The Last Lieutenant

Running the Gauntlet

She loses track of time.

It's dark in the dungeon.  There are lamps, but no one bothered to light them, and Audra spends most of her days huddled in the corner with her eyes on where she knew the door to be, waiting for Wormtail to push through her daily allowance of food and water.

(At least she thinks it's daily.  Audra's so hungry that she can't tell, but the time stretches out so far between feedings that she thinks it must be once a day.  Or maybe they really are feeding her three times a day and the hours just last longer here, down in the darkness all alone.)

Emmeline comes to visit her even though she shouldn't.  It's the only thing that Audra has to look forward to, but she couldn't risk it that often.

"Are you alright?"  Emmeline leaves the door open a few inches so she can find her way to where Audra is sitting.  "Have they hurt you?"

"You mean again?"  Audra's voice is too brittle, like it's on the verge of breaking and disappearing completely.  In the immediate days after Wormtail had stuck her here, she had tested out her voice and tried to scream but all that came out was a rasp.  "Don't worry, Emmeline."  Audra reaches out to hold her hand and tries for a smile, but all it does is make the scab on her lip split open again.  "I'm fine."

"You aren't."  There are tears choking her voice, and hands find their way to Audra's face.  She flinches, but this time, it is a gentle touch.  "I should have done something."

"No."  It still hurt to heave herself onto her knees, but Audra does, coming closer so Emmeline could see every speck of blood still staining her face.  She couldn't waste any of the water to wash it away.  "Then it would be two of us in this place instead of one."

"At least we would be together."

"We had to split paths eventually."  Audra slumped back against the wall and coughs out the words, already tired.  She had done nothing but sleep since she was put in here.  Sleep and scream.  "I'm just glad it's me in this dungeon instead of you."

Emmeline didn't say it, but from the look on her face, it's clear that so was she.

They come for her in the third week.

Audra had known, in the back of her mind, that they would come for her.  If they wouldn't need her, they would have killed her already, and Draco's entire plan centers around her involvement.  The Dark Lord wanted Dumbledore dead more than he wanted his best soldier stuck in the dark.  And this way, he got a bit of both.

When the door finally slams open, Audra closes her eyes.  She's been in the dark so long that the light blinds her, and it's only because she has known Emmeline since they were four that she can tell it is her- the perfume, the gentle hand on her shoulder, the hurried click of her heels.

"Come on."  Emmeline grabs Audra underneath the arms and hauls her to her feet, only to catch her again when her knees buckle.  "You have to get up." Audra opens her eyes and Emmeline's face blurs in front of her, starbursts floating across the whole room.  "You need to be able to stand."

"Why?"  Her voice cracks.  Before, when she thought all the quiet pressing in on her would make her go crazy, Audra talked to herself.  Stories, poems, song lyrics.  Snatches of letters from Fred that she could remember, bits of Dumbledore's advice, imaginary conversations with Clary.  But eventually she just went quiet.  "What's going on?"

"He did it.  Draco.  He came through."  Emmeline stuffed a bundle of clothes in Audra's arms and then took over when she moved to slow, undoing buttons and helping to undo the buttons on her shirt.  It was too cold down here, and Audra's own hands were stiff, too clumsy to do much at all, much less hold a wand.  "We're moving in tonight."