Trapped

When Rose woke up the next morning, she couldn't remember why she was feeling so scared. Then the events of last night came back to her. Her worst nightmare. The Death Eaters were back, and once again she, and Scorpius with her, were helplessly in their power. And, even worse, this time she didn't even know if anyone would notice they were missing. Last time, she knew that her mother had put the whole Ministry on high alert and would turn every stone. Now, the best she could hope for was that her mother would be worried when she did not make contact for a few days and that she would go to the house and see her note. But in the darkness, she didn't even know if what she had written was legible. And it might be several days before her mother started to worry about her. They weren't in contact daily any longer, as they had been when she first moved out of her parent's house.

She noticed Scorpius next to her, still sleeping. As she started getting out of bed, he woke up as well. He looked at her, his love showing in his eyes as always. He smiled. She tried to smile back, but she didn't quite succeed. Her expression seemed to sober Scorpius as well. He sighed and got up.

"How's your head?" she asked.

"Better," he replied. "But it isn't helping that I spent most of the night worrying about this situation. We need to be careful of what we say today. Hopefully, we will avoid endangering others or ending up restrained again. So, can you try to not be too hostile?" he asked, once again looking at her with a strange, almost distant expression.

"I'll try," she said. "I have no wish to be chained up again. But I suspect that if they wanted to restrain me in that way, they would have done so last night, unconscious or not. But that may just be my wishful thinking."

Holding hands, they went outside to where the others waited. There were many smirks and grins when they came out. Whatever they actually believed about Scorpius' allegiances, they all knew she wasn't here voluntarily, and it pleased them greatly to see her have to put up a pleasant front towards them. She couldn't let them get to her and give them an excuse to hurt her. If nothing else, it would put Scorpius in a difficult situation. He hated the very thought of her getting hurt in any way.

"Good morning, sleepyheads," Goyle said with a smirk when he saw them. "We've saved some breakfast for you." He pointed to a large bowl of porridge on the table. Rose took one look and decided she wasn't hungry. "Are you sure this hasn't already been through someone's digestive system? I'll pass, thank you."

From the look on his face, Scorpius seemed to come to the same conclusion.

"None of us are the best at cooking." Crabbe admitted. "But we've made do. Previously we've had servants doing the cooking."

Lestrange's voice then came from a corner right behind them. "If you don't like the food, Mrs Malfoy, I have a suggestion." Rose jumped. She hadn't even seen him. Rodolphus Lestrange was definitely one of the scariest people she had ever met. And she suspected that he had been the one pretending to be Voldemort when she had been tortured for information about her mother. There was something about his expression that gave him away.

"Wh-what are you suggesting?" she asked, trying to sound like she was not scared, but also not hostile.

"I've heard you are quite a good cook," he said. "Would you be willing to take over the cooking? We've taken turns, but the result is often similar to what you see here. What do you say?"

Rose thought about it for a moment. Cooking for them? The suggestion seemed innocent enough, but it could quickly lead to her being seen as a servant. But what was the alternative? She did not want to eat anything resembling what was on the table in front of her. And the cooking could offer some possibilities. It also gave her something to do away from the Death Eaters. Why did she feel like she was being manipulated? Maybe she was. But what would happen if she refused?

"I can do that. But I can't work miracles, especially not without a wand. How the food tastes will largely depend on what ingredients we have, and how the kitchen is."

"Don't worry about that, the kitchen is well equipped, and we have stocked most regular supplies. Come. I'll show you." Lestrange said, rising. Rose was reluctant to follow him anywhere, but she didn't really have a lot of choice. As they walked downstairs, she thought that Scorpius would follow them, but he remained behind. He didn't even protest. In fact, he hadn't said a word since he came out of the room with her. What were his thoughts about this?

Rose was surprised to find a very well-equipped kitchen. This hideout, wherever they were, had been made to be more than just a temporary dwelling. When she opened the cupboards though, she was underwhelmed. "Is this what you call well-stocked? I can't work miracles with this."

"Well, make a list, and we can see what we can do to get some more ingredients." Lestrange said. "But if you have any thoughts of trying to poison us, or ruining the food, there is something you need to understand first," he added with a dangerous glint in his eyes.

"I wouldn't do that…" Rose tried to protest.

"Spare me your empty promises. I know your thoughts. You are already trying to find a way to get away from here. But before you start to consider ideas of how to poison us, you need to know about this." He pointed to another door on the other side. Rose went over to it, hesitantly. Inside, she found a dark corridor, with small cell rooms. A prison of some sort? What had this place been constructed for? More importantly, would Lestrange lock her up in here, if she didn't obey or if she tried to trick him? What would Scorpius do then? She hoped she wouldn't have to find out.

Then she saw a man in restraints in the cell that was the farthest away from the door. He had clearly been severely beaten. He looked up as they entered and saw her.

"Rose," he said with a weak voice when they came up to his cell. Rose gasped. She recognised that voice.

"Albus?!" she shouted as she ran over to him. "What are you doing here? What has happened to you?"

Albus just groaned.

"This is what we do to traitors." Lestrange said behind her in a silky dangerous tone. "You should be glad that your dear husband has not suffered the same fate. Not yet anyway." He sneered at Albus inside the cell, and Albus lowered his gaze. Rose looked up at Lestrange in horror.

"I am showing you this for one simple reason. This one is lucky. He will get to eat the same food that we are. So, if you try to poison us, this one will suffer it with us. You will not feed him yourself, obviously, he will get a random plate. And we will watch him eat it. The same goes for your husband. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes." Rose said, voice trembling. She was still in shock over seeing Albus like this. How long had he been here? He had not been at the family gathering yesterday, but she hadn't really thought about it. When was the last time she had seen him? It had been at least a week. Had he been here that long? She needed to tell Scorpius about it. "But there is no need for this. I would never do anything that could hurt Scorpius. I love him."

"I'm sure you do. But you have no love lost for the rest of us. Now, why don't you go through the cupboards again, and make a list of what you want us to buy, and I will go through it and see what can be allowed. I am an expert Potioneer, so I know the ingredients for most poisons, and I will not buy anything that could be used in a Potion. I would suggest you don't even try, as any attempt at tricking me will be punished. And it will not be hardest on you. I don't know how many more beatings this one can survive, but I am fairly certain you don't want to find out. Now, do we understand one another?"

He had her trapped, and he knew it. Rose tried desperately to stop herself from crying, to not show weakness in front of Lestrange. She had to try and regain some lost ground.

"Yes." she said. "I understand. Now, if we can return to the kitchen, I need to start working on the list, if you want a decent lunch." She walked away from the dark corridor, not looking at Albus. She hoped she would be left alone long enough to come back and talk to him later.

She went back to the kitchen and started writing a list of basic ingredients she would need to make some decent food. She just hoped that none of the things she asked for would be classified as Potion ingredients. Tears ran down her face as she wrote. She was trapped just as much as if she had been chained. She thought she knew how Albus, and Scorpius had felt now. Fearing doing anything in case someone else got hurt. It was almost worse than being in chains, because you feel like you should do something, but fearing to do so at the same time.