Post by nadia on Mar 30, 2008 1:55:32 GMT -8
June 30, 2009
She had never been so scared in her life.
Gasping and panting as she struggled to continue running after what seemed like hours, Nadia Jamison clutched her dress to her chest, holding it up above her knees to clear the way for her burning legs. Tears rolled down her red face and a clear film of membranous material rested across the skin between her nose and her upper lip. She blinked as she pushed back a tree limb, stumbling over her own feet and nearly falling forward. She didn't know where she was exactly, just that she was somewhere away from that horrible village, maybe a few miles away.She had never been so scared in her life.
Finally, she reached the tree-lined edge of a clearing and threw herself to her knees against a tree. The roots uncomfortably pushed against her skin, but she didn't care right now. She sobbed loudly, shaking her head. How could she have been so foolish?! She had known about the threats in the wizarding world, and things were already dangerous enough for her as a witch, yet she'd allowed her muggle parents to come in for a meal?! What was she thinking? Oh Merlin, they could be dead because of her! But her father had ordered her to run, and run she had.
How could she have left him and her mother behind, though? What kind of daughter was she? She could have stayed and fought those horrible Death Eaters, for she knew by the looks of them that that was what they were. These people had not been mere terrorists as the Minister Walter Crane had said, and now she wondered about him! But she couldn't deal with that now. She should go back. She had to go back. It had been at least an hour, if not longer since she'd left. She hadn't stopped moving. She had gotten as far away as possible without using uncomfortable long-distance apparition, and it wasn't like they could use a tracking spell on her. They had nothing of hers to use.
Another sob racked her body, but she stifled it midway through. "Get a hold of yourself, Nadia!" she scolded in her mind. "You have to keep your head on straight. They're not going to make it, if you don't. I know you're scared, but you have to go back." Sniffling a little, she dragged the back of her palm across her nose, wiping it distastefully on her dress, though she didn't have the time to dwell on it. She rubbed her eyes and cheeks with her fingers to rid herself of her tears. She was certain her face and nose were red, but what did it matter? Trembling, she pushed herself up.
She clutched the tree with her shaking hands, resting the side of her head against it and closing her eyes, taking a deep breath. "They want you to panic. It's what gives them the edge; it's what gives them control. Calm down." She took a few more deep breaths until finally she felt the majority of the panic attack pass without actually hitting her. She could continue without ending up with one now. She hoped, at least. With one last deep breath, she pushed herself from the tree, looking around before she closed her eyes again and disapparated to the restaurant.
The sight that met her eyes was utter chaos. Bodies littered the floor, presumably of muggle-borns or people who had tried to stand up for them. Wizards and witches raced from cover to cover. The main action had left the restaurant, however, but her father and mother were nowhere to be seen. Part of her was relieved their bodies weren't there when she finished checking, but the other part knew that the worst had yet to come. If they didn't kill them now, then what would they do to them? They didn't even have an ounce of magical ability. They were muggles, plain and simple, not even mudbloods. She had to find them.
Her grip on her wand as she held it was so tight her knuckles were white, and her short nails dug into the palm of her hand almost painfully. "Calm down. You're letting your nerves get to you again." She hated confrontations. The thought of them made her want to run the other way, but her parents were more important than her fear. Suddenly she caught a glimpse of them cowering behind a trash bin, heard her mother yell out, "Please, no! No! NO!"
She heard her father cry out in excruciating pain and cringed, but her gaze hardened on the Death Eater that towered over her parents. "You! Why don't you pick on someone who can defend herself?"
"Get out of here, Nadia!" her mother commanded, but she could not obey. Besides, even if she had wanted to, the Death Eater was already looking her way and casting a spell at her. She quickly cast Protego wordlessly, and the spell deflected away. She whimpered quietly and chewed back her lip as she watched the brick wall break and threw herself out of the way of flying debris as the Death Eater advanced, chuckling, towards her.
"Your mother gives good advice, Nadia. You should have ran while you had the chance."
"And let my parents die?" she scoffed. "Impedimenta!"
The Death Eater easily fended off the spell and returned it with a silent jinx. Soon, she felt her legs turn to jelly and her body hit the ground. "No..." she whispered. "No..."
"That's right, be afraid. Your future's bleak, girl, real bleak. Now," he said, squatting down beside her and grabbing her chin in his gloved hand, what should I do to you,...Nadia?" He chuckled wickedly, and she whimpered, near tears. The man vanished the mask from his face and she cringed, looking away from him.
"No, please, no..." she whispered pleadingly, the fact that her wand lay beside her completely forgotten in the heat of the moment.
"It's what you deserve...stealing magic." He shook his head. "Tsk, tsk."
"I didn't steal it!" she protested with sudden force.
