumbly-horn Snortycake if it means getting another taste of those delicious degenerate plums thingies."
Despite the pain of their current situation, Eleven felt a laugh bubbling up her throat and she hurriedly muffled her snickers in the folds of her robes. 'Crumple-Horned Snorkacks, Pip. And its dirigible, not degenerate.'
'Whatever. Who cares as long as I get to eat them and see Luna again!'
A wistful smile ghosted Eleven's face as Pippin's memory of that day seeped into her mind. Luna's wide-eyed stare when Pippin had turned into her elusive creature had been priceless.
Her longing for the serene and endearingly odd girl was amplified by Pippin's own longing for their friend. Luna had been their only solace in the otherwise miserable and frightening time as fugitives. Eleven just couldn't accept that they would never meet their friend again.
'We'll see her again.' Eleven vowed.
Pippin nuzzled her ear and chirped in agreement.
Toiletries and uniform in hand, Eleven steeled her resolve and turned to eye the boundary around her bed, hopefully Mistress Black would stop screeching long enough to release them from their cages.
"Do try to not behave like the filthy animals you all are," Mistress Black said after finally exhausting all her insults on Eleven. "A new student will be joining us soon, a Pureblood!"
Eleven's heart dropped to her feet.
"Her status well be respected, you hear me! And don't you dare frighten the poor little thing by acting like the mudblood beasts you all are. Now out with you! Make yourselves presentable for your lessons."
The magic caging them in their beds finally dropped as the woman let out a final bellow for them to behave. Eleven barely noticed as she stood fixed in place.
The words kept echoing in her head then twisting to violently curdle in her stomach.
A new student will be joining us soon.
Eleven couldn't breathe, the guilt was suffocating the air right out of her lungs.
A new kid will be brought into this hell, and it was all her fault.
Eleven drifted to class in a daze, she barely registered the other kids' glares and hurtful remarks. All she could think about was the child Master was about to kidnap to make for the ones Eleven had gotten killed. Another girl and who new how many more would have to suffer here because she was a stupid and weak little girl who couldn't stand up to her Master.
She should have accepted her and Pippin's death that horrible night, she should have refused to contact that monster. And even after her disgusting weaknesses had gotten the better of her, she should have protected the other children instead of running away like a coward.
If Eleven hated anyone more than Master then it was herself.
Combat Theory class began and nearly finished while Eleven alternated between wallowing in guilt or trying to plan a way to help the newcomer. Of course her inattention had not gone unnoticed and the price was swift to follow.
"…. a demonstration? The traitor, perhaps?"
Eleven blinked up at Professor Crouch's deviously expectant face, she wondered when class had even started even as she berated herself for her inattention. Crouch wasn't a man to anger lightly and after what she had done, he had gone to great lengths to demonstrate how much he loathed her.
"Hmm, seems like someone's been neglecting their studies. Why Eleven, do you think you don't need our humble tutoring anymore? Did running away like a coward make you believe you're somehow better than the students who had stayed and endured the consequences of your foolishness?"
"No, Professor." Eleven replied through gritted teeth. She ached to remind him that he had run away too, that he had screamed like a cowardly little cretin when he threw his students like worthless offerings to the vicious beast just to spare himself the fate those kids had suffered in turn.
"Be glad our Lord saw fit to spare your life after that stunt you pulled." Crouch hissed, leaning over her desk and forcing Eleven to lean back to get away from the madness dancing in his eyes. "If it was up to me, you'd be dead and hanged in the main hall for all the children to see the consequences of betraying their master!"
Quick as a snake his hand shot out and he snatched her arm, slamming it onto her desk. Eleven muffled a cry as the pain vibrated through her bones.
"Considering Eleven hadn't been paying attention, we'll just give her a quick summary, hmmm?" Crouch smirked at the watching students. "A demonstration, if you will."
The kids snickered; some amused and others nervous but all wanting to please their terrifying professor.
Eleven's heart raced wildly in her chest, but she kept her face expressionless as she assessed the wisest course of action.
'Always weigh the risks, rewards and repercussions before you act, Ellie.' Jay's advice echoed in her head again, grounding her. If she really valued her life and sanity—and surprisingly she still did, then the consequences of defying Crouch highly outweighed any rewards.
"Now remember children, if you have use for your target and don't want to immediately kill them, your focus should be on disarming your opponent while causing maximum damage to a single area. That way you'll render them both helpless and afraid of you. However, if your opponent has managed to protect themselves against summoning and disarming, then you'll use the curses I've been explaining for nearly an hour while dear Eleven's little mind struggled to comprehend."
He looked down on her with malice as he twirled his wand and Eleven tried to brace herself.
