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"Tell us about the order, you filthy mudblood!" The man with the white mask screamed at the young girl withering on the stone floor. Y/n could only feel the pain coursing through her body from the last Cruciatus curse that he had thrown at her, but she still managed to keep her mouth shut and shake her head. Out of all of the things she had expected to be doing on a Saturday afternoon, being tortured by a group of death eaters was definitely not on the list. She had planned for her entire day to be spent in the Hogwarts library, researching wolfbane potions and misplacement spells.
The man, who y/n thought was at least seven foot tall, grunted and launched one of his black boots into the side of her stomach. She cried out in agony, her screams echoing around the cavernous room. She hadn't had much time to survey her surroundings, so she had no idea where she was. It looked oddly like a dining room that had been refurnished into some kind of sick torture chamber.
"Don't make me ask you again, girl. Where is the headquarters of the order?" He knelt down onto one knee and whispered to her. He unsheathed a thin knife and held it close to her legs. Again, she shook her head and received another kick to the stomach.
The man gripped his knife in one hand and dragged it down y/n's thigh. She tried to grit her teeth to endure the pain but it was too much. Blood streamed out of the rip in her trousers and began to pool on the floor.
"Well, well, well, you're a loyal one. I'll give you that sweetheart, but this isn't working, is it." He tilted his head and looked down at y/n with a cruel smile on his face. She would never give up the whereabouts of the order, surely they knew that. She would rather die with it.
"Boy! Lestrange!" He yelled in the direction of the double doors at the end of the hall. Was he finished? Y/n wondered. Thank Godric, she didn't know if she could take another minute of thi-.
"Crucio!" He turned back around in a flash as she was attempting to pull herself up into a sitting position. Y/n screamed and thrashed around on the floor. Her mind went blank. All she could see was a blinding white light. Tears streamed down her cheeks and soaked her face and jumper. Faintly, she could hear the sound of doors opening and a high-pitched laugh. Bellatrix Lestrange. Lestrange has been a couple of years above y/n at Hogwarts before she had left to presumably join Voldemort's cause, however, her barbaric laugh was unmistakable.
When y/n had finally recovered from the man's most recent attack, she groaned and turned on her side, gaining a better view of the other figures in the room. Although her vision was dotted with black spots, she had been right. There she was, standing above her, face contorted into something menacing and inhuman. Bellatrix Lestrange. The other person who had been referred to as "boy" stood silently to her right, the standard mask covering his face. Y/n noticed that he was clutching his hands together very tightly in front of him, and fidgeted on the spot.
One heeled foot moved after the other as Bellatrix walked slowly towards y/n. If she had been scared before, she was now terrified. She had heard horror stories at school about Bellatrix and the way in which she tortured people, and if y/n's fate was the same, then she was sure that she should be scared. To her surprise, Bellatrix didn't draw her wand, but instead, gestured to the boy behind her. He moved as if being dragged by a rope. His footsteps were awkward and forced like he wanted to turn and run back in the direction he had come.
Bellatrix sneered down at her. When she noticed the boy's discomfort, the harsh grin turned into one of amusement.
"Deal with her, cousin, and the Dark Lord will welcome you," She told the boy, who grabbed his wand out of the side pocket of his cloak. It was as black as the night sky and had etchings on it that y/n recognised but couldn't place. As quickly as she had entered, Bellatrix left the room with y/n's giant-sized torturer. She had no idea what "dealing" with her meant. Was she going to be killed? Here, without anybody knowing? That would be unfortunate.
He kept the wand at his side, lowered.
"You need to get out of here," His voice behind the mask was muffled, and y/n did not recognise it. The boy glanced back over his shoulder, making sure that his two acquaintances had not decided to come back into the room.
She coughed, her whole body screaming at her to stop moving. She could barely keep her eyes open. The wounds in her thigh continued to drip onto the floor, and she didn't have enough energy to put pressure on them, let alone cast a healing spell. Did she even have her wand? She couldn't remember.
The boy took both of his hands and pressed them onto her thigh to stop the blood. They were extremely cold.
"W-what? How?" She managed to croak out between gasps. Her dried lips moved slowly.
The boy sighed deeply and one of his hands reached around the back of his head to untie his mask. If y/n was at all capable of acting surprised, she would have. Under the mask was her classmate, Regulus Black. That's why Bellatrix Lestrange had referred to him as "cousin". She and Black were not friends, but they knew of each other, and sometimes shared a smile in the corridor. He was shy, kept to himself, and spent most of his time at the library. If she was honest, y/n usually watched out for him between the shelves, hoping to catch a glimpse of the raven-haired boy who everybody else stayed away from.
"Y/n, they'll kill you. They won't let you out of here alive, and I...I can't let that happen, ok?" Regulus took a deep breath, pausing for a moment to glance around the room and pull a hand through his hair as if in thought. All y/n could do was stare up at him, wondering how he had gotten himself into such a bad situation and if he would be the one to kill her.
"Is there somewhere I can apparate you? Somewhere that has a link to here and is expecting you?" He asked. Regulus stared at her with an intensity that y/n had never experienced before. She suddenly realised that he was actually going to help her get out of there.
"James. To James," She whispered, her head rolling back to the stone floor. Two cold hands on either side of her face brought her back to reality.
She felt Regulus go still, clearly trying to get a clear image of James Potter in his head to apparate her there. Before it was too late, she reached out with a weak hand and tried her best to grab his wrist. He opened his eyes and looked down at her in surprise.
"Pleas-e, be s-safe, Regulus," She tightly smiled up at him, and closed her eyes.
Regulus gave her hand a squeeze, brushed a piece of hair out of her eyes, and sent her to James Potter.
