Cruel

Their arrival at the ministry didn’t go unnoticed, what with Eric carrying a dead girl in his arms and Greyback with two unconscious men on his shoulders. Plus, Amelia had never been a fan of quiet entrances.

So the second they landed she quickly started talking loudly to Scabior, a wild laugh escaping her lips as everyone turned to look at them and then parted away to let them pass. Amelia noticed that Scabior had a smirk on his face, as usual, and the woman bit her lip, fighting the urge to jump and kiss him instead of making their way towards Umbridge’s office.

Amelia just wanted to dump the damn bodies, get her money and then go take a long and well earned shower. There wasn’t much else that she could think of as she trudged her way through the hallways. She felt on top of the world, forgetting about the incident earlier and returning to herself. She winked at the men she passed, smirking when she saw them stop and stare at her as she went by. She also found it exceptionally funny when women either glared at her or walked away very quickly from her. Yes, she felt like herself again…and she enjoyed it thoroughly.

Looking over at Scabior, she saw that he was enjoying himself as well…except he kept exchanging a few looks with some people that seemed quite odd. Amelia decided that she would question him about it some other time.

That’s when she really started to think, though. What was going to happen? Was she going to join Scabior in every snatching from now on? What was going to happen with their ‘relationship, if they could even call it that? Amelia had no answers to these questions, and it worried her a bit, especially since her feelings for Scabior were growing…which scared her quite a lot. She didn’t like being vulnerable like that, and she especially didn’t like being vulnerable with Scabior- he was completely unpredictable.

Scabior’s tug on her hand interrupted her thoughts and she blinked, looking around and realizing everyone had stopped moving. He smirked at her, shaking his head in amusement as Amelia glared at him playfully. They had stopped in front of Umbridge’s door, and the woman noticed that the creepy rolling eye that had been stuck in her door was now gone and a gaping hole replaced it. Amelia was confused, but dismissed it as Oliver knocked on the door and it was quickly open by a man that she didn’t recognize. She decided not to question this as the group entered, filling the small office.

Amelia tried not to gag, as she did every time she was stuck in that place. Pink everything covered every inch of the room, filled with pictures of cats, frilly napkins and small boxes that had absolutely no use. It was disgusting.

“Oh, why hello there! Wonderful to see you again!” Umbridge exclaimed, rising from the chair behind her desk. Amelia noticed, though, that the words were tinted with impatience and anger. The woman immediately thought of the missing eye but said nothing, not wanting to stay there any longer than she needed to.

“I’ll go now, Umbridge. We’ll talk later.” the unknown man said stiffly, making his way through the group and out of the office. They remained silent until the door was fully closed, and then Eric and Greyback threw their loads to the ground.

“One dead, two unconscious.” Scabior simply said, unzipping his leather jacket so a black shirt could be seen. Umbridge smiled and Amelia couldn’t help but think of a crocodile while the older woman looked at them. Her gaze stopped at Amelia and the woman thought she saw surprise and something else that she couldn’t quite identify in her eyes, but she didn’t have time to think about it anymore as she moved her gaze to the bodies on the ground.

“Good, good. Three less filthy mudbloods to chase.” Umbridge said, still smiling as she sat back down in her chair and pushed a button on her desk. Moments later three men arrived and took the bodies, hitting the two men with another spell since they were starting to stir. They all stayed silent until they were all gone, and then Scabior turned back to Umbridge.

“That’ll be 500 galleons, thank you.” he said and Amelia realized that he wanted to leave as much as she did.

“Of course.” the toad-like woman replied, opening one of her drawers and extracting a large bag that seemed quite heavy. “Here you go. Now, I have things to take care of, if you’ll excuse me.”
Amelia turned around, starting to follow the men out of the door but was stopped by Umbridge’s next sentence.

“Amelia, could you please stay for a few moments. I need to speak to you.” The woman nodded, stepping once again inside the wretched room, wandering what the old bat could possibly want from her.

“Privately.” Umbridge added and Amelia realized that Scabior had stopped also and was waiting for her. She turned around and gave him a small smile. He got her message and walked away, but not before giving her a confused look.

“Yes?” the snatcher asked Umbridge, silently tapping her foot on the ground in a nervous manner. She did not like the sound of this and Amelia wanted more than ever to get the hell out of this place.
“I hadn’t realized that you were now working with Scabior and his gang, Amelia. I’m very concerned with this.”

Amelia didn’t understand what Umbridge was saying. It was allowed for Snatchers to help each other out- as long as they brought in Mudbloods, the Ministry didn’t give a damn. “What do you mean?”

“I mean,” Umbridge said, smiling at her, her voice was far too sweet. “that Scabior isn’t good news for you. He’ll manipulate you, use you for his biding. Whatever he might say or do, he does not care about you. He’ll only keep you around so that you can help him snatch more people so that he can make more money. I highly suggest that you stay away from him, Amelia, or something bad might happen. I just don’t want to see you get hurt, dear.”

The young snatcher tried not to glare at the Umbridge, knowing that she was the closest thing to a boss she had. Amelia couldn’t help the loathing from entering her heart, though. She had disliked Umbridge before…but it was nothing compared to what she felt now.

She had understood the hidden meaning in the message. ‘Stay away from Scabior, catch more mudbloods, or we’ll find a way to hurt you.’

“Thank you for your concern, Umbridge. You are right; I think it would be best if I stayed away from Scabior.”

The older woman smiled at her, again, and Amelia resisted the urge to go and punch the smile off her face.

“It was nice seeing you, Amelia. I’m glad you are listening to my advice. I’m looking forward to your next visit.” Umbridge replied, and Amelia knew she was dismissed to go.

While she was walking towards the exit of the ministry, Amelia figured out two things.

One: she would work on her own from now on.

Two: even though she didn’t really believe what Umbridge had said, she was going to figure out how Scabior actually felt about her.