"We have Aflicto, the Bone-Breaking curse. Exoculo, the Blinding Curse and of course, Exanimo, the Suffocating Curse. First, I'll demonstrate the Bone-Breaking Curse. Be sure to memorise the incantation and wand movement, students. Unless you want your own personal demonstration."
"Aflicto!" With a smirk Professor Crouch waved his wand over Eleven's arm in an intricate pattern and despite herself, Eleven screamed as the bones in her arm splintered and cracked as they all broke at once.
By the time lunch came, Eleven had been forced to pay three visits to the infirmary. All her 'professors' had their own lesson that they wanted to impart on the child who had brought doom to their doorsteps and then dared to escape as well.
'At least we didn't have Bellatrix, today' She thought wryly to Pippin. 'I don't feel up to that particular brand of madness.'
Pippin, who was currently a snake, coiled tighter around and though he would never admit it to her, Eleven knew the woman frightened him the most.
Eleven kept her head high and shoulders straight as she headed to the dining room, trying to act as if she wasn't affected by the taunts and muttering of her fellow captives.
"–all her bones and turned her blind. Got what she deserved if you ask me, the filthy thing betrayed Master."
"He made her pay though, didn't he? Heard she'd been caught a week ago, but Master only just let her out of solitary."
"I'd have slit her throat and been done with it!"
'Ignore them.' She hissed at Pippin when her familiar hissed warningly at the group. 'Save it for later, they'll probably attack at lunch.'
Eleven had known that a confrontation was bound to happen after what she had done, and Master had already warned her of the punishment she would incur if she lost.
However, she hadn't known when they would attack until Professor Carrow had unexpectedly allowed them to keep their wands instead of leaving them in their assigned slots as usual and Eleven knew Master wanted the confrontation to happen during lunch.
It was the disgusting man's way of helping her, she knew, he was giving her a wide place to stage the fight in, instead of letting the students corner her in a place of their choosing. She also knew he wasn't helping out of some suddenly newfound benevolence, he just needed his best creation to keep on performing better and sitting the standards for the other kids to fight over.
"Traitor!" A boy from the Chimera unit tried to trip her as she reached the dining hall's doors. Eleven—who had always wished she would get transferred from her unit to theirs just to escape Two, found herself suddenly grateful she had never been, the pure loathing in the boy's eyes was rather unnerving.
A quick flick of her wand had him screaming as his ankle twisted with a snap and she pasted on a smirk that had the other kids finally shutting up for a second.
Their twisted faces had her wondering how the newcomer would handle the madness of this place.
For Eleven and her fellow inmates, life in the labyrinth—or just the lab as she liked to call it, was all they knew. It wasn't until she had escaped and seen how other kids lived that she had truly understood what Jay had meant all those times when the ghost had told her how life wasn't supposed to be this way.
The new girl would be crushed under the weight, she had no doubt. Eleven also knew that it would suit Master just fine for the newcomer to crumble, another malleable lab rat for him to play with.
The guilt coiled in her chest like a poisonous snake.
'Don't worry so much." Pippin urged. "You said we'll help her.'
'Yes, but how? If you haven't noticed Pip, we can't even help ourselves.'
Altering between worry about the newcomer and worry about the upcoming fight, Eleven headed to the table with a Swooping Evil on the crest hanging over it and slumped tiredly in her assigned seat.
The other kids from her unit filed in after her, each taking their seats at their unit's table and throwing more hateful remarks in her direction. The serious set to their faces was all the confirmation Eleven needed, they would attack her here.
'Be ready, Pip. A show of force then we'll take them down fast.'
'But first we'll eat, I'm really hungry!'
'Of course you are.'
Eleven tried to focus on strategizing, looking around the big hall for places to take cover and tools to utilize in a fight, but her eyes kept drifting to the many vacant seats littering the four tables. Seats that no one would occupy, not until Master found suitable replacements for their original owners.
'I-I think the Sirens really lost Three.' Eleven fought not to let the grief show on her face, Three was a nice boy, he had never used his Veela allure against them outside of combat at least, and Eleven had gotten him killed.
'…It wasn't your fault, Ellie.'
Poor naïve Pippin, she loved him dearly but her familiar didn't understand how things worked sometimes.
Twelve glared when he caught her looking, Eleven matched his hateful glare with one of her own. As guilty as she was feeling for what she had done, it still didn't mean she was allowed to act like it. Showing weakness was the quickest way to get killed in the lab or worse it meant becoming the new practice dummy for the always bloodthirsty captives.
Finally, the food appeared on their plates. It looked terrible but Eleven forced herself to pick up her fork and eat quickly. Pippin was right, they needed to eat as much as they could considering that if they lost the upcoming fight, Master would deny them food as part of their punishment.
'That's disgusting,' Pippin groused as he took a bite from the jelly like meat cube on Eleven's plate.
