Since the meeting with the Dark Lord, Fletcher had been expecting a run in with Bellatrix. He was sure the woman would be eager to punish him, even though their Lord and master had done so at the meeting. It had stung to be tortured, but not as much as it hurt to be told how worthless he was. He needed to prove himself to the man he served. He could be damned useful! His ability to alter people’s minds had the potential to be absolutely devastating. If only the man would trust him.

This had weighed heavily on his mind even as he went about his daily life. He was determined to keep doing all that he could to serve his Lord, and he wanted to prove himself to Bella as well. Was it so much to ask for her to give him a bit of attention? Was it so terrible of him to appreciate her beauty? Fletch didn’t think so, but apparently it was in her mind, and in the mind of his Lord. That was a problem.

Saturday morning had the man getting ready for a busy and important day. As he was allowed to be seen in public, he decided it would be best to pass himself off as if he was supposed to be in Hogsmeade. Since his sister attended the school, he could easily explain his presence with a visit with her.

The man apparated to the village clad in pewter grey robes with his Ministry badge pinned to the front. It was often easier to get what he wanted when he wore the official crest on his breast. After fetching a steaming cup of coffee from the local pub, where he noticed a certain black haired boy glaring at the blonde who he was supposed to meet with later that day, Fletch had worked his way to the book shop where he picked up a tome that covered ways of manipulating the human mind. It would look like a typical purchase for an Obliviator- after all, he needed to be careful with his work. However, Fletcher intended to use the book to improve his abilities to serve his Lord.

With the new purchase and beverage in hand, he paced to the Shack where he would meet the young Malfoy. Sitting on the bench that was meant for people to observe the landmark, the man opened the book and began to read. The boy would show up with Fletch’s target soon enough. For the time being, he could get some work done. No need to waste his precious time.

Skyler allowed Draco to lead her from the shop and towards wherever they were to meet with whoever they were to meet. His hand felt strong and oddly supportive wrapped around her own, and the brunette couldn't resist giving it a squeeze as they silently made their way. She wanted to ask about this shack he referred to, but kept herself from voicing her question in favor of trying to sort herself out before they got to their destination.

Her mind and emotions were a jumbled mess, pulling her in different directions. Skyler was afraid, nervous, angry, and felt like she had no control over her own life anymore. She didn't enjoy feeling this way, and it made her anger heighten. The brunette knew she needed to calm down, and focused on her breathing, evening it out into a steady rhythm. Skyler did her best to pull herself together because she knew that soon her and Draco would part, and it wouldn't be easy for either of them.

Chancing a glance at him, she saw the blonde's eyes narrow and followed his gaze to rest her own purple one on the form of a man dressed in robes sitting upon a bench with a book open in his lap. This, she supposed, was the man they were meeting, and despite her fear she was intrigued. Was Draco's reaction simply because the man was here to take her? Or was there more to it?

Suddenly, Skyler came to a halt, pulling her boyfriend to one too. There was no way to know what was going to happen after they parted, and that scared her more than anything, but the brunette was happy that Draco would not need to be there with her. She wanted him as far from danger as possible, which seemed ridiculous given who they both were. She poured all of this into the kiss she pulled him into, not caring if this was the wrong time to demonstrate her passion for the blonde boy or not. It was just something she needed to do, and when she pulled away breathless, she didn't need to say the words to know they were written on her face. Nodding to show she were ready to walk into whatever it was she ended up in, the brunette schooled her face into a stony mask again, closing off her emotions and doing her best to smother her fear with anger, changing her focus back to the wizard who was her to retrieve her.

The kiss had Draco completely distracted for a moment, as he poured his heart and soul into the exchange. He loved this girl, no matter what happened, and he would stand by her through anything. He just wished there was more he could do to help her through whatever was going to happen when she left him. The boy was at least glad to note that his ‘master’ hadn’t sent one of the more horrid Death Eaters, such as Bellatrix or one of the Carrows. They were always terrible to deal with. At least this man was less likely to physically harm his little snake.

On the other hand, the Obliviator could screw with her mind, and that frightened Draco. Though he was sure the Dark Lord wanted to have Skyler in her right mind when he spoke with her, Draco couldn’t be positive that her return trip would be so safe. He couldn’t do anything to stop that, however, and so he clung to her, devouring her lips so that he would always remember how they felt, how she tasted.