"Leave her alone, you brute!" It was her mother's voice, and Nadia let out a sigh of relief as the man let go of her chin and turned towards her mother. She was fine. She was fine. Everything was going to be alright. Everything was going to be alright. "No, it's not! He's going to kill her!"
Taking a quick breath, Nadia's fingers found her wand and she whispered, "Finite incantatum," and she felt feeling being restored to her legs. Just as the steel-eyed man had reached her mother, who had ran away the moment he'd begun to advance, she pointed her wand and coldly muttered a curse to make the Death Eater's fingers jelly-like so he couldn't grasp his wand. "Run!" she yelled to her mum before pointing her wand back at the Death Eater. "Incarcerus!" The Death Eater soon found himself tied in ropes.
"Get your father out of here, Nadia," Irina Jamison told her daughter. "He's hurt. I can run a little longer until you can come back for me."
"No, mum..." Nadia said, shaking her head. "I can take both of you."
"Nonsense! Your father needs your support. Now, no arguing. Take him. Now!"
Sighing frustratedly, the young woman ran to her father's side. He looked up at her giving her a weak attempt at a reassuring smile. "Mum said to get you out of here," she explained, and taking his arm, she apparated to just outside a hospital, not caring about being spotted right at the moment. She just had to get him somewhere he could get care that was not in the wizarding world.
"Go find her, Lynn," her father said quietly, patting his daughter's hand. "I'll be fine getting myself checked in." She gave him a kiss and apparated back to the alley.
Much to her dismay and relief, the alley was empty when she returned. She ran into the middle of the street, looking around her for any sign of movement before beginning to head towards an alley. Maybe her mum was hiding in one of these places. Thinking she saw movement, she began to jog. "Mum?"
"Sorry, girlie," the woman's sinister voice came from behind her. She turned quickly, her wand pointed towards the masked woman.
"We're not your mother," the elderly yet strong voice of a man came from the alley she had been heading for, and she whipped around. Her chest heaved up and down rapidly, and her eyes were wide to take in everything around her.
"P-please, I-I'm pureblood. I-I left my papers at home. I-I—" Nadia stammered, looking from side to side, expecting some torturous spell to hit her at any moment, but one never came.
"Leave her, Kent," said the man suddenly. "We mustn't keep Williams waiting, must we? I'd say we already did good today, but we'll come back from her after this infernal meeting."
Nadia barely grasped what was being said, but when the Death Eaters disappeared after taking her wand she had enough clarity of mind to get out of there. She wanted to return to the clearing, but she couldn't. Not now, not when her wand was gone. There was no apparating. Man! But she ran. She ran for the nearest store she could think of that had a fireplace. They might be watching the floo network, but who cared? Plenty purebloods would use it today as well. No one would be paying that much attention to one useage. Taking the powder, she flooed to an old friend's house not too far from here, finding the place empty. But she couldn't stay here. If for some reason they'd caught her escape, they'd come looking here.
She walked out of the house and into the street, hitch hiking her way to Dublin, being dropped off just outside the city in a field, and she stumbled towards a rock, sitting down in front of it. Her mother was gone. She'd failed. Her father would know to get out of the country. She had made sure to go over an escape plan with them should something come up where some shady characters came searching for her. Her mum would escape and join him. She had to. But no, it was awful! Who knew what they would do to her? Bringing her knees up to her body and hugging them, she buried her head in them, letting out a single sob, loud and laced with the question, "Why?!"
It was an hour or so before Nadia managed to force herself to move from the spot despite all logic that keeping moving was her best bet for survival. She pushed herself up from the rock and dried her eyes and had no other choice but to use the back of her hand to dry her nose and wipe it against her dress. She managed to walk to the outskirts of Dublin within forty-five minutes, and she had never felt more glad to see a diner in her life. Despite her legs being tired from all the running and walking earlier, she raced inside. She was sure she looked foolish to any who were watching out the window, but people meant safety. Maybe. She wasn't so sure anymore. After all, the presence of several people hadn't stopped the Death Eaters in their pursuit to capture the muggle-borns.
Once inside, Nadia asked a waitress where the bathroom was and went inside to wash up. She cleaned her hands thoroughly and splashed water on her red face and smoothed down her wild hair. For a while after she merely stared at her reflection in the mirror as though looking at a stranger for the first time, but after a few minutes she made her way out of the ladies' room and into the main part of the diner. There wasn't anyone else inside the diner, so she slipped into a booth in a far corner. She folded her hands in front of her on the table before bringing them up to her face and hiding it in them. It was as she sat there numbly that she began to hear voices from the back. They were indistinct, but she did catch a few words here or there that normally wouldn't strike her as odd. But so many cooks back there on a day that obviously wasn't busy? What on earth? She chose to ignore it for now. She was too tired to bolt. If the Death Eaters had found her, let them take her. She had nothing to lose now.
((Alrighty, edited, Jordan.))