'It's because you now know what actual food tastes like, but you'll get used to it again.' Eleven sighed as Pippin grumbled in her head. 'Hopefully we'll be long gone before that happens.'
The noise echoing around the hall vanished as the other kids followed suit, shovelling the tasteless food into their mouths as if it would be taken away from them at any second, which, unfortunately, was something that occurred regularly in the lab.
A goblet materialised next to her plate and Eleven glared at it, enraged. She didn't want it. She had the wild urge to throw it at the wall and scream.
After her escape, she had finally learned how much the disgusting potion was actually helping mitigate the consequences of Master's experiments and the rage she had felt then had grown into an untameable beast.
He had twisted her, twisted them all into mere tools and weapons made from heinous magic and while he basked in the benefits, they were the ones left suffering the agonising consequences.
The goblet rattled in place as Eleven's anger surged from her towards it, she couldn't do it, she would rather suffer the agonising effects than take Masters scrapes of salvation.
'No, Ellie, please. Remember what Jay taught us, you can't act stupid now.'
Eleven tore her gaze from the goblet and looked at Pippin, the squirrel's cheeks were bulging with food, his grey eyes wide and pleading. If she gets punished for defying Master, he gets punished as well, she couldn't do that to him.
Though something raced under her skin, a longing to hex and curse and let out the rage that had been rattling in her bones ever since that terrible night, Eleven forced herself to only think of her familiar and with a scowl she gulped half of it in one go. It tasted more foul than usual.
She resumed eating despite the tightness in her throat and it wasn't until Two and his gang had entered that the silence in the hall was broken and Eleven was forced to slow down and observe as the other units quickly vacated the hall.
"The mongrel gets to eat, does she?" Two's sneer stretched the scar that ran across his face and ended where his left eye used to be.
Guilt curdled in her stomach, she loathed Two with every fibre of her being, but she also hated that what happened to him was her fault.
"Master should have put you down for what you did."
"But then he'd have lost the only asset worth something in this hovel, wouldn't he have, Two?" Eleven retorted, leaning back in her chair with an unconcerned air, as if she wasn't about to face thirteen blood thirsty teenagers with only her familiar for back up. "Last time I checked you were all still way below Masters standards. I still remember your last collective punishment for being utter failures and it sure makes me laugh to this day."
"Fuck you!"
"No thanks, I'd rather snog a dementor." Eleven rolled her eyes even as she flicked her wrist and held into the reassuring weight of her wand.
She ignored Two's rude gesture and kept an eye on the iron cuff around her wrist, as long as it was black, none of them could use their magic but as soon as it turned red they would attack.
Two was looking at his as well but the boy and his group used the remaining time to inhale their food. Like her, they were trained to eat whenever they could, knowing their mistakes and failures would cost them their next meals until Master saw fit to extend some mercy.
"We're getting a new girl soon." Four leered at Two, always vying for his attention. The group cheered, momentarily forgetting Eleven in their elation. "Fresh blood, ripe for spilling."
"Hmm, we'll just have to show them the picking order, won't we?" Two smirked, his brown eyes glittered with malice.
Her stomach turned and Eleven couldn't stand the sight of her food anymore. She still forced herself to finish the damned potion, no need to risk Master's ire when she was guaranteed to incur it if she lost the fight.
"Careful, Eleven. It could be poisoned. We're all hoping it is, at any rate." Four grinned nastily as the rest of the kids burst into laughter.
'Get ready, Pippin.' Eleven warned.
"She'd wish for poison when I'm done with her. Or maybe I'll just…" Two mimed slitting his throat with his knife then clutched at the invisible wound, retching and jerking around to the others' sick amusement.
A loud snort escaped Eleven. "Oh, I'm so scared, I'm trembling in my boots… Please, don't make me laugh, Two, despite the unfortunate resemblance, I still find a Clabbert more intimidating."
Their cuffs turned red and Eleven braced herself.
"We'll see who's laughing when I'm done with you!"
"Not you, surely." Eleven bared her teeth in a smile. "Last I recall, I cursed you senseless in Combat and you cried like a little girl, didn't you, Two? Or did I mess up your brain so much that you've forgotten how you blubbered about forfeiting and begged me to just please stun you 'cause you couldn't take it anymore."
"You shut your mouth, you lying filthy bitch!"
"Why? Afraid your lackeys will hear how you're just a stupid little cowered? Or did you not tell them how you ran away screaming when that thing came? Do stop acting like you're anything more than Master's cowardly little puppet, Two. Like you're not just a disposable little toy that Master won't hesitate to get rid of and replace once you've outlived your usefulness. You are nothing to him! Just like Five, just like Seven, just like every fucking miserable kid in this hellhole, you are nothing!"
The attack came fast, and pleasure hissed in Eleven's veins as magic and rage sang in her blood, finally.
