I'm sorry for the wait! Thank you for your alerts and comments, I hope you continue to enjoy the story. The next chapter will hopefully be up a little quicker.

CHAPTER FOUR

Harry missed Dudley. That was the conclusion he'd reached after waking up from one of his nightmares and returning to his current situation. He would have loved to have his cousin there making fun of him talking in his sleep, just to have a conversation with someone. The constant fear and frustration and mainly boredom had finally worn him out and made him reach a conscious coma. He was distantly aware of where he was but at the same time absolutely did not care. As Lucius Malfoy opened the door, he had to slam the door shut behind him to get Harry's attention.

"I hope you're enjoying your stay at my home", said Lucius with the most infuriating smile. He was almost jittery with excitement, informing Harry exactly of why he was here. "Time to go."

Harry rose from the mattress, his legs shaking, only partly from lying around all day. He tried to steady his suddenly rapid breathing and wipe his clammy hands on his legs without Lucius noticing it. His mind was racing, running through options as they entered the hall.

Lucius' hold on his wand was loose and as he was looking the other way, Harry decided to take his chance. With all the strenght he had, he crashed into Lucius's side, making him lose his balance and stagger towards the wall. Harry leaped for the wand still in the mans's hand, but Lucius managed to regain his standing in time and shoved him back.

"Get off me!" bellowed Lucius, aiming his wand at his prisoner's heart.

"Lucius!" For once Harry was glad to hear Snape's voice. He was standing on the stairs, regardind the scene. Harry had completely forgotten about him working as a spy for Dumbledore again, of course he would be here. A tiny spark of hope ignited in his chest.

"He managed to get your wand?" sneered Snape in his most malicious, condescending tone that Harry had had the pleasure to listen to multiple times. Harry took sick pleasure in Lucius' long face. It was much more fun when it wasn't directed at him.

"He took me by surprise", gnarled Lucius. "But he'll pay for it."

"We're not to harm him. That's the Dark Lord's job", replied Snape. "You go on ahead, I'll make sure the teenager doesn't trip you on the stairs."

Lucius stormed off.

"That was incredibly stupid", hissed Snape once Lucius was out of earshot. Harry caught Snape leering at his dishevelled appearance and was reminded of why his presence made him physically sick.

"There are about fifteen Death Eaters in this house. You really think you're going to break your way out alone even if you had his wand?"

"I'm going to die anyway", muttered Harry. "Might as well go down fighting."

"That's the exact reckless attitude that's sure to get you killed", snapped Snape.

Harry frowned at Snape. "And what do you care if I die?"

Snape didn't reply. They walked up in strained silence, and ended up in a big room with dark purple walls and an obnoxious, giant crystal chandelier that perfectly fit the rest of the extravagant decor of the manor. But it wasn't the interior design that stopped him in his tracks as Snape hadn't been kidding; there were at least fifteen people sitting around the ornate table. He guessed it was the inner circle meeting, as many of the people present had been there for Voldemort's return party. And at the end of the table sat Voldemort. Harry had been expecting it, but it still made his blood run cold in his veins to stare into the red slits that were the man's eyes.

"Welcome, Harry", greeted Voldemort, seemingly as close to gloating as the Dark Lord could get. He was tapping his fingers on the table in a lazy rhytm. He nodded at Snape. "Severus. You made it."

"My Lord", greeted Snape, making a small bow. "I heard commotion downstairs and decided to investigate. I'm sorry if I'm late."

"No, no, you're just in time. I am positively surprised, considering you've been missing so many."

The gripping tone caught Harry's attention and saw a rare glimpse of dread in Snape. He wished the malice he felt for Snape's situation would have drowned his own terror. He hid his trembling hands behind his back, trying to keep his head up.

"Maybe you're wondering why you're still alive."

Harry didn't comment; Voldemort raised his eyebrows and made the slightest move towards his robes, luckily Harry noticed. "I did wonder", he said through gritted teeth.

