Confrontation

Albus and Scorpius had separate rooms, but they were right next to each other. They had quickly made a hole in the wall between the rooms, so that they could talk quietly together. They were making plans for how to get Rose and James out to safety. As usual, Scorpius made most of the foundations for their plans, but Albus contributed with practical objections.

"… So, you see now?" Scorpius asked, after explaining his plan to Albus. "That way, we can get the door open, but we probably won't be implicated."

"I don't know. That leaves an awful lot to chance. I've never even done a Memory charm, have you?" Albus asked.

"No," Scorpius admitted. "But maybe Rose knows how to do it."

"She won't have a wand," Albus reminded him. "They took that away in the graveyard, I don't know what they did with it. Most likely they left it there."

"But maybe she can teach us even without a wand," Scorpius suggested.

"It is worth a shot, I suppose. You need to get down and see them, to sell her the idea."

Scorpius got quiet. "I was sort of hoping you would do that. She likes you more than me. You're family after all."

"She also saw me killing a man right in front of her…" Albus objected. How could Scorpius not understand this?

"So, you need to go and explain what you actually did."

"No, it is too risky. She might be tortured for real, if your plan doesn't work. We need to wait until after the interrogation to reveal that." Albus didn't want to face Rose just yet. He still remembered the horrified expression on her face when she saw him stabbing Dean. It was too much to explain in one short meeting. Better the idea came from Scorpius.

"She's not going to be happy with me either. She saw me declare loyalty to Voldemort, and I revealed to him who she was. I'll learn about Memory Charms on my own. We'll need to get it into our daily Dark Arts lessons in the next few days."

"Yes, we may actually learn something useful there then…" Albus did not look forward to those lessons either.

Severus and Malfoy mainly spent the next two days learning. They got lessons in the Dark Arts. This was a new experience for both of them. They were used to classes, but this was different. One or two hooded Death Eaters went through the most disturbing spells. They tried to pretend to be interested and learned much from it, most of it things they had not even wanted to know was possible. They managed to pretend this didn't just disgust them. They also got new robes, which distinguished them as Death Eaters.

***

Down in the dungeons, Rose, James, and several others were chained to the wall. They were all in one large cell, and the sounds in there had gone from whimpers of pain or screams for mercy to a defeated calm. Soft cries could still be heard. With them all chained at hands and feet, it was impossible to move around.

Rose and James were chained next to each other in a corner. Rose was still in shock, weeping, rocking back and forth. Oh, how her situation had changed. Two days ago, her worst fear was to get a bad grade on her Charms N.E.W.T. She had been one of the most popular girls in the school, Prefect and generally pleased with her life. Had she been a bit dismissive of people, like Scorpius had said? If so, she had not done it on purpose.

Anyway, she had far bigger problems at the moment. And she had no idea what to do about it. How could she have been so stupid? Why had she gone out of the castle in the middle of the night, despite knowing what the situation was outside of Hogwarts? She had been caught completely off guard and taken with no resistance on her part at all. She should be glad to be alive and glad that she wasn't being forced to watch more horrible things, but it was hard to feel anything positive while being down here in the dungeon. And Albus! What had happened to him? How could he have hidden that dark side of him so well? She didn't want to believe what she had seen him do. It couldn't have happened! But it had.

She knew that Albus and Uncle Harry had had their difficulties, but she had no idea Al hated his father that much! And Scorpius. She had really misjudged him. She thought she was a good judge of character, but she had been fooled by his polite manners and acts. Did he really hate her that much? Maybe that shouldn't bother her among all the other things, but it did. She had thought Albus was a good influence on Scorpius, but clearly it was the other way around. She should have listened to her father. Never trust a Malfoy. She should have dragged Albus away from him on that very first train trip to Hogwarts.

Her thoughts were going in circles. She started crying again every time she thought back to what happened in that graveyard. It felt like her whole world had crumbled in that moment.

