"Within yourself deliverance must be searched for, because each man makes his own prison."
-Edwin Arnold
•
"Wake up."
Luna tried to do as she was told, but her mind seemed determined to keep her in a state of blissful unconsciousness.
"Wake up, you little bitch!" The harsh female voice was followed by abrupt slaps across Luna's face.
Finally, Luna peeled her eyes open, only to promptly shut them again. She was fairly certain Bellatrix Lestrange was hovering over her, and she was also fairly certain that was the last thing she wanted to wake up to.
"Look at me!" Bellatrix hissed at her. "The Dark Lord wants you. Immediately."
Luna kept her eyes shut, taking in as much of her surroundings as possible before opening them again. She was lying on the floor, a stone floor, judging by the coldness and the hardness of it. It was cold in the room, and dark too. And it was quiet, meaning that she was far away from Hogwarts and Hogsmeade. She had no idea where she was.
"Look at me." Bellatrix's voice had grown more angry, if that was possible.
"I don't want to," Luna murmured sleepily, without thinking.
Another sharp slap across her face was the response she got. "I don't care. Get up."
Forcing her eyes open, Luna swallowed hard. "You're the one who was at Hogsmeade, weren't you?" she asked, staring at Bellatrix's black eyes.
A scowl spread across the other woman's face. "Yes. I caught you. Now get up."
Luna tried to move into a sitting position, but her body felt so weak. She collapsed back onto the floor again, unable to move.
Bellatrix lost whatever patience she had. "Get up!" Wrapping her hands around Luna's thin upper arms, Bellatrix yanked Luna to her feet. Luna wobbled unsteadily and collapsed again. Bellatrix kicked her in the stomach. "You're fucking useless," she said, before turning to two Death Eaters, shrouded in cloaks, standing by the doorway. "Avery. Mulciber. Carry her if you have to. I don't care. But the Dark Lord wishes to see her immediately." Luna could hear the resentment in Bellatrix's voice.
The two men moved without hesitation towards Luna. Each of them grabbed an arm, again forcing her to her feet. Supporting her this way, they dragged her out of the room and down an equally gloomy hallway. Luna wondered disjointedly if they were underground.
She tried vainly to walk on her own, but gave up, allowing her feet to drag behind her as the two Death Eaters pulled her along. Her mind felt muddy, like her thoughts were stuck in paste. Trying to comprehend everything that had happened was proving to be very difficult.
The last thing she remembered was being in Hogsmeade and then there was screaming and fighting. And then Bellatrix was there. And then she woke up here. And now she was on her way to see the Dark Lord. She knew these things, but didn't fully understand them until several minutes had gone by.
Then it hit her. Suddenly she had a hard time focusing her eyes on anything. She felt very light and confused and terrified all at once. She was a prisoner. And she was Tom's prisoner. The Death Eaters carrying her felt her go even more limp in their grip, but did not stop.
Finally, after what seemed like many twists and turns throughout numerous hallways and past infinite closed doors, the group of four, with Bellatrix following behind to apparently make sure Luna wasn't up to anything, stopped in front of a large oak door. The door was intricately carved, with snakes and serpents intertwining across the wood, and the snakes had emeralds set in for the eyes. Luna noticed there was no handle on the door. She felt briefly hypnotized by the snakes until Bellatrix began speaking quickly to her.
"You will refer to him only as 'my Lord.' You will bow when indicated. You will do as you are told. You will not speak unless directly spoken to." Before giving Luna a chance to respond, Bellatrix reached out and knocked on the door.
A chill voice that Luna knew belonged to him said, "Enter," just as the door silently swung open. All Luna could see was a high-backed chair in the center of the room, facing an empty fire grate. A large snake was resting on the hearth, hissing quietly when her silence was disturbed.
Luna's head was still reeling, and she partly didn't believe she was awake or really physically present, though she knew she was. She knew he must be sitting in the chair. She shuddered involuntarily.
"We have the prisoner, my Lord," Bellatrix said, pushing past the others. Her voice was dripping with sycophancy. It made Luna's stomach lurch.
"Leave her," came the voice from behind the chair.
Bellatrix's jaw tensed, but she nevertheless said, "Yes, my Lord." She turned and left the room.
The two Death Eaters holding Luna up let go at the same time. Luna fell forward, her face smashing in the rug. They too left the room, and the door swung shut behind them.