"You are alive because you can prove to be useful before your short life ends", replied Voldemort softly. "You are the perfect test subject for solving a problem between your Professor and I."

Snape frowned. "I'm sorry, my lord? I was under the impression you wanted kill him yourself."

"You won't need to kill him, Severus", Voldemort corrected him. "I'm going to hold on to that honor. Of course you would if I asked you?"

"Of course", replied Snape easily. Harry had to bite his tongue to keep quiet as his fate was being discussed.

"Naturally. Well, I would like you to torture him", said Voldemort with satisfaction.

Harry's breathing hitched, making Voldemort's sick smile grow wider. It stretched his waxy face, distorting it horribly even more. "And convince me that you have no reservations about doing so. Just another blood traitor we're taking care of."

"My Lord, I don't know what gave you the idea -"

"Let me englighten you, then", Voldemort said, settling his elbows on the table and crossing his fingers. As he leaned in, the red eyes appeared to burn brighter with threat. The temperature in the room dropped. "I have had time to rethink my earlier acceptance of your excuses. "

Snape cleared his throat. "Excuses, my Lord?"

"For instance, why Potter is still alive after living in the castle as you for years."

"My Lord, I was unable as he was under Dumbledore's protection -"

"I have heard this before. It has come time to prove that your loyalty is to me and not to Dumbledore. And our guest here-" Voldemort motioned to Harry, "-is the perfect tool for achieving that. If you truly don't have concerns about his well-being, you should have no problem."

"What are you waiting for Snape?" asked Avery, if Harry remembered his name correctly. "Is is too hard for you?"

Harry was curious of what was behind all this and why Voldemort would care whether Snape wanted to hurt him or not, but those thoughts were concealed by the loud beating of his heart in his ears. He had spent the summer trying to forget about the last time being tortured, he wasn't eager to experience it again. Would Snape actually do it? Of course as a Death Eater he must have tortured people more times than he could count and Harry could recall many times he'd been sure that Snape had wanted to use the curse on him -

"Crucio!"

There was no way Harry could have prepared for the pain; he dropped to the floor, writhing around, trying to shake it off, to do anything. There were hot knifes carving into him all around his body, both hot and cold at the same time. He wanted to die, he'd do anything to stop the pain. The screaming that echoed distantly somewhere must have been his.

After a time that felt like an eternity, Snape lifted the curse. Harry wanted to stand up and show that he wasn't affected, but all he could do was try not to cry. He lay on the ground, breathing heavily as the Death Eaters laughed and Voldemort looked by as though Harry squirming on the floor was a common occurrence. Harry tasted blood; he'd bitten his tongue.

"Convinced?" Snape asked coolly.

Voldemort nodded. "Very good, Severus. It is hard to tell with you but I don't think I saw any emotion."

Snape made one of his infuriating bows and though it was not meant to be mocking, Harry found himself marvelling at how ridiculous the scene was and a small laugh escaped his mouth. He regretted it immediately not only because it made his aching chest hurt more, but also because it made Voldemort's attention turn back to him.

"Is it my turn already?"

At the last minute, Harry rolled over and the curse hit the floor instead of him. He knew it wouldn't help making Voldemort even angrier, but he also knew he couldn't take much more. Voldemort looked at him, Harry stared back in his terrible face and he knew; his luck had run out.

"My lord, we have time for this later -"

"Be quiet, Severus, I'm ending this now. Avada -"

Small man scurried into the room and it took Harry a second to recognize his unlikely rescuer. "Master", called out of breath Wormtail, bringing in a good stench of sweat with him. "I have news!"

"You interrupt your Master?"

Wormtail seemed to shrink under Voldemort's impending wrath. "I apologize, my lord. I have urgent news about the alarm in Godric's Hollow."

"You charmed it and it actually worked?" sneered Lucius. Harry took sick pleasure in the rest of the Death Eaters' attitute towards him; Harry saw Nott whisper something to the person next to him and they shared a quiet laugh.

