Disclaimer:
Harry Potter and all of its characters belong to J.K. Rowling.
I own nothing but the original characters I make.
"Dialogue"
'Thoughts'
-Author notes-
Chapter 104: Hostage Situation Part 1
Lord Aldric Greengrass stood at the treeline, his wife Lara's hand in his, and stared at the cabin.
The property sat in a clearing, perhaps two hundred yards ahead. It was a squat, ugly thing of rough timber and dark windows, with a curl of smoke rising from its chimney.
It looked ordinary enough, the sort of place a gamekeeper might use, or a hermit. But the faint glow given by the enchantments that had been placed along its walls was enough to tell them they were at the right location.
They soon spotted two masked individuals waiting at the door of the cabin.
"She's in there," Lara whispered. Her voice sounded calm, but the white of her knuckles against her husband's hand revealed how nervous she truly was.
"She's in there," Aldric agreed. "Now… we shou—"
A third voice came from the shadows to their left.
"Four of them are at the cabin. Two are guarding the main entrance, one with the girl, and the last one is watching the perimeter from the back window."
The Greengrass couple got startled but tried to keep their composure. Neither of them was able to see Morgan, hear her voice, and wondered how she was doing it.
Lord Greengrass was sure this was not a mere invisibility charm. But there was no time to examine this further. The two men at the front had already spotted them.
The couple stopped in their tracks.
"You're certain of this?" Aldric Greengrass asked in a whisper while trying to avoid moving his mouth too much or turning his head around in the direction of the voice.
"I already took a peek inside the house," Morgan said. "I'm certain."
Lady Greengrass gasped and covered her mouth. "You were already inside?"
"I wanted to know what I was dealing with before doing anything." Morgan's gaze moved back to the cabin. "Snape is the one with your daughter. He hasn't harmed her."
"What do we do?" the mother asked.
Morgan looked at her for a moment. "Walk to the door and appear willing to cooperate. Ask to see your daughter before you sign any contract."
"What abou—" Before the lady could ask about Harry Potter, she was interrupted by someone shouting at them.
"Hey!" One of the masked men called for them. "What are you standing there for?" He signaled for them to approach.
"We have to go… they are getting suspicious," Aldric Greengrass said with urgency.
"Then go…" Morgan's voice became more distant.
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While the parents were welcomed by the kidnappers, Morgan flew between two oak trees and reached the window of the first floor of the cabin.
Sneaking inside was easy enough. There were no defenses against her transformation.
Once in the cabin, she was welcomed by the smell of woodsmoke and damp stone.
The small bedroom she was now in was completely empty, so she sneaked beneath the gap of the door and ventured further.
She found one of the Death Eaters standing in front of a grimy window, a broad man with a thick neck.
The cloaked wizard was observing the cabin surroundings and making sure no surprises awaited them, a job that he was about to fail.
Morgan stood in the dark behind him for a moment. She could feel Snape and the girl in the next room, so she had to be very careful when dealing with this one.
She closed the six feet without making a sound.
Her hand materialized over his mouth first; her cold fingers gripped his face, while her other hand went around his chest, pinning his wand arm.
He had perhaps one second of furious struggling before she turned her head, and her teeth found the side of his neck with surgical precision.
She was not trying to feed on him. She had blood two nights ago, and sentiment had nothing to do with it either way.
Morgan was taking away the man's vitality, and as she did so, his body went rigid, then slack.
His legs folded, and Morgan lowered him to the floor with the careful efficiency of someone who does not want to make noise. She retrieved his wand and snapped it between her fingers like a dry twig.
There was one less problem to deal with now.
She left him on the cold floor and moved toward the back room.
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Inside the dimly lit room, Daphne Greengrass sat on a wooden chair with her wrists bound by conjured rope and her face arranged into an expression of absolute, glacial calm that would have made her mother proud.
She was fifteen, and she had decided in the first ten minutes of her captivity that she was not going to give any of them the satisfaction of seeing her frightened, especially her former classmate.
She had not entirely succeeded… fear was fear, and it did not much care for decisions, but she had at least not cried, and she had not begged. And when Draco Malfoy had looked at her with something that might have been interpreted as guilt, she had stared back at him until he looked away.
Severus Snape stood near the door of the back room, watching her with his usual unreadable expression, like the one he wore during class.
But to Daphne, he looked slightly pained and conflicted for getting involved in something he wanted no part of.
"Hmm?" Snape suddenly stood up and drew his wand.
Daphne watched him. "What's happening?" she asked with a steady voice. "Are my parents here?"
"Quiet," he responded. He had not heard anything, but he just felt something that put him on guard...something that he could not describe. Perhaps it was his instinct warning him of danger.
He approached the door and knelt before the small keyhole, trying to see what was happening in the other room, which Jugson was supposed to be guarding.
However, nothing could be clearly seen. Jugson had kept the hall illuminated with just a couple of candles to avoid being seen from the outside. But now those candles were gone, and Snape couldn't see a single thing.
"Damn!" Something had definitely happened. He had to alert the others, but he couldn't just leave their hostage alone.
"Now what?..." He needed a moment to think.
But then… he noticed something coming from beneath the door. It was some kind of smoke.
"What is that?!" Snape exclaimed.
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