Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Abiageal still did not know why Mr. Nott had kidnapped her. He refused to tell her, he was adamant that she find out for herself and of course, he had warned her, he expected an apology from her, but only after she found out why she was there and not before.

Mr. Nott was not really torturing her, he used the Cruciatus Curse, that was true, but never for very long, it "tired" him out and she did not deserve him to waste his time on her — he had other more important things to do –, he preferred to deprive her of food and sleep. She definitely did not know how long she had been there and she had lost hope that Theodore would come and save her.

The day after her capture, she had spent hours screaming her best friend's name in hopes that he would hear her, but he either could not hear her or he was ignoring her. She had preferred to believe it was the former, because she refused to believe that Theodore would leave her to roast here if he had any say in it or if he knew where she was. She preferred to believe that he would come to her safety if he could rather than believe that he had anything to do with her kidnapping.

But now she no longer believed anything, and she no longer hoped, either. No one would find her, and she was at peace with that idea. There was little she could do about it, anyway.

Abiageal had come to terms with it, she was probably going to die in this rat hole. Of course she had tried to bury herself, dying to die, she might as well try something, but Mr. Nott had been much faster than her; she had waited for Meesy to untie her, she had barely started to run when Mr. Nott already had his wand in hand and cast a curse on her.

Her whole body ached, but the adrenaline she had felt when she had tried to run away had drowned out the pain. She had regretted it later, that was a fact, but at least she had tried something.

She was not crying anymore either. First, because she did not want to give Senior the satisfaction of seeing her cry or seeing that she had cried while he was gone, her face was so dirty that he would have noticed it right away if tears had been running down her cheeks. And, second, she did not have the strength to cry anymore, whether she sobbed or not, it would not change her fate.

Abiageal was resting a little, she had nothing else to do while waiting for Mr. Nott or Meesy to come either to torture her or to ask her if she had finally found out why she was there or simply to bring her her thimbleful of water that she was allowed twice a day. The door opened abruptly, waking her up instantly. She did her best to sit up. Mr. Nott approached her, wand in hand, as he did each time he visited.

"Did your retarded brain finally find the answer to my question?"

"You've said it yourself many times, now I'm retarded, there's very little chance I'll find the answer. So why don't you tell me?" she said, her voice so hoarse that it no longer sounded like her real voice.

"Crucio."

Abiageal collapsed on the ground before writhing in pain, she gritted her teeth with all her might to not scream, her throat hurt so much from screaming, that she was afraid of breaking her vocal cords.

"Come on, Geal, make a little effort. I promise you, if you find the answer, I will free you from your ordeal."

It was the ultimate double entendre. What was she supposed to understand? Was he going to release her and let her go home? Or was he going to take her life like he did whenever someone got in his way and was bothering him just a little too much?

Mr. Nott lowered his wand, he wanted to hurt her, not kill her; at least, for the moment, he had not yet decided, although, his task had become more complicated since the patriarch of the Raglan family had realized the disappearance of his daughter and Theodore knew that he was the culprit.

"I really don't know," Abiageal answered weakly, she was exhausted, physically and mentally, she just wanted it to stop.

"Come on! Prove to me that you're not as stupid as I think you are. Prove to me that your brain isn't just a decoration in your skull and that you can actually use it."

"I said, 'I. Don't. Know.'" she said through gritted teeth.

"Crucio."

"Since you're too stupid to think, I'll give you the answer. You humiliated my family. You humiliated me! And no one humiliates Theodore Nott Senior. Especially a barely seventeen-year-old girl."

Humiliated? Abiageal had no memory of it. She did not even know when she could have done it. Not to mention that she would never have dared, she had disagreed with him before, but she would never have dared to disrespect him or humiliate him. And if Theodore had been there at that moment — and he was almost always with her — he would have pointed out to her that she had said something wrong and she would have apologized immediately.

With his free hand, Mr. Nott grabbed Abiageal's arm that bore the Dark Mark and brought it to the young witch's face.

"Theo had to have it! He was the one who was meant to bear the mark! It was his destiny and you took it away from him!"

"You really don't know your son. He never wanted it."

"That's what he told me, but I know that once he was tattooed, he would have been proud and he would have worn the mark with pride. He would have just needed a little time to adjust, but he would have been proud to be one of us and to swear allegiance to the greatest Dark Lord of our time."

"You are mistaken."

Mr Nott let go of her before standing up. Abiageal's head hit the concrete floor and she winced in pain.

"We'll never know, kid."

Then Senior left as he had arrived and Abiageal found herself once again alone and in complete darkness.

