In the Shadow of Seventh year

Chapter 38: Reasons and Retrospect

As soon as you got to the destination of your captors, your hands were bound behind your back by Ancient Magic and you were thrown to the floor which you hit on your knees hard. 
   The pain reverberated through your whole body while you kept swallowing in order to try and keep the contents of your stomach down, feeling nauseous after the sudden apparition.

"Finally I got you." MacMillan's voice echoed through the space and you looked up. You were shocked to see you were at the Repository underneath Hogwarts. 
   But that couldn't be possible.
Professor Fig once told you that apparating and disapparating wasn't possible inside school grounds. Though clearly that was what just happened.
   You looked around and you could feel the blood drain from your face. In front of you, far away enough to not recognize their faces, but close enough to see how many there were- stood what must've been a hundred poachers. 

A menacing laugh directly to your left made you look over, seeing your uncle standing there looking very pleased with himself. 
   "Confused are we?" He said in a condescending tone. "Did you really think you wiped out all the poachers? Or that I used all my manpower last time? Oh no no no." 
He moved to stand in front of you and looked you in the eyes with those icy blue ones of his. 
   "You see, as I told you before, last time was just a simple test." MacMillan waved with his hand as if to say it had been something silly, making you grit your teeth. "But I am fully prepared now. I know your measly little friends will show up somewhere down the line and I am taking no chances now that there's only half an hour left before the power in the Repository will be mine to take."

Your mind immediately focused on that. Half an hour? That should give you plenty of time to try and get yourself out of these bonds to alert your friends. 
   The Galleon was in your back pocket and your wand was in your front. You cursed yourself in your mind for not having paid more attention on wandless magic, but you've been in a similar situation before and you knew you would be able to get out of the bonds tying your wrists painfully together. 
   Distracting MacMillan by talking was the only option you had, so you went for it. 

"How were you able to take me directly here?" You asked while trying to reach out for that familiar power inside you. "Hogwarts is warded against that kind of magic." 
   MacMillan bellowed a laugh. "Ha! Yes, normally it would be. But unfortunately for you, I have my connections." He gestured his hand lazily towards Kaelia Gaunt, who was sneering at the poachers further back. They were just standing around the Repository, wands in hand as if preparing for a battle. Which you knew would come. 

"My beloved Kaelia asked for a favor from Headmaster Black and he was willing to oblige. Of course, he didn't know how many of us would come nor that there won't be a school standing once we're done here, but that's just details." He was pacing as he was talking, his eyes greedily shooting to the Repository every now and then. 
   You finally felt your magic coursing through your veins and it surprised you how easily your restraints disappeared. It must've been due to your mother's ring that you were still wearing. It really did work. 
   Once your hands were unbound, you tried to subtly move your hand into your back pocket, but it still caused you to wriggle slightly. MacMillan's eyes shot to your direction. 

"Fighting me is pointless. I put a little extra into those bonds." He said with a satisfied smile. "Your powers are still too unstable to get you free." 
   He seemed so confident in that statement that you couldn't help but believe him. Even though your hands were unbound now, that clearly was because of your mother's ring. It made it so much easier to make your magic do what you wanted, but you knew that without it you would've been struggling still.
   "Didn't you say that I had to be stronger in order for you to deem me 'ready'?" Something didn't seem to add up. He had mentioned something like needing you to be stronger before he was able to get the power from the Repository. And why didn't Dorran see anything in the stars? He had let Poppy know about some possible trouble in spring, but it was dead winter still.