A Different Side of Evil by Raesive

As soon as he read about the Muggle-born Registry Dean Thomas knew he had to run for it. He wasn’t a coward -Gryffindors just simply weren’t- but he was smart enough to know that something wasn’t right with it. Moving from place to place was difficult. Dean had to rely on stolen food and newspapers to survive. He had been running for almost two whole months before he had his first encounter with Death Eaters.

Dean strolled down the street of a small Muggle town, making sure to blend in as much as possible. Reaching the local bakery, he peered in the window and sniffed the air appreciatively. Glancing around, he slowly drew his wand from his sleeve and walked into the shop. He ordered two loaves of French bread, and a jar of preserves. When the girl at the counter told him the total he surreptitiously cast a memory charm on her so that she would think that he had already paid. He picked up his “purchase” and she waved him out the door.

He was just past the edge of town when he noticed two figures following him, one of which was holding a wand. A blast of green light hit one of the loaves and it turned to crumbs. He dropped the bundles and ran through the woods, dodging low hanging branches and jumping over exposed roots. The rustling and shouting behind him seemed to be fading away. He ducked behind a large, gnarled and moss-covered oak tree and panted heavily.

“Gotcha!” a high-pitched voice triumphantly shrieked.

Dean jerked around and looked up into the maniacally grinning the face of Bellatrix LeStrange, who was clutching his arm with a pale, bony hand. He struggled, and using a muggle defense move that he learned a few summers ago, flipped Bella around and onto the ground. The few seconds that she lay there stunned, gave Dean a chance to whip out his wand and cast the first spell to enter his mind – rictuspempra. Then he disapparated.

*****

Bellatrix lay on the ground gasping for the breath that was knocked out of her. The next thing she knew she was feeling a strange sensation all over her body. It was something she had not felt in a long time. She writhed on the ground trying to resist an urge that she believed was impossible for her to feel anymore. She barely heard the “pop” of Dean’s apparition before she let herself go and began giggling madly, clutching her stomach. She laughed and laughed in a purer way than she could remember doing since she had joined the Death Eater ranks. Her sides hurt and she began to tire. The spell fatigued her so much that she fell unconscious, oblivious to Yaxley coming out of the trees and apparating her away.

*****

Dean felt the crushing sensation of apparition fade away. He was now standing on a rocky cliff overlooking crashing waves of the North Sea. He fell to his knees and hugged himself wishing that he could go back to how things used to be. Until he could safely live in the world again he knew he had to keep running and running. He cast a few protective spells then wrapped his cloak around himself and went to sleep pondering how a woman like Bellatrix could actually possess such an innocent laugh.