Roses and Riots | f. weasley

Chapter 63: The Snatcher

Emilia struggled against the broad arms that roughly held onto her, and the man chuckled darkly, his mouth close to her ear as he spoke, "there's a warrant out for your capture, sweetheart. Quite a reward on your head, someone must think that they'll get some answers out of you."

She tried to scream but his grip on her mouth was unyielding, and she could see him taking out his wand, and she knew she had to get away before he could Apparate, or she wouldn't stand a chance.

She tried to angle her wand at her captor, but his grip on her wrist was so painfully tight that he forced her to drop her wand to the ground at her feet, and he kicked it away.

"No, no, you won't be needing that," he warned her, amused almost. "Not where you're going."

She thought of the twins, so nearby, who might be targets as well. She thought of Fred, the future she promised she would fight for, and so she did.

She took advantage of the tight grip the man had on her, and used as much strength as she could muster to quickly lift her legs and push hard against the opposite wall, sending her captor stumbling back into the brick wall behind them.

Once his grip had loosened, she gave him a sharp elbow to the gut, and then angrily hit him across the face with her fist, shooting pain up her arm telling her that she'd probably broken something in her hand.

"You fucking bitch!" he raged, and he backhanded her viciously across the face, sending her to the cobbled ground with a cry of pain.

Scrambling to where her wand lay on the ground, she managed to snatch it up, but then he grabbed her by the collar of her jacket, and harshly yanked her back towards him.

He sneered cruelly into her face, raising his hand to hit her again, but with swift movement from her non-dominant hand, she stuck her wand right into his gut before he could react.

With a silent spell, she sent the man flying backwards into a pile of wooden crates from the bakery.

She saw him attempting to reach for his wand, and she rushed over, her own raised in front of her, "Petrificus Totalus!"

The man was paralysed where he lay in the pile of broken wood, and Emilia's chest heaved in a mixture of anger and panic, adrenaline keeping her shock at bay for the moment.

"You didn't see me, you don't know where I am," she said, pointing her wand at his face. "Obliviate."

He lay there as a blank look settled on his face, and Emilia sagged back against the brick wall behind, her trying to catch her breath as paralyzing fear clawed up her throat at the realisation of what had just happened, and her legs almost buckled beneath her.

As she took a second to gather herself, she quickly took in what she was seeing. He wasn't dressed like a Death Eater, nor was he dressed like a Ministry worker. He was something else.

She quickly rooted through his pockets, finding nothing to identify him, only a folded up 'wanted' poster with her face on it. It could've been anyone trying to get her, and whoever he worked for clearly didn't care if she was roughed up a bit before she was delivered to them.

The pain in her face and hand hit her in full force as her adrenaline wore off, and she sobbed out in pain, and felt her breaths beginning to come far too quickly.

Someone had just tried to kidnap her, and if she'd delayed even a second more before she would've been taken away to Godric-knows-where, and Fred wouldn't have known what had happened to her. He'd never have known where she'd gone.

Fred.

She hurriedly pushed herself upright from the wall, and she ran the rest of the way to the joke shop, needing nothing more than to feel safe and out of danger of someone else trying to grab her from the shadows.