As if finally gaining some of her senses back, Luna instantly reached up to her ear for her wand. It, of course, was not there. She then searched through the pockets of her jumper, but it was gone.
"You will not find your wand on your person, Luna," the voice said coolly.
Luna felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. Slowly wobbling to her feet, she said nothing. Out of habit, she reached up to twine her fingers in the chain of her necklace. It was then that she noticed it too was missing. She felt panic rising in her at this realization.
"Come around here. I want to see you."
Forcing her legs to move, she did as she was told, fearing only the sight of his face. And there he was, a snake-man who did not even resemble the boy she loved. He was pale and grotesque, thin and cold. His eyes were a piercing, frightening red, and his face looked like it had melted away. His eyes were locked on hers. It felt like a sock in the stomach. She couldn't possibly get enough air in her lungs, and she gasped loudly. Her legs threatened to give out on her again.
How cruel was fate that she should be allowed to see him again, and yet to make her see him like this?
His face was expressionless, but she heard him whisper, "It is you." After long moments of silence, Voldemort said loudly, "When I began to realize I could see through Potter's mind, I never expected to see you." There was the slightest smirk on his lips, one that made Luna shiver all over again.
She found she could not break their eye contact, though she was aware he probably did not like it when people looked him in the eye anymore. Not his prisoners anyway.
"Oh, little Luna," he chuckled coldly. "Little Luna, little girl."
And suddenly, Luna was filled with a quiet anger she had never known before. "I'm not a little girl," she said quietly.
His eyes flashed with curiosity and amusement, but something else was there as well, something she couldn't place. "Excuse me?" he asked.
"I'm not a little girl," she repeated, louder this time. She curtsied deeply, then added, "My Lord." The spite in her voice was evident, but she had little fear of repercussions. If he killed her now, it would probably only be a sooner-rather-than-later type of situation besides.
She felt his long, cold fingers wrap all too gently around her chin and raise her from her curtsy. She thought she might vomit. "And where did your pretty little necklace go?" he breathed.
Finding his eyes again, she said, "One of your followers took it from me, I would assume."
His anger was just barely visible below the surface. "I was not told you had it on when you were captured."
"Dissension in the ranks," Luna whispered, willing him to take his hand away from her – and yet not quite willing to move out of his touch.
He stared at her for several long moments, and Luna refused to look away. Finally, he pried his fingers off of her face. "You may not have been a little girl to me then, but now I see you certainly are. Many years have gone by. I am much wiser."
"I don't need all those years to know things you'll never know." The words escaped her lips before she could stop them. She could taste the bitterness in her own voice.
The only sign of his discontent was that he slightly pursed his lips. "You are fortunate that I have learned to control my temper," he told her.
"Even if you hadn't, a wizard's binding promise not to harm someone never wears away. Not even after decades of time," Luna replied. Her tiny hands were balled into fists, her nails digging into her palms.
Voldemort stared at her for another moment. "You will join me for dinner tomorrow evening. You have much explaining to do, and I admit, I am curious." With a snap of his fingers, the door to his chamber opened again, and immediately the two Death Eaters from before filed in. "Return her to her chambers," he told the two men. "And Bella?"
The woman had clearly been outside the door the entire time as well. She now entered eagerly.
"Bring me the necklace the prisoner was found with."
Luna watched as Bellatrix's face contorted with rage, and she wondered briefly if Bellatrix would argue. But once again, the woman said, "Yes, my Lord," and exited.
Voldemort looked back to Luna. "Do not forget you are a prisoner of mine. You are a prisoner." His eyes were cold and distant as he said this.
Luna wrinkled her nose as she always had when she was displeased. "I think you're as much of a prisoner as I am," she said quietly.
He said nothing, but he continued to stare at her. Luna wondered how it was possible for one person to have so many layers of different things in their eyes all at the same time.
The two men came over as if to grab Luna, but she said, "I can walk now. Thank you." Her thanks, in her own strange way, was genuine, and it threw the men off guard for a moment. But then they regained composure and led her back to the room she had awoken in.
On the way back, Luna tried to memorize the twists and turns they took, but she got lost after only a few.
Avery and Mulciber, the two Death Eaters, opened the door to her room and shoved her unceremoniously inside. They never said a word to her.
Finally taking the time to look around her, Luna noticed her room had a small bed in it, and a small wardrobe. But she was not curious about either. Instead, she sat down in the middle of the cold stone floor and began to shake. Without even her necklace to comfort her, Luna felt completely and utterly alone.