The Squib and the Werewolf (book 2)

80. Captive

**this chapter discusses the topic of human imprisonment and experimentation. This is a dark topic, so if you would rather not read this chapter, then please skip ahead**

Mid December

Severus Snape had been at another boring death eater meeting, when he heard the name Raya Black.
His own conscience and Dumbledore's portrait, convinced him to dig deeper, to find out more information.
Raya had supposedly died in early August at the hands of the dark lord, yet as he uncovered more secrets, Snape realised this might not be the case.
He managed to get into contact with a death eater named Jeremy Flint, who no one really liked, as he was a freak.
And since most people viewed Snape as the dark lords favourite, he was able to get Flint to take him where he wanted to go.

Snape found himself in a dark underground laboratory, that smelled of death and decay.
He couldn't help but wrinkle his nose in disgust, as he followed Flint inside the main room.
The place smelled unhygienic and the smell of bodies was impossible to ignore.
Once inside, Snape saw three unconscious naked bodies, all strapped to hospital beds.
They all had shaved heads, and wires coming out of their arms, linking them up to potions and other strange liquids that Snape couldn't identify.
And each figure was incredibly thin.

One of the victims was a young boy, who only looked around 18 years old. And the second person was an older woman in her late 60's.
As Snape's eyes lingered on the third victim his heart skipped a beat.
Had it not been for the scars on her neck and chest, he never would have recognised Raya.
But since he had caused one of her scars, he would recognise it anywhere.

"Is that Raya Black?" Questioned Snape, even though he knew the answer.
"Yes, well spotted. The dark lord let me have her once he was done torturing her. She was the first Squib I was able to acquire for my project. I got the old woman in September, and I got the boy last month" answered Flint.
"Who are they?" Asked Snape, pointing at the other victims.
"The boy's father works at the Ministry. But since he went on the run when the dark lord came to power, his father already assumes he's dead. Which means no one will come looking for him. He ran into a group of Snatchers, and when I heard he was a Squib, I had to get him here. So, I paid the right people to bring him to my lab".

"And the woman?" Quizzed Snape.
"No one important. Just an old woman with no family. My contacts told me she was a Squib, so I had her brought here in the dead of night. No one will miss her. All three of my Squibs are presumed dead, which means they belong to me. But I can't take too many risks with them, as I don't want to kill them. Squibs are so very rare you see, so I have to be careful with them. Unlike the Mudbloods and blood traitors that I use. They are disposable and I get through so many of them. I either take some of the wandless, who beg on the streets in Diagon Alley. Or I sneak out some people who are destined for Azkaban, and instead I bring them here" revealed Flint.

Snape managed to hide the disgust he was feeling inside.
There was a reason no one liked Flint, and it was because he was a creep and a psychopath.
"I take it you don't maintain this place all by yourself" said Snape.
"No, not exactly. I know that the dark lord didn't want anyone else involved in this. But it was impossible to run all this by myself. I have two Healers under the Imperius Curse who keep the Squibs alive, and a couple of trusted death eaters, who help me keep things in order" admitted Flint.

Snape turned away from Flint and looked down at Raya's body, watching her heart beat slowly.
Although he had never liked her, and the two often fought, even he took no pleasure in seeing her broken naked body, on a gurney like bed.
"Do you keep them unconscious all day?" Questioned Snape curiously.
"Most days yes. Every now and again we wake them up to perform some tests on them that we need them conscious for. The whole point of this experiment is to see if magic can be passed from one person to another. And to test my theories I do need them awake every now and again, to see if they can do magic yet" answered Flint.

"And have you actually made any progress? Or are you just causing unnecessary suffering and wasting resources?" Demanded Snape.
"I know the dark lord is expecting results, which is why he sent you to check on me, but we've not had much success yet. We drained an entire Mudblood of his blood, and fed it to one of the Squibs through tubes. But all that did was leave us with a dead Mudblood and a very sick Squib. We had to find ingenious ways of keeping the Squibs alive so that they don't die during the transfusions and other experiments. We are constantly coming up with new ideas though, so don't tell the dark lord that we've given up. I will succeed in taking the magic out of a Mudblood and placing it inside someone with Pure-blood. I will not fail" insisted Flint.

"It seems to me that you've tried everything you can think of, and yet you are no closer to achieving your goal than you were 6 months ago. If completely draining a Muggle-born and placing their blood inside a Squib, didn't give that Squib magic, then I don't think there is anything you can do. Your goal seems far-fetched and unachievable" informed Snape.
"I promise you it's not. I just need more time" replied Flint.
"You are using up valuable resources and wasting death eaters time with this foolish crusade" sighed Snape.

"The dark lord didn't think it was foolish when he let me take Raya Black" snapped Flint.
"That was months ago, when he thought there was a chance that you would succeed. He was also willing to say and do anything to get you out from under his feet... Look, I am going to return to the dark lord now, and inform him of what I have seen here. You better have something good to show me when I return in the new year. Otherwise the dark lord may put a stop to your little experiment" warned Snape.

Without another word, Snape disapparated.
But he had no intention of going to his master or back to Hogwarts.
He had another goal in mind, and he would not stop until he had achieved it.
He needed to give the Order of the Phoenix the location of Flint's lab, without looking like the information was coming from him.
The Order wouldn't trust anything that came from him, since they thought he was a traitor, so he would have to be smart with the way he gave them Raya's location. But luckily, he was good at being smart and sneaky. As he had been doing it his whole life.