Isidora's Revenge

Chapter 2

Victor and the Poachers travelled north, away from the castle with Andrea and Sebastian's unconscious bodies in tow. They entered the Forbidden Forest and went deep inside. They had established a camp and many had gathered there, making it heavily guarded. Both Andrea and Sebastian were placed inside a cell which was charmed shut so they couldn't escape.
Sebastian awoke first. Checking his surroundings, he knew they were in even more danger. He noticed it was now daylight. They must have been out all night. He turned to see Andrea who still unconscious. He panicked for a moment. He rushed to her side and went down onto his knees and placed Andrea's head on his legs.
"Andrea. Andrea! Wake up" brushing some hair from her face. He shook her slightly, hoping she would wake.
She shot up and she started looking around. "Sebastian?!" She shouted.
"I'm here, I'm here" he said, moving so he was facing her.
"Are you alright?" He asked, as he checked her for injuries.
"I am fine." She said angrily. She paced the cell, looking for a way out.
"I have already looked around" Sebastian said. "Just don't touch the—" Before he could say another word, Andrea touched the side of the cell and received a shock that ran through her arm like needles.
"Ow! You bastard" she said as she flapped her arm. "Fuck, that hurts!" Still flapped her hand, she continued to pace the cell as Sebastian just watched her walk back and forth.
"Where the hell are we?" Sebastian asked.
Andrea moved as close to the side of the cell as possible, without getting a shock and look around. She looked up and could see tall trees surrounding the area.
"It looks like we are in the Forbidden Forest but I have bad feeling about this."
Sebastian moved towards her. "What do you mean?" He asked warily.
Andrea looked around again. She tried to remember. She walked around the cell and then noticed the back wall was stone. She moved slowly up to the wall where there were some lines etched into the stone.
"I think I have been here before." Her voice was quavering. Sebastian looked over to her and grew concerned. He could see how frightened she was. He immediately went to her side and wrapped his arm around her in the hopes it would calm her down.
Andrea started to remember. She could see flashes of images in her mind. Images of pain... of suffering. She ran her finger over the lines on the stone. She became more agitated and rubbing her stomach obsessively.
Trying to stop Andrea from hurting herself, he held her arm
back. "What happened?" He asked.
Andrea took a deep breath and started explaining her story. "I was on my first assignment as an Auror, protecting a foreign wizardry diplomat's daughter. Her name was Maria. She was extremely nervous around other witches and wizards but grew attached to me during our first meeting. The Minister then tasked me with protecting her. She was our age so we had a lot of similar interests. It was an easy assignment in the beginning. It was like spending all my time with a friend. The Minister sent us to a safe house and we had another 2 Aurors with us to protect the house we stayed in. She taught me to paint. She was a wonderful artist. Me... not so much, which made her laugh. We spend a lot of time with each other over a few weeks. We were then summoned to the Ministry. To be on the safe side, we travelled by road, in a carriage. We thought it would be less conspicuous."
Andrea started to tremble and struggled to continue.
"You don't have to tell me, Andrea." Said Sebastian who had been listening intently. He lead her to sit down.
"You are going to find out eventually." She lowered her head. She took another deep breath and plucked up the courage to continue.
"We were travelling through some woods when we were ambushed. They came out of nowhere. We tried to fight them off. They killed the 2 Aurors that were protecting us. I didn't know what to do so we ran. But...we didn't get very far. They managed to surround us. I don't remember what happened after that until I woke up in a similar cell to this."
Sebastian anxiously looked at Andrea as he could see her eye starting to well up with tears.
She wiped the tears from around her eyes.
"I remember waking then being dragged out of the cell by my hair. I tried to get free and screamed as loud as I could. I was then thrown to the floor in front of a masked wizard. All of them had masks on so I didn't know who they were. Maria was dropped down next to me. She must have been placed in another cell. The masked wizard didn't say anything. He instead raised his wand towards me. He then turned swiftly to Maria and killed her right in front of me. I remember her body limped to the floor. I shouted at the wizard and tried to free myself again. I managed to stand and then ran at him. He raised his wand again."
