Training

She woke the next morning in the same position she had occupied since the previous night. To her great surprise, she felt entirely painless. She had heard stories from the other girls in her House about not being able to sit comfortably for weeks, but she found that she could move her legs without so much as a glimmer of agony.

While she lay staring up at the ceiling, she tried to recall what had transpired before she had ended up in this stone room. She was a sixth year student at Hogwarts: her name was Scarlett Thompson, and she was the apple of nearly every young boy\'s eye. Her grades were practically flawless, and she was a member of the Gryffindor Quidditch team – a Chaser. She had a secret crush on none other than our favorite messy-black-haired wizard, but she would have never admitted it, and she dated enough of the other boys to mask these clandestine emotions.

On the day of the raid, she had been shopping with her mum in Diagon Alley. The Death Eaters had made random attacks on this bustling district before, but it was not enough to discourage most wizards from venturing out, and Mrs. Thompson refused to let \"those pureblooded bastards\" interfere with her Apothecary needs.

No one suspected anything. The sun was shining. It was midday. And then, all of a sudden, fifty men in black robes and covered faces appeared out of nowhere. Women screamed; children darted between stampeding adults; everyone dashed for cover. The Death Eaters seized people at random; some were murdered on the spot; others were taken to Merlin only knows where. Mrs. Thompson grabbed Scarlett\'s hand and pulled her towards the exit – they wouldn\'t be safe until they were outside. But a man in black stopped them and directed them into a nearby shop: the men would visit every store, weed out the Muggle-borns, and then continue on their way.

Scarlett was still fairly unworried, as she was a pureblood. The thought of death revolted her, but she didn\'t believe she would be dying that day. As she and her mother waited in the lobby of Madam Malkin\'s, Mrs. Thompson pressed her daughter\'s hand. Then two Death Eaters entered. They went from wizard to wizard, using a spell which the Dark Lord had created to ascertain whether one\'s blood was \'contaminated.\' Green light erupted frequently; many fell in cold, motionless heaps.

At last, the men arrived before Scarlett and her mother. One of them seemed to gaze at Scarlett for longer than should have been necessary; she could see his steel gray eyes through the slits of his mask. This man turned to his comrade and whispered something into his ear; after a brief discussion, the gray-eyed man turned back to the two women and said harshly:

\"The girl must come with us.\"

Mrs. Thompson let out an anguished scream and began to cry; she instantly clutched Scarlett to her, refusing to let her go, pleading with the men to spare her. But they, of course, paid her no mind. The first man wrenched Scarlett from her mother while the other held Mrs. Thompson back; her screams echoed until Scarlett felt the floor disappear from beneath her feet as she and the man Apparated away.

Scarlett was in such shock that she didn\'t quite know what to think. However, when she found herself in a dim room facing the high back of a sinister looking chair, she began to feel a little bit nervous. The man who had seized her cautiously approached the chair and knelt at its side. She could see a pale hand with long, slender fingers resting on the chair\'s arm.

\"My Lord…\" the Death Eater began.

\"Yes, Lucius,\" the wizard in the chair replied before he could even continue. \"It is a fair request… your services have shown that you deserve this prize.\"

The man bowed even further. \"I live only to serve you, My Lord.\"

The Dark Lord smiled enigmatically, then spun around in his chair to face the terrified girl.

She was face to face with Voldemort. She\'d never known her knees could tremble so much.

\"You have chosen well, Lucius,\" the Dark Lord remarked with a sinister smile. \"You must now return to the Alley and finish our work; I shall see that she is properly transported to your home. But I daresay you shall enjoy her tonight.\"

His merciless laughter filled the room, and as Lucius Apparated back to Diagon Alley, Scarlett felt a jet of white light hit her body, and she abruptly lost consciousness.

So here she was, lying on an emerald green bed without any clothes or company. She very soon grew tired of watching the dust float through the shafts of sunlight which shone through the window.