"The alarm was set there in case Potter set foot there, Wormtail. I am sure even your incompetent eyes can see that it is not needed as the boy in question is here ready to be killed", Voldemort said, his voice silky smooth while tenderly stroking his wand. Wormtail spotted it, taking in a noticeable gulp of air.

"I am aware, my Lord", Wormtail squeked quickly, keeping his face down. "The a-alarm around the grave went off and I was c-confused because I meant it to only give the alarm if someone of the Potter family was there. I went to investigate and it was them. The Potters."

Voldemort regarded Wormtail for a minute, then addressed the table. "I haven't authorized making any Inferi. Is there anyone in here that would like to confess? After I have specifically given orders to keep my return a secret?"

The temperature in the room dropped below zero, not one person uttering a word. They seemed just as afraid as they'd been in the graveyard after Voldemort's return. Harry could tell from the shivering that most of them still hadn't been forgiven for their failure to search for him; Avery had moved his chair back.

"Are you sure?" Snape snapped to Wormtail.

"Y-yes. I would recognize them", he said quickly. He met Harry's burning glare and swiftly turned away. "They were talking and acting much like they did while alive. Not at all like Inferi."

"That means someone else is making Inferi", gathered Lucius. "If they talk, they can be questioned."

Voldemort nodded. "Lucius, take Nott and both Carrows. Take care of this. Wormtail, take Potter away. I'll deal with him later."

Lucius, Nott and two people that appeared to be brother and sister left the room with their assignment. Wormtail looked hurt to be dismissed, but took out his wand and without looking at Harry beckoned for him to follow. For a split second he contemplated on whether to follow the rat that had betrayed his parents, but then he remembered he was leaving the presence of Lord Voldemort, alive, once again. He hurried out of the room while Voldemort was talking to Snape.

"Walk ahead of me", ordered Wormtail.

"What are Inferi?" Harry asked immediately, his curiosity winning over his repulsion of being in the man's presence.

Wormtail poked him forcibly in the back with his wand. "Shut up and move."

"They were talking about my parents, I want to know", Harry snapped and turned, startling Wormtail whose hands shook while he held his wand ahead of him like a shield. "What are Inferi?"

"They're creatures made with Dark Magic", the man grumbled. "They're bodies that arent's alive, per se, but they'll do the Dark Wizard's bidding. Making them requires quite a lot. Not everyone can do it", he added bitterly.

"And someone's made ones out of my parents?" Harry asked, disgusted. An image of a greyfaced, gurgling figure from one of the zombie movies he had watched at the Dursleys invaded his mind. "Are you sure?"

"For the last time, yes", replied Wormtail. "I know how they look. It was them."

"Their murderer would know", said Harry, unable to hold it in any longer.

Wormtail eyes bulged and he surged towards Harry, his wand still in front of him, aimed towards his victim's heart. "Shut up", he gnarled.

Something took over Harry. Maybe it was the stress of the situation, being tortured and escaping death by a hair, but the rage that had been building in him all summer threatened to break through. Blood pumping in his ears, he stepped closer so the tip of Wormtail's wand was touching his chest.

"Go on, finish it", Harry said quietly. He could smell the sweat and hear the wheezing of the rat's breathing this close. "Do what you meant to do years ago."

Pettigrew seemed to consider it for a moment until he stepped back. Perhaps he remembered they were not to harm him without Voldemort's consent. "Walk or I'll make you."

Harry knew it looked petulant, but he spun on his heels and stormed towards the staircase that led to the cellar. Once inside, the door slammed shut and Harry threw himself against it in his outrage, but all it did was make his aching body hurt even worse. He let out a frustrated cry and was let alone in his gloomy prison.