As the orange spell flew towards her, Eleven dived under the table and flicked her wand, sending all the unoccupied chairs flying towards Two and his gang.
'Stay small as much as you can,' She quickly instructed her before he could dart towards the group.
Her time in the lab had taught Eleven that the key to winning when on your own and faced with a gang of bloodthirsty teenagers was to strike fast and with all the viciousness you could muster. Unfortunately, she wasn't aiming to kill and was also hindered by the fact that a show of power was necessary to make them hesitate before attacking her again.
Still, this wasn't the first time she had been in a similar situation.
"Diffindo!" Eleven aimed the cutting curse on every foot she saw from her position under the table, focusing her rapid curses on their tendons, their screams of pain sounded like music to her ears.
When they started shielding and attacking back, Eleven rolled to the right to maintain her cover under the now horribly rattling dining table. "Vera lapides," She hissed, turning the ground under the group's feet into quicksand.
Suddenly, the table flew to slam into the ceiling, Eleven threw up a shield and rolled out of the way of Two's spell. It was so powerful, it sliced through her shield and melted the ground where she was just a second ago.
"Protego Horribillis!" Eleven cast a stronger shield against the rapid curses flying toward her exposed form. She followed it swiftly with a concussion curse at Six with her wand while she pushed pure magic through her left hand, sending Two and Twelve flying to slam against the far wall.
'No you don't!' Pippin roared, truly turning into a lion and pouncing on Nine who had snuck on Eleven's back.
'Don't stay big for long.' Eleven forced herself to focus and not worry about her familiar, Pippin could handle himself.
"Flagrant Maximas" Eleven poured power into the spell as she targeted the utensils, chairs and all the debris. "Gemino," She added through gritted teeth as her shield strained against their barrage of curses. "Depulso!"
All the objects she had cursed were banished with massive force toward anyone still standing. As soon as the cursed objects touched them the screams started anew, increasing in pitch as everything multiplied, burying them under a growing mountain of burning objects.
Eleven's shield fell and she dived for cover as a purple curse flew towards her. "Everbero!" She sent the Bludgeoning Hex towards the girl but couldn't dodge Nineteen's spells fast enough.
A slashing heat grazed her side just as a crushing pain shattered her foot. Eleven stumbled and fell to one knee but she forced herself to raise her wand and yell "Igneis Pugionibus!" Conjuring two fiery blades that spun wildly in the air. "Oppognu!" She sent the blades like a swirling storm of fire at her attackers, then dragged herself behind the broken table to catch her breath.
"Protego! Brackium Emendo," She waved her wand across her broken foot. The bones didn't heal fully, the spell required a knowledgeable healer to work right, but it at least stopped her leg from looking like a misshapen lump and the pain lessened to a considerable degree.
'On your right!' Pippin's warning was followed by an explosion that Eleven barely shielded in time. Cursing, she quickly banished the table towards the pair who had snuck on her.
"Oppognu!" Eleven lashed out with her wand and a collection of burning knives and forks went on attacking the two now flattened under the table.
"You're dead!" Two bellowed and a ferocious force tore her shield and slammed into Eleven before she could think to counter it. It hurled her in the air until she hit the opposite wall. Something snapped and Eleven groaned.
Dazed, she cursed Master and everyone in the room along with him as the pain took whatever breath was left in her lungs.
'El, watch out!'
Still panting for breath and feeling rather out of options, Eleven called into the raw magic that Master had unleashed in her. Like a golden storm of pure magic it answered her call, meeting Two's own force in an explosion that shook the room. At her direction, her magic fought Two's like an enraged beast defending its mistress.
Eleven forced herself to her feet as power sang in her veins from using the Other Magic as she took to calling it. Master would punish her for using 'his gift' but he could get stuffed for all she cared at the moment.
Much to her surprise, Two's magic fought back ferociously, and the force of his attack rattled Eleven's bones. Dread pooled in her stomach, something was different about Two's Other Magic, it was more powerful than before and much darker than she recalled.
With a roar, Two's magic gained on her own and Eleven crashed to her knees as she fought to push back even as the feeling of Two's acidic magic made bile rise to her throat.
With a scream, Four's magic joined Two's, an orange storm of force mingling with Two's dark green one and attacking Eleven's, pushing it back towards its summoner.
Sweat trickled down her eyes and Eleven's whole body shook as she tried to stave off the power of the two combined.
She knew she couldn't hold them back for long, but she couldn't even move her straining wand arm to cast any spell to protect herself from the magic that would surely shred her to pieces if she let go now.
'I'm coming!' Pippin, back into being a fox, ran full speed into Four, knocking her over. The girl's hold on the magic slipped, leaving Eleven to face only Two's power.
Eleven pushed with all her might even as she tried to understand how Two's magic had suddenly gained such strength. They had fought each other too many times to count before, but he had never shown such power in the magic Master had given him the ability to summon.
