Rambling Through the Woods 5
Chapter 5 - Surprise, Surprise.
Pansy woke up to angry voices and Luna squeezing her hand. She squeezed Luna’s hand in reply as she opened her eyes, but she didn’t move just yet. She didn’t want to bring attention to herself before she figured out what was going on.
The werewolf was in human form, and he seemed to be the one yelling at the other one. The man who had stunned Pansy and Luna spoke calmly and coldly, seemingly scolding the werewolf. It took a minute before Pansy could pay attention enough to make out actual words, as she finally shook the stunning spell off.
“You were supposed to capture them, not allow them to romp through the woods. How hard could capturing two little girls be?” the cold man asked.
“If I was allowed to hurt them, they wouldn’t have stood a chance,” the werewolf protested. “But I was told not to injure them and, in case you didn’t know, it’s hard to be a werewolf and not hurt someone.”
“All you had to do was herd them over to me and you couldn’t even do that right,” the cold man exclaimed. “The Dark Lord will be displeased.”
“Hey, I agreed to this whole experiment, but that doesn’t mean that I’m willing to let you tear me a new one,” the werewolf growled out. He sniffed and turned his nose up. “I don’t understand why I couldn’t just turn them now instead of back at the graveyard.”
“What part of experimental don’t you get?” the cold man snapped. “There’s no telling what will happen when you turn them and the Alchemist wants to be there when that happens.”
“Feh,” the werewolf snorted before stalking away.
“The idiot is going to get us all killed,” the cold man said to himself before leaving in the opposite direction.
“They are going to turn us into werewolves,” Pansy hissed to Luna as she sat up.
“Experimental werewolves,” Luna added. “I bet the Ministry is behind this.”
“I’m inclined to agree with you only because the only other option is the Dark Lord. Unfortunately, it is the Dark Lord and that means that we’re screwed,” Pansy replied.
“How do you know that it is the Dark Lord? The Ministry could just be using that name as their cover, which would explain why they were fairly against the idea of Voldemort coming back,” Luna said, looking positively cheerful.
“Because those men look like they are working for the Dark Lord and they said that the Dark Lord wouldn’t be pleased. Therefore, the Dark Lord has us and we are screwed.” Pansy scowled and tightened her free hand into a fist. “Don’t they know who I am? Who we are?”
“We aren’t wearing name tags,” Luna pointed out.
“We’re purebloods, even if the Lovegoods have fallen out of favor. We shouldn’t be used as an experiment,” Pansy spat out, being careful to keep her voice low.
“Apparently the Dark Tosser doesn’t agree with you,” the werewolf rumbled from behind them.
Pansy shrieked, pushing into Luna to get away from the werewolf. The werewolf chuckled and circled around them so that he was facing them a short distance away. “Dark Tosser?” Pansy found herself asking.
“Keh, I don’t like the man, but that doesn’t mean that I won’t work with him. Who else will let me play with a couple of girls like you two?” the werewolf asked, a gleam in his eye. “So even though I would love to tear into you now, I’ll wait. After all, it’s only for a few hours.”
“That’s gross,” Pansy informed the werewolf. She then blinked and wished that she could take it back, but the werewolf only chuckled and moved away from them.
“That really didn’t sound right,” Luna agreed after she was sure that the werewolf had lost interest in them.
“I don’t know how we’re going to get out of this,” Pansy said, her eyes scanning the clearing. Even though they were unbound, they really wouldn’t be able to make it very far if they tried running. Plus, their wands had been taken, so they couldn’t try to stand against the two Death Eaters. They really were doomed.
“Don’t worry, we’ll make it out,” Luna comforted. “We’ve made it through this far.”
“Maybe,” Pansy mumbled, not having the heart to pierce Luna’s bubble.
“I’m sure of it,” Luna said.
Pansy nodded her head and there was silence for a few minutes, broken only by Luna’s humming. The werewolf was now on the other side of the clearing, but Pansy couldn’t get his words out of her head.