She shakily breathed in. "He used Diffindo on me. The pain was unbearable. The cuts were so deep." She started to untucked her shirt. She lifted it showing her stomach. To Sebastian's horror, her abdomen was covered in scars. He knelt in front of her. He ran his fingers across her stomach. Andrea flinched and moved back, and re-tucked her shirt. "They then healed me, and started it all over again. They tortured me for over a month before I escaped." She looked down in shame.
Sebastian was horrified. He couldn't stop picturing her being tortured. He hated seeing her in pain. It brought back bad memories. He kept seeing himself using Crucio on her. He grabbed Andrea by the shoulders and said "I am going to get us out of here, I promise."
She pushed him away. "It took me over a month!" She shouted. "How do you expect to get out of this cell?!" She punched the cell with her hand, causing her pain again. "You have no idea what they will do! The pain I went through last time!" Her voice trembled. "Like you would have cared anyway!"
Sebastian was astonished by her reaction and even more shocked that she caused herself pain to make her point. "Cared?! Cared?!" He was enraged at this point but Andrea was more.
Interrupting him before he could say anything else, she started shouting "You decided to abandon me. You decided you couldn't even stand the sight of me our entire last year at Hogwarts!"
Then Andrea said something that shocked Sebastian to his core. "I hated you for it." She looked down in shame
Sebastian just glared at Andrea. He couldn't believe he had heard. He just stood there trying to take it in. He didn't know what to say so stayed silent.
It wasn't long before Victor returned. He arrogantly walked towards the cell, swishing his wand around. "Finally awake I see". He sensed the awkwardness in the cell. "Have I interrupted something?" He said sarcastically.
Andrea just glared at Victor.
"You won't get away with this, Rookwood!" Said Sebastian, getting as close to the cell bars as possible but without getting a shock.
"Ha! I think I already have. I hope you are finding your accommodation comfortable." He laughed evilly. "You must remember, Andrea?"
Andrea grabbed her stomach again. Sebastian saw and stood in front of her, moving his arm in front of her as if to protect her. Andrea looked up at him then at Victor again.
"Ha!" He laughed again. He then clicked his fingers and his poachers appeared. They unlocked the cell and dragged out Andrea and Sebastian. They struggled, trying to break free. They were taken to the centre of the camp where there was a round clearing. The poachers placed Andrea in the centre but placed Sebastian away from her, close to Victor. Dropping him to his knees, Sebastian tried to free himself from the poachers grasps.
Victor stood proudly and addressed his followers. "Finally, after all these years, we can emerge and get back what was taken from us. The Ancient One will return and reward us for our loyalty..." he looked towards Andrea, and narrowed his eyebrows, "...and our service." He then turned to Sebastian. "You will be a spectator. Helpless... unable to intervene." He started to laugh. Sebastian struggled again, worrying about what Victor was planning to do. Knowing what he had done in the past to Andrea terrified him. He couldn't shut off his feelings towards her, no matter if she hated him or not. He cared for her deeply.
Victor took a few steps towards Andrea and ordered the poachers holding her to step away. "I did say we were going to have some fun. But this will be very different to last time. This time... there is no escape" Andrea looked towards Sebastian. She could see the worry in his eyes, even as he tried to struggle out of his bindings.
Victor raised his wand and pointed it to Andrea. He laughed an evil laugh.
"Crucio!" he cast.
Andrea screamed in pain as the spell took hold. The pain was so intense. It felt like white-hot knives piecing every inch of her skin. Her body convulsed. She could not handle it any longer. She fell to the ground. He cast the spell again and she screamed even louder, seemingly louder than she had ever screamed before. Sebastian watched in horror as Victor continued his persistent attack on Andrea. He tried and tried to release himself from his bindings and the poachers grips but all they did was hold him tighter. Andrea continued to scream. Crying from the pain, she unknowingly tried to shield herself. But nothing helped. Victor did not stop. He kept laughing, harder and harder as the pain grew ever more intense for Andrea. Many say that you have to mean it when casting unforgivable curses, and Victor... he definitely meant it. He hated Andrea for ruining his plans and the empire he had built.
He gradually started to stop. Even though he had stopped, Andrea was still in excruciating pain, feeling it running through her body, like her blood was on fire. Victor walked closer to her.
