A/N How are you liking the series so far? I have rated this one PG13 because there is slight language and slight violence. The Harry and Cho plot thickens, we play Quidditch again (yay!) and we see why Snape was acting oddly in Potions…oh yeah, and he who must not be named plays a large part in this too…
A Fifth Year Nothing
Chapter 4 – Voldemort
The next day, Harry was back to normal. Hermione and Ron were very relieved about this. They went down to breakfast, and were surprised to see that Snape wasn't in his usual seat at the teacher's table. They sat down at the Gryffindor table and watched as Hagrid sidled into the hall. He went up to the teacher's table, and seeing that Snape's chair was empty, Hagrid took it, and began talking to Professor McGonagall. Just then the post owls arrived. Harry saw a large grey owl fluttering over his head, and taking a letter to Professor McGonagall. Harry watched her as she opened it, with Hagrid leaning over her shoulder reading it as well. Nearly every head turned as Hagrid let out a hearty guffaw and then asked Professor McGonagall if he could borrow the letter. At the end of breakfast, Hagrid called to Harry.
"Yeh three, come down to me hut after yeh've had yer afternoon lessons."
Harry assured Hagrid that they would go down to his hut. The rest of the day passed without event. After afternoon lessons had finished, Harry, Ron and Hermione hurried down to see Hagrid. They were eager to find out what was in McGonagall's letter. When they arrived at Hagrids hut, he swung the door open and gave them a big grin.
"Hello," he said, "why don' yeh come in. Help yeh're selves to some cakes."
"Hagrid," began Hermione, "what was in Professor McGonagall's letter, that you found so entertaining?" she asked.
"I'll show yeh," he said, and took out the letter he had borrowed off McGonagall.
Dear Minerva,
I will not be in school today, as I am visiting the village of Hogsmeade to buy presents for my love. Please could you make sure that my lessons are covered, and please could you inform Professor Rosemary Kishi (my love goddess) to meet me up the astronomy tower at eight o'clock this evening. Don't tell her that it is I who wishes to see her.
My very best wishes
Severus Snape.
Harry looked up astonished. He burst into laughter.
"Snape!" he gasped, "in love, with Professor Kishi!"
"Harry, we've got to see what Snape wants to talk to her about," said Ron, gasping for breath, "we can use your invisibility cloak!"
Harry looked at his watch. It was ten to eight.
"If we want to see them, we'll have to go now – bye Hagrid." called Harry.
The three of them hurried up to the Gryffindor tower, grabbed the invisibility cloak, and then they hurried up to the astronomy tower. At the foot of the stairs, they made sure that the cloak was covering all three of them, then they ascended up to the top of the tower. When they reached the top, Snape was already there, wearing robes of vibrant red. They crept into the circular room, and went to sit down in a corner. Snape was pacing up and down the room muttering to himself. At about five past eight, they heard somebody coming up the stairs. Snape composed himself and picked up a bunch of flowers and hid it behind his back. The door of the tower opened very cautiously, and in came, not Professor Kishi, but a short man in brown robes, with a gleaming silver arm.
"Who are you?" Snape asked irritably.
"I," began the stranger, "I am Lord Voldemort's personal assistant. Many know me as Peter Pettigrew, but I am more widely known as Wormtail."
"Shit!" said Snape.
Harry, Ron and Hermione watched in silence. Wormtail now drew out his wand and pointed it at Snape.
"Stupefy!" he yelled, and Snape slithered to the floor.
Wormtail yelled something else, and thin bonds came shooting out of his wand, which wrapped themselves around Snape. He then lifted Snape easily with his silver arm, and threw him over his shoulder and marched down the stairs. Harry, Ron and Hermione sat in stunned silence, still covered by the cloak for about ten minutes. Finally Harry spoke.
"What should we do?" he asked the others.
"Go to Dumbledore." replied Hermione promptly.
The three of them stood up and walked towards the door. They hurried towards the stone gargoyle that was the entrance to Dumbledore's office.
"Cockroach Cluster!" yelled Harry, and to his great relief, he found that this old password worked, because the stone gargoyle sprung open. They stepped onto the moving staircase, and knocked on Dumbledore's door.
"Enter" came his voice from inside.
Harry pushed the door open and walked inside. Hurriedly, he explained what they had just witnessed. Dumbledore asked no questions, he just summoned up Cornelius Fudge.
"Fudge. Harry, Ron and Hermione here have just seen Snape being kidnapped by Peter Pettigrew. Three people saw what happened this time. You can't pretend that this is not happening! Voldemort is getting stronger, and we need to fight him!" said Dumbledore.