Pansy shook her head and repeated the words once more. “Dark Tosser?” Normally she would get angry about the disrespect shown to her ‘lord,’ but given how her ‘lord’ just set her up to at best be turned into a monster and at worst to die, she wasn’t going to defend him.
“As I’ve said, yeah, I don’t like the guy, but you don’t have to like a guy to follow him,” the werewolf said as he wandered back to them. He grinned, showing off his sharp teeth. “He gives me all that I want and I give him what he wants.”
“And that is?” Pansy asked, trying to understand it.
“Bar toppers,” Luna answered before the werewolf could say anything. The Ravenclaw was clutching Pansy’s arm, but her voice was as carefree as it always was as she spoke to the werewolf. Pansy’s respect for the girl rose a bit more. Of course, she thought, Loony might just sound like that no matter what.
“What?” the werewolf blinked, set back by Luna’s suggestion.
“You know when you go to a muggle bar and you sit in one of those stools and have a lemonade?” Luna began. Pansy and the werewolf continued to blink at the girl. “Well, on the bar top they have little bowls of peanuts to attract barfish, which are creatures that love salt and they suck out excess liquid from those around it. And then they have the puzzles in another bowl to entertain the bartender when the drunks try to solve the puzzles.
“And what does this have to do with the Dark Lord and this guy?” Pansy asked.
“The werewolf wants the bar nuts to catch fish and the Dark Lord wants the puzzles to entertain himself,” Luna answered as if it were obvious.
Pansy knew that she had spent too much time with Luna when she said, “Then the Dark Lord runs a bar?”
“The Death Eaters can be waiters,” Luna exclaimed, quite taken with the idea.
“Then what would Potter be?” Pansy asked. The idea was so absorbed that she had to ask.
“Harry is an angry customer that they dragged in. Or maybe he’s the Dark Lord’s competitor,” Luna mused.
“He has his own club named Lightning Bolt?” Pansy asked.
“Because of his scar!” Luna clapped her hands in delight. “And he won the property off of the Dark Lord, which is another reason why the Dark Lord is so bitter.”
Pansy and Luna broke into laughter and the werewolf even chuckled in amusement. All laughter was cut off when the actual Death Eater stomped into the clearing. Pansy knew it was a bad idea to continue with the Death Eater there. The werewolf didn’t seem interested in anything but killing them, but she knew that the Death Eater could torture them quite happily and still leave tehm alive for the Dark Lord’s experiments.
“It’s almost time, any sign of the brat yet?” the Death Eater asked.
“No, nothing yet,” the werewolf replied, walking away from the two again. “Want me to go sniff him out?”
“It’s bad enough h that you failed to capture these two in a timely manner, we do not want any search parties finding us.” The Death Eater looked at the werewolf’s waiting face and sighed. “The answer is no, we’ll wait for the brat.”
“Who are you calling a brat, old man?” a voice called out before its owner stepped into the clearing.
It felt like something had physically hit her when Pansy saw who it was. All of her breath left her body as she stared at the wizard who had just arrived. Pansy took a breath and felt anger flow in with the fresh air. “Draco Malfoy, just what in Merlin’s name are you doing dealing with people like this?”
“Pansy?” Draco exclaimed as he noticed the two girls for the first time.
“And Luna,” Pansy added in her snootiest voice. Luna laughed beside her.
“What’s going on? Why are you here?” Draco asked.
“They’re going to turn us into monsters on the Dark Tosser’s whim and it’s all your fault,” Pansy answered.
“What?” Draco asked, looking from Pansy to the Death Eaters.
“Don’t just stand there, do something,” Pansy exclaimed.
“Do what? Do you really thing that your boy here can defeat us?” the Death Eater said as he leveled his wand on Draco.
“Of course not,” Pansy replied. She sneered at Draco, displeased by him, “I expect him to die.”
“That’s rather harsh,” Luna said.
“You can’t kill me,” Draco said, sounding frantic, “the Dark Lord’s counting on me. No one else can do this.”
“The Dark Lord managed without kids before,” the Death Eater said.
“But then the Lightning Bolt opened up and Harry Potter started making money off of the younger crowd and the Dark Lord decided that he needed to change strategies,” Luna said, interrupting the impending fight.
