Working Through the Rest

Crude But Effective

The woman is about to start speaking again when the door is thrown open and mum, dad and Hermione come spilling into the room. They stop short as they see the scene in front of them, trying to process it all. I can't imagine it's brilliantly successful.

Mum goes to Draco, trying to bring him out of the fear-induced trance that he seems to have sunk into, and Hermione and dad raise their wands. At that, the woman laughs.
"Potter," she grins. "Good to see you again."

Dad stares at the woman for a moment, and then his eyes widen in shock and anger. I look between them, trying to work out what is going on.
"You!" dad half-shouts. "You! What are you–"
"Who is she?" I interrupt. "What – what the fuck is going on?"
"This," dad grinds out, "is the guard that broke Delphi out of Azkaban."

What. The. Actual. Fuck.

"You didn't arrest her?" I snap, entirely furious.
"Oh no, we did. But she blackmailed her way out."
"How the fuck did she manage that?"
"I am here, you know," she mutters.
"A few other guards threatened to make a row and expose some of our more unpleasant sides to the general public."
"It's amazing what the Imperious Curse will do."
"But she broke out your most dangerous inmate," I point out, "and you released her?"
"Delphi wasn't particularly dangerous," the woman mutters. "Azkaban broke her. I was just a kind guard, willing to listen and care about her."

I stare around slowly, trying to make sense of it all. This woman – this monster – managed to work her way up Azkaban, break Delphi out, and is on the verge of killing us. And for what?
"Why?" I look at her. "Why all this?"
"Why not?"
"Why not let him go?"

It's a stupid question, a desperate hope that, maybe, she will be merciful. But why would she be? What have we done for her?

I start to pull myself to my feet, reaching for my – Delphi's – wand as she pulls Scorpius to his feet. He groans in pain, barely able to hold himself up, even with the support. I try not to think about what she's already done to him as I pull the wand from my pocket, starting to raise it. The woman laughs, trying to force my ropes down to the floor. This time however, I fight back, despite the burning pain, and I raise the wand so that it is pointing at her.

My hands are shaking, almost uncontrollably, but I need to get this right. If I don't, she'll kill him. She'll kill him to hurt us.
"Stupefy!" I shout, watching the red light dart across the room.

I scream, dropping to my knees, as Scorpius falls limp in her arms.

"Elise," dad says. "Elise, let them go. For Merlin's sake, they're children."
"Are any of us really more than overgrown children?" Elise shrugs, starting to fiddle with Scorpius' jacket. "Or perhaps we were never children, simply undersized, underestimated, adults. What do you think?"

There is no reply, but I don't care. Scorpius is unconscious. I am tied to the floor. And, yet again, none of them seem to be doing anything. So I have to.
"You're insane," I scowl at her.
She smirks back. "Of course I am. Did it take you this long to work that out?"
"No, I just wish..."

I trail off as I look at Scorpius closely, noticing that his cheek is twitching slightly. It's small. It's almost insignificant. Except that I have spent what is probably too long watching him while he works, and knowing his little mannerisms is almost second-nature in my mind. His cheek twitches when he's thinking. Usually when he's thinking too hard.

But it's not important why. What's important is that I didn't stun him.

He's still conscious.

Thank fucking Merlin. He is still conscious.

"You just wish what?" Elise sneers.

I stare up at her, starting to reach for the wand and trying to stand up again. I end up crouching, but it's enough.
"I just wish," I somehow start to smile, "that you weren't such a bitch."

In the split second before she can react, I charge across the room, smashing my shoulder into her waist. She cries out, swearing as I force her backwards. Beside me, I feel Scorpius tear away and I smile, pulling myself back as Elise stumbles backwards. She starts to stand up, but doesn't get far, because ropes snap around her arms and legs, forcing her back.

I turn to go to Scorpius, hug him, apologise for the hell I've put him through, but he's curled up in his dad's arms, face buried in his shoulder. I won't interrupt that. I can't.

And then Elise starts to laugh, her cackles filling the room. She isn't even trying to fight. She's just laughing. She just keeps laughing. And it's terrifying.