Ron Weasley woke up only to find himself in the grips of a splitting headache. Opening his eyes a little, he saw dust and darkness all around him. He groaned and closed his eyes yet again, massaging his temples.
–Still in the hell-hole,†he muttered.
The memories of the last time he was awake were starting to creep back slowly.
–Was it last night or is it still night?†he wondered.
He had no idea of time in this place. The last thing that he remembered clearly was finding Hermione in Hogsmeade. He remembered hearing a noise and then blond flashes and then darkness…
The next time he had been conscious was something that he couldn’t remember fully and neither did he want to. He still ached all over from the multitude of Cruciatus Curses the hooded figure had inflicted upon him. (He was sure it was Bellatrix Lestrange given her penchant for torture). Strangely, his ankles pained him the most.
Gathering every ounce of will-power he possessed, he coaxed his eyes open and squinted in the dark. After his eyes got accustomed to the dark atmosphere, he tried to sit up but found that he had difficulties in moving his legs. Fear gripped him but on looking at his legs, he instantly sighed with relief.
He discovered that the extreme pain in his ankles was due to the fact that he was shackled with chains attached to the floor. The heavy metal was biting into his flesh painfully and he could feel the beginnings of a slight numbness in his legs. He shook his head to regulate his blood circulation and almost immediately felt better when feeling returned in his legs. He flexed his toes and looked around to inspect the place.
The room was small, about 8x10 feet, with a single door opposite him well outside his reach. The door had no handles, no bolts, or anything whatsoever, that could open it from the inside. Not surprisingly, he did not have his wand on him.
The room had a great height. He could hardly discern a small window located at the topmost corner from where slivers of light were falling. But disappointingly, these did not reach him. Apart from this, there was nothing else in the room except for a tattered old blanket and a broken jug.
Suddenly the room was flooded with light and he had to blink several times to register this sudden assault on his eyes. A hooded figure was standing at the door. The person entered the room and to Ron’s immense surprise, put a plate of food next to him. It turned to leave but sensing his apprehension, it spoke in a hoarse voice, –Eat it. It’s not poisoned.â€
Ron was startled. He had recognized the voice to be that of Narcissa Malfoy.
But, before he could even process the situation, she was gone and he was once again plunged into darkness.
Ron was confused. The food he had been given was surprisingly good and as soon as he had completed it, the plate had vanished on its own accord. He hadn’t intended on eating, but there was something in the way Narcissa Malfoy sounded that assured him of its edibility.
Satisfied, he started to think.
Contrary to popular belief, Ron wasn’t stupid. He had deduced that if they were feeding him, they weren’t planning to kill him in the near future. Then there remained only one thing they would want: information.
Everyone in the wizarding world, especially Voldemort and his Death Eaters knew what Ron and Hermione meant to Harry. Everyone knew that whatever Harry knew, was bound to reach them both too.
Ron was sure that his abduction was for the same reason. They would torture him for information about the Order. They would use every method they would have to before he would submit to their assaults and tell them anything that they wanted to hear. They would use him to the fullest and then discard him.
But what they didn’t know was that Ron Weasley wasn’t so easy to break. He resolved to not let out even a word of what he knew. He had been gaining Occulumency training as were the other Order members and had become quite good at it. As for Veritaserum, they would have to ask the right questions to obtain the right answers and Dumbledore had taken care of that.
Professor Snape had, on his command, concocted a potion to dilute the effects of Veritaserum. The potion needed to be taken only once in a lifetime. When taken, it forbade the drinker from letting out the darkest of secrets until they were asked the question set as password called the ‘Breaker’. Ron was confident that they would never guess his Breaker. It was something no one in the world except him and Dumbledore knew.
All the Order members had been administered that potion long ago and the effects had been tested to generate positive results.
–Dumbledore was really a genius,†Ron grinned at the thought.
Besides, he knew that he would be missed. Harry and Hermione were sure to notice his absence, as would their other classmates and friends and not to forget his family. They would inform the Order and soon Ron would be the subject of a massive man-hunt.
It was all just a matter of time.
Meanwhile, he would try to escape as well, trying to make it easier for them to find him. He was sure that advanced magic had been used in the place. He could feel its vibes. The forces were so strong that they were subduing his magic. All his non-verbal spells hadn’t worked. Even the magical aura around each wizard that kept them strong seemed to be ebbing away slowly.
He needed to escape fast. Who knew how much time it would take them to find him?
This was his last thought before he drifted away.
Little did he know that he wasn’t being missed as this possibility had already been taken care of by his captors.
Harry Potter and the Sinister Plot by weasley-malfoy-aficionado
Chapter Notes:DISCLAIMER: I own nothing but the plot of this story. Everything else is JKR's property.
Chapter Endnotes: Please read and review.