"Dumbledore, do you seriously believe the words of three fifteen year olds? I admit, yes there is a possibility that Voldemort is getting stronger, but not yet! It is outrageous that you think this!" replied Fudge.
"Fine then!" bellowed Dumbledore, "you go off and do your petty jobs at the ministry, meanwhile I will stay here and fight Voldemort myself. One of my staff has been kidnapped, and you'll see, tomorrow when he doesn't turn up, maybe then you'll believe me."
Harry had rarely seen Dumbledore this angry. Dumbledore still sounded angry five minutes later when Fudge had gone and he had told Harry to go to bed.
The next day, Snape still wasn't at breakfast, and people were starting to talk. Dumbledore had warned them not to tell anyone about what they had seen the night before. Lessons went as normal that day, and when they had finished, for the day, Harry had to go down to the Quidditch pitch for a Gryffindor meeting. When he got there, he saw that the rest of the team was already there. Angelina, Katie and Alicia were the three chasers, and Fred and George Weasley were the beaters. Harry was the seeker, and they had no keeper, because their old one had left two years earlier. In this meeting, they had to decide on a new captain, and they were also holding trials for the position of Keeper. The rest of the team had decided that the best way to decide on a new captain would be to vote. They would write the name of whichever person they thought best for the job, and the one with the most votes would be the captain. Harry wrote down the name Angelina Johnson on his slip of paper. When they had all voted, they collected together the votes, and opened them. On each slip of paper, except his own, was the name Harry Potter. Harry was the new team captain! At that moment though, the doors of the changing room burst open, and in came a flood of students, each hoping to become the new captain. Harry was surprised to see Ron there. The team were not choosing the new keeper themselves, Madam Hooch was. They all traipsed outside onto the pitch, and Madam Hooch began conducting the trials. She got Angelina, Katie and Alicia to fly around in the air throwing the quaffle to each other, trying to score goals. The people, who were trying out, had to try and stop them scoring. They got ten goes each. One by one, they all had their goes. When it came to Ron's turn, he saved all ten of the goals.
"The results will be posted on your notice board tomorrow morning." said Madam Hooch. Harry, Ron and the rest of the team, all walked back to the Gryffindor tower, and Harry being so tired, went straight to bed, and fell straight to sleep.
Harry woke up the next day, got dressed, and hurried down to the common room to see who Madam Hooch had chosen as keeper. To his great surprise she had chosen Ron as the keeper!
He hurried down to breakfast to join Ron and Hermione. He was in such a hurry to ask Ron if he knew, that he wasn't looking where he was going, and he bumped straight into Cho.
"Sorry," he muttered and started to walk away.
"Harry wait," she said, "I need to talk to you."
* * * *
Meanwhile hidden in the thick density of a rain forest in Africa, was a thin figure with red eyes, and snake like nostrils. A devoted servant was kissing the hems of his robes. The servant stood up and allowed the thin man to press a mark on his left arm. Suddenly, next to the man and his servant landed a short fat man, with a bundle over his shoulder. The short man dropped the bundle, and he too began kissing the hems of the thin mans robes.
"Cease." said the thin man, and the two servants stopped kissing his robes and stood up.
"Who have you brought to me, Wormtail?" said the man.
"Severus Snape, my Lord," said Wormtail, "I discovered that he is not being entirely faithful to you my Lord, so I brought him here for you, I thought he deserved a little pain." The short man grinned and bowed to the thin man, and then backed away.
The thin man pointed his wand at Snape and said "Accio" Snape rose eerily into the air, and floated over to the thin man.
"Enervate." he said.
Snape awoke.
"Voldemort," he whispered, "you!"
"Me." said Voldemort, "and now, I think it's time you get what you deserve."
He raised his wand and removed the thin ropes that were binding Snape.
"Time for the Cruciatus curse, I think." said Voldemort and he laughed a high pitched laugh. He continued to laugh as Snape lay on the floor screaming and yelling, his whole body twitching in pain. His two devoted servants were also laughing. The man called Wormtail was laughing harder than the man with the silvery-blond hair. Snape's yells echoed throughout the darkness, and Voldemort's eyes glinted with rage, anger and hatred. Suddenly, the screaming stopped. Snape lay quite still on the ground.
"You are free to go," said Voldemort, "I have had my fun." His nostrils flared and his eyes glowed maliciously. Snape stood up, and hurried out of the clearing. As he neared the edge of the clearing, Snape heard those fatal words that had killed so many.
"Avada Kedavra!" screamed Voldemort. There was a blinding flash of green light, which was the last thing that Snape ever saw.