'Pippin, distract Two if you can, but stay small.' The realisation that she couldn't best him terrified her.
She sensed Pippin shift and her familiar bit Two in his calf. Unlike Four, Two managed to keep controlling his magic, but he teetered in place and the force he was exerting wavered, it was all Eleven needed.
She let go of the Other Magic and the golden power vanished without a trace as she dropped to lay flat on the ground. "Protego!"
Two's storm of raw power blasted into the wall where she had been just a second ago, the resulting explosion crumbled it into crushed stones and dust.
Thankfully, Eleven's shielded protected her from the rubble raining down her head. "Depulso! Aflicto!" She quickly banished the debris towards Two and followed it with a bone breaking in the hope of catching him of guard.
Satisfaction curled in her chest as she heard Four's scream when the curse hit her instead. Crouch was right, bone breaking curses were quite useful.
'Right corner,' Eleven instructed Pippin after a quick evaluation of the ruined hall. She raced there and her familiar hastily followed, they quickly ducked behind a pile of broken chairs.
"Protego Diabolica!" Eleven incanted after focusing her magic. In response, a ring of black fire was suddenly encircled their temporary shelter, promising to incinerate who would dare to try and cross it.
She exhaled shakily at the temporary reprieve, it wouldn't keep for long, the dark spell required a mindset Eleven could barely muster even under Master's threatening wand and in her current state she could barely maintain it. But it would keep their remaining attackers back long enough for her and her familiar to regroup.
'You hurt?'
'No, Ellie. I'm good, stop worrying!'
'Fine, let's get this over with. I need your eyes.'
Years of training and fighting together made it easy for Pippin to instantly understand what she meant. He transformed into a dragonfly—nearly invisible in the chaos and flew from their shelter to hover above.
Feeling her hold on the fiery shield slipping, Eleven hurriedly delved into Pippin's mind, through his eyes she managed to do a quick count of those who were still standing. Two, Four, Nineteen and Twelve were angrily circling the black fire, the rest were either hiding, unconscious or on the way there.
'Fly away, now…Bombarda!' After making sure Pippin was safe, Eleven aimed at the ceiling above them and the explosion sent the chandelier hurtling down on her remaining opponents.
The others managed to shield but Nineteen wasn't fast enough and he was instantly buried under the rubble.
"Exanimo!" Two bellowed from under the protection of his powerful shield.
"Ventus!" Eleven aimed to her right, pouring power behind her spell and the jet of powerful wind propelled her to the left side of the room just as the Black Fire vanished and Two's sickly yellow spell missed her by an inch.
Twelve's Entrail-Expelling Curse would have hit her if not for Pippin, her familiar shifted back into a fox midair and fell right on top of the boy as he incanted, he sank his teeth in the boy's wand arm and sent the curse flying off course.
Throwing a hasty shield that strained what remained of her energy, Eleven glared incredulously at the struggling boy, they weren't aiming to kill, if they were it would have been over much sooner.
'Thanks, Pip. Now hide.'
Pippin turned into a squirrel and leapt out of sight, leaving Twelve to clutch at his mangled arm.
"Feromancis!" The sickening spell hit Twelve right in his stomach and he started vomiting uncontrollably. "Serves you right, arsehole!"
Eleven's wand arm trembled, and she knew she couldn't keep fighting for much longer. She hoped the show of force was enough to put them off attacking her for a considerable while, but she knew she was close to keeling over, her vision was darkening at the edges as it were.
"Caeca Tenebris!" Eleven hissed and the whole room went dark as all the light was smothered out by her modified spell. 'Night eyes, Pip.'
Eleven morphed her eye into that of an owl's and surveyed the room. She found Four easily and hit the cowering girl with the same spell she had hit Twelve with. 'Let's see how she likes feeling poisoned.'
'Did you see me, Ellie? I bit him. I fought him!' Crowed Pippin as he turned into an owl and perched on her shoulder. 'I was awesome!'
'You always are.'
Eleven searched for Two and Twelve, the latter was still vomiting uncontrollably while the former seemed to have figured out her plan and hid before she could finish him off in the dark.
She finally found Two crouched behind the now utterly ruined dining table. Eleven squinted, he was waving his wand in a pattern she struggled to recall.
'No ears!' Eleven yelped and willed her ears to vanish Just as Two screamed, "Auris Congractio!"
An explosion of a deafening noise rent the air, the vibration of which Eleven and Pippin could feel even if they couldn't hear it. Twelve, who wasn't so lucky as to have Metamorphmagus abilities, screamed and crumbled unconscious in his own vomit as his eardrums exploded.
"Petrificus Totalus!" Eleven lashed out with her wand and Two went stiff as a board and toppled backwards. She sighed in relief and returned herself a pair of ears. She wondered if she could just flop down on the ground, she was so exhausted.
