AMORTENTIA ↠ D. MALFOY

40. SNATCHERS

     A month goes by as winter's wrath officially takes over. Their Christmas Day is spent setting up camp in a new forest, and bleakly lighting a fire to keep their bones from freezing to the core. The New Year is rang in with a blizzard of snow that leaves their spirits fizzled out. The three quickly realize how grim their situation is as they finally eat through the last of the food that Arielle had packed.

"We're going to have to stop in a town soon for at least food," Lucy muttered one morning as she wrings her hands by the fire.

"Only one of us should go just to be safe," suggested Arielle. "I can do it,"

"No—absolutely not. You're not leaving without me," Blaise disagreed.

"It's fine, I can handle it myself,"  Lucy snapped.

"We're near Ottery St. Catchpole, I believe," Arielle continued with a shiver.  "You don't reckon the Death Eaters would find us if we shacked up in an inn for a night, huh?"

"Its not worth the risk," Blaise countered once more.

"Overprotective much?" groaned Arielle before she jumped to her feet. "I'm going to find firewood. Be careful, Lucy,"

Lucy nodded reassuringly before ducking into the tent and throwing on her thickest coat and a woolly scarf. With a shiver, she pulled on a grey beanie to keep her face hidden by her dark locks before stepping past the shields.

Ottery St Catchpole is a lively little town. The muddy yet frozen streets are still lined with Christmas decorations from weeks before. From what she can tell, there's a pub, a post office, market, and paper shop.

Lucy is immediately drawn towards the pub as her bones yearn for warmth. Her hand carefully pulled on the handle, causing the heavy wooden door to creak loudly as she steps in. A merry tune is playing in the background.

Lucy is thankful to see that the dusty pub is nearly empty, and she quickly realized she did not even know what day it was. She had stopped counting weeks ago as time had slowly blended together.

She takes a seat at the end of the bar, hopping onto a barstool and warily glancing at the handful of older men seated around her. Lucy blinked as her eye caught on unmistakabley flaming red hair as she spots the Weasley twins seated against the wall whispering to one another.

"What'l it be?" grunted the barkeep as he attempts to glimpse Lucy's full face.

"Mead, please. And food—er—if you've got any,"

The burly man stared for a few moments at the girl. Lucy glanced up long enough to make awkward eye contact and notice he was missing numerous teeth under his grey beard. "Coming right up,"

She plastered a smile on her face as he slides over a pint of mead that she greedily sips. Blaise had said nothing about taking any detours in the village.

Moments later, a plate of a mystery pie is placed before her and her stomach groans. Lucy is simply too hungry to care what precisely is in it as she quickly digs in. However, her meal is quickly interrupted.

"FIRE!"

A man screamed as he burst into the pub.

"There's a house on fire!"

Everyone in the pub scrambled to their feet and shuffled out the door as Lucy downs the last drop of her mead with a grimace. She watched as the barkeep goes running out, and opts to leave a handful of Muggle coins before slipping out the pub.

In the streets, more people have gathered as they head towards the hill where smoke can be seen from a distance. Lucy gazed at the sky as she spots flashes of black wisps shoot around the sky.