Relinquished

Relinquished, Chapter Eight
By ArrA.

There was a popping noise and Katie found herself standing on an old, deserted, dirt road. Looking around she saw Marcus but that wasn't what made her jump back. Standing behind them was Jaymes and Osbourne. Katie found herself let out a small scream seeing the two standing there and Marcus turned to glare at them.

"Marcus," Jaymes, acknowledging them. "We're all in the boat now, so calm down."

Looking to the man beside her, Katie realized that Marcus was furious. His back was slightly hunched over and he was practically snarling at Jaymes and Osbourne.

"Really? Well that was your choice, now wasn't it? Really fucked yourselves over this time, did you, Lestrange?"

This time Jaymes was the one to snarl, rushing towards Marcus and trying to punch the large man despite her better judgment. Marcus roughly pushed her away, and she collided into Osbourne who had stepped in her path to catch her. But Marcus had pushed her so hard that both Deatheaters ended up tumbling to the ground with a mighty thump.

Quickly Jaymes untangled herself and rose to her feet, brushing the dirt off her robes. Osbourne on the other hand was not so quick to rise. The fall had caused the wind to be knocked out of him, and now he lay, sprawled on the ground, trying to regain his breath. But Jaymes ignored him.

"Fine Flint, I agree, Avery and myself are not in the best position right now. I think we have two choices. One is to run. And two is to capture you two and take you back to Lord Voldemort, so I guess you're going to have to be kinder or the next time you wake you might find yourself in a jail cell."

Marcus laughed bitterly. "I'd like to see you try, Lestrange."

"Oh, she's very capable of trying," Avery muttered from the ground, slowly rising to his feet. "Now, first off, I think you tell exactly who Miss Johnson really is."

Katie looked at Marcus worriedly, and grabbed his arm without thinking.

Looked back at her with an irritable look on his face and turned back to Jaymes and Osbourne. "I don't think that's any of your business," he said in a dangerously low voice.

Jaymes laughed softly at this. "Really? Well the fact that you won't tell us her real identity brings us to one conclusion, right Avery?" she asked and Osbourne nodded his head in agreement. "She's a mudblood, isn't she?"

"You bitch!" Katie found herself screaming at the other girl, "You have no right to call me such dirty names like that!"

"Calm down!" Marcus hissed towards her and then to Jaymes he said, "She's right though, you have no right to call her a Mudblood."

"But she is," Jaymes replied loftily, "isn't she."

"Yes, I am. I'm half-blooded and proud of it," Katie glared.

"Aw, so you finally admit it."

"Yes, but at least I know who my father is."

"Shut up Mudblood," Jaymes hissed and took a step towards Katie.

Katie clenched her fists into balls and took a step forward but Marcus was there to push her back. "Stop this; both of you."

Both girls glared at Marcus but backed up. "Fine Flint," Jaymes muttered darkly, "but you're going to have to explain," she said, pointing at Katie.

"Fine," Katie muttered, glaring at the other girl. "My name's Katie Bell, I was in Gryffindor at Hogwarts."

Osbourne nodded his head, obviously her name meant something. "Gryffindor Chaser with Angelina if I remember correctly. Sometimes I would go to her family's for supper and she would talk on and on about Quidditch and her team. Of course your name came up."

"I'm flattered," Katie said sarcastically. "Now, that being settled, what are we going to do? Stand here all day?"

Marcus shook his head. "I'm not sure. Any ideas Lestrange? Avery?"

"My Grandfather has an old hunting lodge in Devin. No one would be there and no one except my family knows about it, actually I'm not supposed to know about it but when I was younger my grandfather took me there several times before he died," Osbourne replied.

Marcus looked thoughtful for a moment before replying, "I believe that we should take Katie back to the Ministry, get her out of danger and go on from there."

Katie shook her head. "If you take me back, you're bound to get caught! They'll give you the kiss you know. All of you," she added, looking nervously at Jaymes and Osbourne.

"We'll leave you in Diagon Alley," replied Marcus, "and then disapparate."

"Good," muttered Jaymes, because I don't want to get caught just because of a mudblood.

Katie glared at her and Osbourne elbowed the other girl in the ribs and shook his head. "What your mouth, Jaymes," he whispered as he looked nervously at the other two.

"It's not really fair to leave the three of you in danger," Katie protested, looking solely at Marcus who shook his head hard.

"No, this isn't your fight, Bell. I, at least, have made my decision. The two will just have to live with their mistakes."

"Whatever, Flint," Jaymes said irritably. "But I think we should start moving. Deatheaters might be here before we know it."

"Where they deatheaters, or Ministry wizards?" asked Katie suddenly.

Marcus shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know. They looked like Deatheaters to me. But anyways, they were drawn by the unforgivable curse... speaking of that," he hissed, his voice changing suddenly, "why are you not cursed anymore Avery?"