James tried to look more collected, but he still carried a frightened look on his face. The ceremony on the statue had left him feeling hollow. Like there were pieces of him that were just gone. He tried not to dwell on it, but for long periods of time he just sat and stared into nothingness. He had no idea how long he had been down here, whether it was hours, days, or weeks. All he knew was that he needed to get out before there was nothing left of him to rise out of the darkness.

The door slammed as Scorpius came walking down. He went over to the main guard and asked him something. He was wearing his new robes. When the guard shook his head, Scorpius began to speak more firmly. In the dead silence, a few words could be heard. Then his voice became clearly audible.

"…Because they are important, you son of a Bludger. The Dark Lord wants them alive."

"I wasn't given any instructions on that," the guard protested.

"Well, what was your instruction? To keep them safe? That would include some measure of feeding them. It's been over two days since their capture."

"I wasn't told anything of the kind. I was to guard the door, and not let anyone in or out. We have given them water, occasionally."

"Really? Well, then in addition, you need to make sure that those two, in particular, are safe. There are more cells. I have food for them. I'll talk to them there. The rest of them can share the bread, if they can stomach it."

"You have no authority to order me around," the guard protested loudly. "You are just one step away from being in one of these cells yourself. Just because the Dark Lord believed you back there does not mean…"

Scorpius interrupted him. "How long have you been on guard here?"

"Since last night," the guard answered.

"That explains your ignorance. Things have changed. Here." He showed the guard something. He paled and started to stutter.

"We-we-well, th-th-then of course we'll do it your way. I'll bring them right to you."

"Good. And do make sure that we are not disturbed. Whatever you may or may not hear, it is not to be spoken of. It is far beyond your understanding."

"Yes. Yes, sir," the guard said, suddenly taking Scorpius more seriously. He motioned to a second guard, and they opened the door a tad and searched around.

Finally, they saw Rose and James and went toward them. Rose tried to back away from them but quickly hit a wall. She was dragged by her chains and led out of the cell. She tried to resist, but it was pointless. Where could she go? She heard James being dragged behind her. Finally, they were tossed into another cell. The door was closed. There was silence for a few moments.

"Please, sit up," Scorpius said with a gentle voice. "I have food."

Rose looked up at him with hate in her eyes. She saw his new robes. It was the final confirmation that what she had seen was true and not just a nightmare. "What are you doing here? Coming to gloat?"

"I bring food," Scorpius answered. "And news" He rose and tried to help Rose to her feet, but she kicked him away.

"Get away from me, you disgusting piece of filth!"

Scorpius backed away, hurt showing in his eyes. She wondered briefly at that, but her anger did not lessen. Did he think she would not care about what had happened? Or what he had said?

James tried to rise, to be protective of Rose. He quickly stumbled, however, only now realising that he had both feet chained together.

"Leave her alone. She's… She's not for you. I don't want you to… take…" James seemed to drift away, unable to focus on what happened around him.

"Please. I do not mean to harm you. I am only trying to help. What happened to you, James? You seem a bit dizzy." Scorpius walked over to James, looking concerned. He bent down, trying to help James up, but he did not respond.

"Help? Why would you help? You are Voldemort's new favourites, aren't you?" Rose asked angrily.

"Please, let me explain" Scorpius tried to say, before Rose interrupted him again.

"NO. Don't try to deny it! I saw it! You both stood there, laughing with them, denouncing your fathers, your heritage. Either you are just cowards, being afraid of imprisonment, or you really are just a disgusting piece of dung! Have you been waiting all this time for an opportunity like this? Just putting up an act all these years? And what about Albus? He just casually KILLED someone. Did you train him to be that callous? Is that what happens after you retreat to your dormitory?" Rose spat this out, all the angry words she had wanted to say for days. But she couldn't help crying as she thought of the things she had seen.

"Please, sit up. This is helping no one," Scorpius said, still leaning over James, inspecting him. "Albus and I did what was necessary".