He groaned when she pulled away, whimpering slightly at the loss of contact. Barely able to resist the urge to pull her back to him and never let go, Draco instead let his lips linger near her ear and whispered in what he hoped was a reassuring tone. ”Remember, little snake, just think of me. I’ll be your strength. I’ll get you through this. Whatever happens, I’m with you.”

Draco knew she was a strong girl. He knew she could handle this. And he could, too. His grey eyes flashed to the Death Eater who was leisurely reading some book, and he sneered in disgust. He took Skyler’s hand and pulled her along, approaching the dark man as his head turned toward them. Those eyes were somewhat terrifying, and chilled Draco’s blood.

”LeBeau,” he sneered. He didn’t want this encounter to last any longer than it had to, so he moved his hand to the small of Sky’s back, urging her to move forward and go with the Death Eater. ”I’ll be waiting for her return, so you know. One hair out of place and I won’t hesitate to kill you.” His eyes promised this was no lie. Draco meant what he said. He would kill the man before him if he hurt Sky in any way, even if it meant dying himself.

Dog-earring his page, Fletcher set down the book beside him on the bench. A smile graced his lips as his eyes found those of the blonde boy he awaited. It was a bit later than he expected the students, but he had gotten a lot of research done, so it hadn’t been a wasted day. The weather wasn’t too bad either. All in all, this wasn’t a half bad mission. He barked out a bit of laughter at the boy’s words, shaking his head in disgust.

“Oh, little Malfoy. You are a foolish brat, aren’t you?” he hissed, still smiling at the pair. He reached out a hand in offering to the girl. “Come along then, little girl. The Dark Lord is waiting for you, and you wouldn’t want to upset him.” His eyes glowed with malice at the thought, and he continued smiling dangerously at the blonde brat. “And don’t you think about following. You know He doesn’t want you there, and you know it would just give reason to punish both you and your little… girlfriend.”

There was a knowing glint in his gaze that made it obvious that the secret bond between the two students had remained anything but that. The Death Eaters knew how close the Malfoy heir had become with the girl, and Fletch was sure it would bother the boy to know it. “Well, we’d best be off then, eh Miss Riddle?” He wiggled his fingers at her, coaxing her to take his hand so that he might apparate them to their proper destination.

Keeping her purple eyes pinned on the man before her, Skyler could only nod silently to Draco's somewhat reassuring words. Knowing it would be nearly impossible to pull completely away from him should she glance back, Skyler didn't allow herself that fleeting look. If she had, the brunette might have seen the sneer her boyfriend graced the man called Lebeau with, which in turn might have kept her from looking the man up and down in a sort of morbid fascination.

She had to wonder what would draw someone to the wizard she were about to meet. This man didn't look too old, and he was fairly handsome in a rugged sort of way. But he seemed...cold. That was the best Skyler could describe it as and maybe that was why he chose the Dark Lord.

With the man holding his hand out toward her, and Draco pushing her forward, it was hard to not feel a new stab of anger. The brunette did not like to be forced into things. Sky knew there was no way out of this, but that did not mean she was going to lay down and roll over, as they say. She did have her pride, after all.

Gritting her teeth against the onslaught of colorful words she would have loved to let loose, the teen bristled at being referred to as little by both males. She shed all of her fear at that point, letting her anger take hold of her.  Purple eyes narrowed as she strutted forward with her head held high, tempted to throw a kick at the wizard where it would hurt. Skyler nearly followed through with that action, but stopped herself at the last moment.

Instead, she tilted her head a bit and smiled sweetly at the wizard. Too sweetly. "And why should I be scared if we're late? It's you're job to get us there at a certain time, not mine. I'm willing to bet that if He does get angry, you would be the one to pay for it and not me." Skyler dropped the sweet look for her patented Riddle smirk, a cunning gleam in her violet eyes.

She lost her patience when he made his threat to Draco's well being, and sent the man an icy glare. "Let's go." She snapped with venom, dropping her hand into the wizard's and hoping to survive the rest of what was awaiting for her.

