INTERROGATION AT THE MINISTRY
TW: violence & threats of sexual assault
( no explicit )
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Everyone gasped and suddenly all the guests were trying to escape and disappear from the marquee. My eyes found quickly Hermione's and I grabbed her wrist, making her focus on me;
"Go grab Harry and Ron and disappear from here," I told her, sounding more serious than ever, "You three are their main goal, we can distract them."
"But— but you?" she stuttered, her eyes shining with worry.
"We'll be fine, hurry up, 'Mione!"
She nodded and suddenly a black shadow burst inside the marquee, scaring the living shit out of us.
Bloody hell.
"Hermione, now!" I told her, grabbing my wand and trying to redirect on the hexed thrown at her.
The faces of the Death Eaters appeared in front of us with their superiority complex and their deadly smiles, ready to fight us. I saw how Harry tried to protect Ginny but Remus stopped him, forcing him to leave with Ron and Hermione. As soon as I made sure they had disappeared, I turned around ready to face those bloody bastards.
My eyes distinguished Dolohov, Yaxley, Goyle and so many more that were already well known by the Order.
I saw how one of the Lestrange brothers was about to curse Fred and, from the distance, I pointed my wand at him furiously.
Not with my man, you fucking son of a bitch.
"EXPULSO!" I cursed out loud, making the filthy Death Eater blaze past and get knocked out against the ground.
Some other Death Eaters around us seemed to recognise me because as soon as they saw me pointing at Lestrange, they approached me, and before I could attack them, one of them grabbed my hair violently, almost making me kneel on the floor.
"Look at that, it's Snape's baby," Avery scoffed, drawling with a hiss, glueing me to his body. "How beautiful Little Circe is, huh?"
"If she wasn't the Order's whore, she would have been such a good fuck, wouldn't she?" Selwin, laughed, histrionic.
My breathing became heavier and messier as I gulped, feeling absolutely disgusted by those two.
"Hands off me, you bastard," I mumbled, with the rage burning in my veins.
"You think Circe would get mad if we have a little fun with her?" Avery pulled his face closer to mine, ignoring my words, sending chills of pure terror all over my body. "Even being a halfbreed, she'd worth the shag. She's only 19, imagine how tight and good she feels," he relished, staring straight into my eyes.
Fucking disgusting.
I was about to spit on his face when I heard a deafening voice, with pure fury flooding the words;
"DARE TO REPEAT THAT TO MY FUCKING FACE, YOU SON OF A BITCH!" Fred burst, red of rage, coming at us by leaps and bounds with his fists clenched.
The ginger pushed the man off me and before I could even react, Fred dealt such a punch on Avery's face that I heard how his jaw broke, knocking him out. Blind with rage, Weasley kneeled on the floor in front of the unconscious man to keep punching him, covering his hands and white knuckles with that filthy scumbag's blood. I was surprised by Fred's strength, almost forgetting that even though he was slightly lanky, he had been a Beater — and a good one — meaning that he had to be actually pretty strong.
I pointed my wand at the other bastard next to Avery, but suddenly, a dim green light dot appeared over his head. He flinched for a second and his eyes shined hungrily, running away from me, avoiding the Reducto curse I threw at him.
I saw how Dolohov and Rowle vanished and I immediately recognised what was happening.
It was the curse that followed the mention of You-know-who's actual name.
Fuck, the golden trio is in even more danger.
"Fred," I called him in a low whisper when I saw Yaxley interrupting everything starting to threaten some of the remaining guests.
The ginger separated from Avery, pretty much out of breath and with his face stained with blood. The bloody Death Eater was still alive, though.
Bad luck.
Before going to protect my friends and Fred, I walked next to the unconscious bastard and lifting my leg, I gave a hard kick to his nose, breaking it with the heel of my shoe.
"Rapists are hung at Azkaban, Avery." I muttered, "The ropes don't deserve to get dirty with a scumbag's blood like yours, fucking bastard."
Immediately, I felt someone approaching me quite slowly, like a lion looking at its prey, and Fred grabbed me by my wrist, pulling me behind him and glaring at the Death Eater who was approaching us with a smile;
"Traitors" Yaxley greeted us, especially focusing on me, quite solemnly and with a calm tone, "What a lovely disgusting couple. It makes me wanna vomit."
I huffed, ironic.
"What would mommy think of you, Little Circe?" he addressed me, sarcastic.
"Don't you dare to even talk to her," Fred warned, looking daggers at him.
Yaxley snorted, "Well, I'm terribly sorry, blood traitor, but all of your family and all the guests in this room will have to be subdued to an interrogatory at the Ministry. We can't let this offence pass! "
"What fucking offence?" I spat, feeling my blood boiling.
"The fact that you have unregistered half-bloods and mudbloods in this wedding," he stated, solemnly. "Take them," he ordered to his stupid servants.
