Chapitre 29: Protected
Scorpius dreamed of the woman again. He had fallen asleep after dinner, as he usually did when he didn't have any visitors. She was sinking through the ground, but he kept her up with him.
"I dragged you up, now you can keep me up here" the woman told him with a smile.
"Who are you?" Scorpius asked her.
"Maybe we can figure that out together?" she replied. "After all, we are both here together. Maybe we need to find ourselves again."
"But how? I know who I am, or who they say I am. But I don't know who you are. But I want to know. Why won't anyone tell me who you are? Not even you?"
"You need to find out for yourself Scorpius." she said. Then she was gone again.
***
Rose studied Barnsby closely over the next few days, following him under the Invisibility Cloak when she was not on duty. She became more and more certain that she was right. Barnsby had placed an Imperius Curse on her and on many of the others. In fact, she believed that everyone in this prison was either under the Imperius Curse or otherwise in Barnsby's control. He and three others were the ones calling the shots in this prison now and while, on the surface, nothing had changed, it was as if a dark gloom had settled over the whole prison. The other prisoners noticed it too. The smallest infraction caused severe punishment, for both guards and prisoners. Rose twice had to witness one of her fellow guards being shamed and humiliated in front of the rest of them. One prisoner got sent to isolation for a relatively minor thing. To make matters worse, a storm was raging, adding to the gloom. The guards that had duty on the roof had to make protective pockets around themselves to avoid being blown away.
The worst part was when she realised that even Thomas was under the Imperius Curse. He was fighting it. She saw him trying to warn her somehow, his face all twitching. That was when she became certain that her theory was correct. She just shook her head, and he looked down. "There is nothing we can do," he seemed to say.
Maybe not, Rose thought. But I can at least find the proof my mother needs to stop this. She still didn't know why the Imperius Curse had failed to work on her. Had she fought it off instinctively? Or had the dream with Scorpius had something to do with it? She had dreamed of him again, but there was always something separating them. Every time they reached each other, he disappeared. It was disturbing her sleep. She wondered if Scorpius shared the same types of dreams.
She'd sent a note to her mother, but she didn't know how to phrase it. She was fairly certain that Barnsby, or one of his cronies, read the outgoing mail. She knew all incoming mail was checked. That was one of her mother's new security measures. Ironic that it now also got used to prevent her from sending vital information. Maybe they should have thought of some other way to relay messages, in an emergency.
She had considered Apparating away and leaving. But she didn't want to just run away. She wanted some definite proof, something her mother could not dismiss. So, she stayed.
Later, she would regret that decision.
It all had to come to a head at some point. That point came earlier than she had expected, only four days after her meeting with Barnsby. She was walking by the Death Eater corridor on her way to lunch and saw Barnsby there, speaking to Avery. It was an openly friendly conversation. It was the final proof she needed. She tried backing out of the corridor, deciding that she had had enough. She would get up to the second floor and Apparate away from here.
Unfortunately, Barnsby noticed her. She did not have the Invisibility Cloak on, as she wasn't there to spy, just walking by. Barnsby knew right away that something was wrong. He ran over to her. She tried to bolt, but he was a lot faster than her. She hadn't even made it out of the corridor before Barnsby caught up to her. He took her wand as he restrained her against the wall.
"And where are you off to in such a hurry Kevin? Did you remember somewhere you needed to be?" Rose simply shook her head. She didn't trust herself to speak. Panic started to rise. She shouldn't have tried to run. "No, that's right." Barnsby said in a demanding voice. "You need to stay here. Remember I told you that I might need you to do something for me? Well, it is time now. I need you to help me escort some of these people out of here. Can you do that?"
Rose hesitated. It was something she had hoped to witness, to be able to prevent. But this could quickly become dangerous. But what else could she do but play along?
"Where're they going?" she asked with a dazed voice, hoping for a miracle.
"That is not your concern. All that needs to concern you is that I wish it done. Do you understand?"
"He's not going to do it" Lestrange's voice came from behind them. "He's not controlled at all. If that is the best you can do, Barnsby, you're even worse at this than I thought."
"He is the sole holdout," Barnsby snapped at him. "I got this covered." Just as he said that, however, Thomas showed up at the other end of the corridor. At first, he didn't register anything of his surroundings, just started doing his rounds as usual. Barnsby froze. Rose used the opportunity to try and wrench herself away from him. That movement got Thomas' attention. At first, he only glanced at them, not really looking. Then he looked again. And slowly, it was as if life returned to his eyes. He took a step back and drew his wand.
Rose never saw it coming. A sudden rush of green light came from behind her. The next moment, Thomas was on the floor, blank eyes staring up towards the ceiling. He was dead.
Rose screamed and threw herself down on the floor beside Thomas. It could not be true. Her eyes must be mistaken! The next moment, she heard the sound of cell doors being opened and chains clattering to the floor. A massive rush of people moved around her. Someone lifted her up. Two someone's. She started kicking and screaming at them.
"What do we do with him?" one of the Death Eaters asked. "We can't leave him behind."
"Kill him. One more body should not matter at the moment" Avery said.
"No. Explaining one dead guard will be hard enough. Take him with you. He can be disposed of later. But don't leave him here." Barnsby said.
"I agree." Lestrange said. "Besides, someone needs to be the one that helped us escape this time." He looked at Rose with a malicious grin. She gulped. What had she gotten herself into now?
The last thought she had before all went black was Scorpius. She hoped he would recover even if she wasn't there to greet him when he was ready.
État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone