Chapter 24: Digging
"James? James, can you hear me?" Scorpius asked in desperation as he worked to get the ropes and gag off. He didn't dare remove them by magic, in case Dawson or someone else came to check on them. Not that anyone had bothered checking on him so far, after Dawson had come down and gloated. Who was he really? What was his endgame here? None of this made any sense.
James finally made a sound. He looked up wide-eyed as Scorpius tried to remove the gag. When they worked together, they were at least able to lower it so he could talk. And breathe properly, or at least as properly as he could being tied up like he was. Scorpius tried to find a sharp rock, a stick, anything to help get the ropes off. But no, there was nothing. Sam had made sure there was nothing here to use for escaping.
"I… I barely recognised you." James panted. "Where are we?"
"In a deep hole on an island somewhere. I have no idea where that is, only that it is not normally inhabited. Does anyone know you are gone?"
"I don't know. I was going to Knockturn Alley to look for you and heard about your very public arrest. Dad thought that was strange, so he, Rose and Al are investigating at least. But I didn't get so far as to reconvene with them, so I don't know what they have found."
Scorpius' heart sank. So, Rose hadn't found any of his notes? He had hoped Dawson hadn't found all of them. He wondered how long it would be before Dawson faked his death. But what would he do about James?
"Come on, we need to get these ropes off, before you lose circulation completely." Scorpius made a cut on some of the ropes with his wand, making it look like they frayed them off instead of removing them by magic. It took longer, but it wasn't like they were in a hurry.
"Who is behind this? What are they after?" James asked when he was finally free and massaged his wrists to get the circulation going in them again.
"I honestly don't know. I was lured here by a person I thought was the Auror Dawson. It turns out, someone is pretending to be him, with Polyjuice Potion. I don't know who they really are, and they won't say what their goal is."
"Wonderful. So, in essence, we are no closer to figuring this all out than we were when we started. What do you think the chances are for Dad and the others to find us?"
"A little less than zero. I doubt the person claiming to be Dawson would just tell them where we are, even if they are caught."
"Great. I never thought I would find myself in a black hole like this again. But I should have known. Things were finally starting to look up for me, so of course it couldn't last."
Scorpius wanted to protest this pessimistic look on life, but he didn't have any counter arguments. They really were stuck here until something changed.
"Do you still have a wand? Or anything in your pockets at all?" James rummaged through what little clothing he had been left with and shook his head.
"Well, I have a wand, for all the good it will do. I can't dig up to the top of the island without burying the both of us in the dirt, plus, there is no shelter there, so they will probably see us, if we surface anywhere."
He explained all the other things he had tried to do as well.
"How about digging side-ways?" James asked.
"What would that accomplish?"
"I don't know. But maybe we will eventually hit a cellar for one of the buildings or something. If we dig slightly upwards, we may also get to the top eventually."
Scorpius hadn't thought about that, but it was worth a try. At the least, it could help them find a rock or something to use as a weapon. With how deep the hole was, there was very little chance of them ever reaching the top. That would take weeks. But they had nothing better to do. And it would give them a purpose, a goal. That might be the most important part of all, though Scorpius didn't say that to James. He conjured two shovels from the air, gave one of them to James, chose a direction and started digging. James soon joined him.
***
Marietta was a strange woman, Sam thought as the day passed. She hadn't said a word to Sam or done anything other than sit in the guardhouse and stare out into the air. Sam didn't want to disturb her, but Dawson had been very clear.
"Mrs… Ms Edgecombe? It's time to feed the prisoners. Dawson said that only you were allowed to do that." he said in a low voice.
Marietta stood up and pointed to the table. Did she want him to show her what to do? Why didn't she say anything?
"We make the food up here, then you give them food through this tube, so you don't need to look at them…" Sam went on explaining as he prepared the food. With Marietta looking over his shoulder like that, he didn't dare try to leave a message or try to communicate with the prisoners in any way. She would surely report him to Dawson, that was why she was here. He really should have realised that this was not a test. Malfoy had even tried to tell him that. He was such an idiot.
Marietta took the food as he finished it and sent it down the hole he indicated. Then she just went back inside the house without saying a word to him.
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