Without any other word, they trapped us. I felt my stomach shrinking at the feeling of dizziness that came with the apparition spell, and it shrank, even more, when we appeared again at the Ministry's headquarters. Immediately, they practically dragged us to the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, under the satisfied eyes of Pius Thicknesse — the new Minister after Scrimgeour's death — and the fucking pink foul bitch of Umbridge.
It had passed more than a year since the last time I saw her, and nothing had changed in her appearance, she still had that repulsive smile on her face that I wanted so badly to erase.
"I'll take care of the muggle-borns, if you'd let me, Minister," she spoke with that horribly posh accent and that high-pitched voice. For a moment, her eyes focused on me and she tilted her head to the left, "Yaxley can take care of the half-bloods and the traitors."
We tried all to writhe from their grip but it was useless, not even Kingsley could do avoid the interrogation. It was the new law approved at the exact moment the previous Minister died.
I looked at everyone working in that fucking room. It was all their fault.
The Death Eaters had grown inside of the Ministry like a bloody parasite, right in front of their eyes, and they let those bastards gain all the power they wanted until there was no power left to take away from the Ministry. It was all theirs.
Now, this was one of the reasons why I always considered blood supremacy to be a huge load of bullshit; they wanted to act as if the wizarding world was way superior to the muggle one, but at the end of the day, muggle or wizard, we were all humans and as humans, we were all exposed to corruption.
And the Ministry was insanely corrupted.
"Arambella," Yaxley mumbled, with a malevolous and spiteful smile on his face, "Or should I call you Lupin?"
Remus's tensed a few steps behind me and Fred's breathing became heavier.
"You're coming with me," he continued.
Oh, fucking fuck my life.
I saw how the guards separated Liv and Pauline from Xenophillus and Luna, much to the man's dismay who wanted desperately to protect his daughter. My eyes met Liv and Pauline for a second, they were trying to compile all the courage they could. I nodded at them, silently telling them we would be okay, and they returned me the nod. Ginny was about to be taken alone by Thicknesse himself but George almost begged them to let him go with her. He wasn't planning to let his little sister be alone with any of them. None of us was.
We were finally divided into pairs, except for me and Fred. They wanted to interrogate him alone and that scared every part of me. Yaxley took me alone to his office, being followed by some of his henchmen. They made me violently sit on a metal chair in front of an empty wood table, with a light right in front of my face, just like in muggle films.
"Now, Lilith, right?" he stared pacing calmly all over the room.
I didn't reply.
"I don't think I like your name," he stated, "Might call you Little Circe better."
Silence.
"Would you care to tell me where did Potter go?" he hissed.
I smiled at him, cynic. Not a single sound left my mouth.
"Oh, you don't want to speak, alright," he nodded, sitting on the chair in front of me. "we have two options then; either you speak and tell me everything you know and I let you out unharmed — or I call Greyback, who's in this same building, and order him to finish what Avery was about to start. Right here, in front of our eyes. Bet he would love the offer."
I managed to hide how I gulped and how my skin got goosebumps at the only thought of being with Greyback in the same room.
"I bet mommy Circe wouldn't mind it," Yaxley added.
Fucking disgusting.
"I don't have the slightest idea of where Harry is, and even if I knew, I wouldn't tell you," I simply drawled, keeping my calm but dry tone. "And you can go tell Greyback that the moment I see him, I'm ripping his eyes off his eyesockets with my bare hands. Tell him that I'll make him remember Lilith Lupin was the woman who destroyed him, and tell him that maybe Little Circe's face is the last thing he sees in his fucking life."
Yaxley listened to me, with a piercing and deadpan stare. His serious face broke into a twisted and wicked smirk.
"You might be a filthy traitor," he muttered, "but you certainly have a Death Eater's mind."
"Fuck off," I spat. "I have nothing in common with you."
He arched one of his eyebrows.
"You haven't?" before I could say a word or fight back, he grabbed my arm harshly and showed me my own scar, that poor attempt of a Dark Mark, the product of my mother's brutality. "Then, what is this?"
"Your dear Circe's madness."
"Is it?" he grabbed his wand, ironic, and pressed the tip against the scar. Immediately, I felt it burning and stinging. I hissed, swallowing the pain. "You know what this is? The memory of what we have done to you. The tracks, as well as those other scars you carry, of what betraying family does. The reminder that you will never be free from us."
I stayed silent, glaring at him.
"Where's Potter?" he repeated.
"I don't know."
"Where's Potter, Little Circe? Don't make it harder for you."
"I'm telling you I don't know."
"WHERE IS HE, YOU FILTHY MUDBLOOD?" Yaxley hit the table, making his henchmen flinch. But not me.
"I'm saying I don't fucking know," I drawled, articulating slowly every single word. "In what fucking language do you want to hear it?"
"Yaxley," one of the other men intervened, "The Dark Lord is not going to like this."
The man stared at me, frowning his eyebrows and giving me a despicable look. Without any word he took his hand back, closing it in a fist that crashed into my face, hard. So hard that the other men in the room flinched. So hard that I felt how my head almost turned around and I savoured the metallic flavour of blood in my tongue.