“He needs to do some more work. I’m never setting foot in his bar again,” Pansy said.
“Do you think the Lightning Bolt serves werewolves?” the werewolf asked, enjoying the confused looks that they were getting.
“They would serve alcohol to you, but not humans,” Luna answered. “I know the owner and I know that he’s definitely against cannibalism.”
“That implies that I’m still human,” the werewolf replied.
“That’s entirely up to you,” Luna said.
“Enough of this nonsense,” the Death Eater said as he lowered his wand. “Malfoy, make your report, make it quick and then get out.”
“But you still haven’t explained why you have two girls, two pureblood girls, here against their will,” Draco protested.
“They were the first the first two students that we came across; it doesn’t matter what kind of blood they have or who they are,” the Death Eater replied.
“The Dark Lord is experimenting on his followers?” Draco asked, looking stunned and horrified.
“Do you really think he cares about any society? Even the pureblood society?” the werewolf asked, clearly amused as he broke into laughter. “He doesn’t care at all about anyone but himself.”
“Shut up, you,” the Death Eater interrupted. “Malfoy, report.”
“The project is almost done, I just need a little more time to get it connected,” Draco absently said, still staring at Pansy and Luna.
“We were all tools,” Pansy said, knowing that Draco wouldn’t help them. “And now we’re going to die.”
“I’m not allowed to kill you just yet,” the werewolf pointed out.
“I’m going to kill myself at the next opportunity if I’m turned into a werewolf,” Pansy replied.
“Being a werewolf isn’t that bad,” the werewolf protested.
“Speak for yourself,” Pansy said. “I don’t want to be a werewolf and I don’t want to die.”
Out of nowhere, the gytrash bounded into the clearing, making a beeline over to where Pansy and Luna were and showing them with spectral hound kisses. All eyes went to the gytrash, which is why the Death Eater fell to the shouted stunning curse so easily. The Death Eater thudded to the ground and the werewolf backed away as none other than Harry Potter entered the clearing.
Chapter 6
Pansy woke up to angry voices and Luna squeezing her hand. She squeezed Luna’s hand in reply as she opened her eyes, but she didn’t move just yet. She didn’t want to bring attention to herself before she figured out what was going on.
The werewolf was in human form, and he seemed to be the one yelling at the other one. The man who had stunned Pansy and Luna spoke calmly and coldly, seemingly scolding the werewolf. It took a minute before Pansy could pay attention enough to make out actual words, as she finally shook the stunning spell off.
“You were supposed to capture them, not allow them to romp through the woods. How hard could capturing two little girls be?” the cold man asked.
“If I was allowed to hurt them, they wouldn’t have stood a chance,” the werewolf protested. “But I was told not to injure them and, in case you didn’t know, it’s hard to be a werewolf and not hurt someone.”
“All you had to do was herd them over to me and you couldn’t even do that right,” the cold man exclaimed. “The Dark Lord will be displeased.”
“Hey, I agreed to this whole experiment, but that doesn’t mean that I’m willing to let you tear me a new one,” the werewolf growled out. He sniffed and turned his nose up. “I don’t understand why I couldn’t just turn them now instead of back at the graveyard.”
“What part of experimental don’t you get?” the cold man snapped. “There’s no telling what will happen when you turn them and the Alchemist wants to be there when that happens.”
“Feh,” the werewolf snorted before stalking away.
“The idiot is going to get us all killed,” the cold man said to himself before leaving in the opposite direction.
“They are going to turn us into werewolves,” Pansy hissed to Luna as she sat up.
“Experimental werewolves,” Luna added. “I bet the Ministry is behind this.”
“I’m inclined to agree with you only because the only other option is the Dark Lord. Unfortunately, it is the Dark Lord and that means that we’re screwed,” Pansy replied.
“How do you know that it is the Dark Lord? The Ministry could just be using that name as their cover, which would explain why they were fairly against the idea of Voldemort coming back,” Luna said, looking positively cheerful.