"Necessary!? How can you say that? How is any of this necessary?" She wanted to hit him! How could he just sit there casually and talk in that same calm, quiet voice he had always used? How could he be the same person as that quiet, shy boy from Hogwarts? That boy would never have done what she had seen him do! Yet here he was. And he still just talked to them calmly, as if nothing was wrong!

"It was the only way we saw to get you out of here safely and prevent any of us getting killed. Please, let me explain. We have a plan, but it won't work unless you work with me."

"With you!? With you? I wouldn't come near you with a ten-foot broomstick, Malfoy. You are disgusting!" Rose tried to lunge for Scorpius, but just as James, she stumbled because of the chains on her feet. She calmed down slightly, lying flat on her stomach. She realised that shouting at Scorpius would not make her situation any better.

"If you really mean that you want us to get out of here, simply remove these chains and let us walk out," she said, trying to sound calm and collected. Being on the floor did not help with that.

"I can't do that,"

"So, what can you do?"

"I can have you moved to another cell. For safety. Then I can have one of the guards forget to lock the door properly one night. And promptly fall asleep."

"That would still leave us with heavy chains. And what about the other prisoners? Or don't you care about them?"

"We have to find the keys. But there is one problem."

"Only one?" Rose could see several problems. Not the least one was that she didn't know if she could even trust a word Scorpius was saying. Why wasn't Albus here with him? But could she trust what Albus said? He had just killed someone! Her whole world was collapsing.

"You will need to prepare yourselves."

"For what?"

"There will be an interrogation. Tonight. And there is no chance of getting you out of here before then."

"Interrogation?" James asked. He seemed to have recovered slightly. "About what?" Again, he seemed surprised to find his hands and feet chained. He studied his hands as if he had never seen them before.

"I am not sure if they are after much information. They mainly just want to prove their superiority. They like to inflict pain," Scorpius said with a sad look on his face.

"Pain?" Rose whimpered.

Scorpius looked down on his feet. "There will most likely be torture. They want to break down the prisoners." He seemed to be almost in tears. He was upset? He wasn't the one who had just been told that they were to be tortured! Anger rose in Rose again.

"And you will be part of that? What about Albus?" she asked, still indignant. Why did he tell them about this now? Did he just want them to sit and dread what was to come?

"I will most likely have to. I don't know what Albus will do, but he may have to be part of it as well."

"But you don't know that spell! Do you?" Rose asked. She wasn't sure if she even wanted to know the answer. Torture! How had they gotten themselves into this situation? She knew how. But it was easier to blame the man sitting next to her for all of this.

"I pretend that I do," Scorpius replied, "Which is why I will work on being assigned to one of you, so you can get away with only acting like it is working, instead of being actually tortured."

"Take Rose," James said immediately. He seemed to have recovered and was fully present now.

"Wait, no. Why?" Rose asked. She did not want to pretend to do anything in front of Malfoy. Especially not anything that showed weakness.

"That way, you don't have to be tortured," James said.

"I don't want you to be tortured either," Rose pointed out.

"I can handle it," James replied. "Besides, I deserve it."

"What do you mean? No one deserves to be tortured." Well, except perhaps the Death Eaters. But certainly not James!

"I was so stupid. I had heard the news, and that all the Aurors were out searching. I wanted to prove myself. So, I went out too. Alone. Instead of going to the Burrow, as dad had told me, I went searching. Mum was so busy warning everyone else, she even forgot to ask who I was planning on staying with, when I said I had somewhere else to hide. I lied and I don't even know if they know I am missing yet."

"Oh, James, you didn't!" Rose exclaimed.

