On the Other Side

Part 1

Alice had just needed a sample of soil. A sample the size of a thimble. How could something so insignificant bring her life to this grizzly end? The injustice and stupidity of it was crushing her from the inside out.

The sides of her hands were red-raw from scraping the rope around her wrists against the rough stone floor in a vain attempt to fray it. Pricks of blood blossomed and congealed around the little stones and flecks of dirt that had stuck to the wound.

She tugged with her teeth at the thick cords of rope and was rewarded with a deep throb in the roots of her teeth and jaw.

The snatchers who'd caught her had handed her over to a thin, sandy haired wizard at a door tucked into the thick stone walls on the side of Malfoy Manor, where the lawns sloped away from the mansion. As the wizard led her down a dark passageway Alice had kept her eyes peeled and promised herself she was going to be the trainee auror who came out of the Manor alive with crucial information which would help win the war.

She was not going to be the agent with the shortest tenure anyone had ever had with the Aurory before stupidly letting themselves be captured, tortured and executed.

So far, she'd only seen what appeared to be low-level snatchers and other young wizards who, if they were death eaters, had only been recently initiated because Alice didn't recognise them from any Aurory issued list.

She was still trying to tear her hands apart when a shriek leapt out of her. Antonin Dolohov had entered the dungeon chamber.

He wasn't hard to recognise. Even through his robes, Alice could see the solid ropes of muscle which wrapped around his shoulders and spread down his thick arms. Her heart in her throat, she scurried on her bound feet farther into the corner and resumed frantically scratching her burning wrists against the ground.

Dolohov chuckled. It was a deep, evil sound that made Alice whimper and attempt to wrench her hands apart, her whole body straining with the effort. She let out a strangled cry as he shrugged off his long robes like a boxer shaking off his gown before a match, then he flicked his wand and the ropes binding her limbs disappeared.

It should have been a relief, but something about the way the large man was staring down at her, leisurely cracking his neck to the left and then to the right, made her feel sick.

"Get up," he ordered, so quietly that Alice, frozen with fear, wasn't sure what he'd said.

Then he lunged at her, grabbing her with one large hand around the base of her throat, causing pain to flare across her shoulders. He dragged her up and shoved her against the wall, knocking her skull against the stone with a dull thud. Her stomach contracted violently and her legs wobbled. Dolohov took a step back.

Alice leaned heavily against the wall to prevent her legs from buckling.

He held his wand tip against her cheek and she smelt firewhiskey on his breath as he said softly,

"Subireme. What were you doing outside the Manor walls?"

His wand tingled against her cheek. Alice panted twice heavily before stating,

"I was collecting d-dirt."

A weird feeling of pleasure blossomed in her chest and her eyes widened with shock at what she had said.

"Feel good?" Dolohov asked with a smirk. His wand continued to prickle uncomfortably against her cheek and he asked in the same smooth, low voice, "Why were you collecting dirt?"

Alice bit her tongue as it flexed to try and get the words out and shook her head wildly. Dolohov drew back and her face exploded with blinding pain as he smacked her hard. Instinctively, her hands whipped up to protect herself. She tasted blood as warmth trickled down her chin.