Hide and Seek
Author: verus_janus
Title: Hide and Seek
Characters: Evan Rosier, Bella Black, Narcissa Black,
Word Count: 700
Rating: G
Warnings: coersion
For: darkarts_ldws
Prompt: Evan Rosier, Breeding Dementors
The house was isolated. Only the Lestranges lived nearby - an afternoon's walk through the green fields, along the stone walls, past the spring and small lake. When Evan was older, there would be floo powder. Even now, he hoarded some, thinking using it unbidden to visit his friends.
The visit to the Blacks' home was quite a treat. There were children! Andy was nearest his age and temperament. He showed off a little, putting extra energy into everything, careening a little too fast, climbing a little too high. Narcissa was pale and good. He could see she did not think much of him, but he wanted to be impressive anyway. At least he did not want them to overlook him or leave him alone in a nursery with picture books while they did interesting things.
Narcissa was six years older; Bella was eight, almost twice as old as he. He did not bother to reason this out, only barely registering their names. They were older girls, but wizarding children still, and he watched them longingly from the pleasantries his parents exchanged with theirs. Then he was freed to meet them and play games. He felt shy but suppressed it.
"Hide and seek," the eldest declared after tea. He was a little surprised. She hadn't seemed interested. They watched him run about, playing quidditch without a broom after they had played tag with their pets in the garden. Andy joined him. The quiet one obviously wanted to be elsewhere but was too polite to abandon a guest. This girl watched him with a superior dark twinkle.
They all cried, "Not it!" And the quiet blond girl was last. Evan liked her, despite her difference from him. She seemed organised and gentle. He would have liked to talk, but he was carried away by the others.
As soon as she began to set the counter and tracer spells, the oldest girl took his hand. "Come. I'll show you the perfect place to hide. I want to show you something anyway. Something exciting." Andy had disappeared. Doubtless he had favourite places already selected..
Yes, it was exciting. He was drawn quickly away, his hand captured in Bella's. He was proud she liked him enough to show him her secrets. They went down a side path by the house, into a swampy wood. where it wound hard and dry. It not far, just next to the house, really. He could see a kind of annexe or summer house, a play house perhaps. It was low and long, shaded and shadowy, indistinct under the trees and wound in obscuring vines.
He wanted to pull away and go back to the sun and gardens, sit at Narcissa's feet and let him tell her about her cat. His scalp felt creepy and dirty, though his hair was perfectly clean. His skin itched with repulsion. His hand was caught tight. "You aren't afraid, are you? A big boy like you?"
"No" The sound of his voice was a surprise. He really meant 'Yes.' It showed in the bareness of the tiny word. He could hear the others beginning to hunt for them and call.
"Look here."
She opened the door, drawing him forward, and his eyes bulged dry and round. His mouth opened in horror and then he heard himself screaming. She still held him tight. He could not pull away or run. A single room of not-people, ragged, horrifying not-mist, though their breath was a filthy visible nightmare. And each not-person held a keening haunting gasping small not-child. It was not even the sight or the eerie sound that unnerved him. It was the vortex against light and colour that tried to suck him into it. He couldn't run.
He screamed and screamed, and Bella laughed.
Then his mother was there, warm and human. Even though he was eight, he clung to her for comfort without shame.
"Of course they cannot breed dementors in Azkaban itself. The creation of anything there, even themselves, is quite impossible. They have to do it somewhere, my pet."
"They'll never get me. I'll never go there, ever, ever, ever," he sobbed.
"Of course not, dear. You're a Rosier."
first posted to my dreamwidth account.