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chapter thirty seven | the beach
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( TW: mentions of torture, blood and injuries )
Stella Mason knew they were safe, for the time being when she felt dry leaves and grass as she landed from apparating. The forest seemed familiar but didn't dwell on it. She didn't blame Luna's father for what he did, but that didn't mean she wasn't peeved about it.
"That treacherous little bleeder," Ron exclaimed, "is there no one we can trust?"
"They kidnapped her because he supported me," Harry reasoned, helping Stella to her feet, "he was just desperate."
Ron didn't rebuttal, "I'll do the enchantments."
Stella started making her way to help Hermione with the tent when a smirking figure stopped her in her tracks. A Snatcher wrung his hands greedily, "hello, gorgeous."
She stumbled back away from him and glanced around her, seeing her and her friends surrounded. She didn't think twice and ran as fast as she could away from them, her friends thinking the same thing.
"Well, don't hang about. Snatch 'em!"
Stella ran as fast as her legs could take her. Breathing as even as possible to preserve energy as he simultaneously shot spells at Snatchers coming at her. She could hear explosions and grunts coming from every direction around her but didn't mind it, focusing on getting as far away from the Death Eater's as possible. The Mason heard Ron grunt from next to her a couple feet away but had to keep going. She finally found herself running towards Hermione who shot a spell at a running Harry. The girls knelt beside him, Hermione taking his glasses. His face was engorged to hide who he really was. Stella could only pay attention to so much of what Harry was saying, only hearing that he knows that You-Know-Who found the Elder Wand.
Suddenly, a Snatcher grabbed Stella and forced her up to her feet, a tight grip around her chest, tugging her to the Snatcher's chest.
"Don't touch her," yelled Ron as he watched Hermione being picked up, earning him a punch to the stomach.
"Leave him!"
"Your boyfriend will get a lot worse than that if he doesn't learn to behave himself," the leading Snatcher mocked before turning to Harry, who was being held by two men, "what happened to you, ugly? What's your name?"
"Dudley. Vernon Dudley."
"Check it," the man ordered before going over to Stella, who was next in line, "and you, beautiful?"
"Selene Bell. Half-Blood," she wasn't confident in using Katie Bell's full name so she chose her mother's first name just in case.
The Snatcher leaned him and caressed her cheek, her flinching at the feeling of his breath on her skin, taking a deep breath in relief when he left her alone. After going through everyone's name, he went back to Harry and paused. He lifted up Harry's ruffled hair to see a dent in the skin of the boy's forehead.