Avery laughed softly. "After I graduated from Hogwarts I spent two years at Durmstrang studying the Dark Arts as well as defense spells. One of the defenses I learned was how to beat the Imperio curse. You see, the whole time I was aware of what was happening, I just waited till the best moment and then I over powered the spell."

"One day you'll have to teach me that trick," Marcus muttered.

Osbourne nodded, most of past rivalry between the two men was disappearing fast, Katie noticed. If only she could stick around and see how it progressed.

"I think we should start moving," Jaymes said, looking at only the two men. "We should walk a little way before apparating. That way, hopefully they won't be able to follow us."

Everyone agreed and soon they were walking down the dirt world. They had started out in the middle of farmlands that had been long untended and dead but eventually they came to woodlands and soon they were walking in its shade. After an hour and a half of walking with close to no talking, Marcus announced it was time to apparate to Diagon Alley. Katie looked hesitant, really not wanting to leave the small party but Marcus grabbed her arm as the others took out their wands. He had told her earlier that when they got to Diagon Alley he would return to her wand and Katie was itching to lay her fingers on it.

Osbourne apparated first, giving off a large pop and then Marcus and Katie followed. They appeared in Diagon Alley in dirty robes and tired faces but the wizards in the street just quickly past by them, not giving them the time again. A moment later there was another pop and Jaymes was standing beside them, bringing the group to four for the last time, Katie thought sadly.

"Stay here," Marcus whispered to Jaymes and Osbourne, "and if I'm not back in half an hour proceed to the lodge."

Both nodded in agreement and Marcus grabbed Katie by the arm and they shuffled through the crowd.

Pulling their hoods up, they passed carefully through the Leaky Cauldron. Katie was relieved that her face was covered because she saw a few Gryffindors in the tavern and although she was glad to see them alive, she didn't want them to notice her with a Deatheater.

Leaving the Leaky Cauldron and making their way into the Muggle World, Marcus walked to the nearest phone booth in pushed her in, handing her wand as well. "Dial 6, 2, 4, 4, 2," he told her quietly before closing the door and taking a step back.

Carefully she lifted up the receiver and started to dial the number. Just before the last number she looked towards Marcus who was standing on the pavement watching her contently. He lifted a hand and waved and Katie waved as well, a tear sliding down her face. She reached towards the last number and carefully pressed the two.

Suddenly the bottom of the phone booth was moving and suddenly she was moving down in a surprisingly fast motion. She got one quick, final look at Marcus before she was taken into the depths of the Ministry.

* * *

Marcus could hardly believe he was crying. He could hardly believe that the Gryffindor had affected him so much that he had started to cry.

Stiffly, almost like a robot, he started to walk back towards the Leaky Cauldron. He didn't realize that he's being watched by many wizards in the grey robes of Ministry Aurors.

Casually he walked back the way he came, stopping at the wall that would admit him back into the Leaky Cauldron; he pulled the hood of his cloak over his head, shading his eyes. Then he tapped that certain brick and entered.

Apon entering the grey robed Aurors rushed forward and pushed him towards the ground, pointing wands at him and ridding him of his. He tried to struggle and regain his freedom but soon he felt himself be restrained and bonded to the floor.

Around him the Leaky Cauldron was going crazy and many wizards were gathering around to see what was happening.

Glancing up he saw Angelina Johnson in the crowd, standing with the Weasley Twins and Alicia Spinnet. Each one of them looked down on him with hate and he vaguely wondered what they think of the relationship that had developed between himself and Katie during the last few weeks of her captivity.

But he didn't get anymore time to think about it, because he heard the word, "Stupelify," uttered and the world went black.

Author's Notes

Ok, I know, that was sort of mean but I was going to end it with Katie entering the Ministry which would have been even worse. Anyways, this by no means the end! There is definitely more to come, so keep reading and reviewing.

Very many thanks to my reviewers.

Embrace- Ya, I really like Grandpa Ed and you’ll be seeing him in later chapters. I agree, people shouldn’t except Marcus and Katie to get together over night. It takes a while but they will be together eventually (I know the chapter but I’m not telling!! ;) ).

Zee Zee- I’m glad that you’ve gotten into M/K! We’re always looking for more shippers to join our community. Ya, I have a few fics at FF.net. My username there is Sara-Wackadoo.

Burco- I’m glad you liked the chapter and I’m sorry about the cliff hanger. Unfortunately it’s a habit I have a hard trouble getting out of…

emalfoy-Ya, Marcus’ mum’s a deatheater and so were the rest of the women in the hall but Marcus’ mum obviously cares for her son’s well being and happiness more than the Dark Lord’s, so she helped him out and betrayed Voldemort slightly in the process.

Magdellin- I’m glad you liked the cliff hanger. As for spelling mistakes, well I used to have a lot more before I got a spell checker. I’m aware that I don’t catch some of them, but I’ve never really been good at spelling and I find that sometimes beta-readers take out some my personal style of my writing.

Another thanks to those who reviewed and don't forget to review again.

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