Rose hadn't dreamed about Scorpius last night, for the first time since that first very vivid dream where she dragged him up from the abyss. Her whole body still ached from the pain it had received last night. She felt she understood why Albus had seemed to be so cheerful in that prison cell. Things couldn't get much worse, so she focused on the positive. At least no one else needed to share in her pain this time. As hopeless as everything was, at least she could avoid that. For now, anyway. Okay, things could get worse, but there wasn't much she could do about it either way. Focus on the positive. Don't break down, don't let them win.
The door was locked, but she heard faint voices from the deck above her. Someone was displeased about something. She didn't know whether she was glad that not everything went the way the Death Eaters wanted or not. On one hand, she didn't want them to get away and any inconvenience they faced made the chances of them escaping without detection less. On the other hand, she didn't want to spend any more time than necessary stuck on this boat with them. She wondered if anyone would bother giving her any food. Then she wondered if she dared to eat anything they gave her. Someone had left a bucket where she could relieve herself. Well, she had spent the last two weeks using a boy's bathroom, she supposed a bucket was better than nothing.
Just as she finished with the bucket, the door opened. She quickly let her robes fall down. No need to show any part of her that would give them ideas. In the doorway was a person she had not seen before. It was not one of the Death Eaters she had interacted with, nor could she remember seeing him in Azkaban. He seemed almost scared. Was he scared of her, or them?
He took the bucket with trembling hands and left a sandwich on a tray. Who was this man? He seemed to be even younger than her, just a boy. Was he a prisoner too? What had they told him about her? She took the sandwich. The boy left a jug of water, then carefully backed away from her. What was going on here?
"What's your name?" she tried to ask. But he jumped back scared at the sound of her voice. He was out of the door before she could try to say anything else. She sighed. She tried to hear if any of the sounds from above were voices she recognised. She was almost relieved when she heard Lestrange's silky voice, the one he used when he was angry or annoyed. At least she had not suddenly been transferred to some other ship while she slept. But what was going on? The boy had left the door slightly ajar. She heard Crabbe cursing and Lestrange arguing with someone who spoke only broken English. Something was wrong. Her natural curiosity made her want to find out what it was. Something about the engines? Maybe it wasn't part of the plan that they weren't moving forward. That would leave her stranded on a boat in the middle of the sea with grumpy, bored Dark Wizards. That was not a good place to be.
She heard many details before someone remembered to close the door. The engines were broken. The unknown person was a Muggle mechanic sent in from Norway to fix it. The boy seemed to be some sort of helper. She didn't know if the mechanic knew who they were helping. There was no fear in their voices, so she suspected they did not know who they were dealing with.
Then she overheard another conversation. Clearly, not everyone saw things the same way Lestrange did.
"… Why do we only torture her? She is totally in our power, why do we hold ourselves back?" She thought the voice belonged to Avery. It was Goyle that replied.
"She's a married woman."
"Since when does that matter?"
"She was married in front of the Dark Lord."
"No, she wasn't. It wasn't really him and you know it. I was the one leading that ceremony. And she was married to a traitor."
"Lestrange says it counts anyway. Besides, do you really want to assault her here? On this little boat, with no privacy? No, I agree that Lestrange's insistence about honouring that oath is stupid, but I wouldn't bother challenging him on it just yet. Wait until we are back on land. Everything will be easier then."
Avery grumbled but agreed. That conversation gave Rose some hope. Her worst fear was that some of the Death Eaters would take the torture to the next level, but maybe she wouldn't have to worry about that. Not at the moment anyway. But why did Lestrange insist that the other leave her alone? If he really wanted her to beg, he could probably make her do so. He probably wanted to do that himself, but in private.
She had no doubt that her situation would change once they were back on land. But on land, there was a chance that she would be rescued as well. For now, she would take the few strains of hope she could find.
Later in the day, she suddenly heard the roar of the engines. Soon they were moving again. At first, she felt relieved. She didn't want to stay here any longer than necessary. Then she heard more commotion. Someone screamed. The boy that had come to feed her! She got to her feet, though she didn't know what she thought she could do. The boy had stopped screaming. She heard two splashes, as if they threw stones in the sea. She punched the barred door. Then she felt sick. What had she expected? Of course, they would remove any obstacle. Lestrange had said so himself. She punched the wall again. There was nothing she could do.
A few hours later, Lestrange came into the cabin again. Rose pretended to be asleep, but he made a loud noise emit from his wand. She jumped up, looking over at him.
"I was beginning to think you had abandoned me."
"Why would you think that?"
"The first thing I see when I wake up is an unfamiliar face looking at me like I am the worst monster in the world. Who does he think I am? I thought for a moment you had swapped boats and had made someone else take care of me."
"Oh, don't worry about that. I am not in the habit of selling people. The young man you saw was told that since he wasn't useful in fixing the engine, he could be useful in other ways. So, I sent him down here to give you food and empty the bucket. He thinks you are a dangerous convict, a murderer, and that is why it was so important that we got the engines fixed, not just moved to another boat, as his father suggested."
"Well, it sounds like you got the engine working again. So, will you keep sending the poor boy down here to be terrified?" She wondered if he would bother denying killing them.
"No. No need for that anymore. He is disposed of. So is his father."
Rose pretended to be surprised. "So, what will you do if the engines fail again?"
"Sail. But I don't think they will fail. The Muggle gave us a quick course in mechanics, and it is easy to keep all the systems going with magic. Unfortunately, he saw us use magic, so we had no choice but to eliminate him."
Rose snorted. "You could just have modified his memory. I don't think you ever planned on letting them leave."
Lestrange grinned at her. "You think you're clever. Don't push your luck. There are many on that deck that would still like to kill you. Today's fun made some of them want more, but most agree that you should live. For now."
"Why? You seem so sure that you will never be found, why keep me? As you said, I am a liability." She didn't know why she challenged him like this. It was a dangerous game and could easily lead to her being killed or tortured, or worse. But she wanted to know as much as possible, so that she could explain what had happened when the rescue came. And it would come. She was sure of it. Her mother would not abandon her. But how long? Would her mother consider a sea operation? It would be hard to sneak up on a boat. No, she would probably wait for them to reach land somewhere. Rose just hoped they found her before they reached some sort of hideout, where her situation could only get worse.
"Because it is easier to keep them focused when they have a physical representation of their hate. Right now, you are their motivation to keep working. You are the price that we must protect. If we kill you now, we are not in a hurry to get anywhere. Besides…" and here he leaned over close to her cell. "I haven't heard any pleading yet." The evil in his eyes almost made Rose whimper again. She tried to control herself, but it was impossible to keep fear out of her voice. "I will not beg you for anything. No matter what you do." And with that statement, she spat him in the face. He roared at her, hitting her hard on the cheek. Then came the Cruciatus Curse again.
"Hey, did you start without us, Lestrange? That's not fair." Some others said from the door. Lestrange put his wand up. "Just teaching the girl some respect," he said in the same ice-cold voice. "We'll have time for more later."
There were 5 different Death Eaters that came to her cell later that day. One of them was the man that had been sent to try to kill Draco and had evaded capture for a week. Her mother was right, he didn't look in his right mind. She gave them plenty of screams. They laughed and jeered at her, and she screamed and cried. But she did not beg. She never begged them to stop, never pleaded with them. That would be the thing she held unto. She would not beg.
That night, Scorpius came into her dreams again. He was a comfort, though they didn't speak.