Skyler had to admit that her body had not quite been up to apparition, even if it was side-along. It seemed to drain her of what little energy she had left, and despite her best efforts, she found herself clinging to the wizard who was fast becoming known as the Dark Alford's dog in her mind. But this was all much less worrying than the dark one's parting words.

She hadn't had any time to express her doubt of the things he said regarding Draco, but she had certainly worked up quite a rage because of them. One that didn't dissipate even after she ran out of the energy to keep it fueled. Her mind was wheeling so much from just that last bit of words shared that, combined with the after effects of the crucios, her body nearly collapsed when her feet suddenly slammed into the ground, signaling their arrival back to the village.

Whether it was smart or not, the brunette quickly pushed the wizard away from her with a disgusted look on her face, her stomach roiling as her lunch threatened to come back up. It seemed all the residual pain she had been forcing herself to hide while in the Dark Lord's presence was hitting with a vengeance, and as she stumbled away from the man, the teen didn't have a chance to even see if Draco really had stayed and waiting before she was doubled over, succumbing to the sickness.


OOC: Permission to double post from Salazar.

Draco had paced for a long time after Sky and the Death Eater had disappeared. He ran a hand through his hair so many times it was now stuck up at odd angles, but he didn’t much care about his appearance. He was so worried about his girlfriend that he couldn’t stay still, even as he tried to sit on the bench that LeBeau had occupied before their arrival.

He wasn’t sure how long it lasted, but Draco had managed to pace a ditch into the path by the time he heard the tell-tale crack of apparation and saw his rather pale girlfriend nearly fall to the ground. His rage was immediate, as was his concern, even as he heard the threats from the Death Eater. Something about his task and a warning to stay away from Sky. Like that was going to happen.

The older man was gone in an instant, and Draco found himself rushing to Skyler’s side, holding her hair back while she emptied her stomach and muttering about how it would all be okay soon. ”Get it out, love,” he said softly, not worrying about hiding the term of affection. He felt like he’d failed her in so many ways, and it was breaking him with each shake of her shoulders. Tears were silently trailing down his cheeks as he looked upon his broken girlfriend, and a new determination to find some way out of the servitude he’d signed up for flared in his very soul.

”I’m here. I’m right here. I won’t let anything else happen to you. I’ll never let him hurt you again.” The blonde was determined to never let her go to that man again if he could help it, though he feared he wouldn’t be able to keep her safe. He felt so worthless. He’d failed her this time and most likely would fail her again. ”We need to get you back to the castle. You need to rest,” he mumbled, trying to figure out how to pull himself together enough to get her back to the dungeons and her warm bed. All he could focus on was the fact that he was, yet again, failing her. She deserved so much better.

Her mind immediately felt at ease when she heard Draco's soothing voice, his concern apparent as she emptied her stomach of the lunch they had had but a few hours before. Though it did nothing to help her stomach, it kept her mind from running in the circles it had been long enough to focus on anything but the meeting she had just come from.

Once everything in her stomach had come back out, the brunette vanished the mess immediately, not wanting to worry the blonde over the blood she had spit up along with her lunch. Sky was sure she probably cracked a rib or something but didn't think this was the time to bring attention to it, since Draco sounded worried enough as it was. She casted a cleaning charm on her mouth for the time being until she could get back to the castle to brush her teeth properly and took a moment to get her breathing back under control and to calm her still churning stomach.

When she was sure it was was relatively safe, the teen straightened out of her doubled up position and gave the boy a rueful grin. "That definitely tasted better going down." She commented, trying to lighten the mood and too tired in all honesty to be embarrassed of puking in front of him. It wasn't like she had much warning.

Seeing him now though, with the clear worry and concern etched onto his aristocratic face, Skyler did the only thing she could think of and that was to throw herself at him, wrapping her arms around his neck and burying her face in his chest. Never before had she been so terrified, and now that she were back she wanted to be the one place that made her feel safe lately and that was in his arms.

She didn't cry, too tired for that. She simply clung to him in need and closed her eyes with her head against his chest, listening to his heart and allowing the steady beat to calm her some. The brunette nodded to his words of returning to the castle but made no attempts to move. "I think I've found a way out for you." She mumbled into his shirt instead.