*o*o*

A beam of morning light found its way through the window, shining in James' eyes. He didn't mind as he hadn't gotten a wink of sleep all night. He'd been tossing and turning for a while before giving up. Lily had barely moved all night, lying next to him like a statue. As they rose, she gave him a tiny smile and stretched as if after a good night's sleep, but the bags under her eyes told a different story. As she turned, she hid a yawn with her hand. James didn't feel too weary, but perhaps his body had gotten enough rest in the fourteen years he'd been dead.

Lily sat on the edge of the bed, picking lint from the bedspread. James joined her, neither of them saying a word.

"How did you sleep?" she finally asked, staring at her hands. James merely shook his head. "Yeah, me too. Did you… uh..."

"Hear Harry crying at four o'clock? Yes", sighed James.

"Wasn't it creepy? I know I imagined it, but after hearing it every night… " Lily sniffed. During his first year, Harry had been sound asleep until four in the morning when he'd start crying at the top of his lungs. By the time he was six months, his parents had started waking up on their own at that time and the habit had stuck.

"Please don't cry", pleaded James. He wrapped an arm around his wife's shoulders and pulled her against him. "I miss him, too."

Lily wiped his eyes on James' shirt and cleared her throat. "If we don't want to stay here forever, we need to think about our options."

The conversation proved to be a dead-end. Without wands they couldn't Apparate, send a message by Patronus and they certainly didn't have any owls at their disposal. If Voldemort was still around, it wasn't safe walking around and getting recognized by a Death Eater.

Run out of magical solutions, Lily turned to Muggle means and suggested a phone call. The problem was, wizards usually didn't have phones in their homes. Or know how to use them.

"Do we know anyone with a phone?"

Lily broke into a huge smile. "Actually we do!"

"That can do magic?"

"Well, no. But I know comeone who is in the Order and has a phone."

She was dragging it out and it may have been childish, but James knew that she was enjoying the dumb look on her husband's face. It always made her feel better and he was willing to act stupid to cheer her up. Unfortunately for the most part, it wasn't an act.

Then James' face lit up. "Arabella Figg!"

"Yes! She can contact Dumbledore and he can take it from there. I'm just not sure she'll believe us, though", mused Lily. "I wouldn't."

"But she'll definitely tell him about the phone thingy", replied James. Lily's face remained passive, but her eye twitched oddly. James ignored her. "He won't believe us either but they'll definitely come get us."

"They'll think we're Death Eaters imposing as us, won't they", gringed Lily. "That will be fun. "

"Yeah… But I'm sure we can convince the people we know of who we are."

Lily bit her lip, wringing her hands together and walking to the window, pretending to look outside. James was sure there was something extemely interesting outside. "Right.

James sighed. "We can trust our friends, Lily."

Lily sat back down on the bed gingerly and winded her hands tightly together. She opened her mouth multiple times, trying to find the right way to phrase it. James waited for the start of the lecture patiently as they had talked about the subject before. He was ashamed that the constant doubt had gotten him suspicious of the wrong person.

"James... " She started carefully as though tiptoeing around a volcano in danger of activating. "You do realize the situation we're in right now, don't you? And why we're in it?"

James was quiet for moment. "Yes, I do, Lily. Peter betrayed us. He's the reason we've been gone for fourteen years and our son isn't with us right now."

Lily looked doubtful, forcing James to utter a sentecne he had never in a million years thought he'd say. "If he isn't dead, he is dead to me", he added with finality.

Lily was thrown back for a second. "Well, good, I-I guess."

As Lily turned away to think, James realized he had forgotten to breathe. Changing his beliefs threw him even more than coming back from the dead did. Could he truly trust anyone again? He took in a few deep breaths and was able to keep his face passive as Lily spoke once more.

"There is another problem with Peter being a traitor. He must have told Voldemort everything he could while he was a spy."

"Yes, but we have the advantage of being dead. As long we don't run along the street yelling about our resurrection, we're quite safe", James pointed out. "Nothing he can use against us."

