Break

Break - Chapter 7

Madness. That's what the whole thing's been, prisoners always go a bit mad, it's the way of things. Soon they'll be free, and he can take Penelope away from this place, and he'll never have to think about Flint and how the flash of dark, insane desire in Flint's eye makes his knees give. He'll be the Minister, father Penny's children, and everything will be fine.

He strokes her cheek as though to affirm her existence, as though she'll shatter into a waking dream at a single touch. She looks back at him, eyes half-closed and soft, and he tries a smile. She smiles back, surprised, and he's back to fifth year again, an awkward shy bookish boy caught in the light of an angel's smile.

"So, Minister Weasley," she says.

He'd never admit, but she likely knows how much of a thrill those two words together give him. "Yes?"

"Will you have any room in your busy political life for a clever Mudblood?"

"More than enough."

She laughs, though it's stilted. It feels wrong, uncomfortable, to take joy in this terrible thing, this deal with the Devil.

There's the sudden whip-crack of Apparation, and Percy pulls Penelope closer, not really wanting to see what's awaiting him.

"Very sweet, really, I should have known." Zabini.

Percy stares up at him. "What are you doing here."

"That's a good question. That's a really fucking good question. I don't know. Well, do you want out or not?" Zabini paces, agitated, and quickly casts an Imperturbable Charm on the room.

Penelope pulls away from Percy. "Out. You can get us out?"

"I don't know how long it'll take for them to notice I'm here, it depends on that, but yes, I can try." Zabini offers Penelope a hand up, and she accepts automatically.

"I thought you were - " She directs her gaze to the inside of Zabini's left arm, where his sleeve is bunched up over the Dark Mark.

"I am," he says, "complicated, don't ask. It's within my interests to ruin this little plan of Flint's."

Percy stands, more stable than ever before in this prison. "You saved Harry."

"Within my interests." Zabini shrugs.

"Who do you work for?"

Zabini groans. "Why does it matter? I'm getting you out of here. Come on, Weasley, we're going."

Percy sends Penelope a worried look. "Penelope's coming with."

Zabini makes a sound of disgust. "I only brought one wand with me. I honestly thought they would've killed her." He withdraws a wand from his pocket and tosses it to Percy. "Unless you can Disapparate the both of you, the girl stays."

"Go," Penelope says firmly, before Percy can get an indignant response out.

"Penny!" he manages.

She grabs his shoulder to calm him, then presses close to him; he puts his arms around her, not wanting to let her go now that he has her again. She pushes herself away, before giving in once more to kiss him. She puts a finger to his lips once she pulls away, murmuring, "Go."

Percy pushes the wand into her hand. "I'll survive here."

"Are you joking?" she asks, disgusted, dropping the wand as though it's something abhorrent. "Don't you try that on me, Percival, both you and I know that you'll do anything to survive - don't you lie to me."

He stares at her, dumbfounded, as he can find no words. She's right. He does love her, but he can live without her.

He is a wretched being.

"Pen - "

"Make up your fucking mind!" Zabini snaps, edging on hysterical. "You think I have all day?"

"I'll come back for you," he says, but it feels like such a lie, despite that he feels it, he really does. But he doesn't have a good record with this sort of thing.

For a moment, her cool facade breaks. "Don't forget me," she pleads, "don't leave me again."

"I won't," he swears. "I won't."

She kisses him again, desperately, fervently as if trying to leave him with a lasting memory of her. If possible, he feels even worse.

Zabini Disapparates. Percy quickly follows.

--------------------

They end up in the parlor of a musty old mansion; Zabini lounges onto a settee, and Percy attempts to get his bearings. "What now?" he finally says.

"What do free men do?" Zabini asks him, irony sharp in his voice.

"I'm not free, they'll, they'll catch me if I go out there," Percy protests.

"Relax, Weasley. Just wait. There's not much we can do quite yet."

"We're going to get Penelope out of there," and it's half a question, half a demand.

"Eventually? I guess."

"No. We have to get her out of there."

Zabini sits up. "Fuck, Weasley, this is a war, there are more important things on the line than your little Mudblooded girlfriend."

"If she dies," Percy says heatedly, "if anything happens to her because you want to wait, you're getting it twicefold."

Zabini says nothing to that, staring reflectively at the curtained window. "Do you want to hide, or do you want to fight?"

Percy starts. "How can I fight, they're - "

"Answer the question."

"I - I don't know." He's never been much of a fighter, but... his family, Penny...

"The resistance damn well better thank me," Zabini drawls. "Losing you is a distraction that they can exploit."

"The resistance is still going?"

"Enough to be an annoyance, but not enough to win."

Percy pauses, then sits, and it finally occurs to him. "Where are we?"

Zabini laughs. "Zabini Manor. Grandad's place. All the way out in Wiltshire, hardly anyone knows it's here. We lived in London, I hate it out here, but it's better than the alternative."

"So we're safe here."

"Safer than we would be in London, though that doesn't say much. Anyway, you never answered my question. Fight or flight?"

"I can't exactly fight," Percy admits.

"...Fight is the wrong word. I'd say 'resist' is closer."

"Are you part of it?"

"Why, would you join up for the extra quality time?" Zabini asks dryly. "I'm not part of anything."

"You have the Mark," Percy points out.

"That doesn't mean anything. I don't work for anyone, and I don't regret anything I've done."

"Of course," Percy says skeptically. He can't imagine a life like that.

"Just because you're guilt-ridden doesn't mean the rest of us have to be." Zabini rolls his eyes.

"Voldemort owns you," Percy counters. "You can't ignore that Mark on your arm."

"We aren't talking about me right now. I know what I'm doing, you don't. Stop changing the subject."

"Am I hitting a weak spot?"

"Fuck off. I'm going to contact the resistance. If you want food, I have some left in the kitchen." Zabini Disapparates.

Percy sinks back into the chair, and tries not to think about that parting kiss, and he knows he should have stayed. Penelope would have escaped, he could have stayed and made the noble sacrifice of his morals and then his life, but...

He is a wretched being.

The truth has not, and will not set him free.