"You know, I wanted to kill you but this... this is much more fun." He ordered his poachers to get her back onto her knees. Andrea looked up at him, only a few tears rolled down her face. Her eyes were bloodshot and she winced with every short breath. Victor started to laugh again. Andrea looked over to Sebastian. She could see his anguish. He was shouting and shouting for Victor to stop and let her go. Victor raised his wand once again. Andrea just closed her eyes.
"Crucio!" He cast.
Andrea screamed again, tilting her head back. Her body twisted and writhed from the pain. She kept thinking all through the pain, hearing Sebastian shouting her name. She tried to focus on his voice. She pictured his face. She pictured the adventures they had together during their 5th year. She didn't hate him. She loved him.
She knew she must break free. She could feel magic building inside her, a magic she had not used in a very long time. She allowed it to build up. She opened her arms like a crucifix and shouted, "Enough!"
A massive burst of magic expelled from her body, like a shock wave taking out many of poachers. Victor was flung backwards.
With the poachers incapacitated, Sebastian managed to break free of his bindings and ran towards Andrea. She had flopped to the ground, fainting from the pain and energy drain. Sebastian scooped her up into his arms.
As he turned to walk away, Victor had woken and was rising to his feet. "Don't think you can get away that easily?". Sebastian staggered back. He could not get to his wand whilst holding a still unconscious Andrea. Victor raised his wand towards him.
Before he could cast a spell, he heard screeching. Confused, he looked around. Still with his wand raised, he checked his surroundings. He then realised the sound was coming from above him and slowly looked up. A hippogriff was circling lowing around the camp, screeching. Victor tried to cast a spell at it but it moved away swiftly with each cast.
Suddenly, Aurors started to appear, apparating in. The hippogriff had signalled the location of the camp. Even though he was greatly outnumbered, Victor still attempted to escape, not before he was disarmed by Officer Singer. Victor and the other poachers were quickly rounded up and taken away for questioning at the Ministry.
The hippogriff landed and galloped towards Sebastian and Andrea. The hippogriff was Highwing. Andrea had looked her during her 5th year. Sebastian recognised her and bowed his head. Highwing bowed back and slowly approached them. She nudged her head against Andrea's as though to try and wake her. She looked disappointed. She let out a low screech and galloped away to take flight. Officer Singer came over to Sebastian to help him with Andrea.
He thanked her and asked for assistance in getting back to Hogwarts. He continue to carry Andrea, unconscious in his arms whilst they apparated away.
They emerged just outside the castle grounds and walked the rest of the way. Professor Weasley was waiting for them outside the entrance to Hogwarts. Professor Weasley gestured towards the castle. "Oh good gracious!" She exclaimed "Come. We will take her to the infirmary". Sebastian nodded and followed.
When they arrived at the infirmary, Nurse Blainey was quickly to them. She walked them to a bed and Sebastian placed Andrea down gently.
"I need to ask... how long was it?" Nurse Blainey asked apprehensively. Sebastian was too weak to answer but Nurse Blainey could see with her own eyes. "The poor girl. There is not much we can do, I'm afraid. All we can do is wait".
Sebastian didn't like that answer. "Wait?! What do you mean 'wait'? She was tortured for crying out loud!" Sebastian began to get increasingly irate. By this point, Garreth and Natty, whom had been with Poppy in the infirmary, had appeared. Garreth held Sebastian back and pulled him towards a nearby bed.
"I think what Nurse Blainey is saying, is we must wait for Andrea to wake up to see the extent of the damage inflicted." Calmly said Professor Weasley, hoping it would help Sebastian regain his composure. He eventually started to relax. "You are safe now Mr Sallow." She placed her hand on his shoulder. "We are doing everything we can. Why don't you get some rest yourself?"
Sebastian tried to refuse but Natty stepped in. "I will take the first watch with Andrea whilst you get some rest. Garreth and I will take turns." Poppy had also risen from her bed. "I will help too". She said. Garreth ran to her side to aid her. Sebastian sighed and nodded. Natty sat beside Andrea whilst Garreth guided Poppy back to her bed.
Sebastian knew he couldn't rest or sleep. He laid on the bed, pretending to fall asleep but every time he closed his eyes, he could see Andrea in pain and screaming. He couldn't help think about their last conversation. He thought to himself, "she hated me, she actually said she hated me. Does she really hate me? Why would she even say that? I can't believe it. I have lost her."
The sun started to set over Hogwarts and darkness fell upon the castle.