Abiageal had not moved an inch, she could not get up to sit down or try to get into a position that would hurt a little less everywhere. She was literally at the end of her rope, she hoped that Meesy would bring her something to eat along with her water thimble.

She did not know how many minutes or hours had passed when the door opened once more. Abiageal could only turn her head to see who had entered. It was neither the imposing and frightening figure of Mr. Nott, nor the small and frail figure of Meesy the house elf.

The person first looked behind her before approaching her. He had barely taken three steps when Abiageal had recognized him, his very expensive cologne and the smell of cigarettes made him so unique. Theodore had finally come to save her. At least, she hoped so.

"Don't worry, I'm here, Abby. It took me a while, but I finally found you."

Abiageal let a single tear fall. He had not abandoned her. He had not given up on her. He was looking for her.

Theodore took out his wand and broke the chain that held her prisoner. He carried her in his arms, he did not take the risk of trying to Apparate, he must have suspected that Senior had used a spell that was supposed to prevent anyone between these walls from being able to Apparate. He then moved as quickly as possible to the exit.

"Hold on tight, Abby, we're almost there. As soon as we're out of here, I'm taking you to the hospital and I'll tell your parents."

She used all her strength to obey him, but it was honestly not an easy task, she was tired of hanging on and fighting and struggling to survive. This week spent in captivity had shown her that she was not as strong as she thought.

Arriving at St. Mungo's Abiageal was taken care of quickly — Theodore had yelled at the medical staff so much, they had no choice.

The nurses asked Theodore to leave the examination room, but Abiageal refused to let go of him. If he could not stay with her, then she would leave, too. She did not want to be left alone and she had nothing to hide either, from the looks of it, Theodore already seemed to know everything.

"I'm going to ask you to leave," she ordered, but Theodore didn't move an inch. "Go, young man," the nurse insisted.

"You see, she refuses!" Theodore turned his attention to Abiageal, he pushed a few strands of hair that fell on her face. "Do you want me to leave? Say the word and I'll wait for you on the other side of the door."

Abiageal did not dare to speak so she just shook her head from left to right to indicate to everyone in the hospital room that she refused to let him leave.

"See? Now do what you have to do!"

The nurse was far from pleased, but she got to work anyway. Theodore had turned around when she started undressing Abiageal. She did not understand why he had done that, she had already undressed in front of him to change and it had never bothered him...maybe the sight of her body made him sick.

The nurse gave Theodore and Abiageal a disapproving look, before sighing in annoyance. The nurse's attitude did not make Abiageal want to stay.

"You need to learn to be more responsible, kids," she chided.

"My father tortured him for about a week. Don't talk about what you don't know," Theodore spat, his voice full of venom.

The nurse made big round eyes but she did not say another word. She did not even dare to glance in the direction of Theodore who still had his back turned.

After several minutes of silence the nurse announced that she was going to get the potion she needed and bandages to dress Abiageal's wounds, a hospital gown appeared on the young witch's bed. The nurse left after announcing that a meal tray would be brought to her very soon, the door closed loudly behind the hospital employee.

Theodore helped Abiageal put on the blouse, her body still hurt a lot and she could not do it alone. She could see that her best friend was uncomfortable.

"You know, you can leave if you ever get too disgusted or uncomfortable," she whispered, it was the only way she could talk without getting a sore throat.

"No, don't worry about me."

"So what's wrong?"

"I'm mad, Abby. You had to warn me! We were supposed to be together, damn it! Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because I was the one who had to protect you, for once it was up to me to save your life..."

"Don't ever do that again. I won't let you protect me if it means risking your own life."

"I couldn't have planned on getting kidnapped by your father."

Abiageal tried to make a joke, but Theodore did not find it funny, he had a straight face. Abigeal shook her head from side to side, a small smile on her lips.

"Tough crowd, today."

"How can you make jokes at a time like this?" Theodore asked incredulously.

"It's to keep me from thinking about the pain and to keep me from crying and screaming because it hurts so much."

Theodore kissed the top of her head before sitting on the bed with her.

Abiageal had fallen asleep on Theodore's shoulder, she knew that with him by her side, she was safe. He would protect her if anyone came to hurt her. Like every time. He was always the one to protect her and risk everything for her and the one time she wanted to return the favor, she had messed up and in the end, it was still Theodore who had saved her. Again.

Theodore had stayed with her until her parents arrived at the hospital and brought her home. He had refused to leave her side, even when Mrs. Raglan had assured him that she was now in good hands and that he had nothing to worry about her anymore.

This would be the last time the two teenagers would see each other all summer.