"True. What if it was Voldemort's doing?" suggested Lily, voicing the question that had been going through his mind as well. "

"That crossed my mind, too, but why would he do that?"

Lily threw her hands in the air out of frustration. "I don't know, it's Voldemort. It had to be someone quite powerful and I doubt Dumbledore would go around resurrecting people. Dumbledore himself has said it's not possible and I myself wouldn't believe it if I wasnt here. Unless we're talking about Inferi..."

"Now that you mention it, I've been feeling very zombie today", quipped James, but saw the look on Lily's face and hurried to continue. "Well, if it was Voldemort, I'm sure we'd been caught, killed or participating in some weird ritual by now."

Lily shrugged. "Yeah… I'd better go call Arabella now."

"Okay. I have no idea how to help you with that. Is it difficult?"

"I think I can manage", said Lily wryly before giving him a peck on the cheek and disappearing out the door. James had barely time to go to the bathroom before she was back, but she didn't look happy.

"She wasn't home, I left a message. Kind of hard to phrase on the phone, but she'll tell Dumbledore someone with my voice phoned."

"You can do that?"

Lily didn't bother to reply. "What do we do now? Just wait for Arabella to get the message?"

Both of them out of ideas, they stayed quiet. James' head was buzzing with everything that was going on. He was trying hard to keep his son out of his mind, but it was proving to be difficult. The grief was trying to suffocate him, invading every part of his body as well his mind.

When he tried to get Harry out, his friends were trying to get in. He was worried for them, but he was also scared to talk to Remus. The conversation wouldn't be easy, and he wondered if he'd ever be forgiven; he was the one always preaching about absolute trust. Ironically that trust had gotten them here.

"Did you hear that?" said Lily suddenly, startling James out of his head and into the real world.

"What?"

She didn't have to answer, as there was another crash coming from downstairs. Both of them froze. Without speaking, they went into automode, jumping up in sync and creeping to the doorway. They sprained their ears, but there was nothing.

They shared a look, of course expecting the worst. James summoned for Lily to follow him, together they started to tiptoe along the wall, trying to avoid the paintings spread on it. The hallway had felt much shorter in the dark, the distance between them and the stairface felt like miles.

The pair reached the end of the stairs and James peered downstairs cautiously. He couldn't see anyone, including Hal or his wife, so there was a chance they were okay. Lily peered across his shoulders, holding a candle holder.

"Where did you get that?" he whispered as quietly as he could and Lily shushed him more loudly than he had spoken.

"I think there's a back door", murmured Lily and pointed towards the direction they've come from, but someone cleared their throat at the bottom of the stairs.

"Just come down", a distantly familiar man ordered pointing his wand at them. James was quite sure he had run into him before, that pig-like face was hard to forget even though he was older now.

Lily was frowning. "Carrow?"

"How do you know who we are?" demanded the man who James now identified as Alecto Carrow.

"Oh, right and that's his sister!" exclaimed James in triumph and pointed at the sturdy woman who had apparead at his side.

"Stop talking to the Inferi", Lucius Malfoy snapped as he walked into the hall with Nott. His eyes were wide as he gawked at them, his usual bravado gone. "Come down, slowly."

James raised his eyebrows at Lily who was giving him the same confused look. Voldemort hadn't done this? There was nowhere to run so they complied. Getting captured by Death Eaters should've frightened him more, but he hadn't expected to be left walking around unnoticed. He had only hoped the Order had gotten to them first.

"At least we got the message out", Lily whispered and gave his hand a squeeze as they reached the bottom of the stairs. The rest of the Death Eaters were staring as well and James got the feeling they were actually scared of him and Lily.

"Nott, check them for wands", ordered Lucius. Nott approached them reluctantly and declared them unarmed after barely touching them. James would have found this funny if it wasn't for Malfoy's next words. "Good, let's get you to the Dark Lord."

END OF CHAPTER FOUR

Sorry about the cliffhanger, there was no other spot to end the chapter. Please let me know how you liked it.