Maledictus

Ch.43 - Rue Banks

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"SHALL I DO THE
OTHER?"

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Alice wished she had listened.
She wished James had pulled her back into her room.
But she couldn't change the fact that she had left the room, and she was faced with the man that gave her shivers when the name was heard.

Voldemort.

Voldemort was standing in the centre of the ring, have a discussion with David, trying to persuade him to sell Alice to him.

Alice wished she hasn't heard what came next.

"Why can't you use her brother?!" asked David angrily, trying not to shout.

"Because he knows too much, he's heard more than he needed to hear. He will he killed once the girl is settled"

A small gasp escaped her mouth and she muffled the sound with a small hand.

Tears fell down her cheeks like a waterfall falls off a cliff.

All her life she had been sold to different people, each person promising her brother would be fine and now she hears that he will die as soon as she arrives?

And she knew the same would happen to her sooner than later.

James came up behind her and pulled her back before the pair could see her.

He handed her a tissue and she buried her head in his chest, making his shirt once again.

"Calm down, your okay" he hushed, stroking her black hair with a shaken hand.

James didn't realise her brother would be killed.
He thought they were both to be used for a similar reason.
But the plan had changed, and he wasn't notified.

"Show me your wrist" he sighed.

"What?" she croaked.

"Show me your wrist"

Alice extended her right arm and looked away when she saw James's wand.
She waited for the pain when he muttered a spell she didn't recognise.

But there was no pain.
There was only a sound.
And then she felt her wrist fall to the ground.
The shackle was gone and was broken in two.

James smiled at her surprised look.

"Shall I do the other?"

Alice smiled and nodded, holding out her other arm.
Moments later, it was as if weights were lifted off her thin wrists.
And when she looked down, they were both broken.

She flung her arms around her neck and she thanked him.

James was risking everything.
Helping Alice was one thing.
But making it easier for her to escape was taking it almost too far.

But the joy that he saw in her eyes made all the awful thoughts disappear.

Alice looked at her wrists in awe.
She just needed to wait til nightfall, and she could escape.

But she wouldn't go back to Hogwarts.
She would find her brother before it's too late.

Sadness overwhelmed her again as the memories from long ago crept into her mind, and tears fell from her red, puffy eyes.

"Why does my brother have to die? Why was he taken?" she said almost in a whisper.

James didn't answer.
He couldn't tell her the truth.
Not yet.

"I don't know"

"I know you do" she sighed. "Please, if I don't find him and he dies, I'll have no one" she said her temper rising.

"I understand-"

"No, you don't! You've never heard the cries of a family member as they are dragged away! You've never experienced anything close to it!" she shouted, the saddness turning into anger.

"Actually I do" he mumbled, feeling his heart droop. "She might not have been family, but I only had her"

Alice looked at him, guilt flowing around her body like blood.
She didn't realise that he had gone through the same thing.
That's why James took a liking to Alice.
They shared the same pain.
It wasn't physical pain, it was loneliness.

James fell quiet.
He never forgot about her, he only bottled it all up, vowing never to speak her name.
But he would now break that vow.

"Her name was Rue Banks, and she was sold to the circus at a young age like you" he said quietly. "You remind me so much of her"

Alice felt terrible.
She was going to find a way to help James, she just didn't know how.

"I'm really sorry Mr. Baxter" she said, guilt rising more than ever.

"You can call me James" he said, smiling a weak smile, but she ignored him.

"What happened to Ms. Banks?"

"She was taken away" he sighed. "Father held me back as Voldemort and his men threw her into a black van"

Alice's eyes widened.
That was where her brother went.
Into the dreaded black van.

"That's where my brother was put" she said, shocked. "He was put in a black van"

James didn't know what to say.
Henry and Rue were connected.

"Wait, your brother was taken eight years ago, correct?"

"Correct, and Rue was taken eight years ago as well"

Alice and James looked at each other knowing exactly what each were going to say.

"Why was Ms. Banks at the circus?" she asked.

"She was a shape-shifter"

Alice was getting more nervous by the minute.
Rue and Henry were taken the same time by the same people.
That couldn't be good.

James was becoming overwhelmed by everything.
He missed Rue so much.
Alice missed Henry.

And only Alice could make it right.
She knew what she had to do.

"Promise me something" she said, turning to James, her face as white as flour. "Take care of Henry for me"

"What do you mean?" asked James worridly.

"I will take Henry's place and save Rue"