"It was so stupid. I don't know what I was thinking. I had barely gotten on my broom when they found me. Four of them, as if they were looking for the Potter residence. I think I Stunned one of them, but it was of no use. They knocked me off my broom, and next I knew I was tied to a statue. And I felt… dragged away. Like I was being sucked away. All my good feelings were gone. It is what I imagined a Dementor attack would feel like. But instead of emptiness, there was a darkness coming in. I don't know what would have happened if I had been left on that statue even longer." He shuddered, clearly trying not to fall into the darkness again.

"The Dark Lord said something about turning you into his pawn." Scorpius said. Rose had almost forgotten he was there. "But since he has Albus now, he didn't need to complete… Whatever it was. Luckily. How much of what happened there did you see?" he added. Did he think James had not seen or heard what he had done in the graveyard? Or that Rose had not told him?

James looked up, anger in his eyes. "Oh, I saw enough. I saw V…You-Know-Who looking up at me deciding whether to kill me or not. At times I was almost hoping he would kill me, just to get away from that feeling. I saw Albus right next to him. I saw Albus stabbing a knife into some poor man. Then displaying it for all to see. Then burning the corpse."

Scorpius looked down. He hadn't wanted to bring that up, that was clear.

"Don't tell me," James said. "He had to do that too?"

"Yes," Scorpius replied in that calm, quiet voice she had grown to hate.

"I don't believe it. You think this is some sort of game? That was a real person he killed," James said indignantly.

"I know. I'm sorry, I can't explain it all now, I will be missed above."

Scorpius got on his feet, clearly unwilling to discuss that further. "Please. Eat the food. I haven't done anything to it. I will try to have you, Rose, be my target. What I need you to do, if you can, is to pretend to break down. Beg me to stop. Say you'll do anything."

"Why?" Rose asked suspiciously. She had no wish to beg Malfoy for anything!

"Because my idea of "anything" may get you out of here, even if our first plan doesn't work. But please don't hate me for it."

Rose narrowed her eyes. "Why? What will you do?"

"It is not what I will do, but what I may have to say that worries me. Now I need to go. Please eat, before it may be taken away from you."

"Malfoy, what…?" Rose asked, as Scorpius got up and left.

As soon as he was out of sight, Rose and James started eating, putting the rest of the food in their pockets for later. They had not wanted to show weakness in front of Scorpius, but they were hungry. The guards came a few moments later and dragged them back to the cell. But they didn't chain them to the wall this time and didn't take away their food.

The moment the door was shut, and the guards had returned to their posts, Rose and James started handing out their food to the other prisoners. Many of them were still chained to the wall, unable to walk around, and therefore hadn't caught any of the bread the guards had thrown in. There were many Muggles that did not understand what happened around them. Most of the other wizards were still nearly unconscious. Neither James nor Rose had the energy or words to explain much to the Muggles. Their kind gestures seemed to be appreciated, though.

"What do you think?" Rose asked James after they had finished the food rounds and retreated to their corner again. "Can we trust him? He seemed genuine, but he seemed genuine at the graveyard, too."

"I don't know," James replied "There is something strange here. But I honestly don't think we have much choice. We will see soon if he is actually telling the truth. If he only pretends to torture you, like he said, then at least we can trust him somewhat. But there was a lot he was not saying."

"Great. So, my chances of survival now depend on whether or not I can make myself grovel and beg to a Malfoy," Rose grumbled. She did not like that idea.

"Better him than some other Death Eater. With him, at least there won't be actual torture," James reminded her.

"I don't know. Is it easier with him because I know him, or thought I knew him, or does that make it worse? But I suppose I should be glad if it is just pretending. Maybe I would prefer that Albus did it…" But Albus was worse than Malfoy, wasn't he? Why was that still so hard for her heart to admit? Albus was family. But he was also a murderer… It was so hard to believe what she had seen.

"Malfoy will know that you are just faking it though."

"That's not making it easier. Now I will have to grovel to Malfoy without any incentive. But at least it will only be pretend. I hope." Could she do it? Put aside her pride and stubbornness in order to have a chance at escaping? She would have to try.

If only it hadn't been Malfoy.