'You okay, Pip?'
'I'm fine, Ellie! I'm not a baby fox anymore!"
'Alright, alright. Could you please check if anyone's still up for a fight.'
'…No, everyone is down.' Pippin confirmed after doing a quick turn around the room 'Go Ellie and Pippin, we're awesome!'
Smiling faintly, Eleven cancelled her modified Pitch-Black spell.
'Thanks Pip, you did great.' She tiredly patted her familiar as he flew back to her and then forced her shaky legs to move until she was standing next to Two's prone form.
"Now, what to do with you?" She asked as she wiped the blood dripping down her nose, an unfortunate side effect from using the Other Magic.
'I can bite him? Just a bit?'
'….Not this time, Pip. We're just teaching him a lesson.'
Two's eyes glistened with fear as they tracked her every move from his frozen position, Eleven would have felt sorry for him if he wasn't such a bullying arse.
"You see Two, I'll admit, I'm just as angry as you are at what happened, I even blame myself for it." Eleven crouched down next to the petrified boy. "But the thing is, we're angry for very different reasons, aren't we? I'm angry because I brought in that monster and kids died because of what I did. I'm angry because I finally got to escape this hellhole but your damn Master wouldn't just let me be!"
Eleven rubbed her hands across her face, the malice in Two's face wasn't new, he had always hated her. Unknowingly egged on by Master who wanted them to compete and fight each other. Partly so they would train against each other but mostly so they would never unite against him and his Death Eaters. At least that's what Jay had told her.
"You're angry because Thirteen and Fourteen had died that night, I'll give you that and I'm sorry for what happened to them, I really am. But your also angry because I disobeyed the man you stupidly worship, because I dared to run away from his fucking prison. I'm not going to try and convince you how wrong you are because I know you'll report everything I say to your Master. But let me make this clear, attack me again and you'll regret it. Do keep in mind that your Master doesn't tolerate permanent disability."
Eleven straightened and the boy's eyes followed, she smirked down on him, malice finding a place on her face as well.
"Oh, and Two, this is for Seven. He was a good guy, something like a friend and you put him for a week in the infirmary. So no hard feelings. Serpere Insectum!"
Eleven watched with satisfaction as Two's eyes brimmed with horror as the sensation of hundreds of insects crawling under his skin engulfed him, countering her curse would require a potion that would take a day to brew, and nothing could lessen the feeling until then.
She knew their healer had no compassion for any of them, he wouldn't knock Two out to spare him the suffering and the boy would suffer, Eleven made sure of it.
She would never have the chance to see Seven again, to plead for a forgiveness she didn't deserve. She hoped this small act of retribution would reach him, wherever his soul might be.
One last thing and she would be finally done and then she would sleep for eternity, Eleven promised herself as she forced her feet towards Twelve's prone form.
The boy was a mess, Pippin had really done a number on him and the puddle of vomit surrounding him was not helping his case.
Eleven cast the counter curse to the Sickening Spell, then did her best to heal his ears, she needed him to hear what she had to say. After petrifying him, she added an Incarcerous just in case and thick ropes shot from her wand to wrap around the boy, she couldn't take any chances with him, Twelve always had a trick up his sleeve.
"Rennervate."
Eleven waited patiently for the boy to get his bearings, Pippin was not so patient. 'Are we done? I'm getting really hungry,'
'Ugh, Pip, after seeing this mess, how can you even think about food?"
"What? What does that have to do with anything? I just did some really awesome stuff, Ellie, I deserve food!"
"You and your bottomless stomach… Fine, I'll try to nick some from the elves, but keep in mind they hate us both and I doubt they've learned about generosity in our absence."
Twelves' disoriented eyes finally focused on her and Eleven smiled, it wasn't a nice smile at all. She snapped her finger next to his ear and his wince confirmed he could hear what she had to say.
"You know, you always creeped me out, even more than Two. And after what you did to Five, I knew you're the worst of us, no matter what Two would've liked to believe. You remember, Five, don't you, Twelve? She was a nice girl, strange considering she was raised in here. But she was nice, and she used to sneak me food after Solitary."
Eleven twirled her wand and watched with pleasure as dread filled Twelve's eyes.
She loathed him so much that she wondered if she had it in her to cast the Cruciatus Curse on him. They had yet to teach them how to cast it, but Eleven was sure she had enough hate for Twelve to fuel the curse for it to hurt as much as Master's hurt her.
"Anyway," Eleven continued after shaking off the sudden urge for true violence. "I got Five killed…and I feel like shit about it. But I'm thinking that maybe I could make it up to her, at least a little bit, by making you pay for what you did to her. Don't worry, nothing permanent, I'm not like you after all."
