Final Trap, Final Hunt [Adeline]

[Deleted]

Theo marched through the musty, darkened rooms of the old mansion.

He had to admit, it was more than a little clever of the Purifiers to have chosen the Riddles’ old house in Little Hangleton as a base. Apparently, it had been tracked down by a few of the more clever members of the group. It was owned, but not lived in, and there were too many stories around the place. The muggles avoided it, and the owners had never shown up—and if they ever did, they would be killed or mind controlled, of that he had no doubt. It was brilliant, a place that few in the Ministry even knew about, none of which would expect to find proud purebloods hiding out at.

Granted, this wasn’t the main base for the Purifiers, but it was still quite useful, and suited their needs once they had modified the place. This was his first time being here, and Theo was quite impressed with the setup. Outwardly, nothing appeared to be out of the ordinary, and the Muggle Repelling Charm was hardly even needed to keep their approach to the back door unseen. Inwardly, it was a thriving location. This was likely going to be used as a fallback or triage location, somewhere for the Purifiers to lick their wounds if they couldn’t risk trying to get back to Indigo.

It was also, it seemed, quite a good place to detain and interrogate prisoners, from what he’d been told. Apparently, the Purifiers had gotten hold of a couple of people who would allow Elaine to draw out Claire Slater, somehow, and he had been brought in to interrogate them. Theo had initially been incensed that such a thing would be asked of him. He was no torturer. He was a warrior. But then he’d been told who had been captured, and he’d relented. Theo suspected that Elaine wanted to confirm his loyalty through this, to settle once and for all that he was on her side. Not that it mattered to him—he’d been clear with her from the start, and she had failed to uphold her end of the bargain. Of course, that was the other side of the situation—if he failed to do what was necessary, he was stuck in a house with no allies and several dozen enemies.

Either way, her last trap would answer her question. Because if Theo hurt or killed Adeline Shacklebolt, Abigail would never forgive him. And Elaine suspected what even Desirae didn’t—that Theo cared for Abigail.

Sometimes she actually reminded him why she was in charge of this outfit. Nobody else in the Purifiers could keep up with him.

Theo nodded at his escort, who opened the last door, into a gloomy, dimly-lit room on the third floor. He silently squeezed a small white ball in the pocket of his sweeping black robes, sending out a signal.

Even knowing she was here, it took him a lot of effort not to react at the sight of Adeline Shacklebolt, tied to a chair. She wasn’t Abby. But Abby would hate this.

And Theo found that what Abby tried to protect…was what he tried to protect.

With the two guards already in the room, plus the one behind him that was following him in and closing the door, Theo weighed his options, barely registering the person tied up in the other chair.

But outwardly, he smirked, cold and unfeeling. “Hello, Little Twin.”

@adeline

[Deleted]

Adeline didn’t know how long she had been in the room, tied to the chair, her hands bound behind her. A day, several days, a week? The days had blurred together with the shuttered windows barring any light from entering the room, and Addie was feeling her sanity slowly slip away. But every time she closed her eyes, she vividly remembered the moment she was taken. She had just finished a letter to her friend Lysander, recommending some Greek mythology stories she thought he’d be interested in reading. She was walking outside, enjoying the unusually warm January day. She closed her eyes and tilted her head towards the sun, just for a moment. And when she opened her eyes again, she saw nothing but darkness. The hand flew over her mouth before the scream could leave her voice box and she felt her consciousness slip away. When she had come to, she found herself bound to a chair with several other prisoners in the room; two men and another woman about ten or so years older than her. At first she had struggled with her bindings, but she quickly found out that the more she struggled the tighter the bindings became, until they were so painful that her wrists throbbed and the feeling left her hands. Twice a day, someone, always wearing an elaborate Venetian masque, would come in, loosen the bindings so she could eat and drink some water, before being bound up again and left alone. Sometimes they would take one of the other prisoners with her; Adeline couldn’t get rid of the screams she could hear from down the hall. They return hours later in an almost catatonic state, refusing to speak of what had become of them. She was terrified, frightened that the next time the person entered the room it would be her turn to head down the hall and what would befall her there.

