True Colours, Part 2

Part 2

In stark contrast to my dream awareness, actually waking up in my body was a more… intermittent process. Hermione Granger, a friend of mine from my prior life, once said that going into shock is the body’s way of coping with large amounts of pain, protecting the mind. The cruciatus curse, of course, neatly circumvents that, which just goes to show how Dark Wizards are entirely too clever for everyone else’s good. As it was, those natural defences made me feel like my senses were all wrapped in gauze – unless I had visitors to entertain.  And I did not misspeak when I said prior life. Not to say that I was deceased, though more and more often that thought held a promise of relief for me. But things are much different when you are a prisoner, and not just a victim of circumstance, which was my usual standard. Not much to do when you are chained to the wall of a dungeon with nothing more than a ragged pair of trousers – other than think. And wait. And wait. At some point, I stopped waiting for the Order to save me, and began waiting to die.  After all, the vaunted Order was incompetent enough to let me be captured in the first place. It was a bit harsh… but it was also regretably true. For people that spent a good bit of time skulking around under invisibility cloaks, you’d think they’d be on the lookout for someone else using that trick. Instead, everyone was caught flat-footed when I was about to board the Hogwarts Express at the end of my sixth year. Something unseen lurched against me, a half-seen arm wrapped around my waist, and I felt the peculiar hooking sensation behind my navel that I’ve come to associate with portkey travel. I don’t even remember arriving, so they must have been waiting to stun me… and I woke up in chains, to Voldemort’s gloating face and horrid halitosis.   

No, I knew I wasn’t going to leave this cesspit alive, and now, through my connection to malevolent wanker, I had a pretty good idea how it would end. And it didn’t sound pretty.  As consciousness slowly returned, I found myself back in my cell, listening to the sound of a key turning in the lock.   As worn out as my body was, my thoughts seemed to race. Usually when the Death Eaters dragged me out to see their master, they had ‘a little fun’ with me first – which usually left me semi-conscious at best. But they few times they’d been in a hurry, I was able to observe that I was kept in a hidden room in the basement of what appeared to be a slightly run down manor house. On one occasion I saw a coat of arms that I’m fairly certain belong to the Malfoys. Well, whoever legally owned the place before, Voldemort was the master of the house now. Not bad for an orphaned half-blood, just like me.  I grimaced at the self-pitying thought and tried to sit up a little straighter. The first night in my new home, the idiots decided to leave me hanging by chains around my wrists. Not only did it hurt like hell, but the angle made it difficult for me to breathe. Fortunately, Voldemort was more than slightly interested in how I’d survived the killing curse again. By morning it was getting harder and harder to inhale and Lucius Malfoy looked like he was about to explode when he saw me. I’m not ashamed to admit I enjoyed watching one of them on the received end of a crucio for once.  Now, I at least had enough slack to sit on the cold stone floor, albeit with my arms held out to each side. I pulled in my legs and braced myself. I had no idea how long it had been since that conversation between Voldemort and his followers… and to be truthful, I was starting to really lose track of time altogether. I could guess I’d been held for at least two or three months, but it could have been longer. If they were really ready to start the ritual, the remainder of my life would be measured in hours, if not minutes. This might be my last chance to… well… try anything. No matter how impossible.  Of course, I was starving, tired, and my body was one big aching cramp. I didn’t say it was a good chance. With a loud click, the latch dropped and the door opened, revealing a singularly unattractive witch, one I’d seen a few times at Hogwarts.