The Half-Blood Princess

Chapter 41- Alone

When Kreacher left, Sabrina suddenly felt more alone than ever. And her house felt emptier than it ever had before.
She made her way into the bedroom, to collect a few essentials, but she broke down into tears, the second she stepped inside the room.
Sabrina had been trying not to think about what had happened in the cave.
But now that she was all alone, and not actively trying to destroy the Horcrux anymore, all she could think about was Regulus.
When she closed her eyes she could see him being dragged into the lake by hideous skeleton bodies, while she watched from the sidelines, unable to do anything to help him.

Regulus had been by her side ever since her first year at Hogwarts, and the pair had been inseparable since then.
But now he was gone, and she was alone.
Sabrina looked down at the beautiful engagement ring on her finger, and thought about the wedding that would never come.
She had promised to spend the rest of her life with Regulus, but now that would never happen.
Although her life had not been perfect, she had been happy with him.
But now Sabrina didn't think that she'd ever be happy again.

It only took her a few minutes to pack a bag, since she didn't own many personal belongings.
Almost everything she owned had been given to her by the Black's, and some of those things were still in her room at Grimmauld Place.
Regulus too, had left some of things in his old bedroom in the mansion, since their cottage was rather small.
So once Sabrina had packed her bag, their bedroom looked rather empty.
She then headed downstairs and picked a handful of things from the other rooms in the house.

Once she had finished packing, she realised that she didn't have anywhere that she could go.
She couldn't go anywhere that was connected to her, because she could easily be caught by the Ministry, who she knew suspected that she was a death eater, or Voldemort, who would kill her for turning her back on him.
This meant that she couldn't go to any family members, or the Black's, because everyone knew how close she was to them.
So in order to disappear, she would have to go somewhere new, and somewhere no one would expect her to go.
And since most people believed that she was a devoted pure-blood, she realised that the safest place to go, was somewhere full of Muggles.

Over the next few hours, Sabrina apparated from place to place, looking for somewhere small to rent.
Her biggest hurdle was her lack of Muggle money, or a Muggle bank account.
So in the end, she had to enchant several Muggles with the Imperius Curse, in order to get herself a small one bedroom flat.
She knew that it wasn't a long term solution, but it would do for the time being.

Sabrina wanted to talk to her brother, but she knew that she couldn't risk her.
She didn't know for sure that owls weren't being checked. And since she didn't have an owl of her own, she would have to use one of the public ones available in Diagon Alley.
Sabrina also wasn't sure where Severus's allegiances lied, since he was a big fan of the dark lord.
So she couldn't be 100% confident that he wouldn't turn her over to Voldemort.

Later that day Sabrina felt the dark mark on her arm burn, and for the first time ever, she did not apparate to join the dark lord.
She knew that her and Regulus's absences from the death eater meeting would not go unnoticed.
It was only a matter of time before Voldemort sent death eaters to find them.
Sabrina just hoped that she had done enough to stay hidden from them.

****
As the days turned into weeks, Sabrina began to get used to her new life.
She would use magic to steal food from the local supermarket, and multiply it to make it last longer.
In order to make her flat livable, she also had to steal furniture and other household items.
Every time she left the flat, she used charms to help her go unnoticed, and made sure to cover her face with scarfs and hats.
Luckily since it was winter, wearing multiple layers and scarfs wasn't unusual.
Sabrina found it strange to be back in Muggle clothing again, as it reminded her of her awful childhood, where she had been forced to wear her parents hand-me-downs.

As well as feeling more alone than she had done in years, Sabrina was also feeling very sick all the time.
Her appetite was also all over the place, and she would often be sick for the strangest of reasons.
In the end Sabrina decided to head to a local doctor's surgery to get herself checked out.
"Thank you for coming to see me Miss Evans. How may I help you?" Asked the doctor.
Sabrina had pretended her surname was Evans, ever since she entered the Muggle world, as she couldn't risk using Snape, Black or Prince, in case anyone tried to track her down.
And since hardly anyone knew of her friendship with Lily, she had thought the name was safe to use.

"I've been being sick these past few weeks, and I wanted to know if there was something wrong with me, or whether it was just stress causing me to be sick" admitted Sabrina.
"Are you under a lot of stress at moment?" Questioned the doctor.
"You could say that... I also lost my fiancè recently, so I have been rather distraught about that as well" revealed Sabrina.
"I am sorry to hear that. Well, sickness can be because of a number of reasons. But let's get you on the bed, and perform some basic tests".

Over the next few minutes Sabrina was poked and prodded, and she couldn't help but think how basic Muggle medicine was. And peeing inside a test tube had made her feel more like an animal than a human being.
"The results are in. And you will be glad to know that it is good news. There is nothing wrong with you" announced the doctor.
"That's great, but also not very reassuring. Since there is no actual reason why I've been throwing up every day" replied Sabrina.
"Oh no, there is a reason. But the reason is something positive"
"I don't understand"
"You are pregnant Miss Evans, you are going to have a baby".

Sabrina felt her insides churn at the doctor's revelation.
"I can't be" she said quietly.
"I'm afraid you are. Did you not notice yourself getting larger?" Questioned the doctor.
Sabrina looked down at her stomach, "No, I haven't noticed. I've had a lot on my mind lately".
"So you don't remember when your menstrual cycle stopped?" The doctor asked.
"No. I'm not very good at keeping track of it"
"Well that does make things a little more difficult. But I will get you in touch with a team of midwives who will be able to help you".

Sabrina stood to her feet and whipped out her wand, "Obliviate".
A strange look appeared on the doctor's face as Sabrina wiped his mind of their meeting, and headed out the door.
Of all the things that could have been wrong with her, Sabrina had never imagined that she was pregnant.
She was only 18, and currently on the run from the entire wizarding world, so kids were not on her radar.
And since she could barely look after herself, Sabrina was terrified at the thought of having to raise a child in the current climate, while being on the run.