Adeline knew of course why she had been targeted; it wasn’t a very well kept secret that her twin Abigail Shacklebolt had been present and involved in the death of Desirae Rousseau. It wouldn’t have been a secret either that Addie herself was rather vulnerable as she struggled to overcome her addiction to Nerve Calming Potion; those records were in St Mungos and Addie would not be surprised if Elaine had someone on the inside obtaining these records for her. As she looked over to the weather-beaten woman, she recognized her as one of the Healers in the ward she had frequented immediately after her kidnappings. The woman hadn’t spoken once since Adeline’s arrival; she wondered how long she had been there, and what had been done to her.

Addie’s head snapped back towards the door as she watched the door open. To her surprise, this person wasn’t masked, and even more it was someone she recognized; Theodorus Nott. Her expression hardened and for a moment she forgot what the bindings would do to her if she struggled. She winced in pain, but she would not give him the satisfaction of crying out loud, not in front of him. “Does Abigail know you’re here to talk to her twin, or is that the part of your life you keep hidden from your love?” she managed to spit out at him, her eyes aglow with hatred for the man standing in front of her. When Abby found out that Theo was involved with this, she’d never forgive him, and then Theo could be gone from their lives forever.

@theodorus

[Elaine Lyra Dupree]

One of the prisoners lifted her head as the boy entered, her face dirty and tired. She nudged the body next to her, but the third person didn’t speak, just looked at her silently. Her eyes were wide with fear, and the first prisoner offered her a small smile. She turned her head back towards the Shacklebolt twin, Adeline and gave her a reassuring smile. “You’ll live through this,” she whispered softly, then broke free of her rope shackles. It was easy enough; the ropes tying down this particular prisoner weren’t actually ropes, just an illusion of them. She wiped her hands as if that would help to rid them of the dirt, then smiled at Theodorus. “I’m not surprised you don’t recognize me Theodorus,” she said, her voice haughty as she raised a hand to her face. Her visage began to change, ripple and distort. Soon a shorter, darker haired girl stood in front of them.

Elaine.

“Well, I must say it was rather boring waiting for you to show up, listening to this one whine,” she said, casually jerking her head back towards Adeline, who whimpered softly. “Luckily I thought to bind the other one with a silencing curse so she couldn’t speak. Little dear was getting a bit mouthy to the guards and I just simply couldn’t tolerate it. That was before our special guest here was brought in with the group though.” She leaned down and grasped the chin of the silent prisoner, who stared up at her determinedly. She smirked and let her go roughly. “Do you recognize our other guest, Nott?” she asked the blonde boy, her voice dripping with sweet acidity. With a snap of her fingers, three more guards entered the the room, totalling them to six; two stood side by side with Theo, in case he tried something stupid. “I wondered…” she mused, pursing her lips together. “The two of you are so close with our other guest here, how you didn’t recognize her is just simply beyond me.” Elaine looked first at Theo, then Adeline; the latters eyes were widening with horror and she began to shake her head frantically. “Oh it looks like she recognizes her other half,” she said softly. Reaching out towards the third prisonor, Elaine muttered a few words under her breath and the glamour began to fade; the girls hair shot upwards towards her skull and through the grime some freckles popped out. “I believe you know Miss Abigail Shacklebolt, Mr. Nott?” Elaine said silkily, pulling out her wand from within her sleeve. She had mastered wandless magic at this point of course, but sometimes it was more fun watching the power come out of the dark wooden stick she possessed.

“Crucio.” Abigails' eyes widened, but she did not scream.  Good, the more she fought the more fun Elaine could have.  How long would she have until the brave little lion broke she wondered. She released the girl from her curse, and a stream of curse words sputtered from Abigails’ mouth. “Silence!” she cried sharply, whipping her wand violently. A streak, and a long cut across Abigails face appeared. Though she fell silent again, she could feel Abigails' eyes burning with hateful rage into her back. Elaine glanced over at Theodorus. “You didn’t really think I wouldn’t find out did you? That you were feeding the Ministry information about myself, about Desirae? That it was you that ultimately led this little trollop here to assist in her demise?” Elaine’s eyes were flashing angrily at this point, but her voice remained level. She moved closer to Theo and grabbed his arm, her nails piercing into his flesh. Theo was a trained soldier, he would never outwardly make any sign he was in pain, but Elaine could simply hope. She reached down quick as lightning and grabbed his wand, pulling it away and snapping it easily. “I want you to know that Desirae’s life will not have been taken in vain. A life for a life after all. And now you get to watch me kill your little Abigail in front of you.”