“Because those men look like they are working for the Dark Lord and they said that the Dark Lord wouldn’t be pleased. Therefore, the Dark Lord has us and we are screwed.” Pansy scowled and tightened her free hand into a fist. “Don’t they know who I am? Who we are?”
“We aren’t wearing name tags,” Luna pointed out.
“We’re purebloods, even if the Lovegoods have fallen out of favor. We shouldn’t be used as an experiment,” Pansy spat out, being careful to keep her voice low.
“Apparently the Dark Tosser doesn’t agree with you,” the werewolf rumbled from behind them.
Pansy shrieked, pushing into Luna to get away from the werewolf. The werewolf chuckled and circled around them so that he was facing them a short distance away. “Dark Tosser?” Pansy found herself asking.
“Keh, I don’t like the man, but that doesn’t mean that I won’t work with him. Who else will let me play with a couple of girls like you two?” the werewolf asked, a gleam in his eye. “So even though I would love to tear into you now, I’ll wait. After all, it’s only for a few hours.”
“That’s gross,” Pansy informed the werewolf. She then blinked and wished that she could take it back, but the werewolf only chuckled and moved away from them.
“That really didn’t sound right,” Luna agreed after she was sure that the werewolf had lost interest in them.
“I don’t know how we’re going to get out of this,” Pansy said, her eyes scanning the clearing. Even though they were unbound, they really wouldn’t be able to make it very far if they tried running. Plus, their wands had been taken, so they couldn’t try to stand against the two Death Eaters. They really were doomed.
“Don’t worry, we’ll make it out,” Luna comforted. “We’ve made it through this far.”
“Maybe,” Pansy mumbled, not having the heart to pierce Luna’s bubble.
“I’m sure of it,” Luna said.
Pansy nodded her head and there was silence for a few minutes, broken only by Luna’s humming. The werewolf was now on the other side of the clearing, but Pansy couldn’t get his words out of her head.
Pansy shook her head and repeated the words once more. “Dark Tosser?” Normally she would get angry about the disrespect shown to her ‘lord,’ but given how her ‘lord’ just set her up to at best be turned into a monster and at worst to die, she wasn’t going to defend him.
“As I’ve said, yeah, I don’t like the guy, but you don’t have to like a guy to follow him,” the werewolf said as he wandered back to them. He grinned, showing off his sharp teeth. “He gives me all that I want and I give him what he wants.”
“And that is?” Pansy asked, trying to understand it.
“Bar toppers,” Luna answered before the werewolf could say anything. The Ravenclaw was clutching Pansy’s arm, but her voice was as carefree as it always was as she spoke to the werewolf. Pansy’s respect for the girl rose a bit more. Of course, she thought, Loony might just sound like that no matter what.
“What?” the werewolf blinked, set back by Luna’s suggestion.
“You know when you go to a muggle bar and you sit in one of those stools and have a lemonade?” Luna began. Pansy and the werewolf continued to blink at the girl. “Well, on the bar top they have little bowls of peanuts to attract barfish, which are creatures that love salt and they suck out excess liquid from those around it. And then they have the puzzles in another bowl to entertain the bartender when the drunks try to solve the puzzles.
“And what does this have to do with the Dark Lord and this guy?” Pansy asked.
“The werewolf wants the bar nuts to catch fish and the Dark Lord wants the puzzles to entertain himself,” Luna answered as if it were obvious.
Pansy knew that she had spent too much time with Luna when she said, “Then the Dark Lord runs a bar?”
“The Death Eaters can be waiters,” Luna exclaimed, quite taken with the idea.
“Then what would Potter be?” Pansy asked. The idea was so absorbed that she had to ask.
“Harry is an angry customer that they dragged in. Or maybe he’s the Dark Lord’s competitor,” Luna mused.
“He has his own club named Lightning Bolt?” Pansy asked.
“Because of his scar!” Luna clapped her hands in delight. “And he won the property off of the Dark Lord, which is another reason why the Dark Lord is so bitter.”