Eleven took a deep breath and focused on the hate she felt for the boy, recalling the sight of Five cowering and screaming when Eleven had found her in an abandoned classroom. Dark magic like the Nightmare Spell required pure hate and a strong will to inflict harm, Twelve made it easy.
"Consider this a tribute to Five and enjoy the next two hours living your worst nightmares. Do try to remember they're not real…Noctis Molum Yume." Eleven hissed as she made a circling motion with her wand.
A spinning jet of dark blue and black flames erupted from her wand and raced towards him, the fire encircled Twelve's head then vanished into his mind and the terrified boy went unconscious to spend two hours in his worst nightmares.
Eleven swayed on her feet, utterly exhausted. 'Come on, Pip. Let's go before the guards remember they need to be here to at least pick up the pieces.'
She limped out of the room and didn't look back. After all, when it had been her who was broken and bleeding none of these kids had cared either. Those who would have cared, were long gone because of her.
'Do you think I can scare the elves into getting us plums, like the ones Luna brought us?"
"Don't even try it, those little buggers would report anything we do to Master and he'll no doubt wonder where exactly we learned about those plums. I barely managed to survive the interrogation without giving Luna up the first time, Pip."
Pippin dropped from her shoulder and turned back into a fox, his tail drooping sadly, but he didn't disagree. Her familiar knew all too well what their captors would do if they found out about Luna.
Eleven clutched at her side as she walked, every part of her ached terribly and her right foot throbbed with every step, but she had long ago gained the ability to endure a greater pain that she was currently feeling.
Still, she could use a numbing spell or two, at least then she would reach the infirmary before they brought in the others. But when she waved her wand over her foot, nothing happened. Eleven looked at the cuff around her wrist and glowered, it was black again which meant she couldn't cast any magic anymore.
Eleven barely reached the corridor leading to the infirmary when something streaked past her at great speed. Pippin hissed and dove towards the rat, but before he could catch it, the rat turned into a man and leered at Eleven.
"Well done! Eleven. Master will be so proud."
"Bugger off." Eleven growled. The rat always got on her nerves but right now she couldn't stand the sight of him. He must have been assigned to watch the fight to later provide a memory for their Master's viewing pleasure.
The man tutted. "This isn't the appropriate way to talk to your superiors, is it Eleven?"
"Who? You?" Eleven snickered. "Someone's been overindulging in Daydreams potion. Wake the hell up, rat, you're nothing but a cowardly little minion not even fit to lick our boots clean."
The rat's beady little eyes flashed with anger. "You think you can do as you please because our Lord thinks you're still useful, Eleven? I've witnessed your punishment, girl. I'd think after that you'd know your place. Believe me, another fuck up and you're gone."
"Don't worry, I haven't forgotten my place." Eleven smirked. "Too bad it's slightly above snivelling cowardly little rats, isn't it, Peter?"
"Shut your filthy black mouth!" Pettigrew fumbled for his wand, his faces going red in anger.
"Why? Are you going to run to your Master and report how Eleven hurt your feelings, little Pete?" Eleven taunted. "Or don't tell me you're going to try and hex me again? I've had worse from Eighteen and he was practically a squib."
The rat's curse found its way to her shoulder. Having seen it coming, Eleven hid her wince with a scoff. He was such a cowardly little weakling, she yearned to show him what true pain was.
"Really, Ratty, you should improve your spellwork, that was dreadful."
"You're nothing but a beastly mongrel," He hissed, and Eleven wrinkled her nose as his spittle went flying in every direction. "Such a freak that even your parents didn't want you, you should be grateful that your Master saw fit to take you in when they threw you out!"
The sudden eruption of rage left her breathless and even though she couldn't cast wand magic, Eleven wanted to curse him dead. She knew she could still tear his mind apart and her body shook from the effort of holding herself back.
He wasn't worth the punishment, she kept repeating to herself as she tried to keep the fragile grip she had on her control. Sensing her feelings, Pippin growled warningly at the rat and Eleven reached with a trembling hand to clutch at his collar, partly to ground herself and partly to make sure her familiar wouldn't attack Pettigrew.
"Oh, does it hurt to hear that, little Eleven?" Pettigrew taunted, advancing on her. "Does it make you sad knowing your parents begged your Master to take you off their hands for a couple of galleons?"
"No," Eleven denied through gritted teeth, even though the mere mention of her parents made her blind with rage. "I'm just wondering how your poor mother managed, knowing there wasn't anyone willing to even take you for free. No wonder the poor woman offed herself."
The way the rat's face paled calmed her greatly, she relished the fact that he would spend his nights agonising on whether she had managed to delve into his head, even though Master had told his men he could detect if Eleven even tried. Jay's wealth of information on Peter always helped Eleven disturb the rat.
"Wormtail!"
Eleven and Pettigrew jumped as Lestrange's call echoed in the corridor.
