✔️ 𝐏𝐑𝐎𝐓𝐄𝐆𝐎 → ℎ. 𝑝𝑜𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑡𝑤𝑖𝑛 𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑦

13 | C E L L A R

the skyscrapers glow
like they never fall down.

   THEY WERE FORCED down a steep flight of stairs, still tied back-to-back and in danger of slipping and breaking their necks at any moment. At the bottom was a heavy door. Greyback unlocked it with a tap of his wand, then forced them into a dank and musty room and left them in total darkness. The echoing bang of the slammed cellar door had not died away before there was a terrible, drawn-out scream from directly above them. 

   "HERMIONE!", Ron bellowed, and he started to writhe and struggle against the ropes tying them together, so that Harry staggered. "HERMIONE!"

   "Be quiet!", Harry said. "Shut up, Ron, we need to work out a way —"

   "HERMIONE! HERMIONE!"

   "We need a plan, stop yelling — we need to get these ropes off —"

   "Harry?", came a whisper through the darkness. "Ron? Is that you?" 

   Ron stopped shouting. There was a sound of movement close by them, then Harry saw a shadow moving closer. 

   "Luna?"

   "Yes, it’s me! Oh no, I didn’t want you to be caught!"

   "Luna, can you help us get these ropes off?", said Harry. 

   "Oh yes, I expect so ... There’s an old nail we use if we need to break anything ... Just a moment ..."

     A few seconds later, there was a click, and the luminescent spheres the Deluminator had sucked from the lamps in the tent flew into the cellar: Unable to rejoin their sources, they simply hung there, like tiny suns, flooding the underground room with light. Harry saw Luna, all eyes in her white face, and the motionless figure of Ollivander the wandmaker, curled up on the floor in the corner. Craning around, he caught sight of their fellow prisoners. Dean and Griphook the goblin, who seemed barely conscious, kept standing by the ropes that bound him to the humans. 

   "Luna", Ron suddenly spoke with a shaky voice, his eyes still fixed at the dungeon door, "we're at the Malfoy's, are we? This — this is Wiltshire."

   Luna nodded and Harry felt a jolt flash through his body. "Was she here? Have you seen her?"

   Luna's face went blank; it was Dean replying to that question. "She was already here when we arrived. Closer to death than alive —"

   "But she is alive!"

   "She is", Dean uttered and Harry's heart jumped, almost bursting with relief, just to be wrenched by Dean's next words. "It was her who got Luna here."

   "They tortured her", Dean said. "Daily. Until she gave in. Ember is one of them now."

·

   "What is going on here?", Ember Potter snapped, her heals drumming on the floor. She had stepped through the large double winged door, scanning the scene in front of her.

   Bellatrix was kneeling on the floor, next to a girl. A silver knife was clenched in the Death Eaters fist. Blood was staining the carpet. Crowded in a corner stood Draco Malfoy and his parents, all three of them looking pale and terrified. Quickly she locked eyes with Draco, and what she found in those grey orbs she didn't like.

   "Ah, fine, exactly the person I need now", Bellatrix cooed. "Get me Griphook, Potter. It's time to show your loyality."

   "What's Griphook to do with my loyality?", Ember scoffed, scrunching her nose. "Shall I bring something else? Milk? Eggs?" Her lips twitched, and she quickly pursed them. "Tampons? Your mood today is delighting, Bella."

    "Go and get me the goblin!", Bellatrix shrieked, without taking her eyes from the girl below her. The Death Eater's long, wild curls covered all of Ember's sight on the newest captive.

   Ember rolled her eyes and crossed the room, passing Draco as she did. Another quick gaze was exchanged, but whatever he wanted to tell her through his eyes, she didn't get it, so she light feeted jumped down the steps to the cellar.

   "Okay, fine. Stand back. Line up against the back wall. Don’t try anything, or I’ll kill you!", Ember told the prisoners in a bored voice, before she forcefully pushed the door open.

   Her eyes immediately fell onto the goblin, Griphook. But it didn't take her too long to notice that something was different. There where more people in here than last time she had come down here. Midst crossing the cellar, she stopped, scanning those faces. Dean and Luna, all the same, and Ollivander still curled up into a ball in the corner of the room.

   Then her eyes fell upon the two new faces and her heart stopped beating.

   "What are you doing here?", she hissed, surprised that her voice did work the way it should. "You fools! You were the ones calling him by his name!" Her eyes pierced into Harry's. "You bullhead! I'm sure you —"

   Her voice died. Harry had stepped forward, wrapping his arms around him and pulling her into a tight hug.

   "You're okay", he whispered, not letting go of her for what felt like a whole minute. 

   Ember softly pushed away from him. "Of course I am, but I wish I could tell the same about you. You're in big trouble! We need to get you out of here."

   "Us", said Ron, and her eyes for the first time landed on him. "We need to get us out of here."

   Ember shook her head. "I can't leave here. They jinxed me. I can't leave this place without anyone of them by my side." She watched the colour draining from his face. "It's okay, I will stay here and try to reduce the damage they're up to. We'll get you out of here and you'll end this."

   "I won't leave you here —"

   "You have to!", Ember snapped at her brother. "I'm okay. I'm fine as long as I play along."

   "What's taking you so long?", Bellatrix' voice boomed from upstairs.

   "Listen, Harry", Ember whispered, her voice rapid. "He's looking for something. Something important! I haven't found out what it is, but he's searching for it all the time and I think he needs it to defeat you. You need to —"

   "Potter!"

   Ember threw a last gaze at Harry and Ron, before she grabbed Griphook's upper arm and dragged him with her, the door behind her slammed shut.

—