The Flower and the Badger

Chapter 9

The meeting was going to be taking place at a pub located in Knockturn Alley the following week. Anna was taken out of school, Dumbledore having given the excuse that she was deathly ill and that she would need to be spending some time in St. Mungo's to recover. Going on the mission were herself, Moody, Tonks and Kingsley. They had tried to get Tonks to stay out of it, considering the fact that she was pregnant, but Tonks insisted on going, and they all knew better than to tell her no.

Tonks seemed nervous, but Anna had a feeling that it wasn't about the mission, considering that she avoided Anna's gaze whenever the two were in the same room together. Eventually Anna cornered her. "Look Tonks, I know why you're avoiding me, it's because you think I'm pissed about what happened between you and Remus. You're right, I am, I'm very pissed. But I also realize that neither of you were in your right minds." Although, ever since Sirius had suggested that maybe she hadn't been as drunk as she claimed to be and had decided to take advantage of Remus being knackered, Anna couldn't help but wonder if maybe there was some truth in it. Still, she was willing to give the woman the benefit of the doubt, they had a lot more important things on their plates after all.

Tonks seemed relieved that Anna didn't want to murder her, and after that there was a lot less tension between the two of them, which Moody was glad about. "You can't have a mission where two of the agents are at odds with each other, the mission is liable to fail then."

Just as Dumbledore had predicted, Moody was none too happy about having Anna with them, muttering something about how he hadn't joined the Order to babysit. "I think that you'll find I'm just as capable as you are." Anna replied heatedly, and Kingsley, who had also been in the room, chuckled softly. "I wouldn't push her if I were you Moody, she can be quite dangerous when she's angry."

Anna was glad that there was someone at least on her side. Moody said nothing, he merely walked away, still muttering under his breath.

"Don't pay any attention to him." Kingsley told her. "We all know that you're perfectly capable of handling yourself, especially considering everything that you've been through, but I must warn you, you can't let your hatred towards Zamperini blind you, you need to stay on your toes."

"Don't worry about me." Anna replied. "I'll be fine." She was going to make sure that Kate Zamperini died, no matter what it took.

Finally the day came. The meeting was going to be at eleven o' clock that night, Anna and the others would be arriving at the pub at eleven fifteen. The foursome arrived in Knockturn Alley, the streets practically barren, which didn't exactly sit right with Anna. She had a very bad feeling about this. She thought about voicing her opinion, but thought that Moody would probably just say that this was her way of chickening out, so she remained silent.

The pub was completely empty, and Anna realized that her gut feeling had been right. "It's a trap!" Kingsley shouted just as spells started to fly at them, Anna very nearly deflecting the Killing Curse. She growled when she saw Kate Zamperini and she shot a spell at her. Kate cackled as she dodged the spell before running out of the pub, Anna right on her tail. A spell came out and hit Anna from around the corner as she exited the pub, and Anna fell to the ground, petrified. Kate stood over her, smirking down at her. "The Dark Lord is going to have so much fun with you." She purred. "Stupefy!"

Anna's world went dark, the last thing she heard being Kate's maniacal cackling.

When Anna woke up again, she immediately recognized herself as being in Malfoy Manor, in the dungeons. She was shackled to the wall, the cold metal of the shackles digging into her skin.

"Ah, at last the sleeping beauty has awoken." Voldemort himself stood before her, and she glared at him, which caused him to chuckle in amusement. "You had so much potential Anna, why did you betray me?"

"Oh I don't know, maybe because you're a psychopath who belongs six feet under the ground." Anna spat at him, and Voldemort merely smiled at her. "Such fire. It is going to be fun to watch that fire get snuffed out of you." He snapped his fingers, and Bellatrix walked into the room, along with Kate. Voldemort stood in a corner of the room, watching as the two women sent curse after curse at Anna, the younger girl screaming in pain. It felt like her body was on fire, like it was being hit with thousands of sharp knives. After what seemed like an eternity, Voldemort held up his hand and the two stopped. Anna slumped forward, being held up only by the chains, blood covering her face. He grabbed her chin, tilting it up and forcing her to look at him.

"It isn't too late." He told her. "I am willing to forgive you, you can still come back to us."

"Go to hell..." Anna said, spitting blood on his face. Voldemort slowly wiped it away. "You are going to regret that." He turned towards Kate. "Get the cage."

Cage? Anna watched as Kate pulled a cage into the room, only big enough to fit a large dog. Bellatrix removed her shackles, dragging Anna into the cage and closing the door."In case you forgot, the full moon is tomorrow." She said with a sneer. "You're a dog, and you're going to be treated like one."

Using magic, they levitated the cage into the front hallway, where Anna was on full display for everyone to see. Anna curled up into a ball, whimpering quietly. She knew that she was done for.