Elaine turned back, and once again Abigail Shacklebolt refused to scream; instead  her twin screamed for her. Begging for Elaine to spare her, that she'd do anything to make it stop.  The sounds only fueled Elaine more. “I want you to beg for mercy, beg for death. Do you remember watching Desirae die? Did she beg you to kill her, did you give her a chance?” she called out, intensifying the pain. She wanted to hear it; the scream that would be the last thing Abigail would ever utter.  "You will scream Abigail, only then can you die!" she yelled.  What happened next, even Elaine had not expected. She was knocked to the side, two of her guards throwing themselves to protect her as Theo snapped the neck of a third guard and began to race towards Abigail, a new wand in hand. He killed two more guards easily, the ease only a trained assassin could have. Before Elaine could act, he reached Abigail. Holding her close to his body, he whispered something, then the flash of green light said it all. Abigails eyes looked right at her, unseeing and lifeless. “AVADA KEDAVRA” she raged; the jet of green light encompassing the room with double the power and rendering everyone blind.

As the light faded, Theodorus Nott was slumped upon his girlfriend's body, as dead as she was. Elaine was breathing heavily; she was not positive, but she had a gut feeling Theo had turned his wand on himself at the same time Elaines’ curse had left her wand. Still, what she had come to do in the end was done, two birds killed with one stone. She had to admit, she didn’t think that Theo would have had the stomach to kill his little girlfriend; she supposed he loved her after all. How pathetic. Now at least the Ministry didn’t have its little bird flitting in and out of the Purifiers business; Elaine needed to make sure they knew that.

Slowly, she walked towards Adeline, who had gone catatonic in the state of what had transpired in the past few minutes. As she walked, she stooped down and snatched off the locket of one of her guards; she didn’t know whose photo was on the inside but it didnt matter as the images burned up as she tapped her wand to it. “Portus,” she said softly, and glowed briefly before returning to normal. She stuffed the locket in Adelines hand, then crouched down to be eye level with the surviving twin. “I want you to take back a message for me Adeline,” she began softly, reaching out and tracing the side of the girls’ face with a long fingernail. The girl was the same age as she, but Elaine felt so much further away, so much older and wiser than this excuse of a human being in front of her. “Tell the Mudblood Minister that Elaine Dupree will be coming for her. And if she is fool enough not to believe you, tell her to come here to the Riddle House. She’ll find all the proof she needs.” She let go as the Porkey glowed, sending Adeline back to the Ministry, specifically her own office. Imagining the look on the girls’ superiors faces put another smirk to Elaine’s face. She doubted Adeline would be able to speak much the next few hours, if not days.

With a sigh, Elaine looked around. Just the one thing left to do. She past by the bodies of Theo and Abigail, and the three guards he had taken down in the quest to save his love from a more torturous fate. Wherever they were now, Elaine hoped they’d stick around to see what happened next. Motioning to her remaining three guard, they left the room; Elaine sucked down a vial of Polyjuice Potion and became Shannon McCafferty, the Healer nurse that she had finally broken the will of just last week. Just in time it would seem. She left the house and turned around, looking at the vast manor that once housed one of the poshest Muggle families. Lord Voldemort had used it as a hideout, but with his nearly twenty-five year absence in death, Elaine doubted he would mind this grand finale. She raised her wand and sighed.

“Bombarda Maxima,” she said, her voice soft and whispering, barely audible over the grand explosions that began tearing the Riddle House apart. The noises were loud, and soon the Muggle Fire Brigade would be rushing over, but Elaine was already gone with her followers. They would label it a gas explosion, as so many unexplained explosions were written off as, and though it would be the talk of the town for some time, Elaine knew that most of them would feel relief that the sign of the Manor was wiped from visual memory. Only the Ministry would know what really happened, and identify the bodies that lay inside the rubble now. As she arrived back to her true home alone, Elaine couldn’t help but smile to herself a little. This was certainly an act that the Ministry would not forget anytime soon. The security that was already to a maximum would be beefed up even more; the world would become more paranoid, more panicked, wondering what on earth Elaine Dupree was going to do next time. Elaine could promise them there would be a next time, they could be sure of that.

They just wouldn’t ever see her coming.


FIN


ooc: goodbye to @theodorus and Abigail, and to the Riddle House