I moved my face back slowly, glaring at him and spitting the blood to the floor. When I was about to stand up to break his filthy arrogant smile, he moved his wand, fixing me to my seat.
"You fucking son of a bitch, so scared of me that you have to fix me to the bloody table?" I grumbled, noticing how a little thread of blood was coming down from my lips.
"You're lucky your mother is the Dark Lord's right hand and she asked us personally not to kill you," he spoke again, freezing me with his disgusted stare. "I'd put you through hundreds of Cruciatus until your polluted blood couldn't take it anymore and your body had collapsed with the purest and rawest of pains, fuckin' traitor."
"You are all obsessed with me just because Circe promised you that I would be your greatest weapon," I scoffed in a hiss. "But keep you forgetting I never wanted to join your fucking shit, Yaxley."
Suddenly, the door opened widely. Kingsley's tall figure entered the place with hidden rage in his eyes.
"Time's up, Yaxley," he announced, staring at the Death Eater's wand against my scar. "The interrogatories can't last more than half an hour."
Before letting the man reply, Kingsley grabbed carefully my arm and made me stand up, taking me out of there.
"Are you okay?" he asked while guiding me out of the Department, handing me clean clothes to take off the dress and clean myself a little bit and some tissues for my lip.
"I'm fine," I answered, keeping my calm tone.
Finally, we arrived at the main door of the building, where Mr Weasley, Liv, Pauline, George, Ginny, Fred and Remus were waiting for us, all of them wearing casual clothes.
As soon as our eyes met, Fred's eyes got filled with concern. His face was almost as pale as when he found me after the attack, and he seemed both frustrated and exasperated.
"Lilith—" he was about to start, but I interrupted him.
"I'm okay, Freddie," I assured him, giving him a soft smile. "What about you lot? Did they hurt you?"
They shook their heads at the same time, looking with concern at my bleeding lip and the bruise starting to form on my skin.
"Only asked us where Harry was," Liv replied, grabbing Pauline's trembling hand.
"What are we gonna do now?" Ginny asked, deadpan.
Mr Weasley sighed, "They've already said we are gonna be put under surveillance."
"Arthur," Remus spoke, "We can't stay here in London, and if we stay all at the Burrow it's going to become even more of a target."
The man nodded, tightening his lips. "Yes, besides we need to create some sort of resistance for Harry, and we can't do it if they know where the Order is staying."
"We need a new headquarters," George completed.
"But, where?" asked Fred.
A wild idea popped off into my mind. Maybe...
"I know a place," I intervened, with a cold tone.
Maybe we can be safe there for a couple of days until we find a new place.
All eyes focused on me.
"It isn't a very pleasant place and we won't be able to stay for too long," I added, "but it's the only option I see feasible right now."
I swallowed, almost not believing that I was about to offer them to stay there.
"You lot trust me?"
They nodded at the same time.
"Fine, Mr Weasley, if I'm not wrong you'll be returning with Ginny and Mrs Weasley to the Burrow, right?" the man nodded, "Great. The rest of you, please, go home and pick up every belonging of yours that you might need. Liv, please, grab my stuff too. I have something to do first."
"Where are we going?"
"To the outsides of Berwick, in Northumberland," I replied to George, feeling a sour flavour in my mouth at the mention of the address.
"Lilith, isn't that —?" Liv intervened, surprised.
"The Arambella House, yes," I interrupted her. "I know it sounds fucking mad, but I remembered Severus used to put protective and secret charms all over the place to protect me from the Ministry. And my elves are there, they can help us. My mother won't be there, though, she hates that place as much as she hates me."
"A'right," Remus took a deep breath. "It's risky but it's our best option right now. Everybody, back to your places to grab your luggage."
Before letting him leave, I grabbed Fred's wrist.
"I'm going to have a last little stroll by muggle London," I announced to him, softening my tone. "Wanna come?"
It sounded as if I was offering him to have a date right after being interrogated by the Death Eaters.
It sounded as if I was offering him to have a date.
But I genuinely needed to be alone with him, not to speak, just to feel him by my side. I needed not to think about Yaxley's words. I only needed to be pacing all over my favourite spots in London like a normal muggle pair and have with him a hot chocolate from one of my favourite cafés, before having our lives dismantled once again.
A little smile appeared on his face as the expression of his eyes softened.
"Of course," he simply said, grabbing my hand and interlacing our fingers. "Georgie, you mind grabbing my things too? You already know what I need."
George smiled at the two of us. "Sure, mate. Gotta visit Angie too and make sure she and Lee are fine and well protected."
"Take care, guys," Pauline grinned at the two of us while passing her arm around Liv's waist.
"And be careful, please," Remus added. "We will see each other again in three hours at the entrance of Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes."
We nodded and once they were gone, I looked at Fred again, observing his perfect face and feeling my heart racing.
"Shall we go?"
His smile grew a little bit, "Yes, let's go. Show me muggle London, darling."