"There you are, our Lord has been waiting—" Lestrange cut off as he noticed Eleven standing there, he gave her a scathing look but thankfully didn't comment. "The…dog has sniffed a trail and is on the hunt, we need you to heed him off."
The rat paled even further and despite the remnants of her anger still curling in her chest, Eleven took pleasure in his apparent fear. Whoever the dog was, Eleven was always grateful to him, the mere mention of him always made the rat tremble in fear.
"And you girl, your master requires your presence. Go to the infirmary first, get yourself fixed and ask for a Invigoration Draught too, there's a…man we need to keep track of." Lestrange gave her a disgusted look before finally leaving.
Eleven's heart dropped to her stomach, they wanted her to spy on someone. As much as she hated spying for Master, she feared going back to the Void even more. She hadn't gone back there ever since she had summoned the monster, terrified she might find it or something even worse there.
"He's going to tire of you, you know?" Pettigrew hissed, malice glittering in his beady eyes. "You've made too many mistakes, and when the time comes for you to be put down, I'll be there and help."
"Sod off, Pettigrew, you're not even worth the breath I'm wasting on you. Go, scurry back to your Master and report me or show him how well we all tried to murder each other for his entertainment, I don't care either way."
Done with the man, Pippin growled as he advanced on the coward, growing bigger with every step and the rat backed up hurriedly.
"Once I'm done with my little errand, I'll go and get our new arrival, soon a new girl will join us, all thanks to you, Eleven. You won't forget to welcome the new kid you dragged into this place, won't you, Eleven?"
"Go to hell!"
The rat finally scurried away and Eleven sighed in defeat. There went the tiny sliver of peace she had managed to gain by cursing Two and his gang.
'What are we going to do, Pip?'
'I've been thinking—'
'—Dangerous that.'
'Don't be mean Ellie!'
'Alright, sorry.' Eleven resumed limping to the infirmary, trying hard not to think about what Master wanted from her. 'Please tell me what you were thinking about, oh wise Peregrine.'
'As I was saying before you so rudely interrupted' Pippin sniffed, his fluffy white tail raised high in the air. "I've been thinking about how we protect each other, right? But who protects us?'
'What do you mean?' Eleven asked warily, already not liking where this was going.
'Ellie, the kids up there, they have witches and wizards protecting them. And when we ran away, we got caught in the end because we're not like those kids, we don't have our own protectors.'
'Not this rubbish again, Pip.'
'It's not rubbish! Why can't we have our own den to shelter in? Luna had one, and her den had parents and they protected her.'
Eleven stamped down her newly rising anger with difficulty, she knew her familiar truly didn't understand.
'We don't have a home, Pip. And we— they…they didn't want us!' Eleven glowered at her familiar. 'ugh! Pip, I keep telling you, my parents are the reason we're here in the first place! They're not like Luna's, they won't protect us. They'll probably hand us back to Master. And anyway, they're probably dead already.'
'That's not what Jay says!' Pippin protested, his tail flicking in agitation. 'He said you were taken—'
'What does he know?! He's just a ghost, Pip.' Eleven snapped.
'Why are you so angry?'
'I'm not— I'm— okay…I'm a bit angry because I hate them! They're the reason we're here. They're the reason we need protection.'
'But Ellie, Jay told us already, but you keep forgetting! He said that you father—'
'Don't! Don't talk about that!' Anger surged anew in her heart, a fiery storm of endless hate that even the mere mention of her father ignited.
'Ugh, I hate this!' Pippin whined. 'You always get weird and— and your magic goes all funny when we talk about him.'
'I don't know what you mean but just stop talking about him.'
'Oookay.' Pippin butted his head against her hand. 'But you know that we'll have to find someone this time, right?'
'Can we not talk about this anymore, please?' Eleven rubbed her face tiredly as the sudden hateful feeling seeped right out of her. 'I'm honestly exhausted and kinda bleeding all over the place. And instead of sleeping forever I'll have to go help Master spy on some poor sod.'
'Fine,' Pippin harrumphed. 'But we're going to help the newcomer, right? And then we'll escape and do it right this time, right?'
'…Yeah, Pip. We— we'll try.'
Eleven didn't have the heart to tell him that she was running out of plans. That although it made rage boil in her blood, she thought his idea of having someone help them had some merit, but she knew they had no one. Not unless they counted James, and he was just a ghost stuck in a void between worlds.
She didn't know how to make her familiar understand that they had no one to count on. Eleven and Pippin were on their own and even if they managed to escape this hell a second time, they would remain on their own.
Note:
Some of Walburga Black's dialogue is taken from Harry Potter and the Order of the Pheonix book.
Most of the Latin spells were made up my me so please ignore any mistake. Also, some were taken from 'Harry Potter Spell Catalog' by Lily Lupin-Black.