Trust

CH 1 - The Escape

Things were not going good for me. I looked down at my torn ratty shirt. Blood was pouring through my hands which were clutched to my stomach. I was feeling faint but regardless I focused my energy through my hands to the gash across my torso. My efforts to heal my stomach were in vain and I was losing a lot of blood. I knew I wouldn't get help from my captors who had since lost interest in me. 

I sat against the wall of the dim cell I had resided in for the last few years, a plan forming in my head. There was little chance of me surviving through the night, I knew if I didn't escape tonight I would be dead by morning. Fear coursed through my body, I wasn't ready to die, I had barely lived. I wanted freedom and even if I died trying, it would all be worth it.

With my head against the poorly constructed stone floor I could hear the quiet steps of two guards on the floor below. The small room had cooled down significantly since earlier in the day and I knew that meant it was now night. I had no windows to confirm this but after years without light I had learned to keep track of time on my own. The clock tower on the grounds of Crabbe manor that chimed every hour also helped. Change of the guards would be very soon. I just had to wait for the twelve rings from the clock tower, then I planned to make my escape.

At guard change they were always left vulnerable. I would have an average of seven minutes and two seconds to pull off this escape. It didn't used to be that way, but as years went by the Death Eaters paid less and less attention to me. I knew that they didn't care whether I lived or died anymore. I had thought it through. Wand-less magic in the wizarding world was uncommon but not unheard of and lucky for me, it was a skill I had acquired during my time in captivity. I had become rather good at the summoning charm after practicing in my small cell. The spell I was concerned of was the exploding charm which I would need to pull off in order to leave my tower. 

From the age of eleven to thirteen I attended Beauxbatons where I excelled at the academic side of school but fell behind socially. I had never been good at making friends, something about me kept others from getting close. When I was younger I hated this about myself but now I am lucky for all the knowledge I had, which had helped me survive for the past years. 

As I waited for the clock to chime, I ripped up what was left of my thin white sheet and wrapped it around my injured stomach. I had been muttering healing spells since earlier today when the master of the manor paid me his weekly visit. The spells I knew weren't strong enough to heal a wound this large and I knew if I didn't get help soon I wouldn't live to turn seventeen. The Death Eaters weren't going to save me. They had pretty much given up on me after they cut off my wings and I still refused to help them. I was a lost cause. I still had my magic, they couldn't take that away. 

I had countless other injuries including unhealed bones, cuts and scraps. Most of which I had managed to heal to scars. My stomach was just the most recent and lethal of them all. The Death Eaters had only healed me once and it was the one time I begged them to just let me bleed out. Since that horrible moment I had come to realize how much I wanted to leave this place, I didn't want to die here. I realized how much I wanted to live. 

RING

The bells started to go off and by the twelfth bell I had stood up and moved to the center of the room to prepare myself. I was already feeling lightheaded and I knew wand-less magic would make me even weaker but this was my only chance. I knew the guards had already left but I waited another minute so the gap between guards increased. My stomach swirled with pain and I knew I needed to act before I chickened out. I focused the energy in my body and moved it through my arms and to my hands. I pushed the energy out of my body and towards the wall with my intentions clear in my mind. 

The wall exploded to pieces. Stones flying to the ground in the courtyard below. The explosion was much louder then I had expected and I came to the conclusion that the noise must have woken the entire manor. So much for a quiet smooth escape. I had no time to waste. I was in the top of the highest tower on the grounds. I began to hear footsteps as Death Eaters rushed into the courtyard to investigate the loud noise. 

I closed my eyes and stuck my hand straight out. The word 'accio' swam through my mind as I visualized a broomstick. I felt energy leaving me and in seconds a wooden broom was in my hand. I mounted the broom just as a Death Eater apperated into the cell now realizing I was escaping. He raised his wand and without thinking I raised my hand focusing my power and glaring him down. As he began to say the killing curse he burst into flames. I watched for a moment as he screamed in agony and felt almost nothing for what I had done. I knew more Death Eaters were coming so I gripped my stomach in one hand and the broom in the other and flew out of the large hole in the wall.

I quickly headed into the clouds while avoiding the spells being shot at me from below. I chose a direction and went as quick as I could. I didn't think about anything except getting as far away from the manor as I could. I didn't think about my bleeding stomach, I didn't think about the Death Eater I had set on fire and most likely killed, I didn't think about the torture I had been enduring for years. All I thought about was flying to freedom. 

My head was fuzzy and my vision was fading in and out of black. This entire thing was feeling like hazy dream. It didn't seem possible that I was looking at anything other then the circular tower I had been kept in for the past couple years. I had done it, I was flying and I was free. I flew for over an hour my eyes struggling to stay open, fading in and out of consciousness. I hadn't seen a single sign of civilization and I was beginning to lose hope. After finally escaping that hellhole, I was simply going to bleed out. It seemed unfair. 

I thought about landing and dying peacefully in a large field of wildflowers but that felt too much like giving up. I was going to fly until I physically couldn't anymore. Finally, a light in the distance distracted me from the black spots in my vision and I felt a spark of hope ignite inside me. As I approached the light it formed into a large manor, unlike Crabbe manor this one gave off feelings of comfort and love. I prayed to Merlin that I was right and I would be greeted by kind and caring people. They were my last hope.

I've never liked relying on others, and I honestly wasn't sure I would ever trust anyone again. I wanted to figure everything out by myself but currently that was impossible. I needed to take a leap of faith, if I didn't I would die. I flew down to be level with the manor. It was the middle of the night and the light was coming from a bedroom on the second floor. As I flew to the window the first thing I noticed was the muggle band posters on the wall and for a moment I was concerned that these people would be muggles. They probably wouldn't be able to save my life if they were. Then I noticed a Hogwarts banner over the door and sighed in relief. There was still a problem though, nobody was in the room to help me. 

I was about to look for the front door and ring the bell until someone answered when I heard loud laughter on opposite side of the manor. With little thinking I headed towards the noise. In the dark I could make out a grassy field and just beyond that was a lake. In the middle of the field, illuminated in the starlight, were two silhouettes laying in the high grass. My head spun and my eyes were clouded with black spots as I crash landed into the field and rolled a few feet. I couldn't move, I had nothing left, no energy, no magic. My fate was in the hands of the two teenage boys who ran to see if I was okay. The last thing I saw was a pair of concerned gray eyes before everything faded to darkness.