Pansy and Luna broke into laughter and the werewolf even chuckled in amusement. All laughter was cut off when the actual Death Eater stomped into the clearing. Pansy knew it was a bad idea to continue with the Death Eater there. The werewolf didn’t seem interested in anything but killing them, but she knew that the Death Eater could torture them quite happily and still leave tehm alive for the Dark Lord’s experiments.
“It’s almost time, any sign of the brat yet?” the Death Eater asked.
“No, nothing yet,” the werewolf replied, walking away from the two again. “Want me to go sniff him out?”
“It’s bad enough h that you failed to capture these two in a timely manner, we do not want any search parties finding us.” The Death Eater looked at the werewolf’s waiting face and sighed. “The answer is no, we’ll wait for the brat.”
“Who are you calling a brat, old man?” a voice called out before its owner stepped into the clearing.
It felt like something had physically hit her when Pansy saw who it was. All of her breath left her body as she stared at the wizard who had just arrived. Pansy took a breath and felt anger flow in with the fresh air. “Draco Malfoy, just what in Merlin’s name are you doing dealing with people like this?”
“Pansy?” Draco exclaimed as he noticed the two girls for the first time.
“And Luna,” Pansy added in her snootiest voice. Luna laughed beside her.
“What’s going on? Why are you here?” Draco asked.
“They’re going to turn us into monsters on the Dark Tosser’s whim and it’s all your fault,” Pansy answered.
“What?” Draco asked, looking from Pansy to the Death Eaters.
“Don’t just stand there, do something,” Pansy exclaimed.
“Do what? Do you really thing that your boy here can defeat us?” the Death Eater said as he leveled his wand on Draco.
“Of course not,” Pansy replied. She sneered at Draco, displeased by him, “I expect him to die.”
“That’s rather harsh,” Luna said.
“You can’t kill me,” Draco said, sounding frantic, “the Dark Lord’s counting on me. No one else can do this.”
“The Dark Lord managed without kids before,” the Death Eater said.
“But then the Lightning Bolt opened up and Harry Potter started making money off of the younger crowd and the Dark Lord decided that he needed to change strategies,” Luna said, interrupting the impending fight.
“He needs to do some more work. I’m never setting foot in his bar again,” Pansy said.
“Do you think the Lightning Bolt serves werewolves?” the werewolf asked, enjoying the confused looks that they were getting.
“They would serve alcohol to you, but not humans,” Luna answered. “I know the owner and I know that he’s definitely against cannibalism.”
“That implies that I’m still human,” the werewolf replied.
“That’s entirely up to you,” Luna said.
“Enough of this nonsense,” the Death Eater said as he lowered his wand. “Malfoy, make your report, make it quick and then get out.”
“But you still haven’t explained why you have two girls, two pureblood girls, here against their will,” Draco protested.
“They were the first the first two students that we came across; it doesn’t matter what kind of blood they have or who they are,” the Death Eater replied.
“The Dark Lord is experimenting on his followers?” Draco asked, looking stunned and horrified.
“Do you really think he cares about any society? Even the pureblood society?” the werewolf asked, clearly amused as he broke into laughter. “He doesn’t care at all about anyone but himself.”
“Shut up, you,” the Death Eater interrupted. “Malfoy, report.”
“The project is almost done, I just need a little more time to get it connected,” Draco absently said, still staring at Pansy and Luna.
“We were all tools,” Pansy said, knowing that Draco wouldn’t help them. “And now we’re going to die.”
“I’m not allowed to kill you just yet,” the werewolf pointed out.
“I’m going to kill myself at the next opportunity if I’m turned into a werewolf,” Pansy replied.
“Being a werewolf isn’t that bad,” the werewolf protested.
“Speak for yourself,” Pansy said. “I don’t want to be a werewolf and I don’t want to die.”
Out of nowhere, the gytrash bounded into the clearing, making a beeline over to where Pansy and Luna were and showing them with spectral hound kisses. All eyes went to the gytrash, which is why the Death Eater fell to the shouted stunning curse so easily. The Death Eater thudded to the ground and the werewolf backed away as none other than Harry Potter entered the clearing.
Chapter 6